Tesla Owners "ICEing" Public Chargers?

[trmmcd]

At Boston Logan airport I recently tried to use the public chargers that are available in the Parking garage. My Chargepoint app indicated that there were two free chargers. After a bit of searching I found them. However, all of the charging spots were occupied by Tesla's - but two were not connected to the chargers creating the scenario where Chargepoint thinks they are accessible but the are effectively blocked.

With the position of the chargers - it didn't seem like anyone else could have used them - so I am thinking they were used for parking convenience rather than having been unplugged by someone other than the owner.

Have others seen this scenario? Is there an explanation that makes sense. I hate to think that Tesla owners are not respectful of proper utilization of charging stations.

 

[McRat]

EV charge spots will end up like handicap spots. People who don't really require them will be the majority of users.

Something will need to be done eventually. As EV sales go up, more an more deadbeats will steal the spots.

 

[pdxgibby]

Even harmless attempts at vigilante retribution isn't a good representation of the EV community...though neither is abusing EV charging spots and using them as preferred parking.

Parking in an EV spot and not using the charging is really bad form. Not only that, but with the long-range abilities Tesla has compared to other EV's, often times a Tesla does not necessary NEED the charge. I try to avoid using public charging unless absolutely necessary, even at my office where facilities are available.

Most EV's have such small range that they need the facilities to be able to make it home at the end of the day, whereas I don't, so I don't use it.

 

[jbcarioca]

My most recent case was at a local Whole Foods. A young woman parked her non-plugin Prius in one of the EV stops. When I told her they were for EV's only she said "but my car IS electric". Luckily she was leaving anyway so I got my charge. That actually was my first experience with such an issue.

 

[electricity]

I was wondering what was proper to do at a hotel. Say you get there at 6pm and your car is done charging at 1am. Obviously your car will be at the same spot till the next morning when you leave say , 10am? What do you ? Get up at 1am and move it ? I don't think so... how is this handled or should be handled ?

 

[TexasEV]

I was wondering what was proper to do at a hotel. Say you get there at 6pm and your car is done charging at 1am. Obviously your car will be at the same spot till the next morning when you leave say , 10am? What do you ? Get up at 1am and move it ? I don't think so... how is this handled or should be handled ?

If there's another car needing to plug in and you're going to be there until 10AM, perhaps you could charge for a few hours in the evening, move the car to let the other person use it, the plug back in for an hour or two in the morning before you leave? Or maybe you could get by with less than 100% charge, or plan to leave an hour later in the morning? If both owners use courtesy and common sense it will work out.

 

[Electric700]

For cars that are not connected to chargers, I don't see a problem with leaving a friendly note saying something to the effect of "Please move your car when it's done charging so that others can use the station".

 

[TexasEV]

Signs should say "EV charging only" rather than "EV parking only". Not that it's enforceable, but it puts the idea in clueless EV owners' heads that the convenient space has a practical purpose and it's not there to reward them for buying an EV.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

I was wondering what was proper to do at a hotel. Say you get there at 6pm and your car is done charging at 1am. Obviously your car will be at the same spot till the next morning when you leave say , 10am? What do you ? Get up at 1am and move it ? I don't think so... how is this handled or should be handled ?

Some hotels have valets which will move the car. In places without valets, you could leave a note on the dash with your phone number so they could contact you if they had to charge during the night.

 

[NikeWings]

Have others seen this scenario? Is there an explanation that makes sense. I hate to think that Tesla owners are not respectful of proper utilization of charging stations.

There isn't any legitimate explanation that makes sense, but the selfish will try to justify one.

 

[David99]

I've seen it many times. Mostly Tesla owners, actually. But even when plugged in, many don't activate the charger and many really don't need to charge. It really is about getting a convenient parking spot. I've said this many times, charging stations are often put in the wrong spot. They pick parking spots near entrances at busy parking lots and many EV owners abuse this as, 'hey I get a premium parking spot'. I used to live next to a busy mall with 6 chargers right by the entrance. They were always busy and the majority never activated the charger. They didn't need to charge, they just wanted the better parking spot. I've seen this all over town at many many chargers. Disneyland in Anaheim is a great example. They placed the chargers at the absolute best spot. Every time I checked about 2/3 or EVs plugged in but never started the charger to avoid paying for it. They only want to save 2 minutes of walking.

Chargers need to be installed in the most inconvenient place at a parking lot. This would eliminate this problem altogether. No one would want to park there unless they really need to charge and then having to walk an extra minute to the upper level or far corner is totally fine.

 

[HookBill]

My guess is most of these people are not members of TMC. Perhaps leave a note with a link to this thread on their windshield with the hopes they will come visit us and learn what is viewed as proper EV parking/charging behavior.

Tesla Owners "ICEing" Public Chargers?

 

[andrewket]

With respect to airports, for long term parking, I've been saying for awhile that ChargePoint and other J1772 EVSEs are the wrong solution. Instead, I'd rather see the airports use their funds to install 50 120v outlets at the far end of the lot. More then enough to get a sufficient charge while you're gone for several days to drive back home. By being at the end of the lot they are far less likely to be ICEd or EVJ'd. Typically public charging stations end up being the closer spots because it reduces the cost of running power lines from the building. If you're installing two J1772's, the cost of that run is a significant part of the per spot cost. If you're installing 50 outlets, the marginal cost to put them at the back is small.

 

[TexasEV]

With respect to airports, for long term parking, I've been saying for awhile that ChargePoint and other J1772 EVSEs are the wrong solution. Instead, I'd rather see the airports use their funds to install 50 120v outlets at the far end of the lot. More then enough to get a sufficient charge while you're gone for several days to drive back home. By being at the end of the lot they are far less likely to be ICEd or EVJ'd. Typically public charging stations end up being the closer spots because it reduces the cost of running power lines from the building. If you're installing two J1772's, the cost of that run is a significant part of the per spot cost. If you're installing 50 outlets, the marginal cost to put them at the back is small.

The problem is no one makes any money selling 20A outlets to airport parking lots, as the EVSE salesmen do when the sell J1772s, and the parking lot owners don't know any better.

 

[GoCanes]

Here is a scenario that has happened to me twice in the past month. I plug in my X at a public Chargepoint J1772 (so I'm paying for the charge) and leave for a few hours. Suddenly, I get a notification that my X stopped charging. When I return to my X, I find another X parked very close to me and the driver had pulled the J1772 out of my adapter & pulled in their car!

Putting aside the rudeness issue (and whether I paid for their charge), is there some protocol that should be communicated to new X owners? In both cases, the X's still had temporary tags, so the owners are new to the charging scene. BTW, in both cases, I stopped their charging session & plugged in my X again. Do two wrongs make a right, or was I also being rude?

 

[idoco]

 

[brucet999]

Typically public charging stations end up being the closer spots because it reduces the cost of running power lines from the building. If you're installing two J1772's, the cost of that run is a significant part of the per spot cost. If you're installing 50 outlets, the marginal cost to put them at the back is small.

You seem to be assuming that 120V circuits have no appreciable cost. For every 100 feet of 12ga wire for a 20A 120V circuit, line loss is about 5%. To put 50 such outlets hundreds of feet from any buildings would require 50 x hundreds of feet of much heavier wires (#8 or maybe even #6) to compensate for line loss, and a giant breaker panel to handle 50 20A breakers.

 

[andrewket]

You seem to be assuming that 120V circuits have no appreciable cost. For every 100 feet of 12ga wire for a 20A 120V circuit, line loss is about 5%. To put 50 such outlets hundreds of feet from any buildings would require 50 x hundreds of feet of much heavier wires (#8 or maybe even #6) to compensate for line loss, and a giant breaker panel to handle 50 20A breakers.

Of course there is a cost. But instead of 4 spots, for the same cost they could probably have 12, and reduce the ICE issue.

 

[ecarfan]

Putting aside the rudeness issue (and whether I paid for their charge), is there some protocol that should be communicated to new X owners? In both cases, the X's still had temporary tags, so the owners are new to the charging scene. BTW, in both cases, I stopped their charging session & plugged in my X again. Do two wrongs make a right, or was I also being rude?

I have seen posts on TMC before about problems like you describe. I'm not going to make a judgement about who was "rude", it doesn't matter, I am simply going to offer a possible solution.

When you are charging in a situation like you describe, at a publicly available J1772, on a piece of paper write your name, cell #, the time you started charging, and state that you will be checking your Tesla app to determine when your car is done charging and at that time you will come unplug your car, or they can call/text your cell and ask if they can unplug you to charge their EV. Tape the piece of paper next to your charge port.

This assumes of course that there is cell service at the charger site and wherever you are located while your car is charging.

Obviously a selfish person could ignore your note and unplug you and start charging their EV. Since the Tesla J1772 adaptor does not lock itself to the charging cable you cannot prevent someone doing that. If you have cell service you can monitor the charging state of your car.

So all I am suggesting is some common sense and common courtesy could solve the problem you describe.

Such situations are why I try to avoid public J1772 chargers, but sometimes they are needed.

 

[rickgt]

At Boston Logan airport I recently tried to use the public chargers that are available in the Parking garage. My Chargepoint app indicated that there were two free chargers. After a bit of searching I found them. However, all of the charging spots were occupied by Tesla's - but two were not connected to the chargers creating the scenario where Chargepoint thinks they are accessible but the are effectively blocked.

With the position of the chargers - it didn't seem like anyone else could have used them - so I am thinking they were used for parking convenience rather than having been unplugged by someone other than the owner.

Have others seen this scenario? Is there an explanation that makes sense. I hate to think that Tesla owners are not respectful of proper utilization of charging stations.

I have preprinted cards that I leave on cars that are blocking charging sites. It is very polite, but ICEing or Electric Cars that are not charging get the same cards. It's abusive to use a slot and not be charging a vehicle.