Charging Etiquette

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FlbrkMike

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I noticed an article about charging etiquette today on the InsideEVs website. There's one question I've been wondering about that I've never seen discussed, so I posted it in the comments section there. I haven't actually looked too hard but I have been wondering since I first obtained a plugin Fusion Energi three plus years ago (driving an Kona EV now). Thought I'd post it here too to see if anybody has any thoughts.

What if you're at an airport and there are public charging stations available? There are some free stations at the San Diego Airport. I occasionally go to San Francisco for a day trip, arriving at the San Diego airport around 5:30 am and returning at around 7:00 pm. Is it OK for me to leave my car plugged into one of the public chargers until I return? The Energi only took a couple of hours at the most to charge. The Kona somewhat longer, depending on the SOC when I plug in. There's no way to move the car until I get back. But who goes and pays $30.00 to park at the airport and only stays long enough to charge their EV?
 
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Well, are these chargers in the long term parking or short term parking?

I don't see the reason for chargers in the long term parking.

It would be mainly for people who go to the airport to drop family off or wait for them to come out of the airport, in which case they'd be there for 30 minutes to an hour, hour and a half max. Not the whole day.

It makes no sense for them to install this just so you block it all day, especially if you are not paying for it.

Over here the charging network charges you for as long as you are connected even if the car is done charging, so as long as you occupy the space you are paying.
 
They're not technically called short term parking. The lots are closer to the terminal and more expensive. The "long term" lot is $20.00 per day and you have to take a shuttle. The Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 lots are walking distance to the terminal and you can pay hourly up to $32.00 per day. Nobody (or very few) use these spaces to drop somebody off or pick them up because you can't walk to the gates without going through security and you can't go through security with out a boarding pass. Pick-up and drop-off are 99.9% curbside. For 30 minutes to an hour it's hardly worth plugging in.
 
At the Vancouver airport, there is a close by outlet mall with free L2 charging stations. Good place to stop and wait for an arriving flight and phone call to come pick them up. Used it once so far, and timing was perfect.
 
Well, 1 hour charging means 40 km. I would use it if I have to wait for somebody at the airport and it was free. That's 50% of my range on the clarity.
 
R P said:
At the Vancouver airport, there is a close by outlet mall with free L2 charging stations. Good place to stop and wait for an arriving flight and phone call to come pick them up. Used it once so far, and timing was perfect.
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I could see having that in the cellphone waiting lot. Anything else, it would seem like a waste to do anything more than a L1 trickle charge.
 
ericy said:
I could see having that in the cellphone waiting lot. Anything else, it would seem like a waste to do anything more than a L1 trickle charge.
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Yeah, that's where I used to wait. But this place is only about 2 mins further, and when you have to wait for someone (late flights, customs, etc), I'll happily take the 1/2 hour (usually more) or so of free charge. Plus you can wander around the mall while you are waiting.
 
BlueKonaEV said:
You are probably talking about this location.

https://www.plugshare.com/location/14077

It says that you can park while charging. I would set the charging speed on the car to slow, so the car likely won't be done when you get back as long as you arrive at a low SoC
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Yes, Terminal 1, where I usually fly out of, has two L2 charging spaces. These are the best spaces in the entire lot because they are right across from the pedestrian bridge to the terminal. They often are occupied, even when I arrive at 5:30 am. The Terminal 2 lot, which has three levels (I think) is brand new. It's about a 5 minute walk to get from there to Terminal 1 but it also has 16 EV spaces. I haven't tried charging there yet but I have a meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday and was thinking of trying them out. The nice thing about Terminal 2 is that you can make a reservation online (not for the EV space, though) and pay $19.00 per day instead of $32.00. I've parked there several times before without charging and noticed that they are never more than half full.
 
FlbrkMike said:
Yes, Terminal 1, where I usually fly out of, has two L2 charging spaces. These are the best spaces in the entire lot because they are right across from the pedestrian bridge to the terminal. They often are occupied, even when I arrive at 5:30 am. The Terminal 2 lot, which has three levels (I think) is brand new. It's about a 5 minute walk to get from there to Terminal 1 but it also has 16 EV spaces. I haven't tried charging there yet but I have a meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday and was thinking of trying them out. The nice thing about Terminal 2 is that you can make a reservation online (not for the EV space, though) and pay $19.00 per day instead of $32.00. I've parked there several times before without charging and noticed that they are never more than half full.
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I would charge there.. just arrive with low SoC and set your car to the lowest charging speed. Car probably won't be full until you will get back.. I'd still check if there is a time limit to make sure that you won't violate a rule.
 
Ok I just got my Kona on Saturday( 2020 Preferred Model) in Richmond BC. Today was the first time I went to charge it. I went to take my son to soccer practice at our local Community center. The have 4 Free charging spots(for probably 400+ parking spots and a brand new swimming pool facility).

When I showed up all stations were busy waited for maybe 10-15min until someone showed up and left. I took their spot. Was trying to figure out how to make it work(had the BC Hydro EV app installed but after talking to customer service from chargepoint turns out I needed their app installed. Anyway long story short this guys shows up beside me to unplug his vehicle 9.5hours!!! WTF basically looks like he works somewhere around the area and parks there. Honestly free charging is one thing but there has to be a limit to this.

He just looked at me and said" what it's free no?
 
Grego said:
Ok I just got my Kona on Saturday( 2020 Preferred Model) in Richmond BC. Today was the first time I went to charge it. I went to take my son to soccer practice at our local Community center. The have 4 Free charging spots(for probably 400+ parking spots and a brand new swimming pool facility).

When I showed up all stations were busy waited for maybe 10-15min until someone showed up and left. I took their spot. Was trying to figure out how to make it work(had the BC Hydro EV app installed but after talking to customer service from chargepoint turns out I needed their app installed. Anyway long story short this guys shows up beside me to unplug his vehicle 9.5hours!!! WTF basically looks like he works somewhere around the area and parks there. Honestly free charging is one thing but there has to be a limit to this.

He just looked at me and said" what it's free no?
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The free L2 charging stations in my town all have signs that say "4 Hours Maximum". However, I don't know if this is actually enforced or not.
 
Here is a "Free" Chargepoint station at a local library near me....
Free for 2 hrs.webp
$3.00/hr might discourage leaving it on charge over 2 hrs.
 
Some people will think its Steep 3$/hr(is that USD?) . I believe 2hours is good enough to do most shopping or run errands.

How do they bill you? You have to scan your Phone linked to an App with some money on it? Then after 2hours it will automatically deduct the amounts?

I find it neat. Although where I live highest I have seen is 2$/hr CAD
 
Grego said:
How do they bill you? You have to scan your Phone linked to an App with some money on it? Then after 2hours it will automatically deduct the amounts?
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You need the Chargepoint app to start charging, and I believe you need to have a payment method set up in the app.

We have a free 50kW charger in our area - I still needed the Chargepoint app to start the charge.
 
$3/hr is cheap for parking in this area (Boston). I’d gladly pay it to keep my Kona in a spot while I finish whatever shopping I’m doing at the time.

Bad decisions happen all the time. This morning, while I was parking in the garage for the local airport express bus, there were 3 EV spots which I thought was great. 2 were blocked despite the “Active Charging Only” sign: 1 by a Tesla that wasn’t plugged in and the other by an ICE Mini Cooper.
 
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