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

[Cosmo Cruz]

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?

 

[Steveinarizona]

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?

In a perfect world a polite explanation would work well. But this is far from a perfect world and you might get shot. While the people who do it are idiots, I would not try to intercede.

 

[Bobby]

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?

"hi are you planning on going much more, because you do know that the final 10% takes a really long time, right? It's also bad for your battery to go above 80."

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

So: " Hi. Bobby says ... "

Steve's right about the guns. Didn't think of that. I'll tell them, "Bobby told me to tell you you're being rude."

Seriously, that's nice phrasing Bobby. Thanks. Are you such a gentleman in real life or is it just on posts and videos?

 

[borski]

It’s not rude to ask if they know about it. It’s rude to lecture and assume they don’t.

A simple conversation usually works well.

And if they’re an asshole, they’re still the asshole.

 

[Alex]

A simple conversation usually works well.

Many times, people plug the car in and then leave. Good luck finding them to have a conversation (until they come back).

 

[Drendino]

I’m presently on a road trip and have had the same experience. It’s bad enough that most of the EA chargers don’t work, but when you factor in people charging over 90%, it is a small miracle that we don’t see more fights at EA stations. I have to admit, I fantasized about going full New Jersey on an Ionic that was sitting for 40 minutes unattended with a 100% charge, while I waited in an undefined line! I think that there should be a required charging ethics class before dealers turn over fobs.

 

[hydbob]

All of this is solved with idle fees.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

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.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

All of this is solved with idle fees.

Yeah they need to be like $5/minute though. See my story above…

 

[Spin Doctor]

Yeah they need to be like $5/minute though. See my story above…

Plus some charging tips / reminders on the screen as you plug in … “please move your car when you’re done”, “do you really need to charge to 100%?” or similar.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Plus some charging tips / reminders on the screen as you plug in … “please move your car when you’re done”, “do you really need to charge to 100%?” or similar.

Or increase the rates if you’re gonna charge over 80%. I’d definitely be in favor of that.

 

[hydbob]

Or increase the rates if you’re gonna charge over 80%. I’d definitely be in favor of that.

That would never happen, Bolt users could never roadtrip.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

That would never happen, Bolt users could never roadtrip.

Exactly, and then the rest of us can cuz no 50kw cars charging to 100%!

 

[texas1Hog]

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?

This new electric car owner who has also experienced all these annoying things cannot help but to remember the long gas lines back in the '70's.

 

[Worldwide Beagle]

This new electric car owner who has also experienced all these annoying things cannot help but to remember the long gas lines back in the '70's.

Remember in those waiting lines, many of the cars were already 3/4s full of gas, but the owners were scared to death of running low. History repeats itself

 

[borski]

Many times, people plug the car in and then leave. Good luck finding them to have a conversation (until they come back).

Sure, fair. In that case maybe leave a note.

Or maybe one of us should make a helpful educational website and we can just leave the QR code on their windshields

 

[Genghis]

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.

 

[kerplunk]

At my first charger the other day. 3 cars charged to 100%. The guy ahead of me pulled in at 80% charge and took it to 100% I assume because last i checked it was at 95%.

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.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

The issue is that there needs to be a way to get others to realize DC fast charging to 100% doesn’t benefit them, as if everyone does it then there won’t be available chargers. I feel like adding a “road trip” charge by increasing the rates for charging above 80% is totally justified since you’re then blocking a charger for another hour of time. DC fast charging companies really aren’t very smart so far. They don’t seem to be able to service their equipment, and have self-sabotaging customer experiences which wastes $$$ and time.