Charging manners: should you educate folk hogging to 100% SOC ?

[Crdgk]

This is all correct if you are a local charging. But if you are on a 1000 mile road trip in the West, you want 100%. Sometimes chargers are near the limit and then what if one is out of service when you get there? My nightmare out west. So 100% on a road trip is appropriate. Not everyone lives on the coast. Granted I have never seen a charger full of cars in the interior of the country

 

[Bobby]

This is all correct if you are a local charging. But if you are on a 1000 mile road trip in the West, you want 100%. Sometimes chargers are near the limit and then what if one is out of service when you get there? My nightmare out west. So 100% on a road trip is appropriate. Not everyone lives on the coast. Granted I have never seen a charger full of cars in the interior of the country

It’s the cars that are finished and idle that drive me nuts.

 

[joec]

This is all correct if you are a local charging. But if you are on a 1000 mile road trip in the West, you want 100%. Sometimes chargers are near the limit and then what if one is out of service when you get there? My nightmare out west. So 100% on a road trip is appropriate. Not everyone lives on the coast. Granted I have never seen a charger full of cars in the interior of the country

Yes. I would not make fast assumptions. I charged to 100 last night, because the nearest next charger is over 280 miles away. Didn’t want to risk getting stuck if I happen to not quite get ideal efficiency. I could probably make it with 90%, but why take a chance?

Of course, it was 9pm, and there were zero other cars using the station. If it had filled up, I would have volunteered to move out of the way until others could get to their usual 80 or whatever.

 

[Bobby]

I usually interact politely with folks that are charging beyond the 80. “Hi there! Are you planning on going all the way to 100%?” That helps me gauge how long I will have to wait. First come first served… over time this problem will disappear as more and more chargers are deployed and less and less vehicles have “free“ charging.

 

[crareman]

It’s the cars that are finished and idle that drive me nuts.

Boy do I agree. Was tickled to see an almost twin charging. Couldn't wait to talk to them as they were not present. I arrived after them, waited 20 minutes after I finished charging (10 minute after they had finished charging). I left because didn't want to be there when they finally returned with 5 cars waiting for their spot.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

It kind of made me wonder if these folks were using the EA charger as their only charger or something. Granted, if I didn't do some heavy reading on EVs, I wouldn't know about charging curves or anything like that. There is basically zero education before purchase. Also, idle charges need to be a thing and they need to hurt.

Boy do I have a lot to learn and boy am I lucky for this forum. I am on Day 6 of BEV ownership. I picked up 80% daily charging from the get go.

@kerplunk , you are correct about lack of education. Many Decades ago, living on my own after university, I remember standing in line at a grocery store. The youngish couple in front of me, with small kids, had a cart full of chips, doritos, pizza, cookies, soda -- and food stamps. Nothing healthy of what our parents fed us as kids. At first I was a bit perturbed : using food stamps for crap, and feeding this crap to kids. Then it hit me: It was not a conscious choice. they just did not know any better. I knew about decent food choices because my parents provided good examples. Guessing they were not so fortunate.

I am guessing it's the same with charging. Had I not read the Lucid manual and this forum, I would not have known.

 

[Steveinarizona]

At the Cabazon outlets on the way to Palm Springs, 1/4 EA chargers and 1/2 EVGo chargers were offline, and two EA and one EVGo were occupied. The available EA one I tried wouldn’t initiate a charge on the Polestar I had rented, it just kept spinning eternally and the EA person I called couldn’t get it to work. Next to me was a Jaguar plugged in at 100% for over an hour (it said the time on the charger). I called EA and asked if they could stop the charging session because then I could push the emergency release button on this jerk Jaguar owners car and plug in. EA refused to stop end their session even though the idle fees aren’t very expensive. Luckily another driver then unplugged and left so I took their spot. It took 20 minutes, my kid was screaming in the background, and it was almost 100F out. Then the Jaguar lady came out with her shopping bags and was utterly indifferent she’d taken up a spot forever. I was too exasperated and depleted by that point to tell the Jaguar lady the headache she’d caused me and my family, but I expect all of this to get worse before it improves.

Sadly, if you had confronted her, she wouldn't have cared.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

@Bunnylebowski, at 2:40 am. Wife whacks me when I respond to forums in the middle of the night.

 

[Spin Doctor]

I thought of the same thing regarding line management. EA needs a queuing system like when you get there, scan a QR code that places you in line and then alerts you when you're next or where you are in line. Most of the time, owners are friendly enough to line manage themselves but there's the occasional ass that cuts in line without regards to check the line of cars that have been patiently waiting. Not much to do then as we're talking about 5k+ lb cars... No doubt there will be future rage incidents at charging stations.

Thinking more abut this, I think it's a fantastic suggestion. Given that the handshake process includes your VIN, it shouldn't be difficult for EA - in fact for all the charging companies - to implement some kind of waiting list management. You could build it into the app and / or have it web-based for rental cars etc. Join the list automatically based on your VIN, or manually by entering your cellphone number.

And the 'waiting list' interface also gives you a couple of prompts about charging etiquette, not charging to 100% unless on a road trip, moving your car when you're done etc etc. Plus reminding people that, in the vast majority of cases (LFP batteries excepted), charging to 100% is bad for your car's long term health - I suspect a lot of new EV driver don't know that.

None of this should be difficult to implement - but then, given that EA can't keep their chargers functioning half the time ...

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

Sadly, if you had confronted her, she wouldn't have cared.

Sadly, after Covid, many people now think they are entitled to use their pea brain to make decisions on everything. Regardless of what conventional wisdom or learned experts say. They want to think it's fine, so it's fine.

I do a lot of management labor law. A client had an employee nearly die when his forklift turned over. Employee was high on oxy. His manager knew and approved work for that employee, knew he was taking prescription oxy for dental work, and still allowed to work. Company has strict Impairment Policy, prohibiting work for EE with any Impairment, even lack of sleep. Confronted the manager about the injury: why was the EE allowed to operate a forklift??? He admitted knowing the impairment policy, but said HE FIGURED, ON HIS OWN, THAT SINCE THE DRUGS WERE PRESCRIPED BY A DOCTOR, IT WAS OK. almost cost the employee his life....

 

[Genghis]

Here's a suggestion for all. Print and laminate a few signs with a friendly pic / cartoon and post at your regular and favorite charging stations. These do wonders to help educate and actually have people practice common courtesy. I'm thinking about doing it at my Ralph's where I charge.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

@Bunnylebowski, at 2:40 am. Wife whacks me when I respond to forums in the middle of the night.

Me too, if she’s awake on her phone

 

[WildRide47]

Sadly, after Covid, many people now think they are entitled to use their pea brain to make decisions on everything. Regardless of what conventional wisdom or learned experts say. They want to think it's fine, so it's fine.

I do a lot of management labor law. A client had an employee nearly die when his forklift turned over. Employee was high on oxy. His manager knew and approved work for that employee, knew he was taking prescription oxy for dental work, and still allowed to work. Company has strict Impairment Policy, prohibiting work for EE with any Impairment, even lack of sleep. Confronted the manager about the injury: why was the EE allowed to operate a forklift??? He admitted knowing the impairment policy, but said HE FIGURED, ON HIS OWN, THAT SINCE THE DRUGS WERE PRESCRIPED BY A DOCTOR, IT WAS OK. almost cost the employee his life....

Most sensible people know not to operate a forklift when you are taking Oxycodon. Blame goes both ways. Your client needs to take some responsibility for his injury as well as the stupidity of the manager.

 

[Drendino]

I’m at Kettleman and 3 of the chargers are broken and there is a wait. There was a guy with 91% charge and I asked him if he was almost done. He said he was going to 100% and denied my request to quit at 95%. I said “sir, we are all in the same boat and there is a charging etiquette when there is a wait.” He said “I know, but I was here first”.

For some reason I expect better out of EV owners, but I’m often reminded that some people just suck.

Happy 4th everyone! You all definitely don’t suck.

 

[Bobby]

Here's a suggestion for all. Print and laminate a few signs with a friendly pic / cartoon and post at your regular and favorite charging stations. These do wonders to help educate and actually have people practice common courtesy. I'm thinking about doing it at my Ralph's where I charge.

 

[Bobby]

I’m at Kettleman and 3 of the chargers are broken and there is a wait. There was a guy with 91% charge and I asked him if he was almost done. He said he was going to 100% and denied my request to quit at 95%. I said “sir, we are all in the same boat and there is a charging etiquette when there is a wait.” He said “I know, but I was here first”.

For some reason I expect better out of EV owners, but I’m often reminded that some people just suck.

Happy 4th everyone! You all definitely don’t suck.

While I agree that people suck sometimes, always remember that people have circumstances that are unknown to us. What if he needs every last mile to go visit his mother who is in hospice care? What if there’s a situation of which we are unaware?

 

[T-Dog]

A couple of times I've looked at what other people are "getting" and seen they are charging past 90%. I suppose they might be going out into the wilderness and needed as much range as they could get, but what if you are waiting and all the chargers are taken...is it rude to check and see if the driver understands that this is not a gas station where everyone fills the tank every time? We can't assume that EV drivers are as enlightened as folk on LucidOwners.

On a long trip I stopped at a large bank (10 or 12 !) of EA chargers in N. Jersey. Every charger was taken and a half dozen cars were waiting, with more pulling in every few minutes. It was a very crowded shopping area off I-95 in dense North Jerseyland so even the remote edge of the parking lot was completely full. You could not tell if EVs were waiting or just parked way out there because the lots were completely full, and then went shopping.
Questions:

there was no way to tell who was waiting for a charge, and who was 'first in line' ... it seemed like people were sharking-in the moment they saw people unplugging ... like a feeding frenzy.
usually I leave when I encounter full bays and people waiting, but this time I was at 11% and not sure I could make the next station.

what do you guys do in this situation?

I glanced at a couple of the screens and a bunch of people were already over 90% ... WTF ?

Is it rude to "educate" people about how long it takes to get that last 10% ? and that it's unhealthy to charge past 80% all the time? Do we have a duty to help out fellow early adopters be nice with other people's time?

I do not think it is rude at all! First off you are trying to determine how long your wait will be. I have commented to drivers twice. Once when a guy in a Chevy Bolt or Volt and he was using the 350 charger. I asked if his car was able to handle the 350 ? He said no and I asked if I could use it? All other charging bays were open. He kindly pulled out and actually parked rather than continue charging. He then came back to ask about my car. The second was a guy charged to 97% and I was waiting. I looked at every screen, thought that would be enough peer pressure. It was not. So then I looked again and commented out loud that they were at 97% and just sitting there. All car doors were open, wife in passenger seat. He would not budge. Another driver returned to his car, I asked how much longer they would charge? They said there were done, very nice. Mr. 97% then decided to leave along with them. I have a new solution for rude folks…..there was a great article in Motor Trend about charging etiquette. I made copies and will hand those out to rude owners. It explains well how they are actually hunting the life of their batteries by charging to high levels. I could tell Mr. 97% felt “I was here first and if I want to charge to 100% I will.

 

[T-Dog]

View attachment 13361

I love this and will make copies

 

[Alex]

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Tesla has a better handle on this with their superchargers (copied from Bard):

• "High-usage Supercharger Station: Max battery charge of 80%" This message will appear if you are charging at a Supercharger station that is experiencing high usage. Tesla limits the charge of your car to 80% in order to manage demand and ensure that everyone has a fair chance to use the station.
• "Your car's charge limit has been automatically reduced to 80% due to high demand at this Supercharger station." This message will appear if you are charging at a Supercharger station that is experiencing high usage and you have not overridden the charge limit.
• "You can override the charge limit to 100%, but this is not recommended as it can put more stress on your car's battery." This message will appear if you are charging at a Supercharger station that is experiencing high usage and you have chosen to override the charge limit.

Also, when all the chargers at a Tesla Supercharger are in use or there is high usage, you may see one of the following messages on your car's touchscreen:

• "Supercharger is busy. Please wait for a charger to become available." This message will appear if all the chargers at the Supercharger are currently in use. You can check the status of the Superchargers in the Tesla app to see if any chargers are expected to become available soon.
• "Supercharger is at high usage. Please unplug when your car is fully charged." This message will appear if the Supercharger is experiencing high usage. Tesla charges idle fees for Superchargers that are left plugged in after they are fully charged. The idle fee amount varies depending on the location of the Supercharger.
• "You are incurring idle fees." This message will appear if your car has been plugged into a Supercharger for more than a certain amount of time after it has been fully charged. The idle fee amount will be displayed on the car's touchscreen.

 

[Drendino]

While I agree that people suck sometimes, always remember that people have circumstances that are unknown to us. What if he needs every last mile to go visit his mother who is in hospice care? What if there’s a situation of which we are unaware?

Lol! He said he was going to Vegas, which means he just needed to stop again no matter what. Sorry, some people just suck.