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Stalls blocked by Tesla Owner

Bill Price

Member
Sep 23, 2018
458
537
Indianapolis
At a nearby SC in Indy, I have noticed several black model S cars sitting in charging stalls not hooked up and charging, effectively blocking other Teslas from charging. Almost every time I drive by there, there is a black model S or more sitting there not charging. Upon further investigation, ALL of those black model S cars are plated in Montana. I have seen different individuals pull up in other ICE cars and drive away in these black model S cars, never the same person. Recently, I talked to another patron that was there charging and he told me the scoop about these black model S's. According to him, there are five of these black model S cars, all plated out of Montana and the guy is renting them out to drive. Apparently he advertises somewhere that people can rent these cars for a few hours, the day or a week and he charges them all free at this SC location and, I am told, is making a killing at it. Apparently, one owner that was charging there asked him about his enterprise and got a barrage of eff you and mind your own effing business, etc. etc. While it is my opinion that nobody should be running his own business renting out model S cars and charging them for free at the SC, my most obvious problem with this is the net effect of blocking several stalls while not plugged in, keeping other Tesla owners from charging their cars at those stalls. I have sent emails to Tesla customer support about this along with the VIN of the offending cars. I don't know if I'm spinning my wheels or not since I've had no response. If he is running a business that is making him money from all these cars and also blocking Tesla owners from charging, do you believe he should still be able to charge his cars freely? I have called on the 800 line also to report this individual, but after waiting longer than 10 minutes and still can't talk to someone, I've given up. Am I going about this correctly? Should I report this activity or just ignore it, and if so, how should I report it?
 

ckoval7

Mild One
Sep 19, 2018
662
599
Maryland
I doubt Tesla will be able to do much about this, since they don't even remove ICE vehicles from chargers. The property owner can have them towed, but that's a rare event in the case of ICEing as well. This is not different than using a gas pump as a parking spot though, but not many people realize it.
 

trm2

Active Member
Apr 3, 2016
1,041
1,628
CLE
I just went to my garage, unplugged my car, back inside to drop the key out of range and waited until the car locked. I went back out and was able to plug in even with the car locked. I can’t unplug, but could plug in my umc, why won’t it work with supercharger?
 

aesculus

Still Trying to Figure This All Out
May 31, 2015
4,301
2,460
Northern California
I just went to my garage, unplugged my car, back inside to drop the key out of range and waited until the car locked. I went back out and was able to plug in even with the car locked. I can’t unplug, but could plug in my umc, why won’t it work with supercharger?
How did you open the charge port door?

BTW I did the same test and found I could open the charge port door too. I was shocked. Then I realized the car was not totally locked. I went around and tried to open the door and then the car went into complete lock mode and the charge port door that I had opened closed too. And from that point on I could press on it until the cows come home and it still would not open.
 

AMPd

Active Member
Nov 27, 2012
4,252
3,390
Northern California
I just went to my garage, unplugged my car, back inside to drop the key out of range and waited until the car locked. I went back out and was able to plug in even with the car locked. I can’t unplug, but could plug in my umc, why won’t it work with supercharger?
I’d assume for the same reason you can’t unplug a locked car, the charge port stays locked.
On my car (2015) you can’t plug it in when locked. The charge door opens you can stick the plug in but it won’t fully insert
 

ucmndd

Well-Known Member
Mar 10, 2016
6,213
11,599
California
I can plug in my locked 2016 refresh model S. Do it relatively frequently. Have not tried at a supercharger, but can’t imagine it would be any different.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: pilotSteve

mongo

Well-Known Member
May 3, 2017
12,865
37,837
Michigan
At a nearby SC in Indy, I have noticed several black model S cars sitting in charging stalls not hooked up and charging, effectively blocking other Teslas from charging. Almost every time I drive by there, there is a black model S or more sitting there not charging. Upon further investigation, ALL of those black model S cars are plated in Montana. I have seen different individuals pull up in other ICE cars and drive away in these black model S cars, never the same person. Recently, I talked to another patron that was there charging and he told me the scoop about these black model S's. According to him, there are five of these black model S cars, all plated out of Montana and the guy is renting them out to drive. Apparently he advertises somewhere that people can rent these cars for a few hours, the day or a week and he charges them all free at this SC location and, I am told, is making a killing at it. Apparently, one owner that was charging there asked him about his enterprise and got a barrage of eff you and mind your own effing business, etc. etc. While it is my opinion that nobody should be running his own business renting out model S cars and charging them for free at the SC, my most obvious problem with this is the net effect of blocking several stalls while not plugged in, keeping other Tesla owners from charging their cars at those stalls. I have sent emails to Tesla customer support about this along with the VIN of the offending cars. I don't know if I'm spinning my wheels or not since I've had no response. If he is running a business that is making him money from all these cars and also blocking Tesla owners from charging, do you believe he should still be able to charge his cars freely? I have called on the 800 line also to report this individual, but after waiting longer than 10 minutes and still can't talk to someone, I've given up. Am I going about this correctly? Should I report this activity or just ignore it, and if so, how should I report it?
I see you are in Indiana. You can let your version of the DMV know about these vehicles as they are likely improperly registered in Montana to avoid the state sales tax. Could also check local ordinances on abandoned vehicles and/or the owner of the lot the super chargers are in (get them towed).
 

gaswalla

Model S,3,X.. CT with Austin delivery
Sep 23, 2012
3,250
3,520
San Diego
you all missed the point.. a guy is blocking chargers with out-of-state plates and is an A-hole on top of it..
Call him out for the plates
Call him out to Tesla - unlike an ICE, they can look into a breach of contract since he's got a commercial business with the free supercharging.
And, can someone find the guy's cars on Turo? that'll be fun
 

trm2

Active Member
Apr 3, 2016
1,041
1,628
CLE
For those that can plug into their cars when locked, does the ring light up? If so what colors before and after you plug in?
I didn’t check the colors, but I plugged in, my wife and I went to dinner and we just got back. My car is now fully charged. It didn’t have very far to go, but it did finish charging.
 

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