is it cool to temporarily unplug unattended LEAF at QC?

As I was afraid when the no charge to charge cards came out I have run across cars being left unattended on chargers. They are leaving it trying to get to 100% without regard to the damage it does to the battery. I have infercepted the same car the last three mornings.

So, I have unplugged it and put my 6kw on and then started the other car back up. Anyone see a problem with what I'm doing?

Personally I wouldn't unplug any car unless I knew its charging was complete.

Unplugging an actively charging car is generally not cool. It is not up to you to be the battery nanny.

Unplugging a charged car can also be not cool if the person is planning on using the power to pre-heat the car or has a timer going to fully charge on departure. Both of those are more relevant at locations where there is an expectation of all day or longer term parking (airports etc).

Coolness or not aside, was the QC down to 6KW of flow? Were you able to plug in the J1772 and start the "second" session while the QC was still plugged in? Did it smoothly continue charging? The reason I ask is if the "timer override" was pressed to allow charging to 100%, that setting might turn off if charging stops for long enough (ok experts, how long?).

I would never unplug an L2. An L3 though? If there was nobody there and the car has passed the ~90% mark where it might as well be on L2, then unplug and swap with the L2 that is most likely there too.

If someone is on QC, not around, and the car is at 90% or more, I have no problem unplugging them. THEY are the ones that are being discourteous...

It would make life so much simpler if all QCs were programmed to automatically stop at 90%.

The vast majority of LEAF owners have no technical charging knowledge and have no idea that after 80% on a QC a LEAF charges slower. Unplugging them and putting them on another charger could result in a nasty confrontation. Consider the point of view of the average user: "You unplugged my fast charge so you could use it and you put me on a slow charger". Logical or not, everyone does not reside in the technical bubble of this forum, If the car has terminated charging completely then the discussion changes.

Yogi62 said:

Unplugging an actively charging car is generally not cool. It is not up to you to be the battery nanny.

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I didn't hear that he wanted to be a "battery nanny", but that he wanted to QC and the person QCing was not around and he didn't know when they would be back. What he did seems reasonable to me for QC, would not be a good idea for L2.

TomT said:

It would make life so much simpler if all QCs were programmed to automatically stop at 90%.

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Keep in mind that for '11-12 LEAFs, this isn't reliable because the car lies about it's SOC to the charging station if you start your charge below 50% SOC. A '11-12 LEAF will only charge to a bit over 70% if you do this.

Personally, I think it would be better to simply have some sort of time limit and stop charging automatically after 40 minutes or something - though on older LEAFs with degraded batteries which taper the QC rate more this could also be an issue especially if cold out.

EVDRIVER said:

The vast majority of LEAF owners have no technical charging knowledge and have no idea that after 80% on a QC a LEAF charges slower. Unplugging them and putting them on another charger could result in a nasty confrontation. Consider the point of view of the average user: "You unplugged my fast charge so you could use it and you put me on a slow charger". Logical or not, everyone does not reside in the technical bubble of this forum, If the car has terminated charging completely then the discussion changes.

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So you should placate them because they are ignorant? They will be better for the education.

2k1Toaster said:

I would never unplug an L2. An L3 though? If there was nobody there and the car has passed the ~90% mark where it might as well be on L2, then unplug and swap with the L2 that is most likely there too.

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And if the car has a timer set to not start charging or (for pre-2013) it has an 80% charge timer then the L2 will do nothing for the car. In addition, for 2011-2012 my LEAFs continue to charge at an accelerated rate on QC up through approximately the 11th bar - at which point the ABB screen shows 98% charge - so if someone unplugs me at 90% the actual charge to my car may only be 9 bars.

I've actually done this twice (moved a nearly charged LEAF over from L3 to L2 so that I could use the L3), but both were special circumstances. In one case it was a newly bought car and the dealer was there and confirmed that there were no timers set in the car. In the second case I knew the person.

I have started below 50% many times (most of the time, in fact) and have never noted an error of more than about 2% between my SOC meter and the QC... I usually stop at about 85% which typically shows 87% on the QC.

drees said:

Keep in mind that for '11-12 LEAFs, this isn't reliable because the car lies about it's SOC to the charging station if you start your charge below 50% SOC. A '11-12 LEAF will only charge to a bit over 70% if you do this.

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TaylorSFGuy said:

I have infercepted the same car the last three mornings.

So, I have unplugged it and put my 6kw on and then started the other car back up. Anyone see a problem with what I'm doing?

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Certainly, it is not a good idea to unplug anyone, but also, it is NOT a good idea to leave a DCQC for more than a few minutes (say getting coffee or something). Since this has happened three times with the same car, it's not just a case of the coffee line taking longer than expected. You should leave a note in any case. Perhaps even a link to MNL.com so that they know how much you really need the charge. Hopefully they will understand, especially since you re-connected them after you got a few KWhs. I have only once unplugged a Leaf at a DCQC, but it was already full and no longer charging. I managed to fill for 15 min and the guy still didn't show. Again, these are QUICK chargers, not parking spaces while you shop!

Yogi62 said:

Unplugging a charged car can also be not cool if the person is planning on using the power to pre-heat the car or has a timer going to fully charge on departure. Both of those are more relevant at locations where there is an expectation of all day or longer term parking (airports etc).

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That might not be valid for DCQC. Once it stopped even if you turn the preheat on I do not belive it will start to charge.

I have no issues with unpluging a charged car at a DCQC charger.

For the OP, I would try to contact the other driver and see if the comute/charging schedules can be reconciled.

What would be uncool would be to leave a car plugged into a DC charger after it is charged. That would be no different from me taking my gas car to a gas station, putting the nozzle in to start filling, then walking away for half an hour.

So, yeah, if the person is DONE charging, it is absolutely OK in my book to unplug them from any charger, but most certainly a DC charger. And I also agree that if their rate of charging has dropped to the same rate as the L2 station and you have the ability to switch them to that and keep it going, then I see no harm in that. At that point you are not causing them any delay and yet you will be able to start getting the charge you need.

MikeinDenver said:

EVDRIVER said:

The vast majority of LEAF owners have no technical charging knowledge and have no idea that after 80% on a QC a LEAF charges slower. Unplugging them and putting them on another charger could result in a nasty confrontation. Consider the point of view of the average user: "You unplugged my fast charge so you could use it and you put me on a slow charger". Logical or not, everyone does not reside in the technical bubble of this forum, If the car has terminated charging completely then the discussion changes.

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So you should placate them because they are ignorant? They will be better for the education.

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It's not about "placating" them. Having a better technical understanding doesn't give me the right to dictate how and when they can use charging equipment. If their car is finished charging then I might unplug them, as they have gotten what they came (and perhaps paid) for. If they're still charging I have no right whatsoever to enforce my personal concepts of efficiency, at their expense. It's not very effective to teach etiquette by being a bully or engaging in boorish behavior ones self. This usually backfires and while intending to give an education, one might receive one instead.

Nubo said:

MikeinDenver said:

EVDRIVER said:

The vast majority of LEAF owners have no technical charging knowledge and have no idea that after 80% on a QC a LEAF charges slower. Unplugging them and putting them on another charger could result in a nasty confrontation. Consider the point of view of the average user: "You unplugged my fast charge so you could use it and you put me on a slow charger". Logical or not, everyone does not reside in the technical bubble of this forum, If the car has terminated charging completely then the discussion changes.

Click to expand...

So you should placate them because they are ignorant? They will be better for the education.

Click to expand...

It's not about "placating" them. Having a better technical understanding doesn't give me the right to dictate how and when they can use charging equipment. If their car is finished charging then I might unplug them, as they have gotten what they came (and perhaps paid) for. If they're still charging I have no right whatsoever to enforce my personal concepts of efficiency, at their expense. It's not very effective to teach etiquette by being a bully or engaging in boorish behavior ones self. This usually backfires and while intending to give an education, one might receive one instead.

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If they are almost done charging changing them to a L2 makes no difference. In this case it is not your personal concept of efficiency it is the laws of physics.

MikeinDenver said:

EVDRIVER said:

The vast majority of LEAF owners have no technical charging knowledge and have no idea that after 80% on a QC a LEAF charges slower. Unplugging them and putting them on another charger could result in a nasty confrontation. Consider the point of view of the average user: "You unplugged my fast charge so you could use it and you put me on a slow charger". Logical or not, everyone does not reside in the technical bubble of this forum, If the car has terminated charging completely then the discussion changes.

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So you should placate them because they are ignorant? They will be better for the education.

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I see you point, consumers should understand technical SOC and QC charge levels that few people know about and where there is limited public information if any at all. Then you should just unplug them from where they have a full right and expectation to be charging. That is absolutely reasonable and logical. What was I thinking? Better to just unplug them and then tell them they are ignorant and should know better. Explain how they can become entitled and all knowing if they would just wake up and pay attention and read forum posts about quick charging. I see the strawman arguments stacking up fast. I would not call someone ignorant for not knowing QC charging profiles, that makes almost every LEAF owner ignorant.

Well it must be more than a cup of coffee - I'm guessing the owner works nearby because I've waited until it finished once last week and they didn't come back while I charged. It was finished another time this week so I didn't bother replugging. Then this morning which was earlier than the last two days no one came back to see what had happened.

So there is general agreement that it is okay if the charging is finished to completely unplug the other car - agreed. I am a bit surprised at the rest of the comments, but I will consider them - to me if they clearly aren't there and have left it to run its course, they have no priority over my use - just like saving a chair at poolside. If there is another chair (L3), I'll use it, otherwise their towel gets set aside nicely and I'll use the chair - at least until they come back (That ought to stir up a few more comments.). To me, plugging them into L2 is not as good as reconnecting the L3.

Given the lack of response when I have unplugged the empty LEAF, I'm of the opinion they are in no hurry and I'm not inconveniencing them significantly. Thanks everyone.

MikeinDenver said:

Nubo said:

MikeinDenver said:

So you should placate them because they are ignorant? They will be better for the education.

Click to expand...

It's not about "placating" them. Having a better technical understanding doesn't give me the right to dictate how and when they can use charging equipment. If their car is finished charging then I might unplug them, as they have gotten what they came (and perhaps paid) for. If they're still charging I have no right whatsoever to enforce my personal concepts of efficiency, at their expense. It's not very effective to teach etiquette by being a bully or engaging in boorish behavior ones self. This usually backfires and while intending to give an education, one might receive one instead.

Click to expand...

If they are almost done charging changing them to a L2 makes no difference. In this case it is not your personal concept of efficiency it is the laws of physics.

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It may make a difference to THEM. It's their charging session and it's not your place to alter it, even if believe you have the laws of physics on your side.

Nubo said:

It may make a difference to THEM. It's their charging session and it's not your place to alter it, even if believe you have the laws of physics on your side.

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If they are drawing charge at a the same rate that an available L2 would provide, I really fail to see the problem. Just because people are stupid, it doesn't give them the right to ignorance. Babysitting idiots is a problem that needs to stop in many aspects of society today.