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Supercharger - Yorktown Heights, NY

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Please be aware that on Sunday mornings (8AM-???), almost all year, there is a "Cars and Coffee" meet that takes place for all makes/models in the larger parking lot near the SC. Recently, it has been noticed that ICE are parking in the charger stalls. This event has taken place for years, but 99% of cars are parked in the larger lot.

Unless the Yorktown PD does something I expect this to continue.

Try to avoid this SC on Sunday mornings.



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Saw on Twitter that the organization is trying to quell this abusive behavior.
 
Saw on Twitter that the organization is trying to quell this abusive behavior.
Great to hear. My father was big on those meets for years with his Corvette buddies...but now he moved.

Seems reasonable - even if they leave two stalls open it should be fine.

I've found the "car people" to be pretty nice, even the ones that drive ICE. I'm sure if someone came to charge they would move a car.
Problem is, there are usually a 100 cars, so good luck finding the owner if they aren't standing by the stall.

Also, people didn't usually park in that corner before the SC was open. It is rather far from the main event.
 
Saw on Twitter that the organization is trying to quell this abusive behavior.

I am suspicious on the motivation of the warning. Unfortunately the "reminder" was after the fact...

The timeline does not match up. The event is held 8 AM to 10 AM on Sundays. The reminder was sent at Sunday at 11:51 AM (PDT). I am in the west coast, so It would really be 2:51 PM EDT. Several hours after the event.

Doc1.jpg


Note, it looks like they took down their Facebook page/post.
 
Problem is, there are usually a 100 cars, so good luck finding the owner if they aren't standing by the stall.
It is pretty easy. I find if the owner is not right there, putting your greasy hands on the car and sitting in it with your cup of coffee finds them pretty quickly. :)

A "problem" is not a picture of cars blocking a supercharger. A "problem" is when you want to charge and a stall is not available. I did not see a Tesla in the photo.

We can be the "victim" and call "the man" whenever someone inappropriately infringes on an EV parking space, or we can be part of the community, have a "conversation" (that is the woke term, right?), and see if we can work things out.

I've seen superchargers completely blocked due to parades and other events. 2 hours for a bunch of people occasionally meeting on a Sunday morning to enjoy their cars is not that big a deal.

Our CT Tesla group meets every month at a Starbucks, using their parking spaces. Starbucks has not harrassed us - even when people show up with their Dunkin Donuts coffee cup!
 
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It is pretty easy. I find if the owner is not right there, putting your greasy hands on the car and sitting in it with your cup of coffee finds them pretty quickly. :)

A "problem" is not a picture of cars blocking a supercharger. A "problem" is when you want to charge and a stall is not available. I did not see a Tesla in the photo.

We can be the "victim" and call "the man" whenever someone inappropriately infringes on an EV parking space, or we can be part of the community, have a "conversation" (that is the woke term, right?), and see if we can work things out.

I've seen superchargers completely blocked due to parades and other events. 2 hours for a bunch of people occasionally meeting on a Sunday morning to enjoy their cars is not that big a deal.

Our CT Tesla group meets every month at a Starbucks, using their parking spaces. Starbucks has not harrassed us - even when people show up with their Dunkin Donuts coffee cup!
I see your point but it’s not quite the same. That would be like a Tesla group meeting at a gas station and parking at all the stalls. It’s just not cool
 
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It is pretty easy. I find if the owner is not right there, putting your greasy hands on the car and sitting in it with your cup of coffee finds them pretty quickly. :)

A "problem" is not a picture of cars blocking a supercharger. A "problem" is when you want to charge and a stall is not available. I did not see a Tesla in the photo.

We can be the "victim" and call "the man" whenever someone inappropriately infringes on an EV parking space, or we can be part of the community, have a "conversation" (that is the woke term, right?), and see if we can work things out.

I've seen superchargers completely blocked due to parades and other events. 2 hours for a bunch of people occasionally meeting on a Sunday morning to enjoy their cars is not that big a deal.

Our CT Tesla group meets every month at a Starbucks, using their parking spaces. Starbucks has not harrassed us - even when people show up with their Dunkin Donuts coffee cup!

That's a little different. If you're parking in disabled spots or blocking the drive-through, that would be more equivocal.

When you stop to charge on a trip, you usually want to minimize the time it takes and be on your way. I've been to the Yorktown SC a few times, and there is a lot of space in the parking lot and on a Sunday morning it's empty, aside from this gathering, so blocking the charger is unnecessary. As EV adoption gathers pace, some level of enforcement might be necessary to deter people from blocking chargers - such as the cones above.

The reality is, one person ignores (or doesn't see) the sign and parks, then everyone else follows like sheep. It's not so much malice, it's partly lack of awareness, partly selfishness and partly not really caring because there's no consequence - and if you think about it, all three of those reasons are basically the same.

As an aside, I don't know why your post was full of "quotation" marks, it makes you come across a little condescending, which I am sure was not your intent.
 
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I don't know why your post was full of "quotation" marks, it makes you come across a little condescending .
The quotoation marks were not meant to be condescending. They were meant to say this is not a problem.

Sure, they should not park there. But a problem occurs not when someone blocks a supercharger, but when someone wants to charge and cannot. The organizers asking people not to park there, putting out some cones, and making it "not cool" is the right response - not worth starting an ICE/EV war over.

These meetups occur all over, and the organizers and participants know they are "guests" and work very hard ot make sure they respect the merchants and others in the area. Seems this has worked itself out peacefully. No coal rolling, peel outs, or shots fired.

We need to find ways to get along with others (kudos to the Tesla owners that show up at the event!), rather then make a federal case out of every inconsequential transgression.

Parking in a handicapped spot is much different and carries a civil penalty. There is no equivalence. If you don't believe me, grab a cup of coffee with a friend that is in a wheelchair. They'll explain it to you.
 
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The quotoation marks were not meant to be condescending. They were meant to say this is not a problem.

I just edited my post, I am sure you didn't intend it that way. People often do it as a way to mock the use of certain terms and without knowing the person or their motives, it's tricky to read.

Sure, they should not park there. But a problem occurs not when someone blocks a supercharger, but when someone wants to charge and cannot. The organizers asking people not to park there, putting out some cones, and making it "not cool" is the right response - not worth starting an ICE/EV war over.

OK this is splitting hairs a little, but given you can't predict whether someone will definitely need to charge, you could make a fairly safe assumption that it's likely and not block it. It's a bit like saying deciding one day not to run the train service isn't a problem, unless someone is at the station waiting to get on it.

These meetups occur all over, and the organizers and participants know they are "guests" and work very hard ot make sure they respect the merchants and others in the area. Seems this has worked itself out peacefully. No coal rolling, peel outs, or shots fired.

The organizers do for sure. Participants might assume that such agreements and considerations have already been made for them and often even participants can be a little entitled. When I used to organize meetups, I'd always rope in complainers by making them organizers - they ended up being very good at it, or if they declined they also stopped complaining.

We need to find ways to get along with others (kudos to the Tesla owners that show up at the event!), rather then make a federal case out of every inconsequential transgression.

Parking in a handicapped spot is much different and carries a civil penalty. There is no equivalence.

It's funny that your second point makes a point of illustrating false equivalence, and yet your first point uses exaggeration for illustrative effect.

Regardless this is a really interesting point. While parking in a handicapped spot (hypothetically) carries a severe penalty if you're displaying a fake placard, on private property, it's not enforceable without posting relevant signs. It's actually at the discretion of the property owner. In my personal opinion, parking in a disabled spot is a more egregious act than parking in a charging spot, but the principle of using enforcement to deter this behavior has the same effect. Additionally, often the motivation for parking in disabled spots or charging spots is the same - convenience and lack of broader consideration.

I think the legality of something or potential consequences for something should not be the only determine factors for being a good social actor. It's not illegal to fart in an elevator, but it's not great behavior.
 
I never had to shovel a path to a charger until yesterday.

My spouses' family live near this SC. They don’t have a charging station that I can use outside of a 110 outlet. So when I need to top off quickly this is usually a great place. Yesterday, (9 Feb 2021) We had to make an emergency up and back run for a family emergency. It was my first winter visit to this SC. I've been to many chargers throughout the mid-Atlantic and northeast in the winter. Never have I needed to dig a path to the charger.

Yes, it is winter, that is why I carry extra clothing and shovel, in case I or someone else needs to be dug out of a snow bank. I know the crew that clears the snow from the area isn't contracted byTesla. However, it looks like they are trying to block the chargers, some chargers may be damaged with the plug off the hook and in the snow. The snow is piled several feet high in front of three or four stations. The others are reachable IF you are prepared to dig a path. You will need something sturdier than a plastic snow shovel, the snow is compacted and in places just block so ice.

To reach a charger I set my MS to the highest setting, backed in until it pushed snow, tried to connect, pulled out, shoveled, and tried again, and again until I could plug in. Then, I helped an older lady in a M3 perform the same process. The one MX I saw was able to push in far enough to connect without shoveling.

Sorry I didn't take a photo.