Valet parking at supercharger doesnt really help.

[No2DinosaurFuel]

Just trying to communicate more charging ediquette for those out there.

I was a burbank today. Obviously there is a line. As usual there is about 5-6 cars waiting to charge. There was a valet helping.

When this one guy finished he was still in the stall. It was a model X. Apparently he was waiting for his family who was not there. I was next in line and had to block cars and move around just so this ass-ho-le can take the spot waiting for his family. He could easily move his car to another noncharging parking spot and wait all he wanted.

Obviously he was smart enough to unplug first before waiting to avoid tesla idle fee. I mentioned to the valet person to tell them next time to vacate the spot and wait especially when there are 5-6 cars waiting.

Like I said before the idle fee doesnt work and really need to implement some combo of GPS, movement, switch to drive, moving wheel, detection for the idle fee.

Now for the valet part. I asked the guy if he knew when some car was done or not and he said he doesnt know. He still rely on people to return and vacate the spot. This is not optimized because people can take their time before returning. What tesla needs if they arw implementing the valet system is to allow those on the valet to know which cars are done and which are still charging.

 

[thecloud]

I'm imagining a LED-style display could be mounted on each supercharger cabinet, readable from a distance. This would display CHARGING to indicate when charging is actively occurring, much like a radio station's ON AIR sign. After you've reached your set point and charging is complete, the display could blink FINISHED to heap shame on you, and maybe to alert a nearby valet to move your car if that was an option.

When a spot is vacated (detected via weight sensors in the asphalt), the display would show the stall as AVAILABLE. Subsequently, when someone pulls into the spot, the state would transition from AVAILABLE to NOT CHARGING. Assuming the car isn't plugged in within a short amount of time, the sign could start flashing NOT CHARGING as an alert.

Human behavior being what it is, some people would just ignore the flashing. But knowing that their behavior has been observed by the charging station may cause some to think twice about parking without charging.

 

[David99]

That is a very rare situation. Someone unplugs but then sits in his/her car? I have never seen that at a busy station.

Either way, Burbank is a mess. I avoid it if I can.

 

[JHuberman]

A simpler software solution is to keep the charge port light and dash display on while the the car is locked at the supercharger.

An added benefit is that you can see who is almost finished when you need to pick a charger that is being shared.

 

[LuPapa]

I'm confused when you say there is a valet helping. When I think valet, I think of a guy who everyone gives their keys to and he is in charge of the cars and their parking and in this special case, their charging. So he can be moving cars that are done charging ?

If he's not moving the cars then it's not a valet to me. He says he doesn't know when the cars are done so he must not have the fobs.

Seems like these busy CA chargers could benefit from a real valet that pulls the cars in and out for you and handles the charging.

 

[bob_p]

The idle fee only detects when a car is connected to the charger - and not charging. It won't detect when someone is parked in the spot without charging.

Tesla could detect this in software - requiring the car to be moved after disconnecting from the charger - and if it doesn't move at least enough to clear the parking spot (combination of backing up, turning, and driving forward), Tesla could assume the car is still in the charging spot and continue to charge the idle fee.

[Does the console show that an idle fee is being charged???]

But this won't detect when someone parks in the spot and never charges (such as a non-Tesla vehicle).

The idle fee was a nice idea - but may not be enough to ensure chargers are being used efficiently.