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What is the etiquette: Office building paid parking with charging stations

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There are probably 15 other cars that could use it which is why it is so frustrating when they do not move. Against my better judgement I have left a few nice notes just asking politely as possible for them to consider moving their car when it is done charging and that has not been successful.

I guess even another EV can be a pickup driver sometimes...

Get them towed. Make a daily complaint to building management until it happens.

Put notes on windows of other EVs asking them to help you report the offender. You’re probably not the only person being inconvenienced.

Set up an mailing list to track charging time, and once you have enough fellow EV members share it with the building management and ask them to post that it’s required in order to use the charger.

(we have a version of this here set up through our chargers. I can tap the Charger with my card for it and it will ping me when whoever is plugged in is no longer drawing energy, and also spams me when that person is me. This is coupled with an office email list so if needed I can report a non mover and the office sends someone to make them move...)
 
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Anecdotally, my wife drives the 3 to work everyday and parks in her company's garage. It has two ev charging stations for employee use. Early adopters had the run of it and stayed parked there all day. For 2 years it was like this, now there are more ev and ours. Fortunately, we don't need the charge since we charge at home with a 14-50. The slots are invariably taken by the Company President with a model S and a coworker in her group in a Leaf. So, you're not kicking the President out of "his" spot, but you have to get the coworker to actively move it. Management is suppose to police parking in those slots, but as in many cases they don't much care to enforce any rules.
 
We have only four chargers at my workplace. With the EV state credit here it becomes more competitive daily to get one of the spots because there is no time limit those four people sit on the chargers all day, I have to get there earlier everyday. What really gets me is when tiny battery hybrids sit there all day when I actually need the charge to get home. I think that the etiquette should be using these stations if you have a need, not just to grab some free juice.
 
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I guess even another EV can be a pickup driver sometimes...

Get them towed. Make a daily complaint to building management until it happens.

Put notes on windows of other EVs asking them to help you report the offender. You’re probably not the only person being inconvenienced.

Set up an mailing list to track charging time, and once you have enough fellow EV members share it with the building management and ask them to post that it’s required in order to use the charger.

(we have a version of this here set up through our chargers. I can tap the Charger with my card for it and it will ping me when whoever is plugged in is no longer drawing energy, and also spams me when that person is me. This is coupled with an office email list so if needed I can report a non mover and the office sends someone to make them move...)

I was just thinking and cringing at the thought of maybe the pickup icers are basing it off of the small percentage of EV drivers that have the entitlement attitude such as people that stay in charger spots for the entire day.
 
I actually don't have a problem with this behavior as long as they left some indicator saying "feel free to unplug me when done charging or after xxx time" and as long as that time listed was not over four hours. I actually think in many ways this is more polite (at least to other EV users) than parking in the EV spot. This way if another EV user shows up and there is no other stall with charge cord empty you can go ahead and park in the EV spot and if the Leaf is done you can plug in right then. If it is not done then you can park in the EV spot to reserve it and then you can come back and move the charge cord later when the Leaf is done (or when their 4 hrs is up). The only downside I see to this is if the parking lot is completely full and by leaving the EV spot open you are blocking a non EV user. One big plus side too is that say the Leaf only takes two hours to charge and you show up after that. You can then pull into the empty EV spot and immediately charge by moving the cable rather than having to wait up to another two hours for the person to move their car (in the 4 hr window).

So the garage getting to capacity (both for all cars and charging stations) is definitely an issue here, and I have never seen anyone park in the vacated charging spot and/or move the cable over. There is no such note as you mentioned, and I can't be alone in being hesitant to unplug the car of someone I haven't met. Also, maybe this is common knowledge, but I don't know how to verify a leaf or other EV has finished charging. Is this really common behavior? I just park for four hours and move. Not sure why that is a challenge for people.
 
I have tried to beat them but they get here so early. I always move within 5-10 minutes of my charge being complete because I do not want to be that guy. There are probably 15 other cars that could use it which is why it is so frustrating when they do not move. Against my better judgement I have left a few nice notes just asking politely as possible for them to consider moving their car when it is done charging and that has not been successful. I needed to charge today so after their vehicle sat there fully charged for over 4 hours I unplugged them. Not something I want to do but I need the charger today.

I would get there @ 6AM just to F with them, but guess that's just me.
 
I am considering it and when I am done charging I will tell a co-worker to come follow me with his 3 so he can plug in and we will own the spot. Muahaha :D

I would totally do it.

At my last job we had two crummy EV spots at the very end of the garage... and then next to them was a spot reserved for a VP. The VP would park his $150,000 Land Rover a foot over the spot into the EV spot. I did not own an EV at the time but my plan was to take delivery of my Model 3, then show up 15 minutes before him every day for a month and park it 1" from the line to his special spot, because he was a douche nozzle.

Then Tesla couldn't deliver my Model 3 in July and I changed jobs and that never got to happen.

Damn you to hell Elon Musk!

:)

//P.S.

The spots were crummy because neither had charging and one of them was right against the garage wall with no spacer, so basically whoever tried to park in that thing was either going to be climbing out of the trunk or trying their best not to bang the car next to them.
 
If there are extra spots after 2hours move to one of them. Otherwise vacate the spot for at least an hour. If no one takes it then park there again.

Also depends on the time of day. I work overnight from time to time. We will leave are cars in the 2hr only spots for 10hrs if we need to as no else wants them.

Where I live the tax break you get as a company is way larger then the cost of providing free charging.
 
How many spots are there in total? As long as there is capacity (spots) for any newcomer I would not have much of a concern about staying longer if you actually needed the charge. Two hours is quite short btw for signage. Four hours is more common. That lets you park in the AM and then move at lunch, or park at lunch and just drive home at the end of the day.

Those are Clipper Creek chargers and I do not believe they have any facilities for charging so I don't think that would be an issue.

Question: What voltage and amperage are the chargers? (I am trying to figure out how much actual money you cost them to park there) It is highly likely that there is no way you can actually cost them money since you are paying for the parking - I suspect the parking is more $$$ than the power they are providing. To the parking garage, what does it matter if you get two hours of charge and someone else gets two hours, or you get four hours and someone else gets none (I am just saying it is not a financial difference to them so I doubt they will police it).

I also feel it is extremely unlikely that they would tow you (a paying customer) for overstaying by an hour or two. If all spots were full and there was competition for the spaces that is a different story, but if lightly used I doubt anyone cares.

I do agree that having a note in the window with contact info is a nice thing to do. Here is one concept for that:
EV UFO / EVfrisbee - electric car Charging Notice - Frisbee - Electric Vehicle EVcharging EVcharger Tesla Model 3 BoltEV NissanLEAF evufo

I personally want one that says "I am opportunity charging - feel free to disconnect me if you require power or contact me at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you need me to move". I generally never *need* to charge for my around town trips, but I will charge if it is available.

We have four spots at my office parking garage and folks park there a lot without even bothering to plug in (that is a jerk move). The sign says limit 4 hours. After four hours the price on Chargepoint doubles which I think is a very fair way to keep people from parking there all day (but that assumes they actually plug in). The parking company seems like they could care less - often times these are only installed as they are required to in order to meet LEED compliance, etc...



My personal feeling is that if you are 100% sure someone is done charging and you have a way to move the power cord to another legal parking spot I have zero issues with folks unplugging and taking the charge cable to use. Chargers are a limited resource and once you are done charging I think they are pretty fair game. It is kind of nice that J1772 does not lock into the car by default so this is an option. I think the Tesla's are now unlocking when done charging to avoid freezing weather causing the solenoid to stick (but I have not verified this myself).



I actually don't have a problem with this behavior as long as they left some indicator saying "feel free to unplug me when done charging or after xxx time" and as long as that time listed was not over four hours. I actually think in many ways this is more polite (at least to other EV users) than parking in the EV spot. This way if another EV user shows up and there is no other stall with charge cord empty you can go ahead and park in the EV spot and if the Leaf is done you can plug in right then. If it is not done then you can park in the EV spot to reserve it and then you can come back and move the charge cord later when the Leaf is done (or when their 4 hrs is up). The only downside I see to this is if the parking lot is completely full and by leaving the EV spot open you are blocking a non EV user. One big plus side too is that say the Leaf only takes two hours to charge and you show up after that. You can then pull into the empty EV spot and immediately charge by moving the cable rather than having to wait up to another two hours for the person to move their car (in the 4 hr window).

So it is 30 amps @ 7kw. Today I started charging at 9am and when I went down to move it I saw the parking attendant there. He said it was fine to leave it longer if I was still charging. I ended up leaving it for 5 hours. Parking cost me $18, so it felt good that I got their electricity for free. Stats screenshot attached

9220E75E-1B77-4355-B70D-CFE57155B998.png
 
So it is 30 amps @ 7kw. Today I started charging at 9am and when I went down to move it I saw the parking attendant there. He said it was fine to leave it longer if I was still charging. I ended up leaving it for 5 hours. Parking cost me $18, so it felt good that I got their electricity for free. Stats screenshot attached

View attachment 365815

Nice! Glad you got that sorted!

So my guess is that is commercial power at 208v. So 30a * 208v = 6.24 kW. 6.24*5*.12 = $3.74

So yeah, you paid them $18 for $3.74 worth of power. ;-) (though hard to say what their commercial power rate is - I assumed 12 cents per kWh though it is likely more complex than that due to demand charges)
 
I imagine ChargePoint is going to do well over the coming years thanks to their commercial offering where building managers set the rates. Not sure if there are other providers selling similar EVSEs... but 'dumb' charging stations will probably be less common in garages outside of malls or places that are using it as a free or cheap attraction amenity. I have also heard of garages offering EV-specific rates... more or less than general parking (go figure), but pricing in a block of theoretical energy time.

At my employer we're in the middle of a massive December shift in EV load; hundreds of people bought Model 3's over the holiday and have taken delivery, so the chargers have gone from not-too-busy to always-packed. I've moved my commute up to arrive at 7am instead of 7:30am to get one of the spots for some early morning juice on the company.

The price is set at $0.00 for the first 4 hours for registered employees carpools, $0.50/hour for others for 4 hours, then $5.00/hour after that to encourage turnover. Super interesting, but ChargePoint makes it pretty seamless and easy.
 
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I imagine ChargePoint is going to do well over the coming years thanks to their commercial offering where building managers set the rates. Not sure if there are other providers selling similar EVSEs... but 'dumb' charging stations will probably be less common in garages outside of malls or places that are using it as a free or cheap attraction amenity. I have also heard of garages offering EV-specific rates... more or less than general parking (go figure), but pricing in a block of theoretical energy time.

At my employer we're in the middle of a massive December shift in EV load; hundreds of people bought Model 3's over the holiday and have taken delivery, so the chargers have gone from not-too-busy to always-packed. I've moved my commute up to arrive at 7am instead of 7:30am to get one of the spots for some early morning juice on the company.

The price is set at $0.00 for the first 4 hours for registered employees carpools, $0.50/hour for others for 4 hours, then $5.00/hour after that to encourage turnover. Super interesting, but ChargePoint makes it pretty seamless and easy.
Is chargepoint a public company?