Public L2 Charging Is So WEIRD

[Mirak]

So I’m sitting at a public L2 charger doing some weird L2 public charging and there is a Chevy crapmobile (not sure what it’s called) and a Tesla M3 also charging here, at 8am, and their occupants are both sleeping inside. I’m not talking just dozing in their seats. These dudes are camping to get a free overnight charge. This is not San Francisco where maybe the homeless can afford an EV but not a place to live. This is Johnson County, Kansas.

And this has caused me to reflect that public L2 charging leads to such so much damned weird behavior and scenarios.

I’ll give you another… Yesterday, @AeroEng posted his consternation that he had hoped to swing by a dealership for “a few minutes” of L2 charging but was frustrated that it wasn’t publicly available.

A few minutes? How is a few minutes, even 20-30 minutes of L2 charging worth… anything? How is that worth not just going to the dealership, but then upon finding the charger locked, going in and actually bugging a salesman about why it is locked?

I have a theory… I think a lot of EV enthusiasts are kinda weird. And I mean that in the most endearing way possible. I think a lot of us are engineering types, who enjoy tinkering. We enjoy the challenge. We enjoy the process. The mechanical interaction. It’s not the 19 cents of free electricity, or added 3 miles of range, thatworth seeking out that 30 minutes of L2… it’s the satisfaction of a successful coupling (get your mind out of the gutter) - a successful transaction.

Which leads me to my scenario. I drive from Wichita to Kansas City to visit my parents. I stay at their house when I visit. With no L2 charging. But there is this nice bank of chargers at a strip mall just 2 miles away. So rather than waste 45 minutes on a DCFC pit stop upon arriving in KC to fill up from damn near 10%, I just plug in at the L2 and have my dad pick me up, and leave the car plugged in overnight. Doesn’t bother anyone. Nobody cares. It’s nighttime. And then because I run almost every day, I get up and run in the morning along a little 4-5 mile circuit along some lovely trails that ends up back at the car. Drive the car back to parents’ house fully charged. Makes sense? Sure! Weird as hell? Absolutely!

Now obviously I’m not talking about L2 installed in housing developments, which clearly serve a non-weird purpose, but are almost all not truly “public.” And I’m not talking about stuff installed at hotels or movie theaters or malls where people normally might stay for several hours at a time. But there is a lot of public L2 that is just freaking weirdly situated in areas that lead to people doing weird stuff.

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[TowPro]

There is a local buffalo wild wings near me with chargepoiint L2 charger. Its 30 miles RT. I can go into restaurant for an hour, and gain 30 miles of charge so why not. oh wait, this charger has not worked since I got the car in July.

I can go to Publix and hook up to chargepoint L2 charger for an hour. it cost $1.25 per hour but its a really wide parking space. Since I live on "oldville" (central FL where many Old people should no longer be driving still do and are clueless about how to park) I can protect my car from door dings. now to me this is worth it.

 

[Fremont Kid]

Good to hear another runner making use of their fitness to 'run' errands.
I know that area of Johnson County a bit and have run on those trails. Scenic during warmer weather.
That said, I would not leave my MME overnight at a charger two miles away. Just me. I'd probably drive it there early a.m., leaving it to charge while I ran back to my parents for breakfast and visit. That way sun is shining to deter vandals, I could set a departure time to condition cabin and battery, then parents could drive me to vehicle when ready to leave. Basically, just reverse sequence.
Last item: I have found that even a 120V connection provides sufficient power to condition cabin and battery with @ 30 minute duration.

 

[21st Century Pony]

We

So I’m sitting at a public L2 charger doing some weird L2 public charging and there is a Chevy crapmobile (not sure what it’s called) and a Tesla M3 also charging here, at 8am, and their occupants are both sleeping inside. I’m not talking just dozing in their seats. These dudes are camping to get a free overnight charge. This is not San Francisco where maybe the homeless can afford an EV but not a place to live. This is Johnson County, Kansas.

And this has caused me to reflect that public L2 charging leads to such so much damned weird behavior and scenarios.

I’ll give you another… Yesterday, @AeroEng posted his consternation that he had hoped to swing by a dealership for “a few minutes” of L2 charging but was frustrated that it wasn’t publicly available.

A few minutes? How is a few minutes, even 20-30 minutes of L2 charging worth… anything? How is that worth not just going to the dealership, but then upon finding the charger locked, going in and actually bugging a salesman about why it is locked?

I have a theory… I think a lot of EV enthusiasts are kinda weird. And I mean that in the most endearing way possible. I think a lot of us are engineering types, who enjoy tinkering. We enjoy the challenge. We enjoy the process. The mechanical interaction. It’s not the 19 cents of free electricity, or added 3 miles of range, thatworth seeking out that 30 minutes of L2… it’s the satisfaction of a successful coupling (get your mind out of the gutter) - a successful transaction.

Which leads me to my scenario. I drive from Wichita to Kansas City to visit my parents. I stay at their house when I visit. With no L2 charging. But there is this nice bank of chargers at a strip mall just 2 miles away. So rather than waste 45 minutes on a DCFC pit stop upon arriving in KC to fill up from damn near 10%, I just plug in at the L2 and have my dad pick me up, and leave the car plugged in overnight. Doesn’t bother anyone. Nobody cares. It’s nighttime. And then because I run almost every day, I get up and run in the morning along a little 4-5 mile circuit along some lovely trails that ends up back at the car. Drive the car back to parents’ house fully charged. Makes sense? Sure! Weird as hell? Absolutely!

Now obviously I’m not talking about L2 installed in housing developments, which clearly serve a non-weird purpose, but are almost all not truly “public.” And I’m not talking about stuff installed at hotels or movie theaters or malls where people normally might stay for several hours at a time. But there is a lot of public L2 that is just freaking weirdly situated in areas that lead to people doing weird stuff.

Was either of the other cars with out-of-state license plates? If (IF) so, then perhaps the occupant(s) were traveling on a long trip and being tired, grabbed an overnight fillup and a few Zzzz's.

That could have easily been me, back in my somewhat carefree and footloose 20s, had EVs existed then.

 

[Mirak]

There is a local buffalo wild wings near me with chargepoiint L2 charger. Its 30 miles RT. I can go into restaurant for an hour, and gain 30 miles of charge so why not. oh wait, this charger has not worked since I got the car in July.

This is another point of contention I have with EV enthusiasts... there tends to be a bit of embellishment on par with, say, fishermen.

An L2 charger delivers, at most about 6kW. Plugging in for an hour would provide, at most, 6kWh. At 3mi/kWh, that is, at best, 18 miles of added range. Not 30. And you would drive 30 miles RT to eat at... a BWW?

 

[Maquis]

And you would drive 30 miles RT to eat at... a BWW?

I’ll drive 30 miles out of my way to avoid eating at BWW!

 

[Maquis]

In my town of about 50K population, there’s 1 free public L2. It‘s a Tesla destination 12 KW. It’s at the local visitor’s center - they installed it as a welcoming gesture to travelers visiting the area. The problem is that the visitor’s center isn’t within walking distance of anything except hotels and you’d have really try to spend more than 30 minutes there. I’m not sure what would happen if you left your car there overnight while staying at a nearby hotel. It’s been there over 3 years and there are about 10 check-ins on PlugShare.

 

[OrchidMania]

When I first got the car I would seek out the free L2 but now that I have a L2 at home I don’t bother for the 20-30 miles. We stay for a month in the Florida keys so I carry the mobile charger in my frunk if I need to 110 it.

 

[933233311602]

A few minutes? How is a few minutes, even 20-30 minutes of L2 charging worth… anything?

I generally agree. For long road trips, picking up a few % charge at your rest breaks along the way is probably worthwhile, even just plugging in to keep the car warm / cool while you eat.

I've plugged into L2 while waiting for the L3 charger to be open. "We're here to charge so we may as well charge", my brain says.

OTOH, people (like me) are terrible at math. When people drive their ICE car across town chasing gas 2 pennies cheaper is a comparitive example. Electrics are worse, because cost-per-%-of-charge is nearly impossible to determine when most chargers bill by the minute. Mix in people's new-ness to metric notation terms like kW and kWh (despite these being normal to house electricity for decades) and people just eyeroll with their hands in the air and sleep in their cars.

 

[Monke]

The dude could just move to TX and pick an electricity plan with free nights, free weekends, or free 8 days.

It is not really free because we are paying $0.20 per kW during normal hours.

 

[JDP That's Me in My MachE]

So I’m sitting at a public L2 charge

Pretty funny post dude!

 

[Logal727]

There was a post on Reddit where this guy was pissed a private business wouldn’t let him use their charger so he hooked up his car to a portable generator and thought it would be a good idea to post it on Reddit like people would agree with him. He got roasted pretty badly cause there was a free public charger a few minutes from his hissy fit.

Yeah, we’re all pretty weird.

 

[dbsb3233]

So I’m sitting at a public L2 charger doing some weird L2 public charging and there is a Chevy crapmobile (not sure what it’s called) and a Tesla M3 also charging here, at 8am, and their occupants are both sleeping inside. I’m not talking just dozing in their seats. These dudes are camping to get a free overnight charge. This is not San Francisco where maybe the homeless can afford an EV but not a place to live. This is Johnson County, Kansas.

And this has caused me to reflect that public L2 charging leads to such so much damned weird behavior and scenarios.

I’ll give you another… Yesterday, @AeroEng posted his consternation that he had hoped to swing by a dealership for “a few minutes” of L2 charging but was frustrated that it wasn’t publicly available.

A few minutes? How is a few minutes, even 20-30 minutes of L2 charging worth… anything? How is that worth not just going to the dealership, but then upon finding the charger locked, going in and actually bugging a salesman about why it is locked?

I have a theory… I think a lot of EV enthusiasts are kinda weird. And I mean that in the most endearing way possible. I think a lot of us are engineering types, who enjoy tinkering. We enjoy the challenge. We enjoy the process. The mechanical interaction. It’s not the 19 cents of free electricity, or added 3 miles of range, thatworth seeking out that 30 minutes of L2… it’s the satisfaction of a successful coupling (get your mind out of the gutter) - a successful transaction.

Which leads me to my scenario. I drive from Wichita to Kansas City to visit my parents. I stay at their house when I visit. With no L2 charging. But there is this nice bank of chargers at a strip mall just 2 miles away. So rather than waste 45 minutes on a DCFC pit stop upon arriving in KC to fill up from damn near 10%, I just plug in at the L2 and have my dad pick me up, and leave the car plugged in overnight. Doesn’t bother anyone. Nobody cares. It’s nighttime. And then because I run almost every day, I get up and run in the morning along a little 4-5 mile circuit along some lovely trails that ends up back at the car. Drive the car back to parents’ house fully charged. Makes sense? Sure! Weird as hell? Absolutely!

Now obviously I’m not talking about L2 installed in housing developments, which clearly serve a non-weird purpose, but are almost all not truly “public.” And I’m not talking about stuff installed at hotels or movie theaters or malls where people normally might stay for several hours at a time. But there is a lot of public L2 that is just freaking weirdly situated in areas that lead to people doing weird stuff.

This is far more a "free" behavior than an EV behavior. L2 is usually free. Free stuff causes illogical, unnatural behaviors that wouldn't otherwise happen. We see it over and over and over, in all kinds of things.

Charge for it and 80% of the weirdness goes away.

 

[JohnFoxeSheets]

I have a theory… I think a lot of EV enthusiasts are kinda weird. And I mean that in the most endearing way possible. I think a lot of us are engineering types, who enjoy tinkering. We enjoy the challenge. We enjoy the process. The mechanical interaction. It’s not the 19 cents of free electricity, or added 3 miles of range, that's worth seeking out that 30 minutes of L2… it’s the satisfaction of a successful coupling (get your mind out of the gutter) - a successful transaction.

LOL - I agree. We are all kinda weird. This forum is a crazy wonderful bunch of folks who making owning the Mach E so much more interesting and rewarding - warts and all.

?

 

[MellowJohnny]

Charged today at a L2 in the parking garage of a local hospital and got…..2 kW. I think I’d have added more miles hooked up to a defribulator…

Stayed anyway - it was prime-ish parking

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