Tesla Owners "ICEing" Public Chargers?

[rickgt]

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.

Yes, I always leave my cell number and fact that I'm charging on the dash of my car. I have had the unpleasant event of being unplugged and someone else using it. Happens with J1772 and with ChaDemo cables.

 

[roblab]

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?

I think you did the right thing, although here again it might be good to have a cell # on the dash. And if I unplugged their car, I would certainly leave a cell # under a wiper blade. Though I bet they'd never call. I think you probably helped educate them.

This is a problem with J-plugs. I wonder if a cell # label on the adapter would help make it more noticeable. "DO NOT UNPLUG. 727-455-0836" I think I will do that for my J-plug adapter.

 

[liuping]

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!

If you absolutely do not want someone from disconnecting you, you can use something like this: CapturePro Charging Lock for Tesla Model S to lock the j1772 plug to the Tesla adaptor.

If you use this type of lock, please leave a number to be reached and be extra careful to monitor your charge and return when its done, since you will be blocking all others from charging, even in an emergency.

 

[mhan00]

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.

I agree with you, but unfortunately it's generally most convenient and thus most cost effective to install chargers in premium spots because they're closest to the building and thus closest to the electrical.

 

[vandacca]

Back to the icing issue, maybe we can create an "Hall of Shame" thread and post pictures/license plates of the culprits? Then you can leave a note on the windshield explaining that these spots are for charging, and that their license has been recorded, along with a link to the TMC thread.

 

[pdxgibby]

Back to the icing issue, maybe we can create an "Hall of Shame" thread and post pictures/license plates of the culprits? Then you can leave a note on the windshield explaining that these spots are for charging, and that their license has been recorded, along with a link to the TMC thread.

Exactly. You've got to catch them in the act, people.

 

[bro1999]

Some EV owners (regardless of brand) are simply a-holes. Not much you can do about them.

 

[MP3Mike]

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.

No, you run a single large feeder wire to a sub-panel, and then feed all of your 20A outlets off that.

For example at PDX they put in 42 Level 1 EVSEs. (They didn't just put a 20A outlet.)

I think more airports should do something like that.

 

[Cyclone]

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 see this all the time at work by a Leaf owner who feels the Chargepoints are reserved parking for his/her EV. Pisses me off to no end. It's bad enough when a gas-car ICEs us, but parking w/o charging an EV is really being an EVhole!

 

[Cyclone]

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.

I think you did the right thing, although here again it might be good to have a cell # on the dash. And if I unplugged their car, I would certainly leave a cell # under a wiper blade. Though I bet they'd never call. I think you probably helped educate them.

This is a problem with J-plugs. I wonder if a cell # label on the adapter would help make it more noticeable. "DO NOT UNPLUG. 727-455-0836" I think I will do that for my J-plug adapter.

I use one of these:

 

[Az_Rael]

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 would have done the same thing, plus maybe leaving the other X a note about not unplugging other people's cars.

I used to be friendlier at public chargers, but I have been unplugged so many times now that my patience wears thin. I avoid them now and drive on gas instead (sad as that is). When I get my S I will probably buy the lock mentioned here. BTW, I never leave my car parked in a charging spot once it's done charging, so the lock shouldn't be an issue.

 

[earlyretirement]

If you absolutely do not want someone from disconnecting you, you can use something like this: CapturePro Charging Lock for Tesla Model S to lock the j1772 plug to the Tesla adaptor.

If you use this type of lock, please leave a number to be reached and be extra careful to monitor your charge and return when its done, since you will be blocking all others from charging, even in an emergency.

This is clever. Has anyone bought one of these?

 

[Mknac]

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 was ICEd by Teslas at Montgomery Mall the other day. Both super chargers and the wall chargers we plugged into cars and weren't charging. (not dealer cars) Nobody came out to move their cars to give others access. Tesla, ICE you can't teach courtesy.

 

[Cyclone]

Both super chargers and the wall chargers we plugged into cars and weren't charging.

How do you know they weren't charging?

 

[bro1999]

 

[liuping]

This is clever. Has anyone bought one of these?

I have one, but have not actually used it yet. I rarely actually require a J1772 charge to get where I'm going. I bought it back before there were so many superchargers.

 

[goneskiian]

I use one of these:

Care to share where we can get one?

Thanks!

 

[Cyclone]

Care to share where we can get one?

Thanks!

Introducing the Take Charge and Go EV Charging Indicator Hanger | Take Charge and Go

 

[Mknac]

How do you know they weren't charging?

Two of them the dash screens were on. One I could see the charge level at the white marker. The other I saw on the dash as it finished charging. The others no geen light at the plug port. Doesn't the port always flash green while charging?

 

[Cyclone]

Two of them the dash screens were on. One I could see the charge level at the white marker. The other I saw on the dash as it finished charging.

^ Good, so they indeed were finished charging.

The others no geen light at the plug port. Doesn't the port always flash green while charging?

Nope. When the car is locked, the green light turns off after a minute or so, even if it is still charging.