Hotel Charging Etiquette

[DevSecOps]

I opened my window to thank him as I parked there.

The internet must be broken. Rick thanked someone???

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[RickMachE]

The internet must be broken. Rick thanked someone???

It was a Tesla driver, so I knew that if I thanked him, it would be the only time he was thanked in 2023. He looked very surprised, adjusted his pocket protector, coughed, pushed his thick, coke bottle glasses back on his nose, and got in and moved it.

 

[JRT]

I gave up on L2 charges at hotels and other spots. I plan to not have access and ensure I charge at pay stations so I'm not in range trouble and irritated. Free charging should just go away, it will be ridiculous if EV adoption and supply ever really catch up.

 

[BillPitman]

Just because some of you go to sleep at 8pm and there's only 2/5 spots taken doesn't mean that others won't check in after and need a charge for a 7am departure. EV charging spots aren't your personal parking spots. I normally don't get to hotels until 9pm-11pm.

They seriously need to have very high idle fees at these stations to encourage courteous users and discourage selfishness.

If you don't want to unplug (or leave a note to unplug) then don't use them.

Agreed….
Will be checking this out, this coming Monday…..
Trip to Amish country, and staying in Denver, Pa. , Tru by Hilton…. Bill P

 

[Avelli]

Last trip I did the "get up at 3am" thing on the Thur/Fri, only to find out of the 8 EV charging spots, only two were occupied (me and one other EV). Back to sleep!

The next night I happened to look out to see the same two EVs (myself and the aforementioned EV), only this time the remainder of spots were ICEd out.

I figured if an EV owner pulled in later, the driver and hotel manager ought to take it up with the owners of the gas cars.

 

[HuntingPudel]

I have never been to a hotel that had an L2 available. I did once stay at one with an L2 2 blocks away. I moved after a couple of hours. I just wanted enough to have a good buffer at the next DCFC. ??

 

[nvabill]

Just a quick question for those that plug in and charge at hotels. Do you unplug and move once the vehicle has reached your target level or do you leave it plugged in all night?

Here you go, 20 more pages for you to read through, this has been discussed extensively in the past. ?

https://www.macheforum.com/site/threads/friends-we-need-some-mache-hotel-charging-etiquette.19487/

 

[Mach_Enrique]

That thread above is almost a year old...time for new one!

What is more important no one has touched on is hotels need to keep adding L2 chargers every few years on pace with EV adoption. Most places add 2-4 and think they are done forever rather than developing a long term plan in line with adoption rates. Bottom line is most EV drivers will need to charge for 6-8 hours (especially if only 10-20amp L2) for their next day journey so infrastructure needs to keep adapting so threads like this are not even needed. There will come a day not far off 50% of hotel parking should be L2.

There should be enough spots without having to worry about hitting full charge after midnight and moving your car as well as having some form of icing deterrents (like adding room charge fees when an ice guest is in an EV spot). I can dream anyway.

 

[AllenXS]

It was a Tesla driver, so I knew that if I thanked him, it would be the only time he was thanked in 2023. He looked very surprised, adjusted his pocket protector, coughed, pushed his thick, coke bottle glasses back on his nose, and got in and moved it.

He saw a Mach-E was coming in so knew he had to move it (yeah right)

 

[AllenXS]

Last week I was in for a few days so grabbed the charger once the (Tesla) vehicle who has been on it for a long time checked out then charged until early evening and then moved so it was free for later arrivals.

 

[OON7]

Just like every other thread about this I will take my opportunity to complain about PHEV drivers taking the charging spots to get the better parking and leaving their cars there forever plugged in and not charging. Personally I will move my car when it's done charging if I'm awake, but I'll always leave a way to contact me in case it's needed. I do wish these chargers weren't in the best parking spots so often so people wouldn't feel any benefit to taking them when not legitimately using them.

I will also say I use free charging a ton because of my work's close proximity to a line of free chargers at the electric company's HQ right across the street. I appreciate that there are free options and I hope it continues. Unfortunately I realize it will be harder to keep those options as there are more EVs on the road and inevitably more drivers who could care less about blocking charging spots.

I use this handy little thing every time I charge publicly if I won't be sitting in my car. Pretty good and cheap solution to public charging and trying to be a good member of the EV community. I get maybe not wanting to advertise your cell number but I've never had an issue. Could always put a Google voice number or some other way to contact you outside of your primary cell number I suppose. https://www.etsy.com/listing/224895876/electric-vehicle-charging-hangers

 

[mkhuffman]

Last trip I did the "get up at 3am" thing on the Thur/Fri, only to find out of the 8 EV charging spots, only two were occupied (me and one other EV). Back to sleep!

The next night I happened to look out to see the same two EVs (myself and the aforementioned EV), only this time the remainder of spots were ICEd out.

I figured if an EV owner pulled in later, the driver and hotel manager ought to take it up with the owners of the gas cars.

But if your car was fully charged, I don't think it is any different than an ICE car parking there. In fact, I think it is worse because you know how important it is to share the chargers and many ICE drivers are just uneducated.

That said, I don't think it is reasonable to expect someone to move their car at 3 AM, and it is impressive that you considered it. But moving it when you get up, assuming it is early, is reasonable.

For example, my car needed a full charge and it was finishing up this morning when I got up to go to the exercise room at the hotel, so I moved it.

There were two open charging spaces, but how do I know three people won't arrive around 6 AM needing a charge?

 

[OrchidMania]

I’ve only used hotel charger once. There was only 1 charger. I was staying a couple nights so moved my car in the early am. No one else ever moved to the space. But I left it vacant just in case someone needed it. I like the note idea.

 

[RickMachE]

But if your car was fully charged, I don't think it is any different than an ICE car parking there. In fact, I think it is worse because you know how important it is to share the chargers and many ICE drivers are just uneducated.

That said, I don't think it is reasonable to expect someone to move their car at 3 AM, and it is impressive that you considered it. But moving it when you get up, assuming it is early, is reasonable.

For example, my car needed a full charge and it was finishing up this morning when I got up to go to the exercise room at the hotel, so I moved it.

There were two open charging spaces, but how do I know three people won't arrive around 6 AM needing a charge?

Wow, I never would have guess that. No, not that you moved the car around 6AM, but that you exercised... ?

 

[RickMachE]

I gave up on L2 charges at hotels and other spots. I plan to not have access and ensure I charge at pay stations so I'm not in range trouble and irritated. Free charging should just go away, it will be ridiculous if EV adoption and supply ever really catch up.

Disagree completely. Overnight L2 charging is great. No time wasted (sleeping), and you can leave with 100% charge, which is worth 45 minutes extra range. I always plan a backup, but it's great to get it.

Going from 10 to 100%, if it got there, is 81kWh of free electricity. Current EA prices, without Pass+ discount, would be $39.31, plus tax ($29.48 plus tax with Pass+). In per minute states, roughly 1/2 that. Not insignficant.

Drury Inns required a room key, and had the spaces in the back in a corner, clearly marked and painted. Too many hotels have them by the front door, tightly packed (dents) and inviting ICE vehicles.

I find that many are so slow you often won't get to 100% by morning as noted.

Agreed….
Will be checking this out, this coming Monday…..
Trip to Amish country, and staying in Denver, Pa. , Tru by Hilton…. Bill P

The Amish don't use electricity... ??

Not a fan of Tru hotels. Stayed there recently when no other charging option (where the Tesla driver moved his car). Breakfast is blah, we like Hampton better, but this had charging and was 1/3rd less cost too).

I have never been to a hotel that had an L2 available. I did once stay at one with an L2 2 blocks away. I moved after a couple of hours. I just wanted enough to have a good buffer at the next DCFC. ??

Are you actually looking for hotels with charging? That's what we do. PlugShare has a hotel toggle. We've charged at 6 hotels in the past two years. Some were very nicely setup (Drury) and relatively fast (Drury), others tight spaces and old, slow chargers. One thing we won't do is pick a crappy hotel with charging over a nicer hotel without it. We did once switch to a crappy hotel for charging, then got a Tesla Tap to avoid that in the future, and haven't had a chance to use it since.

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