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Why is the charge port in the back?
- Thread starter sleepydoc
- Start date
Yes it is safer.
And while it is harder entering the space, that investment in effort is more than recovered with the ease, speed and safety when pulling out.
EVer Hopeful
Active Member
I pull through parking spots whenever I can,
I do that too with the Prius V at Home Depot or Lowe's, then inevitably someone parks behind me and I come out with an armful of stuff and can't get to the liftgate
EVer Hopeful
Active Member
below is from It’s much safer to back into parking spaces. Why don’t we do it?
Every year, some 300 people are killed and 18,000 are injured by drivers who are backing up, usually in driveways or parking lots.
There’s a simple way to prevent a lot of these accidents: We could back into parking space so that we don’t have to back out.
Note that I’m talking about spaces in lots and garages that are perpendicular to the wall or perimeter. When it comes to parallel parking for a space on the street, everybody backs in, except for jerks like George’s nemesis in this classic Seinfeld bit.
In a parking lot, the AAA thinks we should back in, recommending that “drivers reverse into parking spaces whenever possible, except where prohibited by law or parking lot restrictions.”
Tom Vanderbilt, author of the classic book Traffic, thinks so, too. As does Car Talk. Here’s how host Ray Magliozzi concisely explained the dangers of backing out of a space: “While your car's butt is sticking out into traffic, you can't see if there are cars coming, because your view is blocked by the passenger compartments of the cars or SUVs parked next to you.”
And yet most of us don’t do this.
It is cumbersome to back out of a space, to be sure. But it would seem to be much harder to back in. In the first scenario, you’re backing into the universe, with the all the margin of error that implies. In the other, you’re backing into an unforgiving rectangle.
There are several theories, but little evidence, as to why Americans don’t often back in
In “Predicting productivity gains from parking behavior,” a 2014 article published in the International Journal of Emerging Markets, author Shaomin Li, a professor of management at Old Dominion University, describes visiting Taiwan. He notices that, in contrast to the US, most drivers there backed into spaces:
“Needless to say, back-in parking takes more time and effort than head-in parking. Yet, it is easier, quicker, and safer when exiting. Thus we may conjecture that people take the trouble to back in demonstrate the ability to delay gratification; they want to invest more time and effort now so they can enjoy the fruits of their labor later. They demonstrate a culture of long-term orientation.”
Li took photographs of how cars were parked in US and Taiwan lots, and had friends do the same in the so-called BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The percent backed-in was:
US: 5.7
Brazil: 17.1
India: 25.4
Russia: 35
Taiwan: 59.4
China: 88
Li then overlaid the back-in parking rates with the countries’ annual productivity gain between 2001 and 2011. There was an .83 positive correlation. Brazil and the United States had the lowest productivity gain, at 1.3 and 1.5 percent, respectively, while China had the highest, at 17.8 percent.
His thesis is plausible, but the study has its weaknesses: It shows only correlation; there was no logic to the selection of lots or time of day; and, most troubling, the sample size was small, ranging from 106 to 159 cars per country.
Mary Smith, chair of the Geometrics Committee of the Parking Consultants Council, may have a better explanation of the small percentage of people in this country who back in. As Smith observed in an email:
“Americans are not taught to back into stalls either during instruction or by observation of the habits of other drivers. This results in the average American not being comfortable backing into a parking stall.… Europeans are more often challenged to get cars into and out of tight spaces and learn to back cars into parking spaces at an early age.”
(Smith is yet another authority who recommends backing in, calling it “safer overall.”)
howardnj
Member
SalisburySam
Active Member
I usually back into parking spaces and always do so in major multi-level parking garages during well-attended events. However, if I’m going to a grocery or home improvement store and know I’ll need easy access to the back end to load the groceries/equipment, I’ll park nose first. It is almost impossible to load groceries if I’ve backed into a parking spot.
Here is a 4 year old response from the designer himself about multiple charging ports from when the Cybertruck was unveiled:
Our suggestion was to have multiple charge ports on the truck, perhaps one at each corner, though it wasn't in the cards. Tesla chief designer Franz von Holzhausen tells us the additional wiring required would add too much weight.
The charging solution? The plan is to build Cybertruck-friendly pull-through chargers, which will minimize the headache of charging with a trailer, just as standalone diesel pumps do for the 80-foot tractor-trailers hauling cargo across the country.
fholbert
Active Member
Notice when you see a fleet parking lot, typically all vehicles are backed in. Employees are trained and required to back in. That’s because the highest % of auto accidents are when backing out of a parking space. Pretty amazing when you realize how few miles you drive in reverse in your lifetime.
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yes. and valet car parkers, and auto service workers are all trained to back in customer cars because it overall results in fewer accidents and customer complaints because it is in fact over all safer. It’s pretty obvious why too for anyone who pauses briefly to consider it.
EVer Hopeful
Active Member
wait - so as reversing out of a parking spot is dangerous, the answer is to reverse into the spot . . .
Revisiting this - now, 2 years later.
I still don’t buy the backing in excuses being made. They strike me as a made up reason for Tesla apologists.
I’ve also noticed that the majority of charging ports on newer cars are front left. There really is no technical reason Tesla can’t.
I still don’t buy the backing in excuses being made. They strike me as a made up reason for Tesla apologists.
I’ve also noticed that the majority of charging ports on newer cars are front left. There really is no technical reason Tesla can’t.
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Yes that is the answer. Did you need a further explanation?
Backing into parking spaces is safer, especially without cross traffic alert. I always back into parking whenever possible.
Many times backing in is easier also, if you want to end up straight. I think Tesla found the perfect spot for the charge port, at least for me it is.
Many times backing in is easier also, if you want to end up straight. I think Tesla found the perfect spot for the charge port, at least for me it is.
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boulder.dude
Member
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
legendsk
Member
legendsk
Member
There might be a correlation between the optimist who thinks, "if I back out slowly, I can rely on other drivers stopping or even backing up if needed to avoid me and I don't have as much risk of damaging someone else's car parking nose in";
and the pessimist who thinks, "other drivers are less competent and will run into me while playing with their phones and some of them are even just looking for the opportunity to pull in behind me when I'm backing out, so it will be my fault if I damage their car and they can have it repaired at my expense".
and the pessimist who thinks, "other drivers are less competent and will run into me while playing with their phones and some of them are even just looking for the opportunity to pull in behind me when I'm backing out, so it will be my fault if I damage their car and they can have it repaired at my expense".
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