Charging Station etiquette? Volt owners hogging the juice!!

[hodad66]

I am so sorry to hear about the thoughtless Volt owners. It's purely
a selfish act to take up a charger for the day when you have an
alternative. I charge at home only.

 

[thankyouOB]

i had an EV owner get in touch with me on Plugshare to use my home charger.
He was going to be visiting a tourist site near my home and I figured it would help him get to and from his house, which is about 35 miles away.
I was eager to help, but had second thoughts because I asked about his car and he told me he was a volt owner. I considered saying no as he could easily switch to gasoline and was only traveling from about 35 miles away, but figured i would take one for clean air.

he didnt even leave a thank you note, or a box of candy, or a single beer.
i chalked one up to the learning curve.

 

[adric22]

i had an EV owner get in touch with me on Plugshare to use my home charger.
He was going to be visiting a tourist site near my home and I figured it would help him get to and from his house, which is about 35 miles away.

Hmmm.. have kind of mixed feelings about this one. First of all, since we own a Volt and a Leaf, I can honestly say I'd never ask to charge at somebody's home in the Volt. Really, for my own convenience more than anything else. I'd rather drive home on gas than have to sit at a stranger's house for hours. However, my charger is on plugshare and is available for anyone to use. So far I've never had a single request to use it. But I don't think I'd treat a Volt owner any differently than a Leaf or any other pure EV. And I would not ask or expect to be paid or to have candy left, etc. However, I would have to ask myself why the person chose a Volt to begin with. I mean, if they are so insistent to avoid using the gas engine that they are willing to ask strangers for a charge, it sounds like they bought the wrong car. Don't get me wrong. When driving the Volt I'll often go out of my way to avoid gas usage. I've even sat at a public charger for an hour or two when i had nothing else to do if it meant getting home without using gas. But I would draw the line at charging at a stranger's house.

 

[gasmiser1]

As owner of a Volt and a Leaf, I understand the need to run on electricity for efficiency and lower operations costs.

I believe that newby Volt owners and EV owners need an education about charging etiquette. But only law enforcement with $ tickets/tow will fix the hogging of EV charging stations.

Through PlugShare, I have had 10 EV visitors in the last year at my house; everything from EV motorcycles, 2 Teslas, Fiat 500e, Leaf, Honda Fit EV and a Volt(same guy twice). I never expect a gift
for offering my charging station. Most people are courteous to offer a gift or $, but I always refuse.
The cost of electricity is very inexpensive and I want to encourage the EV movement in my city(a city without any public charging stations).

 

[thankyouOB]

i had an EV owner get in touch with me on Plugshare to use my home charger.
He was going to be visiting a tourist site near my home and I figured it would help him get to and from his house, which is about 35 miles away.

Hmmm.. have kind of mixed feelings about this one. First of all, since we own a Volt and a Leaf, I can honestly say I'd never ask to charge at somebody's home in the Volt. Really, for my own convenience more than anything else. I'd rather drive home on gas than have to sit at a stranger's house for hours. However, my charger is on plugshare and is available for anyone to use. So far I've never had a single request to use it. But I don't think I'd treat a Volt owner any differently than a Leaf or any other pure EV. And I would not ask or expect to be paid or to have candy left, etc. However, I would have to ask myself why the person chose a Volt to begin with. I mean, if they are so insistent to avoid using the gas engine that they are willing to ask strangers for a charge, it sounds like they bought the wrong car. Don't get me wrong. When driving the Volt I'll often go out of my way to avoid gas usage. I've even sat at a public charger for an hour or two when i had nothing else to do if it meant getting home without using gas. But I would draw the line at charging at a stranger's house.

how about a simple thank you note?

 

[beachfitrob]

We have a number of Volts and a Fusion Energi at my employee parking spot. I am a pilot. Sometimes I am gone overnight. Sometimes two. I have seen a PHEV take up a space overnight. There's no way for us to not stay overnight of course, and I HAVE to charge to get home in my 10 bar Leaf. (42 miles home, mostly highway. No way am I making a round trip.) I also can't come back and move it of course, and I can't sit there for hours waiting on it to get to at least 75% SOC. 3.3Kwhr charger and L2 only in these spots.

I recognize their right to plug in, but we have as many if not more Leafs who might HAVE to have a charge just to get home.

I have only seen the 6 spaces full once, and I took the 6th.

It seems like not much benefit to the PHEV crowds with the 20 or so mile range.

Not sure what to think here. The nice to have but not really necessary and of little benefit for them vs. the very real possibility of stranding a Leaf user or down the road, another BEV car. Haven't seen any other BEV but Leafs IIRC. My alternative is to use the Ecopark down the road, but that's $6. They have IIRC 8 spots, but another poor design: one side of the spots are against a building, which would add 2 spots that people could use to charge if someone else is done.

Fortunately it's working out so far, but the day I used spot #6 in employee parking, someone pulled into 'spot 7' which is right next to the last spot.

They put the chargers in a dumb spot: in a fence corner. So, no parking to the left on one side, and no parking behind the chargers either. So instead of 16 possible spaces that could use it (front and back and one on each end front and back) we get 7 possible spaces.

Did anyone consult on this design or is it just for tax benefit and not best use? That's two bad designs I've seen for expensive chargers. Why not do it right?

 

[LeftieBiker]

My alternative is to use the Ecopark down the road, but that's $6.

I think that, as a pilot, you can afford to pay the $6 on those occasions when you will be away overnight. If the lot were better laid out, you could leave a note saying it's ok to unplug your car, *provided there are no blue lights flashing on the dash*. One of the nice things about the Leaf is that it tells everyone around when it is and isn't charging. I wouldn't use the charge timer under those circumstances, for obvious reasons.

 

[RonDawg]

I think that, as a pilot, you can afford to pay the $6 on those occasions when you will be away overnight.

Just because beachfitrob is a pilot doesn't necessarily mean he makes a lot of money. Yeah a highly tenured Captain piloting a 747 for a major airline would, but if he's a younger pilot working the commuter routes, he can be making as little as $20k/year according to http://thetruthabouttheprofession.weebly.com/professional-pilot-salaries.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

His own blog seems to suggest he's far from making a 747 Captain's salary.

 

[Elephanthead]

For employee parking I would rather they put in a strip of 40 120 volt outlets then these dumb charging stations. Put them at the far end of the parking lot and give everyone what they need.

 

[dhanson865]

My alternative is to use the Ecopark down the road, but that's $6.

I think that, as a pilot, you can afford to pay the $6 on those occasions when you will be away overnight. If the lot were better laid out, you could leave a note saying it's ok to unplug your car, *provided there are no blue lights flashing on the dash*. One of the nice things about the Leaf is that it tells everyone around when it is and isn't charging. I wouldn't use the charge timer under those circumstances, for obvious reasons.

And what if he is away overnight 5 days a week? As in what if that is his normal work routine?

$6 a day seems excessive for employee parking. At the least they should have a monthly fee at a reduced rate if he needs it.

 

[RonDawg]

$6 a day seems excessive for employee parking.

Well if you work in Manhattan, $6 a day for parking is The Steal of the Century :lol:

That's likely the rate of a nearby public parking lot, and even then that's cheap for an airport, at least when compared to what the private and public lots around LAX and BUR charge.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

probably already suggested here but whenever possible we really need to have 4 parking spaces accessible to each charging station. that is rare here. we do have a few that straddle two spaces and charging stations do tend to be at the edges of parking areas but that is NOT always the case. have seen several where makeshift options were available.

 

[volty]

As I mentioned a few months ago on this thread, as a Volt driver, I just want to make sure that there are no Leaf-Volt misunderstandings due to the fact that our charging indicator lights are the opposite of each other. In other words, Volts have a solid green light *during* charging, and then a slow blinking light after getting a full charge. So as for 'Volt owners hogging space when they already have a full charge', I hope that is based on information from the charging station, and not on a misinterpretation of the solid green light which actually indicates active charging.

I don't do a lot of public charging, so I will refrain from opining on public charging etiquette, except to say that Volt owners obviously enjoy driving electric as much as anyone. (I also understand that it is different between wanting to be in electric mode, and having no other choice.)

 

[davewill]

... I don't do a lot of public charging, so I will refrain from opining on public charging etiquette, except to say that Volt owners obviously enjoy driving electric as much as anyone. (I also understand that it is different between wanting to be in electric mode, and having no other choice.)

It's pretty simple. First come, first served and don't bogart the EVSE if you're not actually charging.

 

[volty]

It's pretty simple.

I guess, although it seems like a lot of the tension on this issue arises from more complicated situations, like if someone has parked at a train station to commute for the day, or is stuck at work, or is a pilot flying overnight. What if you can only plug in for 0 hours or 8 hours? If you're driving a Leaf, seems like you gotta do what you gotta do. Maybe Volts should opt-out of all day charging at high demand stations whenever possible, even if that means running out of electric range. Or, as many people seem committed to trying to do, we can try to figure out the best way to share (especially if the EVSE is amenable to multi-car access).

Side note: I drive to downtown Palo Alto for work sometimes, and while there are many public charging stations, there are even more Teslas in this area, so I usually don't even bother looking for an open EVSE anymore, even though it often means my return trip is burning gas. Aren't their batteries big enough to not hog the public stations?

 

[jrreno]

I drove to the Tampa Airport from Sarasota stopping at a DCQC in Brandon. So on arrival at TPA I need about two hours of Level 2 to get home. I am here three hours early so no issue. The valet parking has chargers and if you ask they'll usually let you charge for a couple hours. So the valet says he thinks a couple of car cars are plugged in but I can check.
Present and plugged in are a Leaf and a Volt into the two Chargepoints. Both state " Charge Complete" I have enough room to be able to use the Volt plug. I check for any contact info, None present. I unplug the Volt and start the charge on my Leaf. The Volt starts its horn alarm. Joy. After a minute it stops.
I leave my cell phone number on my dash and head for the terminal.

 

[davewill]

I guess, although it seems like a lot of the tension on this issue arises from more complicated situations, like ...

The tension comes from people who want to judge others' use of the charging station. You do what you can. If it's a train or plane situation, then you plug in and leave. If the station can be accessed by multiple cars, great, put a note saying when you can be unplugged, but if it can't, it can't. Whether your car is a PHEV or EV or has a big battery doesn't matter. It's first come, first served. However, if you can, reasonably, return to move the car, you should.

 

[samiam95124]

I don't know why so many here believe the sticker program in California ended. It got extended again, and I got
my white sticker for my Leaf about August of last year.

 

[volty]

The tension comes from people who want to judge others' use of the charging station. You do what you can. If it's a train or plane situation, then you plug in and leave. If the station can be accessed by multiple cars, great, put a note saying when you can be unplugged, but if it can't, it can't. Whether your car is a PHEV or EV or has a big battery doesn't matter. It's first come, first served. However, if you can, reasonably, return to move the car, you should.

This seems pretty reasonable to me! I don't do much public charging anyway, but if you look at this thread, there are at least some people who like to complain about others, especially Volts, "hogging the juice". Seems like most people are happy to share if and when they can (at least I'd like to believe so).

I don't know why so many here believe the sticker program in California ended. It got extended again, and I got
my white sticker for my Leaf about August of last year.

You are referring to the White Clean Air Vehicle (CAV) decals for HOV lane access, which is certainly still in operation. The discontinued program people are referring to is the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Parking Decal, which looked like this:
http://www.danielbusby.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/IMG_0844.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[lorenfb]

One of the typical abuses by Volt owners occurs at a Nissan dealer here in SoCal which is near a Costco.
The Volt owners plug-in and then walk off to Costco to do their shopping leaving their cars unattended.
On many occasions, the Volt owners return to find Leaf owners waiting for a parking space to charge.