Sorry, Newbie Tesla Charging Network Question

[lozza180]

Morning all,

I've had my tesla a couple of years and I have rarely had to use the tesla charging network as I live on the Isle of Wight.

Anyway my question, I have tried googling this and can't find an answer to my query.

I'm planning a trip tomorrow to London Stratford, taking my daughter and friend to the international hockey at Lee Valley Hockey Centre in Stratford. I'm thinking of parking at Westfield Stratford shopping centre and ideally would like to leave the car on charge whilst there. I will likely be parked from 10am to 7pm, can I leave my car on charge all day or will I be charged idle fee's?

Any tips or advice please will be most welcome.

Cheers

 

[cmaster]

I would advise against monopolizing a charging station all day, as it is courteous to allow other EVs the opportunity to charge. This practice can create issues for many people at the site.

If the usage of any superchargers reaches 80%, you will incur an idle fee. However, if it is less, no fee is charged. This has been my understanding based on experience.

 

[dedicatedtek]

Charge it when you arrive, and when it's done charging (app will let you know) move your car to a non charging spot.

 

[lozza180]

I understand the standard etiquette of not leaving your car plugged in when fully charged in normal charging locations. My thoughts were if someone was on a 5-6 hour shopping splurge, would you be expected to go back mid shop to move your car or is it deemed acceptable in these type of charging locations, that cars may be left plugged in for longer periods? I'm actually going off site, I believe maybe a 30 minute walk away and ideally wouldn't want to do the hour round walk halfway through the day if I could avoid it to move the car. I've got 2 younger children with me so can't leave them at the event so they would have to come back with me. I might just not charge, think I might just get a round trip from the isle of wight to Stratford and back on a full charge. The issue I have, is rushing back to catch a ferry and need a charge and sometimes I've missed ferries because I've had to stop en-route.

 

[cmaster]

I understand the standard etiquette of not leaving your car plugged in when fully charged in normal charging locations. My thoughts were if someone was on a 5-6 hour shopping splurge, would you be expected to go back mid shop to move your car or is it deemed acceptable in these type of charging locations, that cars may be left plugged in for longer periods? I'm actually going off site, I believe maybe a 30 minute walk away and ideally wouldn't want to do the hour round walk halfway through the day if I could avoid it to move the car. I've got 2 younger children with me so can't leave them at the event so they would have to come back with me. I might just not charge, think I might just get a round trip from the isle of wight to Stratford and back on a full charge. The issue I have, is rushing back to catch a ferry and need a charge and sometimes I've missed ferries because I've had to stop en-route.

Indeed, I have certain expectations to meet. I inform my family that I'll return soon as I need to move the car. Otherwise, if I have to walk 30 minutes one way, I won't charge it and will simply charge it when leaving the shopping center. This is the inconvenience one must contend with when owning an electric vehicle.

 

[RTPEV]

It's a tough one. Yes, proper etiquette is that you musn't leave your car connected and taking up a spot while not charging. This is the black and white interpretation.

However, I do think in some situations there is some gray area. For example, if you are staying at a hotel overnight and L2 charging, you shouldn't be expected to move your car at 3:30am when it completes charging, nor is it likely that a patron will show up just then looking for a spot to charge. Likewise, several parking decks in my area are for the purposes of nearby theaters and sporting venues and the expectation is that those using the chargers will be occupied in those activities and won't be able to move their car until the conclusion of the activity. That said, in those situations it would be rude to plug in if you didn't really need the charge. And then finally there are those sites that are just very rarely used and overstaying would probably not cause any issues (although if there were just a single charger there, I would probably advise against this). In North America, we can check Plugshare to get a sense of how popular a given site is (as well as determine if the charger is likely to be working or not!) I don't know how popular Plugshare is in your area, or if there are alternative apps that you can use. In this final case, I would generally only plug in while traveling and I'm trying to stay as close to full as possible.

In your case, if this is the site you are referring to: Stratford International Car Park | London, England | EV Station, then it appears to have 30 AC chargers on one floor, and 6 rapid chargers on another. I would certainly not tie up a rapid charger -- I assume you are talking about the AC chargers (I would certainly not plug into a DC charger for that long!) Even though Plugshare lists 31, however, going to the Source London site it looks like there are only 5 available, so Plugshare may be incorrect. If there are 30, then you might be okay in that situation, whereas if there are only 5, I would probably avoid doing this in what is probably a busy location. A better solution might just be to leave a bit earlier and use a rapid charger or Supercharger near the destination to top off a bit before you get there and then not worry about charging while parked all day (9 hours is a bit on the long side, especially during the day).

As for idle fees, those are set by the provider, so you will have to research that (I couldn't find any info on the Source London site).