Charging Etiquette - What Would You Recommend?

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Gadget619

Active member
Joined
Jan 17, 2016
Messages
29
Location
San Diego, CA
Hi,

Looking for some feedback/guidance regarding charging etiquette at a free L2 charger (Privately owned and availble for use by members). There is no time limit posted on the charging signage.

I was plugged in and charging my 2011 Leaf, it’s slow going with the small 3.3 KWh charger. I can only charge at 12 miles per hour versus 25 miles per hour for the newer Leaf’s with the 6 KWh chargers. While I was away from my vehicle and it was charging, a new 2018 Leaf owner pulled up alongside me and decided they needed the charger more than I did. I was unplugged during my charge. They connected the charger to their Leaf and then locked the charger to their vehicle. When I came back to move my vehicle, before it would be fully charged, I found it unplugged and the new Leaf charging.

I don’t know whether or not this is a first time Leaf owner. This Leaf owner will leave their vehicle at the charger for several hours at a time to fully charge their larger capacity battery. About a week ago, I waited several hours until they were fully charged, no lights at all on the dash to disconnect the charger and plug in my vehicle. The charger was not locked to the vehicle at that time.

So I left a note congratulating them on their new Leaf purchase and asked them to not unplug me when my vehicle is charging. I said I would be happy to plug in there vehicle in the future when I am done charging and asked that they not lock their charger to their vehicle so others could use it when the vehicle was fully charged. I let them know I have a battery that is much smaller than theirs and I don’t have the same range.

Suggestions/tips welcome.
 
LeftieBiker said:
You did the right thing. Don't be surprised, however, if their behavior doesn't change, or if they even become hostile.

Thanks for your reply. Curious to know, is there any way to manually unlock a charger that is locked to the vehicle? What other EV manufacturers have systems that lock the vehicle to the charger?
 
You could do it with tools, but it isn't a good idea to try. I don't know of any other locking ports. In fact, I don't think the 2018 Leaf has them anymore...
 
LeftieBiker said:
You did the right thing. Don't be surprised, however, if their behavior doesn't change, or if they even become hostile.

Unfortunately, I think this will become more of a problem as EVs move from early adopters to more general market acceptance. I think us early adopters recognize the limitations and challenges with this fledgling tech deployment and accepted that when we signed up. But as the cars get longer range, there will be more non-enthusiasts getting into these cars. And as they do, they will bring their normal attitudes with them. And from what I've seen of the 'average' driver in So. Cal. and the massive amounts of road rage going on out there, this does not bode well given the very limited charging infrastructure. The infrastructure can barely handle current demand from drivers who are committed and willing to engage in proper etiquette. Now add in the normal folks and it is going to go downhill fast.

I was just a kid at the time, but I seem to recall on the news during the gas crises of the 70's, a lot of violence broke out at gas stations with people not playing nice with the other drivers in line to get gas. Hopefully us early adopters will be able to role model better behavior and gently bring the noobs on board with the concept of charging etiquette.
 
Gadget619 said:
What other EV manufacturers have systems that lock the vehicle to the charger?

VW eGolf and the Tesla Model S/X/3 (not sure about the Roadster) that I know of.

mjblazin said:
Do the same thing he did: lock your charger.

Unfortunately the locking feature didn't come until the 2013 models, and the OP's car is a 2011.
 
At my work we changed out the 6.6 chargers to shared 6.6 KW shared for 2 cars. This helped add EVSE for more EVs . The day is 8 hours long, if the bolt or MS/3/X need a lot of range park next to a Prius. This helped. If the lot is closed and parking is by permit, find the new owner, ask what his needs are, and see if you know a fix for them. A lot of new EV owner think they can charge 8 hours at work and not at home. a new bolt owner thought that 120 mile drive home and back would be able to charge at work only. Make contact , be nice , work with them to fix the challenges, make management a where of the need for more EVES as cars are added. As we move forward 2 or 4 EVSE is not enough . my work has gone from 5 to 15 and now we are looking at 36 more EVSE over 40 EVs are driven daily over two shifts. We just work it out. Good luck.
 
RonDawg said:
VW eGolf and the Tesla Model S/X/3 (not sure about the Roadster) that I know of.
In the case of the Teslas at public chargers, the car will lock onto the J1772 charging adapter - you can still remove the plug.
 
LeftieBiker said:
I don't remember seeing the EVSE lock selector on my 2018, and I first drove a 2013 so I'm familiar with it. Do we still have one...?

Yes we do. It's in the dash "settings" menu selected with the steering wheel buttons.

You can choose always locked while plugged in, always unlocked while plugged in & Auto which I believe locks until fully charged & then unlocks.

This is a prime scenario where having a charge to 80% would be extra nice because you could receive a full 6.6kW charge & then auto unlock the connector so someone else could charge without you needing to do anything in person.

Also I wish the Leaf's charging indicator lights were 4 or even better 5 led's so it was more apparent what the SOC is. Having two solid lights & one blinking being anywhere between 67% & 99% is kinda useless IMO.

Maybe they could've kept the form factor & made them change color as the SOC climbed...
 
I never lock the port when public charging, if someone needs the charge such as emergency , kids stuff etc then have at it. No damage done.
The lock on the Leaf is shall we say useless anyway as it can be disabled with a plastic spoon or a comb and probably a chopstick if you had one.
The only time I disconnected a locked leaf from a public EVSE when it had finished charging as indicated by the lights on the dash and the EVSE itself. The driver came out about 45 minutes later and as it turns out she borrowed the car from her parents and had no idea about the locking switch options on the dash . :roll:
 
LeftieBiker said:
I don't remember seeing the EVSE lock selector on my 2018, and I first drove a 2013 so I'm familiar with it. Do we still have one...?

You can lock and unlock on the same screen that does the delayed timing.
 
I was concerned about this. Right now there is very little in the ways of charging options in my area right now. The county is planning on buying some EVs (Bolts) and installing a public charging station in the town where I work at one county owned buildings. It's great for me with my older Leaf, but I worry about other people not being so polite when it comes to sharing this (most likely) limited resource. I am hoping to talk to the mayor about expanding out into the town itself since they have been building up their downtown. The town has quite a number of parking lots and it would not be difficult to add charging stations. They already rewired all of their street parking meters and parking lot pay stations so I know they are interested in technology. It's a matter of convincing them it's worth the money... And hoping they don't charge an arm and leg to charge.
 
Gadget619 said:
So I left a note congratulating them on their new Leaf purchase and asked them to not unplug me when my vehicle is charging. I said I would be happy to plug in there vehicle in the future when I am done charging and asked that they not lock their charger to their vehicle so others could use it when the vehicle was fully charged. I let them know I have a battery that is much smaller than theirs and I don’t have the same range.
Perfect! I'm guessing that they are new and don't understand that your battery is smaller and you may not be able to get home without charging. Hopefully, they will be more accommodating and not just hog the free electrons, charging only at work and not at home.
 
I'm going to copy and paste a post from last week; this is what happened to me a couple of weeks ago.

Just last week, early in the morning, I went to to a park with 2 free L2 chargers. There was an event that day and every parking spot was taken. Two Teslas were parked and plugged in at the free chargers... this was early in the morning.
I left a note on both cars with my phone# to text me when they're done so that I could charge my car.
I really needed to charge, I had no other option if I wanted to go home.

I get two texts from to different numbers, one at 16:45 one at 16:55 saying "Done charging"
The park closed at 17:00

So those guys used the EV charging spot all day since parking in the park was full.

Luckily the guard let me plug in and leave my car (park had a gate) and gave me his cell # to call to pick up the car two hours later.
I got this service only because this place was owned by the same company I was there doing business with.

So it was not cool that they had their car plugged in from 9am to almost 5pm ... just because it was convenient to just leave the car there.
That's why Tesla is starting to charge a fee after the car is fully charged but still plugged in.

Regardless if it's a free station or not, they need to enforce time limit in EV charge parking spots and start ticketing EVs parked there after a time limit and also put a sign that non EVs will be towed.
 
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