Free Public Level 2 Charging Etiquette

[Logal727]

As an owner of commercial EV chargers, I'd rather have the chargers located in highly visible areas with lots of foot traffic to prevent vandalism.

Also (and probably more importantly), power tends to be closer to your buildings, and it's expensive to start running power out to the extreme reaches of parking lots.

There's also code compliance to consider, including ADA path of travel (so now I need to create a path of travel all the way across my parking lot)

You ever have anyone towed from one? I've yet see that happen. I'd pay money to watch an ICEd vehicle towed from an EV spot.

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[dmastro]

We have a policy in place that charges idle fees, and that is very effective in moving people along. We haven't had an incident yet where someone has ICEd a stall, but we do have tow enforcement for a variety of infractions which would include this.

Thankfully, we operate a business park where we don't have the volume or transient nature of retail parking.

 

[Deleted member 16048]

We have a policy in place that charges idle fees, and that is very effective in moving people along. We haven't had an incident yet where someone has ICEd a stall, but we do have tow enforcement for a variety of infractions which would include this.

Thankfully, we operate a business park where we don't have the volume or transient nature of retail parking.

This is great to hear. Now if we could get more companies and property owners to understand this is how it should be done.

Thanks for also brining in ADA into the mix here. This is an important thing that I think some owners don't consider as well. I wonder when the first handicapped EV parking spot will emerge (If there isn't one already somewhere.)

 

[superdave80]

There's also code compliance to consider, including ADA path of travel (so now I need to create a path of travel all the way across my parking lot)

Is that a requirement? Because there is a group of a dozen Tesla chargers at my local mall that are on the farthest end of the parking lot, and I see no 'path of travel' to the mall from those chargers. They are right against the sidewalk near the street, so maybe that counts?

 

[Blue highway]

There is no such thing as free charging

• chargers cost something
• electricity costs something
• maintenance costs something.

people just want someone else to pay for what they want.

Charging for use solves almost all of the issues mentioned in this thread

 

[ShaggySS]

I appreciate everyone's insight and views. It really seems like the easiest solution for all this is a sign with rules.

As most of you pointed out these free chargers draw people in who park their car and walk what ever distance for their $5-$10 because they are entitled. I felt more entitled because I arrived before everyone else.

One quick clarification. the same guy unplugged me each time.

In hindsight confronting him was probably not the brightest idea but I felt like I was helping others by explaining to him that he shouldn't touch cars that are actively charging. We all know he learned his lesson from me scolding him about etiquette.

My takeaway is there is no right or wrong, there is considerate and inconsiderate, but in the end, it's not worth the couple of bucks. If someone feels more entitled than me at a free public charger than go ahead.

The free chargers will soon be converted to pay chargers, the moral of the story for the entitled guy. Don't unplug the guy who is in charge of converting free chargers to pay chargers. (kidding, been a work in progress, not because of this)

 

[kennethjk]

Last summer I drove about 120 miles to see some friends in Pa. We met them for lunch and I knew the food market across the street has a free charger.

I thought about driving over there to charge up while at lunch for a couple of hours. I felt guilty since I would not have been buying anything from the food market . A local store like WaWa but not part of a large chain.

even though I could have used a charge it wasn’t “necessary “ so I decided not to use it.


If someone was charged 100% or close and I really “needed” some juice I would unplug and use for my car but would hang there for a bit to avoid any payback.

to me the way to solve it, is require a credit card , even if free, and if they are sitting there plugged in and not charging they would get hit with a fee.

I recognize many lever 2 chargers don’t have that capability but maybe they should.

 

[Jiji]

There is no such thing as free charging

• chargers cost something
• electricity costs something
• maintenance costs something.

people just want someone else to pay for what they want.

Charging for use solves almost all of the issues mentioned in this thread

+1 on this

If charging (or anything) is free then it will ultimately be ruined, known as the tragedy of the commons:

In economics and in an ecological context, the tragedy of the commons is a situation in which individual users, who have open access to a resource unhampered by shared social structures or formal rules that govern access and use,[1][2] act independently according to their own self-interest and, contrary to the common good of all users, cause depletion of the resource through their uncoordinated action in the case that there are too many users related to the available resources.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

 

[Glen Boise]

If that "free charger" is provided by your employer for their employees and customers, then you have a right to bitch. If provided by someone else for their customers, and employees, then you are abusing their charger. That shopping center charger is an amenity provided for their customers. Not nearby workers. You should not be charging there while you are working. Especially if you have home charging.
We are seeing something similar for new EV's sold with free charging at DCFC. The new owner sits for hours charging to 100% (damaging their battery) instead of 80%. Preventing others from charging.
What we are seeing, in both cases, is the "tragedy of the commons" as described in the previous comment.
We need to remember that there are four classes of charging customers. They are: a) Home chargers; b) Travelers through your community; c) Visitors to your community (shoppers, business people calling on clients, tourists, and commuting workers and students; and d) People without access to home charging (apartment dwellers, people without off-street parking, and renters). Each class has different needs. Possibly the best answer is charging for EV charging. It is more expensive and more hassle to provide.

 

[RidingwithScotty]

It’s a shame that we can’t have nice things… I don’t often use shopping center L2 options but I try to save it for when it’s colder, at the movie theater where I can get a bit of a charge but I never expect a guarantee of availability. And it is a major inducement to get my business because I’m inclined to stay longer and let Scotty get fed. That being said, I will grumble if I see a PHEV in one of those spots. I guess I’ve become a bit of an entitled EV snob in that way and I admit it

 

[dmastro]

Is that a requirement? Because there is a group of a dozen Tesla chargers at my local mall that are on the farthest end of the parking lot, and I see no 'path of travel' to the mall from those chargers. They are right against the sidewalk near the street, so maybe that counts?

Definitely a requirement, although some jurisdictions may choose to look the other way. It may be that they are accessible, if they're adjacent to a sidewalk all they need is a short accessible run to that sidewalk.

 

[RMoore]

Leaving notes is sometimes a good solution. We have free charging at work and some days all of the chargers (about 10 of them I think) are occupied and some days they are not. If I get there on the early side and plug in I leave a note with my name and cell phone number and an offer to move my car later if someone arrives and all the chargers are occupied. Of course they’d have to see my note so it’s not a perfect approach. The best would be for my company to put up a white board where we leave our contact info so we can share as needed. If I were parking often in a spot with public free charging I would consider leaving a note with the time I started and contact info saying I’d be willing to move after a few hours.

 

[minders]

My local Target has a bank of Superchargers and 4 L2 spaces on the far end of the parking lot. No signs other than EV charging only. The L2's are free to use for 2 hours before they charge a fee for charging. They're ChargePoint chargers, so they require the usual CP start up with the app or the key tag. I've used them a few times while running into Target to make a purchase and feel like 2 hours is more than generous for a Target run. They're usually empty, but I still worry someone will come along and unplug me just to be a turd when they don't need the charger (teenagers screwing around or ICEholes). More concerned about them damaging my vehicle than losing the charge since I charge at home the majority of the time.

 

[mkhuffman]

Free charging sucks. I am with everyone who has posted about the problems with free charging, and how it needs to go away.

I understand why businesses offer it. And of course I don't think they should be mandated to require payment. But as long as it is free, people are going to abuse it. An idle fee that hits as soon as the car stops charging would work, but it needs to hit right away and not have any grace period.

The proper etiquette is to only use a free charger if you are a guest of the organization that owns the charger. And when your car is done charging, move it immediately. We all have apps that tell us when our car will be fully charged, so there is no excuse for anyone to leave their car in a space fully charged.

It is only OK to unplug a car that is fully charged, IMO. Because that car is owned by an a-hole, and they have no right to even be in that space once their charge is completed.

This is why we need 600 mile range BEVs. Because I am sick and tired of the charger a-holes and want to avoid public charging at all costs. It is very stressful. It should not be.

 

[Astraea]

That’s partly why I am not a fan of free public chargers, my experience with them has been that nearby residents and workers tend to monopolize them so that functionally, it ends up being the ‘personal’ charger of a handful of people, and visitors who might truly need or benefit from a charge have a hard time ever accessing them.

This was exactly the case in the town I used to live in. 2 free level 2 chargers and 1 slow level 3 charger. There was a father and daughter with PHEVs and they worked in a building attached to the public parking lot owned by the town. They would get to work Monday through Friday and plug in to them first thing in the morning and be plugged in all day. When they were finished charging they would unplug but would rarely move their cars. When the father got a BEV, he would do the same thing he did before but with the level 3, every day. And mind you this is the only level 3 in the area period. Like within 50 miles. And people use it to travel through the area and now were complaining on plugshare and chargepoint that the level 3 was always taken. They used them as their personal chargers every single day they worked and was so frustrating to the other PHEVs and the handful of BEVs including myself on the rare occasion we relied on the level 3. There needs to be hard rules by the towns that are enforced for free chargers, or the charger owner needs to set strick monetary penalties after a certain time/battery SOC.

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