Disconnected by a Rivan driver at charging station

[Mach1E]

Jerk Lady: "Hey, this guy unplugged my car, and plugged it into his car!"
Boss: "Why did you unplug her car?"
Ragging Dork: "I was plugged in first. She unplugged my vehicle, so I just put it back into my car."
Boss (to Jerk Lady): "Don't unplug other people's cars. Ever."
Jerk Lady: "But..."
Boss: "EVER!"

I wish I had bosses at jobs like that in the past!

My experience has more been that they’re way more likely to yell at the employees than ever yell at a customer.

No matter how wrong the customer was.

I luckily don’t work for people like that anymore. But it seemed to go with the territory with any hourly job I had.

Jerk lady (probably named Karen) would have probably yelled back, said there is no posted sign or policy, then drag the business through the mud on Nextdoor and Yelp (which is why the jerk bosses don’t have our backs).

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[Christina]

I'm sure there is a thread about this somewhere but I did some quick searching and didn't find it so here it goes.

Saturday I was DC charging at the mall and yes it was past 80% but I wasn't finished so just let it keep going knowing I'd be getting done with my manicure about the time it got to 90% and I noticed it stopped charging around 86%. When I got the the car I found that no it wasn't the charger, but that a Rivan driver had removed my charging cable and was charging on that machine.

First, super rude but whatever. I was monitoring it so I knew it wasn't just sitting there at 100% fully charged and taking up the space. This location is right by a highway where a driver might be on a long road trip and have a legit reason to need to charge all the way.

But second, I didn't think that you could disconnect the charging cable when the car was locked in order to protect from that happening? Now I feel like I have to babysit my car instead of running errands or eating or something.

So other drivers can just disconnect our car from the charger?

***
Wow, who knew this was going to be such a thought provoking thread LOL
Couple of details since there are quite a bit of assumptions being made:

1. I do not have access to a home charger, I always use public chargers. So for those suggesting that people MUST leave at 80% and charge the rest of the way, as desired or needed, the rest at home ... Not everyone is as lucky as you are.

2. Since I regularly charge at public chargers I'm pretty good at estimating the time needed, and I make the most of it by doing errands. I pulled in at around 5% so leaving the car to do this is just a good use of my time and I was paying and leaving when the notification the charge stopped came so I probably passed the Rivan guy walking into the mall as I was leaving. (he also left his car and went in the mall BTW)

3. The person who thought they super-sleuthed my location and the state of the relevant chargers was dead wrong. While I do often use them, that day I was not at an EA charger or anywhere near one.

4. The Rivan driver did shut my port door, which to some meant they "touched" the car and was many folks point of NOPE. But I did find it kind of nice, at least he didn't leave it open to be hit be something else.

5. For those asking about the hang tags someone showed, I did see a post for some on ETSY. This is just a friendly shared link, I am in no way associated with the seller

https://www.etsy.com/listing/240583...0b0a98d87f4c3ed1555.00&organic_search_click=1

Happy Charging Folks!

I wouldn't touch somebody's car while charging unless it's 100%. I have no idea where they are travelling and they may need 100% to get to the next destination. The (reliable) infrastructure is not there yet. And thank you for the etsy link. That's clever.

 

[b1ptsv24]

1

Happy Charging Folks!

No need to explain what you were doing! It was rude. No matter where you were! I manage my charging time around errands as well or around restaurants if I am making it a “two charge” trip! When I have to drive 700 kms, I leave my house at 100%, stop half way and have to charge at 100% again (yes I know it’s not great for the battery) to get to my final destination. Unplugging my car would force me to stop a third time (only a big deal because it would make me late)!

So yeah, totally rude IMHO!

 

[WikiMart]

I'm sure there is a thread about this somewhere but I did some quick searching and didn't find it so here it goes.

Saturday I was DC charging at the mall and yes it was past 80% but I wasn't finished so just let it keep going knowing I'd be getting done with my manicure about the time it got to 90% and I noticed it stopped charging around 86%. When I got the the car I found that no it wasn't the charger, but that a Rivan driver had removed my charging cable and was charging on that machine.

First, super rude but whatever. I was monitoring it so I knew it wasn't just sitting there at 100% fully charged and taking up the space. This location is right by a highway where a driver might be on a long road trip and have a legit reason to need to charge all the way.

But second, I didn't think that you could disconnect the charging cable when the car was locked in order to protect from that happening? Now I feel like I have to babysit my car instead of running errands or eating or something.

So other drivers can just disconnect our car from the charger?

***
Wow, who knew this was going to be such a thought provoking thread LOL
Couple of details since there are quite a bit of assumptions being made:

1. I do not have access to a home charger, I always use public chargers. So for those suggesting that people MUST leave at 80% and charge the rest of the way, as desired or needed, the rest at home ... Not everyone is as lucky as you are.

2. Since I regularly charge at public chargers I'm pretty good at estimating the time needed, and I make the most of it by doing errands. I pulled in at around 5% so leaving the car to do this is just a good use of my time and I was paying and leaving when the notification the charge stopped came so I probably passed the Rivan guy walking into the mall as I was leaving. (he also left his car and went in the mall BTW)

3. The person who thought they super-sleuthed my location and the state of the relevant chargers was dead wrong. While I do often use them, that day I was not at an EA charger or anywhere near one.

4. The Rivan driver did shut my port door, which to some meant they "touched" the car and was many folks point of NOPE. But I did find it kind of nice, at least he didn't leave it open to be hit be something else.

5. For those asking about the hang tags someone showed, I did see a post for some on ETSY. This is just a friendly shared link, I am in no way associated with the seller

https://www.etsy.com/listing/240583...0b0a98d87f4c3ed1555.00&organic_search_click=1

Happy Charging Folks!

I hope this wasn't you....

 

[melissphillips]

Ha Nope not me

 

[Bigdaddy's mach e]

Unpopular opinion here, but what he did might have been understandable based on the following:

• You were charging at an Electrify America station on a holiday weekend
  • People need to use the chargers to travel, which should take priority over local convenience charging
• There were reports that all four stations were full on Saturday
• You did not seem to need the extra charge and were taking your time getting a manicure while DC charging past 80% without regard to others possibly waiting in line to charge

In the future, please be more courteous to other drivers and move your vehicle when it reaches 80%, ESPECIALLY on a holiday weekend when people need the chargers to reach the destination.

He was probably waiting around for a while to see if you'd come back. If he was traveling, he might have already had a very frustrating day of full or broken chargers, and you were the last straw.

If you must charge past 80% at a busy EA station, you should be present or leave a note saying you need the extra charge past 80%. You have to realize there are too many people clogging up the stations charging past 80% when they don't actually need it to get home. They're just being cheap or lazy.

You should also know that DC charging past 80% is not good for the battery either. You should only do that if necessary to reach your destination. The time to charge from 80% to 100% is very slow, you are better off unplugging at 80% and stopping at the next station rather than waiting for 90% or 100%. You seem to think it's okay to tie up the station for 2 hours, that's too long.

I think you should keep your hands off other people car period. We will have a problem if you disconnect my vehicle.

 

[AlbaOH]

Yep.

 

[Mach-Lee]

No need to explain what you were doing! It was rude. No matter where you were! I manage my charging time around errands as well or around restaurants if I am making it a “two charge” stop! When I have to drive 700 kms, I leave my house at 100%, stop half way and have to charge at 100% again (yes I know it’s not great for the battery) to get to my final destination. Unplugging my car would force me to stop a third time (only a big deal because it would make me late)!

Do you realize it's actually faster to stop twice and charge to <80% than to stop once and go to 100%?

In the time it takes to charge from 80-100%, you could have charged from 0 to 80% with time to spare. Charging rate is non linear, and slows greatly at the top end, which is why charging to 100% is usually a complete waste of time vs. making multiple stops.

Here is the time curve for DC charging, notice how shallow it gets after 80%:

 

[AlbaOH]

Yep.

So that answers that. Just this weekend my son brought his new Audi EV over and plugged it in. I went to unplug it and couldn’t. He said “Well it won’t unplug if the doors are locked. What’s to keep someone from unplugging it and plugging in their own?” I assumed the MME would be the same then.

 

[generaltso]

So that answers that. Just this weekend my son brought his new Audi EV over and plugged it in. I went to unplug it and couldn’t. He said “Well it won’t unplug if the doors are locked. What’s to keep someone from unplugging it and plugging in their own?” I assumed the MME would be the same then.

Lots of EVs and PHEVs do that. But not Fords.

 

[b1ptsv24]

Do you realize it's actually faster to stop twice and charge to <80% than to stop once and go to 100%?

In the time it takes to charge from 80-100%, you could have charged from 0 to 80% with time to spare. Charging rate is non linear, and slows greatly at the top end, which is why charging to 100% is usually a complete waste of time vs. making multiple stops.

Here is the time curve for DC charging, notice how shallow it gets after 80%:

I didn’t realize that! Thanks for the information. I’ll give that a try next time!

 

[TheCats]

Tesla already limits charging to 80% when the station is busy to increase throughout. The car will stop at 80% and you will be charged idle fees. Electrify America should do the same.

If you want to charge above 80%, you should have to get out and plug in again to prove you’re still present. This should be a rare occurrence however.

Another method would be to charge a higher price above 80%. And disable free charging plans past 80%.

Tesla's Supercharger limit doesn't work quite like that.

The charging limit is automatically set to 80% when you start charging at a busy station. You can manually increase using the app or vehicle screen.

I've done it both because I needed more than 80% charge and for the somewhat-less-justifiable reason that fast food took longer than I expected. I don't know if Tesla would actually charge the $1 or $2/minute idle fee after 5 minutes, but it's cheaper to continue charging and not find out.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Tesla's Supercharger limit doesn't work quite like that.

The charging limit is automatically set to 80% when you start charging at a busy station. You can manually increase using the app or vehicle screen.

I've done it both because I needed more than 80% charge and for the somewhat-less-justifiable reason that fast food took longer than I expected. I don't know if Tesla would actually charge the $1 or $2/minute idle fee after 5 minutes, but it's cheaper to continue charging and not find out.

Correct, you have to manually change it for each instance of a busy station or it will automatically stop at 80% with no user input. Stopping at 80% and incurring idle fees should be the default setting for a DC station unless manually overridden IMO. For those that don't know, this is a good thing that will cause people to move their cars sooner so that more people can charge (increased throughput). Wait times would also go down.

Tesla implemented the 80% limit for these same reasons, people were leaving their cars parked too long at the stations and the lines were backing up. So they made the rule change and wait times went down.

When we get access to the Supercharger network, we will probably also be subject to the same 80% limit at busy Superchargers unless Ford figures out a way to implement an override function in FordPass. Or else Tesla will just charge us a much higher rate past 80%. But there's no way they're going to be as lax as Electrify America when it comes to slow top charging or idling.

 

[ARK]

So that answers that. Just this weekend my son brought his new Audi EV over and plugged it in. I went to unplug it and couldn’t. He said “Well it won’t unplug if the doors are locked. What’s to keep someone from unplugging it and plugging in their own?” I assumed the MME would be the same then.

I think ideally it would lock but with the ability to disable the locking in a setting. While I'd appreciate the ability to lock when charging in a public location, at home I am often plugging/unplugging my Mach-E without my keys or PaaK enabled phone on me, so I wouldn't want it to necessarily always require the vehicle to be unlocked as no one is going to unplug me to steal my charge except my next door neighbor, but I know where he lives.

 

[geftsnowball]

All of this talk from some about requiring additional fees paid after 80% is pretty bullshit with the current charging infrastructure... When there are guaranteed working (fast) chargers every 50 miles on major routes then sure, it starts to make more sense but when one has to meticulously map out their route and hope that there are no charger outages (e.g., chargers claiming they are online via an app but not being online upon arrival) it's pretty shitty to push penalizing people who may need more charge to get to the next stop.

There are absolutely routes where you have to go 150+ miles between ANY 150kW+ chargers and nearly the same even if you add in 50kW chargers to the mix! What's the alternative? Charge to more than 80% to make it to that ONE 150kW+ charger without adding multiple hours of detours to every trip. I'm looking at one specific route right now. Did it once in a standard range in ~30' weather +/- and was pushing 5% at the first stop. Did it again for a slightly longer route (different starting location a bit further away with no chargers in-between) in better weather and an extended range and had a much more reasonable buffer. In the standard range in winter it would have been an additional stop at a 50kW charger and added a significant time delay.

I mean, come on! I'm happy for you if you like to gamble and are perfectly happy with the entire charging infrastructure as is. I hate gambling. I'll take that extra 10-15 minutes to make sure I can for sure make it to that next charger and have a bit more of a buffer if/when I can't charge at my original planned stop thank you very much!

With all of that said... my personal experiences is a few 15-20 minute EA phone calls as inconvenience so lucky so far but I've read enough horror stories to be cautious.

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