potential confrontation w/ PiP owner becomes sucess story

[NSXTASY]

We have 2 normal charger stations at work. One is dedicated for company EV and the other is for employees. These "fueling pads" are unfortunately located next to handicap parking places which makes it a) impossible to park outside of these 2 spots without breaking the law (altough cord is long enough and would have accomated 4 or 8 spots otherwise) and b) these are prime spots for parking.
For the last 3-4 months, a PiP owner has been using the only employee available spot as his own, parking in the morning until he leaves in the afternoon. It's never been an issue for him b/c no other vehicle needed to be pluffed in... until now... now there is going to be 2 vehicles that will need using this spot but not at the same time...
I have read about EV etiquette and other threads, even on Prius forums to see what do Prius owner think about LEAF owners...
I'm a bit concerned b/c knowing this individual from the past working with him and others, he will more likely than not want to do the "who gets there first gets to park there the entire day" while not caring that this is not really a parking spot but a fuellng pad. I can also foresee that his counter argument to the "the LEAF must use this plug, while the Prius doesnt have to" will be a simple "not my problem/you should have bought a Prius then" answer
Has anyone here dealt with difficult non-LEAF owners who are unwilling to share ? how did you resolve this ? any tip and advise will help...

 

[thankyouOB]

We have 2 normal charger stations at work. One is dedicated for company EV and the other is for employees. These "fueling pads" are unfortunately located next to handicap parking places which makes it a) impossible to park outside of these 2 spots without breaking the law (altough cord is long enough and would have accomated 4 or 8 spots otherwise) and b) these are prime spots for parking.
For the last 3-4 months, a PiP owner has been using the only employee available spot as his own, parking in the morning until he leaves in the afternoon. It's never been an issue for him b/c no other vehicle needed to be pluffed in... until now... now there is going to be 2 vehicles that will need using this spot but not at the same time...
I have read about EV etiquette and other threads, even on Prius forums to see what do Prius owner think about LEAF owners...
I'm a bit concerned b/c knowing this individual from the past working with him and others, he will more likely than not want to do the "who gets there first gets to park there the entire day" while not caring that this is not really a parking spot but a fuellng pad. I can also foresee that his counter argument to the "the LEAF must use this plug, while the Prius doesnt have to" will be a simple "not my problem/you should have bought a Prius then" answer
Has anyone here dealt with difficult non-LEAF owners who are unwilling to share ? how did you resolve this ? any tip and advise will help...

i think you have to risk going up to him and ask him to cooperate with you.
he may be fine with it; as you say the problem didnt exist till you got your LEAF.
you certainly cant complain to mgmt or ask Kubel to reason with him without doing that first.

 

[kubel]

I would ask him if it would be possible for him to share. For the first 4 hours he is there, he can plug in, then when he takes lunch, he can find another parking spot, then you can plug in for the rest of the day. Since he gets in sooner than you, that means you'll have over 4 hours to charge, which should be more than enough to get home, I would imagine.

When it gets to the point that sharing isn't practical, go to management or HR and ask them if they would consider installing another charging station or rework the parking so that one station could cover 3 parking spots instead of just one. It usually helps if you have an ally or two in senior management (though I have two and still only got a 120V outlet installed. But I'm not complaining, it works, and it's free).

you certainly cant complain to mgmt or ask Kubel to reason with him without doing that first.

Agreed. :shock:

 

[walterbays]

I would ask him if it would be possible for him to share. For the first 4 hours he is there, he can plug in, then when he takes lunch, he can find another parking spot, then you can plug in for the rest of the day.

Yes, there's nothing better than asking nicely. While you're at it, you could offer to drive him to lunch one day in your car so he can see how it is, and ask him to drive you to lunch one day in his car so you can see how it is - and so he can see you respect his car.

Now if that doesn't work, then get up however early you must to get in before he does - even if you have to shift your hours - even if you have to work extra hours - even if you have to sit around for a couple of hours reading a novel in the morning. Take the space and camp out on it all day. After a week, talk to him again and offer that you are willing to share your space with him.

 

[cwerdna]

I would ask him if it would be possible for him to share. For the first 4 hours he is there, he can plug in, then when he takes lunch, he can find another parking spot, then you can plug in for the rest of the day. Since he gets in sooner than you, that means you'll have over 4 hours to charge, which should be more than enough to get home, I would imagine.

Per http://www.toyota.com/prius-plug-in/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, the PiP takes 3 hours to charge at 120 volts and 1.5 hours at 240.

I'd imagine the OP has visited priuschat.com (I have over 10K posts there). I've paid little attention to what typical PiP owners think of Leaf/BEV owners, but there are a few folks here on MNL that have a Prius (non-PiP though) and Leaf and are active on both boards.

If you need the juice to get home comfortably or to run errands, I hope he's willing to be understanding in terms of sharing (moving his car PiP, once its done charging). I would, if I owned a PiP and were in his shoes.

 

[asinclair]

At our offices, we installed a sign making the "fueling pad" a 4-hour parking-while-charging-only space (which is also a new CA law no thanks to GM). If talks break down with the PIP owner, you may want to ask management to limit the parking to 4 hours so it can be shared. Just a thought.

 

[bryan38401]

show them how its done! get there first and move your car when charged so some one else can use the space!!

 

[Herm]

show them how its done! get there first and move your car when charged so some one else can use the space!!

+1

To the OP, do you need to charge?

 

[philipscoggins]

So how'd it go?

My only 2 times I've had to ask an ice drive to move for me went surprisingly well. Just be friendly.
I always leave a note on my dash with my phone number in case someone needs to charge, but I only use public quick charging as it's free & L2 isn't.

Philip

 

[thankyouOB]

So how'd it go?

My only 2 times I've had to ask an ice drive to move for me went surprisingly well. Just be friendly.
I always leave a note on my dash with my phone number in case someone needs to charge, but I only use public quick charging as it's free & L2 isn't.

Philip

I agree. At work, I have never had anyone refuse to move from a charging spot. Them 3-4 times i have stumbled on someone parking in a charging spot, they always are nice and say they admire my dedication to green.

 

[NSXTASY]

First, I would like to thank everyone for your advice.

The PiP owner ended up being someone else, I never met before. I went in early Monday morning anyway and parked at the normal EV spot. When he came the EV reserved spot was empty so he actually parked on the reserved spot disregarding the sign. I had planned to talk to security folks to help me find out who the owner was. However when I got there they had no idea who he was either and were actually hoping I did in order to contact him he needed to move his car from the EV reserved spot. I left my cell number to the security folk with the permission to share it with the PiP owner.

At that point the LEAF had sent me a text it was done charging so I moved the vehicle to a non-charging parking spot as someone here suggested to lead by example. Later on in the afternoon, the PiP owner actually called me and we chatted a bit. I again used some of the suggestions you all had about how to approach the matter, and we agreed in sharing the day: I will charge in the morning until noon. At that point I will be moving the vehicle aroud lunch time and he will be plugging in for the next 2 hours, this way when we get a 3rd person needing to plug in, they will coordinate. Worked out great ! On my way out today, the head of security asked me details of the arrangement and said we may be able to add another station sometime towards the end of 2013. Wouldnt THAT be nice ! :x

 

[Reddy]

Good to hear! Maybe soon you'll be going out to lunch together and converting other employees!

 

[NSXTASY]

Good to hear! Maybe soon you'll be going out to lunch together and converting other employees!

it's actually already happening. Had 2 people since monday and another just today telling me they love my new car (they heard through the grape wine it was mine). And the one today offered to take me to lunch if I let them test drive it !

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Good to hear! Maybe soon you'll be going out to lunch together and converting other employees!

it's actually already happening. Had 2 people since monday and another just today telling me they love my new car (they heard through the grape wine it was mine). And the one today offered to take me to lunch if I let them test drive it !

I love how this turned from a potential confrontation to a friendly conversation to a spirited promotion of EVs! Keep spreading the good word.

 

[MrIanB]

If congress could only learn from your negotiation skills. Glad it worked out for the 2 of you and the next ev owner.

Ian B

 

[dhanson865]

how about renaming the first post (and the thread) to

"potential confrontation with PiP owner became a success story" or some such?

 

[TRONZ]

Like how it worked out. A sign that requires the "active" charging of a car or get a ticket also helps alot in these situations.

 

[NSXTASY]

how about renaming the first post (and the thread) to

"potential confrontation with PiP owner became a success story" or some such?

How does one rename a thread? :?:

 

[davewill]

How does one rename a thread? :?:

Edit the first post and change the title. That becomes the title for the thread and the default title for replies.

 

[NSXTASY]

How does one rename a thread? :?:

Edit the first post and change the title. That becomes the title for the thread and the default title for replies.

Done ! thank you