Someone unplugged my car

[kingjamez]

Research. It appears to be a 2 hr limit for charging. Why a car would be parked there at 3:36am Sunday AM unoccupied?

Sounds to me like the person was enforcing the 2hr rule.

 

[kingjamez]

The charging infrastructure is woefully inadequate for the number of EVs on the market at this time, let alone the many, many more EVs being released into the wild daily. We'll see more and more examples like this.

That another debate entirely. I agree with the "don't buy an EV if you don't have a place to charge it" argument. If you have a house with parking, there is no need for public L2 infrastructure.

 

[RScottyL]

Was he driving away in a bolt?

Looked like a small compact SUV, maybe a Honda Fit or something around that size!

 

[RScottyL]

That another debate entirely. I agree with the "don't buy an EV if you don't have a place to charge it" argument. If you have a house with parking, there is no need for public L2 infrastructure.

But if you are on a trip, that is not an option!

Also, some of the EV's do not have a good range, so you may have to use public L2/L3 infrastructure to charge!

 

[demundus]

But if you are on a trip, that is not an option!

Also, some of the EV's do not have a good range, so you may have to use public L2/L3 infrastructure to charge!

I dont think anyone here would disagree with that... I think the rub of those who are more negative towards the OP is the fact that hes using a L2 to overnight charge a Tesla because he can't charge at home.

 

[Doanster1]

Looked like a small compact SUV, maybe a Honda Fit or something around that size!

Others have already deduced it’s a Fiat 500e with the black/white contrast pkg/upgrade, of which the standout visual cue is the white lower valence against the black body colored car. You can clearly see this as Orange Jacket drives away.

 

[HankLloydRight]

Others have already deduced it’s a Fiat 500e with the black/white contrast pkg/upgrade, of which the standout visual cue is the white lower valence against the black body colored car.

Don't think that's it. The white contrast band you see is the rocker panel, it's much lower than the 500e contrast panel which is a bit higher on the door panel.

 

[richrootes]

Mr Orange seems to know what he’s doing, so probably not the first time he’s done this

It’d be interesting to see footage before this to see if he specifically stopped in this spot to unplug the cable. My take on this is that you have no way of knowing the owners’ circumstance, and you should never disconnect a vehicle

There are all sorts of chicken and egg arguments about why you should only buy an electric car if you can charge at home - but Vancouver is a little backward in its thinking right now, particularly where Strata involvement is necessary for infrastructure approval

This is changing - albeit very slowly

I applaud the OP for making the switch to electric - how he charges up is his business - and if he’s ever caught short on the North Shore, he’s more than welcome to use my HPWC

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I remember seeing a similar video last year but I believe it was in Montreal instead of Vancouver. In that video, IIRC, a man (not Mr. Orange) ran across the street to unplug a Tesla and then went back to the other side of the street.

 

[Need]

Don't think that's it. The white contrast band you see is the rocker panel, it's much lower than the 500e contrast panel which is a bit higher on the door panel.

Check the back of the vehicle in the video. It has light sliver color top spoiler and big panel at the bottom very similar to one of the Fiat 500e option:

 

[Doanster1]

Don't think that's it. The white contrast band you see is the rocker panel, it's much lower than the 500e contrast panel which is a bit higher on the door panel.

Not the side... the rear lower valence on the back bumper, where exhaust tips would normally be. It’s a pretty distinctive pkg/option. That’s what it looks like to me anyway.

 

[Doanster1]

Soooooo, who’s paid a visit to the Fiat 500e forums... specifically the BC sub-forum?!?!?!
Maybe Orange Jacket has posted about his conquest. Sorta like the new EV equivalent of Kill Stories on the ///M/AMG/S forums?

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Not the side... the rear lower valence on the back bumper, where exhaust tips would normally be. It’s a pretty distinctive pkg/option. That’s what it looks like to me anyway.

View attachment 299666

Those wheels look awfully similar as well.

 

[MP3Mike]

My battery was at 19%, so I left it plugged in to get enough juice for my trip in the morning. This is the second time I've ever used this charging location. I normally charge at the hospital where I work, or more rarely down to the supercharger.

Personally, I don't like the OP's charging habits, but that's just me.

@Canuck What don't you like about him charging at his work most of the time? Isn't that what everyone says you should do? (Either charge at home or at a destination/work.)

 

[HankLloydRight]

Thanks. Standing corrected.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

But you should consider that most the EVs North American average about 80 miles true range, and some people rely on their work charge to get home. "Couple of hours at 3:30am" ... You might look into getting a hobby. Musical cars is a poor hobby at 2am-4am.

I do find it hard to fathom that somebody far enough up the food chain to use a $100k commuter car, cannot afford to rent a building with an enclosed garage and a 120v outlet. During my divorce, I had to rent briefly, and my enclosed garage had a 120v outlet. And that was cheap enough to use as a crack den.

If orange-jacket guy has a problem with the OP's behavior, he can take a photo of the car charging and the license plate and report him to the people who actually get to decide what is and what isn't legal.

 

[demundus]

If orange-jacket guy has a problem with the OP's behavior, he can take a photo of the car charging and the license plate and report him to the people who actually get to decide what is and what isn't legal.

So if you're orange jacket guy, limping into a public charger late at night to find a Tesla charging there... you wait for a bit say 30 minutes, realize hes nowhere to be found, he didn't leave a note, and the parking maid aint workin right now. Its 1AM, you're tired, you only needed an hour worth of charge to make it home and yet someone parked their Tesla at a L2 and went home to go to sleep. You would do what?

This is a Tesla forum, but ya'll are really deep in the kool-aide lately

 

[Canuck]

@Canuck What don't you like about him charging at his work most of the time? Isn't that what everyone says you should do? (Either charge at home or at a destination/work.)

I could be wrong here with regard to the OP, who I am certain is a good guy, but I just wanted to hear the position of the culprit. I think what the culprit did was wrong -- and he's a coward. If anything, leave a note and try to work out differences. However, I don't see him as a vandal or some sort of sh*t disturber by looking at the video so perhaps there's another side to this issue.

What I am troubled by is all the Tesla owners I've seen over the past couple of years taking up public charging spot just to save a few dollars by not charging at home. I go downtown often, to large tower office buildings that have specific EV charging spots. A few years ago, I would park there not needing the charge because they were always vacant -- so why not get free electrons? As I started to see other EV's charging there, I left a note on my windshield with my cell number in case a short range EV needed the charge -- but there were few of those a few years ago. Now there's lots of them, and lots of Teslas. I can't get a spot in those EV spots anymore mostly because of people who work there who charge while at work -- some of who I know have chargers at home but they often allow the vehicle to go low then park all day at 30 amps to charge it up. In fact, they brag about this to co-workers especially given the price of gas here. Is that okay? Is that what the OP does with the EV spaces at the hospital? Or are they only for employees? Has he tried with his landlord to get an outlet installed where he pays for the installation and the power?

I just have a lot of questions having had my daughter on the phone crying because our Leaf was in turtle mode on Hwy 99 after coming from Vancouver to South Surrey because all of the public chargers she drove by had Teslas parked in them. As I said in this post in another thread:

I like to pick up free electrons at the mall, etc. but worry that I don't really need them and think about the time my daughter was crying over the phone to me because the Leaf was at 0 and she's a few miles from home. She made it -- I told her not to cry, we'll just call a tow truck if it runs out, and she always asked me what she will tell her kids like I tell her (no internet, cell phones, etc.) and I said you can now tell your kids this story and they will laugh about the Leaf's low range, and you will tell them barely anyone drove EVs and we had 2.

So that's my concern in a nutshell and it comes from years of EV driving around the Lower Mainland. People can disagree with me -- that's fine -- it's just my opinion. In any event, once they start to charge for these EVSE spots, as they promised to do last year, a lot of the nonsense of "anything to save a buck" will stop. That can't come soon enough for me.

City of Vancouver Approves Fees at EV Charging Stations - Plug In BC

 

[Doanster1]

So if you're orange jacket guy, limping into a public charger late at night to find a Tesla charging there... you wait for a bit say 30 minutes, realize hes nowhere to be found, he didn't leave a note, and the parking maid aint workin right now. Its 1AM, you're tired, you only needed an hour worth of charge to make it home and yet someone parked their Tesla at a L2 and went home to go to sleep. You would do what?

This is a Tesla forum, but ya'll are really deep in the kool-aide lately

You/Orange Jacket guy would/should move on and find the next available charger. In this case, it would’ve been right next to OP’s Tesla. If you’re limping, then you didn’t plan so well, now did you, assuming your charger of choice would be free?
What if it was another brethren’s Fiat 500e that was also literally running on e-fumes instead of a Tesla? With a full range of 84miles max, they’d be there for over an hour. Would you/Orange Jacket be just as pissed, unplug them, and drive away? Methinks not.

 

[Sandollars]

The most likely situation? The mystery driver had left notes before to move their car when it was done charging. And the OP ignored the notes. Who puts a camera in their BACK window?

Me. A lot of us are concerned about being rear-ended by a hit and run especially in cali because if you rear end someone here, it is assumed you are at fault. Rear cameras are very useful.