Re-plugging some one else's Leaf to L2

[davewill]

The whole thing can be avoided if people use the protocol cards. I'm surprised by how many LEAF owners don't have one. ...

I'm surprised you're surprised. They're selling a boatloads of LEAFs and only a very small fraction of the new owners will ever even hear of the "protocol".

 

[Rat]

I'm totally with smkettner on this. There is nothing wrong with using a timer and also using a public charging station. I'm not going to reprogram every time, either. And there IS something very wrong about unplugging another EV just because you need the charge, whether or not the other one is done charging and whether or not he's on a timer. It's more than just illegal in California to unplug them, you are also making the other car subject to being fined (maybe even towed?) because that same law now makes it illegal for any car, including an EV, to be parked at a charging station and not be plugged in. Protocol cards are almost useless for this reason, although it might be smart to have a phone number or email so that if some idiot like TangoKilo unplugs you, he could (probably wouldn't) contact you to let you know so that you could go back later and replug. Even without the law, it is just plain wrong. I see no difference between unplugging another EV to charge your own and a situation where the power goes out in your house from a downed tree limb, so you go and disconnect your neighbor's main and attach it to yours leaving him without power. Sorry, you just can't do that. Like your home power, or the gas pump example given earlier, once you plug in the plug is yours until you unplug, period.

 

[TangoKilo]

This idiot is looking forward to unplugging a rat...

 

[occ]

This idiot is looking forward to unplugging a rat...

LOL!


I would have done what the OP did....and put a note explaining the reasoning, and apologized for the mistake. I would not hesitate for a moment (and no note necessary) if I know that the car was not charging, or done charging, or had a courtesy card. However, I would NOT have unplugged him if it were the only charger there and being used. I would NOT have unplugged him if the AB475 sign was up, regardless of whether he's charging or not...(the Volt on the other hand...Just kidding Volt lovers

It's all pretty much based on courtesy...your own sense of courtesy, as well as courtesy of the other absent EV driver on sharing limited resources. I see no problem on what the OP did. I would have expected and understand what he did if I were the other LEAF.

 

[TangoKilo]

+1 occ
I'll say it again. As long as there is an acute number of public EVSEs and the parking spots to go with them, there will be a multitude of car charging issues....
Glad to see a "spirited" discussion on this subject... The first one to the plug wins!

 

[planet4ever]

I'm totally with smkettner on this. There is nothing wrong with using a timer and also using a public charging station. I'm not going to reprogram every time, either. And there IS something very wrong about unplugging another EV just because you need the charge, whether or not the other one is done charging and whether or not he's on a timer. It's more than just illegal in California to unplug them, you are also making the other car subject to being fined (maybe even towed?) because that same law now makes it illegal for any car, including an EV, to be parked at a charging station and not be plugged in.

Sorry, but that's total nonsense.

• You're flying without a seatbelt if you have a timer active.
• You don't have to "reprogram" anything. Just push four buttons to turn off the timer temporarily.
• The OP did not, and would not, leave the original vehicle unplugged.
• Even leaving the car unplugged would not illegal unless there was an AB475 sign posted, and at this point there are none of those.

Ray

 

[JPWhite]

• You're flying without a seatbelt if you have a timer active.

Quite right. What if there had been a temporary power outage? The original LEAF would no longer be charging. One's vehicle should be setup to restart charging as soon as it is able to and needs to. The OP's actions were well intentioned, it just didn't turn out the way he'd expected. Had the vehicle been setup to charge as soon as possible no harm would have been done.

 

[smkettner]

The harm was done by the ICE. If the OP had asked the store to page the owner of the ICE it could have been resolved properly.
I still don't understand the desperation to get a charge. If it is an emergency then call 911 otherwise wait your turn.

 

[prberg]

In my opinion, people should not use charge timers when using public charging stations. It's rude to delay your charging when using a public charger. It only takes like 4 button presses to turn off the timer. Not a big deal. If the car did not leave a contact phone number, I wouldn't unplug while they were currently charging.

I absolutely think that if the car is done charging, it is ok to unplug them so as to be able to use the public charging station. The person should actually come out and move their car once it's done charging (within a reasonable amount of time of course). But there is no reason to tie-up the public charging station if the car is not actively charging.

-Peter

 

[SanDust]

I think people should be responsible for their range. If you can't get somewhere and back without needing a charge don't go, take another vehicle, or make sure you have a place to plug in. Problem solved.

If you like to take risks or you're bad at planning and you end up in a bad spot, no one is responsible for bailing you out. The OP should have waited for the charging to be complete. End of story. The idea that you should leave your number on your dashboard so random EV drivers can give you a call is absurd. Do folks here not have lives or jobs? Do you really think it's reasonable to interrupt people in the middle of their workday in order that they accommodate your charging needs? Ditto for the idea that you should run down to the parking lot and move your car. Yeah, why not just spend the entire day messing with your car rather than working.

With every new thread on the subject of public charging it becomes more clear that it's more trouble than it's worth. My wife was going to put in public charging at her offices. I showed her the threads on this forum and she decided she'd rather go to the dentist.

 

[omkar]

THe only mitigation to this seems to be - leave your phone number on the dash, on the Courtesy Protocol card for example - this helps plug sharing, which is kind of what I had.

That's one mitigation. Another is never ever use the override button when you are charging away from home. I was burned one time when I did that, and will never do it again. It takes a few seconds longer, but go into the timer menu in the central console and turn off the timer.


Ray

smart man.

Indeed. I'm going to start using the timers to take advantage of off peak pricing and this post alerted me of a possible issue I would have if I plugged in at a public station. I'll be sure to make it a practice to turn off the timer (as opposed to simply overriding it) if I'm not at home.

 

[Packet]

The whole thing can be avoided if people use the protocol cards. I'm surprised by how many LEAF owners don't have one. ...

I'm surprised you're surprised. They're selling a boatloads of LEAFs and only a very small fraction of the new owners will ever even hear of the "protocol".

Maybe it's worth putting together a little brochure about Charging Protocol, printing them up and giving them to the local Nissan dealers (and Chevy and Mitsubishi) to give to their customers?

 

[abasile]

I think people should be responsible for their range. If you can't get somewhere and back without needing a charge don't go, take another vehicle, or make sure you have a place to plug in. Problem solved.

At least for me, public charging is about convenience, not absolute necessity. Here in Southern California, I can drive the LEAF just about anywhere if I am willing to charge at Nissan dealerships, most of which welcome LEAF drivers stopping by to charge. However, if I need the range, I'd much rather spend an hour charging at an office or retail establishment that I frequent than hanging around at a dealership. The backup plan, if I am unable to charge at the desired establishment, is to hang around at a dealer or other charge point.

With every new thread on the subject of public charging it becomes more clear that it's more trouble than it's worth. My wife was going to put in public charging at her offices. I showed her the threads on this forum and she decided she'd rather go to the dentist.

I am sure that the great majority of public charging sessions take place completely uneventfully. It is too bad your wife backed out of putting in charging. Hopefully she will reconsider. We certainly appreciate, and try to patronize, the forward-looking businesses that are kind enough to provide this amenity to their customers.

 

[TangoKilo]

I think people should be responsible for their range. If you can't get somewhere and back without needing a charge don't go, take another vehicle, or make sure you have a place to plug in. Problem solved.

If you like to take risks or you're bad at planning and you end up in a bad spot, no one is responsible for bailing you out. The OP should have waited for the charging to be complete. End of story. The idea that you should leave your number on your dashboard so random EV drivers can give you a call is absurd. Do folks here not have lives or jobs? Do you really think it's reasonable to interrupt people in the middle of their workday in order that they accommodate your charging needs? Ditto for the idea that you should run down to the parking lot and move your car. Yeah, why not just spend the entire day messing with your car rather than working.

With every new thread on the subject of public charging it becomes more clear that it's more trouble than it's worth. My wife was going to put in public charging at her offices. I showed her the threads on this forum and she decided she'd rather go to the dentist.

-1

I've accumulated 9,100 miles and counting on my LEAF. At least half of those miles have come from charging at EVSEs other than my garage. If EVs are to move up in the world, then you need a comprehensive charging infrastructure. You also need the owners of these new vehicles to venture out, going beyond the reach of their home chargers...

 

[JPWhite]

I think people should be responsible for their range. If you can't get somewhere and back without needing a charge don't go, take another vehicle, or make sure you have a place to plug in. Problem solved.

I can't agree with that statement. I intend to go on a longer trip tomorrow and will depend upon a charge at a hotel I am visiting for the evening. Without a charge capability I would not take the LEAF. What you propose is no public chargers, because everyone should have enough charge to get home so they would never need one. The whole point of having chargers at convenient locations is to make the EV more useful and extend its daily range.

 

[smkettner]

I would still like to know what the original emergency was.
And why not have the ICE vehicle owner paged?

 

[onlyjaymoo]

Would an option to provide a "public" way to send a charge command to your car in this situation (and being able to enable/disable this capability) be useful?

What if, on the protocol card, you could put a URL or phone#/SMS way for someone to restart the charger on your car if something like this happened...

You could then enable this functionality when you're at a public charger, without having to muck with your timer settings.

 

[prberg]

I think people should be responsible for their range. If you can't get somewhere and back without needing a charge don't go, take another vehicle, or make sure you have a place to plug in. Problem solved.

I can't agree with that statement. I intend to go on a longer trip tomorrow and will depend upon a charge at a hotel I am visiting for the evening. Without a charge capability I would not take the LEAF. What you propose is no public chargers, because everyone should have enough charge to get home so they would never need one. The whole point of having chargers at convenient locations is to make the EV more useful and extend its daily range.

+1 I agree totaly

 

[gboudreau]

Would an option to provide a "public" way to send a charge command to your car in this situation (and being able to enable/disable this capability) be useful?

What if, on the protocol card, you could put a URL or phone#/SMS way for someone to restart the charger on your car if something like this happened...

You could then enable this functionality when you're at a public charger, without having to muck with your timer settings.

That's a pretty good idea. I'll probably implement it for myself, once there are public chargers for me to use around here!
I'll probably make a QR code + bit.ly (or something) URL card, both of which would redirect to my web server, triggering a PHP script that would login on the Carwings website (a couple of curl commands max), and start the charge from there (another curl command).
If anyone is interested, let me know, I'll see if I can make that an easy to use web service.
Sadly, until Carwings provide API keys/OAuth, users would have to provide the service provider their Carwings username & password, for the service to be able to login... Not very cool, but still.

 

[smkettner]

Would an option to provide a "public" way to send a charge command to your car in this situation (and being able to enable/disable this capability) be useful?

What if, on the protocol card, you could put a URL or phone#/SMS way for someone to restart the charger on your car if something like this happened...

You could then enable this functionality when you're at a public charger, without having to muck with your timer settings.

No. I do not want someone else commanding my car what to do. I set it to charge, don't touch it.
If the person charging has left a note because they are there for an extended period fine. Follow the note.

If you want a call when I am done and moving then by all means leave me a note.
Otherwise if you have an emergency call 911. But then it was not really an emergency was it?