If I left you a nasty note today...

...you kinda deserve it. Your LEAF was done charging at 9am (lights were all on and steady when I pulled in) and yet by 1pm you were still in the EV parking spot. Evidently you thought it perfectly OK to stay parked there all day, and F**K anyone else. You didn't leave a phone number/protocol card so I couldn't call you to see if we could swap parking spaces, and the other (inadequately signed) spot was ICE'd. I was only able to get the bit of charge I for sure needed by parking in the spot reserved for city vehicles and staying with my car for the duration. But that's clearly no thanks to you.

I also left a (slightly less) nasty note for the SUV driver too - advising her to park elsewhere on her next visit. But, of course, I'll also contact the Convention Center management and complain about the poor signage and the general inadequacy of only two EV parking spaces

.

Please don't tell me that's the LA convention center!?

TRONZ said:

Please don't tell me that's the LA convention center!?

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Yep. Visit at your own risk!

Did you put up the two cones to block the silver rascal's exit? :shock:

greenleaf said:

Did you put up the two cones to block the silver rascal's exit? :shock:

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No. :lol: Just to get them out of my way so I could pull into the Reserved spot. Normally there is one blocking the reserved spot and one blocking the EV spot where the LEAF is, which of course gets put over next to the reserved spot cone when someone pulls in there.

That's another problem, IMO...there should be a third cone for the SUV spot too! It's almost like the CC doesn't care who parks in that one spot, even though there is an EVSE right in front of it.

BTW, one thing that was kinda cool - while I was parked close to the West Hall main entrance trying to figure out what to do, Mark Perry walked by and said, "Nice car!". I replied, "Yeah, but there's no place to charge it!", but I don't think he really heard my response. :lol:

Oh I wish I saw him I would say thanks and shake his hand he is real nice he helped with my car problem.

Gonewild said:

Oh I wish I saw him I would say thanks and shake his hand he is real nice he helped with my car problem.

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I like Mark too. But his sense of humor is VERY wry, and takes some getting used to!

There is a decent cluster of ChargePoints north about four blocks. Thinking about the Auto Show next week and figured enough EV's are running about, nothing is a sure thing. Think I'll start monitoring those CP stations for usage.

I doubt they are on this forum. Don't forget to leave a weblink for them on your note next time. They might learn something from our forums.

This problem will get worse: Same thing happened at SFO recently. That night, I decided to ICE it. Luckily I did. I was at SFO for 3 hrs and the same 2 Leafs parked in the EV spots were still there when I returned to the parking lot. One was parked, NOT even plugged in. The other offending Leaf was plugged in and fully charged. No placards, nothing.

Lots of Leafs on the roads and lots of uneducated EV drivers these days.... :-(

mxp said:

Lots of Leafs on the roads and lots of uneducated EV drivers these days.... :-(

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I'm sure that was it. I'm going to have to make some leaflets to leave, outlining the evils of hogging the few charging spaces currently available. But that's basically what my hand written note said - that it was uncool to leave the car parked there all day without leaving a phone number to contact the driver.

When I was parked there yesterday...yes, I parked there all day, even though I was completely done charging by noon and probably could have given the space up by 10am. But I left my protocol card on the dash, with my phone number on it, and I was completely prepared to swap parking places with anyone who needed to charge once I had enough. BTW, that space with the SUV was iced all day yesterday too, by an ass ugly Suzuki Samurai.

I think it will be a long time before I can count on having an empty charging station in order to get home.
The spots are there and all EV's want to park in order to "opportunity charge" or just because they can.
The only answer is to have a lot more chargers and for EV's to only park when they have to.
A Volt never has to charge. A leaf parked for extra time in a space is no worse than a Volt parking there at all.

Mx5racer said:

I think it will be a long time before I can count on having an empty charging station in order to get home.
The spots are there and all EV's want to park in order to "opportunity charge" or just because they can.
The only answer is to have a lot more chargers and for EV's to only park when they have to.
A Volt never has to charge. A leaf parked for extra time in a space is no worse than a Volt parking there at all.

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A long time before you can count on an empty free charging station.

Once they start charging money to occupy charging spaces you won't see so many fully charged Leafs sitting there. Since the fee is likely to be higher than its equivalent in gasoline, you won't see many Volts or plug-in Priuses charging there. And even if they won't tow away the SUV's, it would help if they'd get $100 parking tickets for failing to pay the Chargepoint "parking meter."

But yes, the best answer is a lot more chargers. Repealing GM's AB475 would help too.

mwalsh said:

mxp said:

Lots of Leafs on the roads and lots of uneducated EV drivers these days.... :-(

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I'm sure that was it. I'm going to have to make some leaflets to leave, outlining the evils of hogging the few charging spaces currently available. But that's basically what my hand written note said - that it was uncool to leave the car parked there all day without leaving a phone number to contact the driver.

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I'd imagine that many Leafers who plan to use limited charging spaces probably should bring copies of their own leaflet w/pointers to MNL and charging space etiquette/protocol.

walterbays said:

A long time before you can count on an empty free charging station.

Once they start charging money to occupy charging spaces you won't see so many fully charged Leafs sitting there. Since the fee is likely to be higher than its equivalent in gasoline, you won't see many Volts or plug-in Priuses charging there. And even if they won't tow away the SUV's, it would help if they'd get $100 parking tickets for failing to pay the Chargepoint "parking meter."

But yes, the best answer is a lot more chargers. Repealing GM's AB475 would help too.

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As an an outsider, the above seem to point to opposing forces, for the lack of a better term.

If they're too expensive that nobody ends up using them, the EVSE provider won't have an incentive to maintain or repair them and might even go under. They might end up being unrepaired targets of vandalism and copper theft. If someone drives their EV so far that they can't return w/o charging but finds EVSEs to be all broken or inaccessible, they'll probably not do it again (to that location).

mwalsh said:

When I was parked there yesterday...yes, I parked there all day, even though I was completely done charging by noon and probably could have given the space up by 10am. But I left my protocol card on the dash, with my phone number on it, and I was completely prepared to swap parking places with anyone who needed to charge once I had enough.

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I don't think this is the best option. You should have gone out at noon and moved the Leaf, someone driving by the spots may have not seen your protocol card and been just as frustrated as you were the day before.

All I expect when attending an event is that if you occupy the space that you should charge.
If you are an employee then it would be best for you to move as soon as convenient. But how would we know?
Any fustration IMO should be directed at the venue to add additional electric spaces not the vehicle owner.

I will never leave a note or expect a self imposed instruction card. Lucky if 2% followed this card idea so may as well get used to it.
I would make an effort to get there earlier.

smkettner said:

All I expect when attending an event is that if you occupy the space that you should charge.
If you are an employee then it would be best for you to move as soon as convenient. But how would we know?
Any fustration IMO should be directed at the venue to add additional electric spaces not the vehicle owner.

I will never leave a note or expect a self imposed instruction card. Lucky if 2% followed this card idea so may as well get used to it.
I would make an effort to get there earlier.

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I totally agree!

smkettner said:

All I expect when attending an event is that if you occupy the space that you should charge.
If you are an employee then it would be best for you to move as soon as convenient. But how would we know?
Any fustration IMO should be directed at the venue to add additional electric spaces not the vehicle owner.

I will never leave a note or expect a self imposed instruction card. Lucky if 2% followed this card idea so may as well get used to it.
I would make an effort to get there earlier.

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I'm thinking along this line as well. I'm kind of taken aback by the intensity of the OP's message actually. We need more chargers not more bashing. the reality for me is that when I leave my car in a parking space it's often a good distance from where I'm going to be and having to track exactly when it's done charging every time I park is going to make this EV experience a PITA! In the end, this has got to be convenient... if it's not, then it's going to be a niche market. I guess I'm conflicted about what the protocol should be, I'm generally a considerate person who wants to make things work for everyone but I do feel that this has got to work for the masses, who are not so considerate and who will get seriously turned off if hounded. Around here it seems that the network isn't in use much of the time, taking up parking spaces that no one else can use. At Ikea, one of the 4 spaces is exclusively for handicap, which seems like a really thoughtful thing, but in reality it's going to mean that that space that was for handicapped drivers is now relegated to practically no one.

I tend to opportunity charge when it's convenient with the idea that at least there is a car in the space. If it's the last space available and I don't need the juice then I suppose I should not use the space, then again, like in Edmonds, there is only one space in a small parking lot and ICE drivers are getting frustrated that it's the only open spot in the lot and using it, because hardly anyone else does.

I think we need to take it easy on each other during this transition... nasty notes just seem like perhaps an over reactive, dogmatic kind of approach... maybe i'll feel differently down the line, but that's where I'm at for now.

Semi-off-topic, are most EV charging spaces set in the middle of three spaces? Assuming the charging cord can reach, I'd think that would be the simplest way to maximize potential availability, at least while chargers are limited in number. Too often I see two chargers located side-by-side, which limits their utility. If they were spaced 3 spaces apart you'd have a better chance of finding a free space in reach.

GaslessInSeattle said:

At Ikea, one of the 4 spaces is exclusively for handicap, which seems like a really thoughtful thing, but in reality it's going to mean that that space that was for handicapped drivers is now relegated to practically no one.

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I thought the same. Then the second trip over there sure enough a conversion minivan has the J-plug plugged into a connector just below the front bumper. I don't know what may have been running or charging but it was good to see it getting used.

Of course the handicapped can still use a regular EV spot if they can plug in.