Chargepoint Stations - RESERVED

Encountered a new and irritating issue on Saturday (2/25). Arrived in Burbank (CA)@ approximately 11am and attempted to charge at the stations located at 120 E Orange Grove (these are the one's behind Islands). Both stations were locked out as "Reserved". So... moved car across the street to use the stations 133 E Orange Grove. These stations were also locked out as "Reserved". I did not try the stations 240 E Orange Grove and not call Chargepoint to request if they could release any of them (if possible), as I was already late for my appointment and had sufficient charge for my next destination.

This experience did highlights two glaring issues for me. One - Stations being reserved and not used. This is no worse than having the station being ICE'd. It's a wasted space that no one can use. Perhaps "Ghosted" would be a better term instead of reserved, as there might as well be an invisible car sitting there that prevents you from even parking. I am hopeful that no one on here was foolish enough to have done this. And... Issue number two - I double checked the Chargepoint app while sitting there and the app shows the stations as available. If CP is going to permit reservations, then the stations should be identified in the app as in use or with a different color indicating that they are in fact reserved. They don't... They show up as green and available.

Anyone else encountered similar? Chargepoint... are you listening?

can trolls do this to disrupt the system without losing money?
I assume you can by having an active chargepoint card.
after stuff I see with political lawbreaking in OC by the GOP, including staff to elected officials -- yes there were convictions -- I would not rule this out.

I have no first hand experience so this is just speculation, but...

I wonder if a resident wants their ChargePoint EVSEs to be reservable (new word), they are required to make them reservation-only all the time. If that's the case, you would be required to check for and make (if available) a reservation every time - much like conference rooms and other resources in Outlook/Exchange. I'm pretty sure you can use the ChargePoint app to make a reservation on your smart phone (if you have one) and could do that while you are there, assuming one is available for the time you'll be there.

I can see this being bad for people who make reservations and show up to find an EV parked in the reserved spot out of spite - and not charging.

This is in the sense funny there is ONLY 8 ChargePoint stations you can reserve in whole USA - 7 in Burbank and 1 in Leavenworth. Maybe just ask people, not to play with their smart/computers, and do not book, if you not sure you will use them. Someone actually registering to disrupt seems too odd to me. Most of then are not occupied/used most of the time.

Does one need a funded CP account to Reserve a CP station?

CP would know who Reserved these spaces, call them and ask them to check those locations. Ask if they got used at all, and how late in the Reservation time window.

What does it cost to Reserve and not show up to charge?

Can it be used just for Reserved parking?

CP needs a way to Un-Lock "Ghosted" stations quickly, on request.

If you try to Reserve an already-reserved station, what does the CP system tell you?

Yes, easy-use filters and status shapes and colors are critical for sharing sparce resources: campsites, some resturants, ... charging stations, etc.

Apparently the CP Reservation system is ... not yet practically functional, and any "Reservable" stations are trivial to make essentially unusable.

Until CP finishes a practical Reservation system, we should KINDLY remind all charging station "owners" to make sure that their stations are NOT Reservable (if they want them to be used).

Apparently anybody can reserve any station(s) for any period of time, with no cost or penalty.

From the Chargepoint FAQ....
"only Drivers with ChargePass cards activated to their Driver Accounts can make reservations"

"The station owner sets the price as a per-hour reservation fee"

"Regardless of whether you plug in or not, and regardless of how many times you plug in during your reservation interval, you will pay the price displayed to you at the time you booked your reservation. In other words, you will be charged for a reservation even if you do not use the station. Please plan accordingly."

So... If you reserve, you're paying the cost of the station during your reservation, regardless if you use or not. The problem with the Burbank stations is that they are all Free until July. So, flashing back to math class and our multiplication tables, zero times anything is still zero.

Garyid - I wouldn't think you could just use it as a reserved parking, as without actually plugging in, you would be violating CA's AB475

Apparently (I have been told) the FAQ is ahead of the implementation. The Burbank stations show no fee for reserving.

Hopefully the Reservation system is catching up, and will become properly functional as intended.

However, the Reservation logic appears to make a free (but Reservable) station ... Ghostable.

But, the system may be improving. My browser (Opera) would not allow me to log in. Clicking a "login to reserve" link appeared to do nothing.

AB475 only applies if the "proper/required" signage (warning of towing) is there.

Some of the Burbank Town Center stations are now showing "Reservation Only" on the ChargePoint website. This indicates they are not available for drive up charging. You can make a no cost reservation from the smart phone application. Reservations are in 15 minute increments but you cannot reserve prior to current time. (If you arrive at 3:01 you can reserve as soon as 3:15, but not before). Reservation end time is also in 15 minute increments. Good news, you know you have a charge waiting for you. Bad news, no penalty (yet) if someone else bogart's the charger.

Just tried to use the 2 chargers in the orange grove structure and they are saying "reserved". If this thread is correct it could be that some pisssed off ICE drive has reserved all the meters. I have called the police on 2 occasions for ICE cars in the spots. To a certain extent it isn't worth the battle for the spots because after july they will not be free and are rather expensive to use compared to home charging. If anyone can reserve the spots without fee or penalty for abuse it is a stupid system ripe for abuse

Already most ChargePoint stations in the Philly area charge $3.00/hr. This is OK for the occasional time where one needs an hour at the L2 charge point to make it home. But it would be very expensive (and time consuming, since they're all L2s so far) to do it on a regular basis. My take on it is that, until EVs become common enough for investors to recoup their capital, public charging is doomed to be expensive.

We have a couple Walgreen's L2s in Philly already (SemaCharge). Wonder how long until we see a QC station? No Blink Network stations nearby yet, but we have both ChargePoint and SemaCharge.

tps said:

Already most ChargePoint stations in the Philly area charge $3.00/hr.

Click to expand...

ChargePoint is a host only, but I wonder in that case how much station owner will charge for QC $30/h(roughly 10X more power)?

EdmondLeaf said:

tps said:

Already most ChargePoint stations in the Philly area charge $3.00/hr.

Click to expand...

ChargePoint is a host only, but I wonder in that case how much station owner will charge for QC $30/h(roughly 10X more power)?

Click to expand...

This sounds about as I would expect. A 20 min QC session would be $10.

If the 20-minute takes you 50 miles for $10, that's twice the cost of fueling the 50 mpg Prius at $5 per gallon.

I was in Burbank a while back and forgot my CP card at home. A quick call to them and they unlocked the charger and a couple of minutes later I was charging. I would bet that a call from the charger would yield the same result, reserved or not. If someone has actually made a reservation they will be able to identify them, and if multiple places are reserved by the same person, they can cancel that account. More than likely they are trying this out, and will be helpful.

The Burbank ChargePoint units have reverted back to "available" from "reservable".

KeiJidosha said:

The Burbank ChargePoint units have reverted back to "available" from "reservable".

Click to expand...

Good to hear!