Public charger étiquette?

[kvbit]

Hi fellow forum readers,

This is my first post but I've had my Leaf for a bit over a month.

I would just like to spark up a conversation about public charging etiquette.

There is this one leaf owner were my wife parks, public city garage. He arrives early and is alway parked in one of the two charging spots all day.

He never moves his car even though it only charges for 1-2 hours. People have left notes on his car asking him to move it and the nots have been frequent and increasingly harsh.

My wife have talked to the garage attendants and they say that you can't use that as a parking space, it's only for charging and he should not be parked there all day. They have however not seemed to do anything about it.

This has had no effect on the owner/s of the car and it's been parked there all day with out taking consideration to other electric car owners who would like to be able to use the service.

Now there's only one functional charger there and today the owner had put a note on his car saying that he'll be parked there until 3 pm and if someone want to charge to call him.

So my wife asked the attendant to call and have the owner move the car as it was done charging.

The owner showed up and my wife tried to talk to him about moving the car once its done charging, he worked next door to the garage.
He responded he and his wife did not have time to go and check on his car, my wife told him about the apps and email services you can use to check on the status of the car.

He said his wife had the app but neither his wife or him wanted to interrupt their work, it's inconvenient for them to move the car when it finished charging and if someone want to use the spot they can call them.

To respect other electric vehicle owners I think you should alway move your car away from the charge point once it's done charging. Of course you would not be able to be there right away but with in a reasonable amount of time to move your car to open the spot up for others and not to take the spot all day.

What do other owners think and how do you use public charging stations.

Thanks for you time,

Viktor

 

[smkettner]

I would arrive earlier. Then move my vehicle after he normally arrives and I am done charging. I would be there at 4a if needed

 

[kvbit]

He he he,

My wife only drives the leaf once or twice a week when I'm off as she has a very short commute and I have the long one.
I'll have to see if I can convince the wife, I'll stay in bed though :lol:

Viktor

 

[smkettner]

Is there any signage restricting use?

 

[mxp]

He he he,

My wife only drives the leaf once or twice a week when I'm off as she has a very short commute and I have the long one.
I'll have to see if I can convince the wife, I'll stay in bed though :lol:

Viktor

This is a typical nuance in that EV adoption is just taking off and there are no rules really.

I have to confess, that I too, have a placard made up with my phone number on it. In all the public places I have parked, I have left the placard on my dash. Nobody has called so far ;-)

Using this approach, I have the option of remotely stopping the charge (using my smartphone) and can instruct the other person in need to charge to remove it from my car and they then can use the charger. (Assuming there is a parking spot next to my car).

If no parking spot is available along side, then naturally, I would have to get back to my car, and move my car to let that other person take the spot.

It's a bit cumbersome, and that is why when I had originally decided to purchase my Leaf, I made sure I never had to rely on public charging in all my usual driving needs.

Just my 2cents...

 

[thankyouOB]

flat tires work wonders to make people think about why that might have happened.

never mind, it is vandalism.

maybe a sign, asking him to ponder his karma.

 

[lspooz]

My wife have talked to the garage attendants and they say that you can't use that as a parking space, it's only for charging and he should not be parked there all day........Now there's only one functional charger there and today the owner had put a note on his car saying that he'll be parked there until 3 pm and if someone want to charge to call him.

So my wife asked the attendant to call and have the owner move the car as it was done charging.

The owner showed up and my wife tried to talk to him about moving the car once its done charging, he worked next door to the garage.
He responded he and his wife did not have time to go and check on his car, my wife told him about the apps and email services you can use to check on the status of the car.

He said his wife had the app but neither his wife or him wanted to interrupt their work, it's inconvenient for them to move the car when it finished charging and if someone want to use the spot they can call them.

IMHO, he's a lazy/selfish git who can't be bothered to share, or even run an app to monitor his charge nor bother to help another EV user.
The garage attendants could be your allies (and may have some ideas to change his behavior), but I'd also post a few photos as a candidate for a Hall of Shame (as in the long thread elsewhere on MNL about a similar situation, where the driver's Facebook and eBay pages were contacted...)

 

[kvbit]

It's true, there's no signage letting people know not to use it as a parking spot and that's why I was talking about etiquette.

I think it would be nice to not have to have to make rules and having someone policing it, instead we as a community could just be mindful of others and let everyone take advantage of public charging once we're done.

I think if someone doesn't want to move the car then he should park it in a regular parking spot.

And the owners of this car have been asked numerous times to vacant the spot so others can use the free charging service and have not seemed to care, today was the first time there was a note to call if someone needed to use the charging station. And the gentleman that came seemed annoyed he had to move his car as he was inconvenienced.

Viktor

 

[kvbit]

My wife just told me that the garage have posted a sign saying to vacant the spot once done charging, it was posted last week.

I guess enough people have been complaining about this leaf owner

Viktor

 

[smkettner]

You all could ask the garage to provide a few 15a circuits to plug in your own cord and charge all day vs using the expensive L2 charger for maybe 3 hours max.

 

[davewill]

In this case, since he knows others are likely to be waiting...he should obviously plan to move the car. The whole not having "time to go and check on his car" is disingenuous...he knows when he plugs in how long his car will take to charge, it's right on the dash. He could simply plan to return at that time. That said, unless the garage is going to enforce moving the car, I would say that his posting his cell number is minimally workable.

In the more general case, I'm kinda in the "leave it unless someone calls me" camp. If I'm at the mall, charging, I don't want to have to move my car when it's done unless I know that someone else needs it. If I have to go to my car, I'm more likely to simply leave than re-park and return to shopping.

 

[mwalsh]

but I'd also post a few photos as a candidate for a Hall of Shame (as in the long thread elsewhere on MNL about a similar situation, where the driver's Facebook and eBay pages were contacted...)

OOH! YES PLEASE!

 

[kvbit]

I think there's a difference between leaving your car at the mall and not moving it once it's done as you more then likely will not be there for more then tops a few hours. But when you park for work 9+ hours 5 days a week when you only need an hour or so of charge it's different.

 

[GPowers]

Is the parking space next to this guy open? If so use it and charge your car, if the blue lights are out. Or is the bad etiquette?

 

[jlynch3]

Is the parking space next to this guy open? If so use it and charge your car, if the blue lights are out. Or is the bad etiquette?

There are some motorcycle spaces next to the charger he usually uses. Layout is {Chargepoint Space} {Chargepoint Space} {Motorcycle Spaces}

The day the first post on this thread went up, the first chargepoint space was out of order, and the guy with the black leaf parked all day in the other one, which he does almost every day.

 

[malloryk]

Red Leaf license plate 562 unplugged me this morning at a station on Montana Ave. in Santa Monica. It doesn't matter that you were blinking one light and I was blinking two. You don't know my situation, that I have to drive to Valencia today and need a full charge. And maybe I slept at a friend's last night so couldn't charge at home. The point is you don't know that you are more in need than someone else. I was only plugged in for 20 minutes before you unplugged me and I was only planning on being there for an hour while I was in my spin class. And this is Santa Monica where there are tons of public chargers, including one less than half a mile away at SM Toyota. Figure out where all the stations are around you, don't just rely on Carwings. Download the EV Finder, Plug Share and ChargePoint apps. Plus you were blocking the old paddle charger that a lot of EV Ravs still use. Unplugging someone else is not the only solution. Be more resourceful and considerate. You're a dick for unplugging me and you're lucky I didn't unplug you.

 

[DarkStar]

Not to excuse the other driver, but did you use a charger sharing protocol card? The card really helps by removing ambiguity and assumptions. Even just a phone number on the dashboard might have helped.

 

[gbarry42]

562 is a Nissan demo car. What that means, I don't know. Maybe it came from the nearby dealer.

 

[malloryk]

Not to excuse the other driver, but did you use a charger sharing protocol card? The card really helps by removing ambiguity and assumptions. Even just a phone number on the dashboard might have helped.

I only leave a note if I'm going to be there for a while. And I wasn't reachable by phone anyway. I guess if I park there again, I'll leave a note that says "There's another charger half a mile away, this one's mine."

 

[malloryk]

562 is a Nissan demo car. What that means, I don't know. Maybe it came from the nearby dealer.

I think it was probably this nitwit:
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5055" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;