Anger and death threats as frustrated owners unplug electric cars

[Heel n Toe]

I love this.

One Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Ioniq 5 owner Andrew Till, who goes by the Twitter handle “Mr. EV”, recently took to the social media channel to get some feedback after he upset the owner of an EV he unplugged so he could use the only public rapid charger in Canterbury in south-east England.

“I’m at a Geniepoint charger,” says Till in the posted video (see below). “When I got there I could see another Leaf using it, so I pulled in and there was no whirring sound.”

As a whirring sound is not always audible while charging, he says he also checked to see if there were any flashing lights in the Leaf and didn’t see anything. “So I unplugged the (Leaf) and plugged in my (car),” he says.

After returning from the local shop, which was about to close, he says he found the other Leaf owner there pacing around.

“He didn’t look happy at all,” says Till. Asking the person if it was their Leaf, he says they replied, “No, not cool, piss off.”

He says he tried to explain that the car can’t be unplugged it if it is not charging, but then other man wouldn’t listen. “He looked like he was going to punch me at one point,” says Till. “If he was with the car when I plugged in, obviously I would have asked … but you just can’t unplug the car if it’s on a rapid charger for safety reasons apart from anything else.”

More: https://thedriven.io/2022/02/08/ev-charger-wars-anger-and-death-threats-as-frustrated-owners-unplug-electric-cars/

[vash]

Why do you love that story?

I think the story blows.

[masraum]

I understand chargers are a limited resource, but unplugging someone else's car is pretty ballsy. You wouldn't pull a hose out of someone else's gas tank and gas up your car (or maybe Mr EV would). That does seem like a good way to cause trouble. He's lucky he didn't come back to a vandalized car or get popped.

[vash]

It’s like a laundry mat. Pulling someone’s clothing out of the dryer so you can use the machine. Is it ideal? No. But it sucks to bogart a machine unnecessarily.

Tesla has huge forum discussions about etiquette. It’s crazy.

[Steve Carlton]

I *think* some public super chargers have a time limit on how long they'll charge, then, when done, the cable can be removed from the car. In that situation, I think removing the cable is fine. Some cars won't release the cable unless you unlock the car, so there can be different things going on. I do think unplugging while charging should be a no-no.

[Jims5543]

When you pay for a charge the plug locks into your you car and cannot be removed until the charge is completed.

I looked up GeniePoint and they are a pay to use charger.

https://www.drivingelectric.com/your-questions-answered/1208/complete-guide-to-the-geniepoint-charging-network

If you are not sure if a car is still charging you can tug on the handle, it will not come out.

Therefore, Mr EV would not be able to unplug the other car unless it was done charging.

The owner of the other car must be new to this.

There is a EV charging area here where I live that is free, what annoyed me is that there are 6 Tesla spots and 4 spots for everyone else.

It annoys me when I come up and the Tesla spots are mostly empty but a Tesla decided to take up a non Tesla spot. They have an adapter (I can probably get a Tesla to regular EV adapter never bothered) most do not.

Then the other EV owners have to jockey. Those chargers are free and can be unplugged from a car and plugged into another, they do not lock.

I used to try to use the free one, then one day I did the math, charging from 40% to full saves me less than a dollar at home.

I just charge up at home rather than deal with those EV morons.

[rusnak]

I didn't build an EV station on my property because that's a sure way to attract every type of person who will call the State, City, or whatever agency if they *think* I have broken sprinklers that waste water, have a dirty driveway that will pollute the storm drain system, have a gardner with too noisy a leaf blower, or complain that my cigars are sentencing them to death by secondhand smoke.

I am not kidding either. All of the above has actually happened, and 100% from the Boomer generation.

[matthewb0051]

I was the chief of administrative law when stationed in Hawaii at Fort Shafter.

Hawaii had some law requiring dedicated parking for electric vehicles but IIRC did not require an actual plugging station to accompany the spot.

This dud round (edit: Army) officer filed some complaint and tried to get the installation commander to 'comply with Hawaii law' but he also wanted the free electricity charger installed as well. The commander got irate. It was actually pretty funny. Something like, how dare this guy insist he get free electricity for HIS car, next thing you know other people are going to want free gas too.

Pretty sure we said the HI law didn't apply since it was Fed property.

[rusnak]

People who get free stuff are the least grateful to have it.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by rusnak

I didn't build an EV station on my property because that's a sure way to attract every type of person who will call the State, City, or whatever agency if they *think* I have broken sprinklers that waste water, have a dirty driveway that will pollute the storm drain system, have a gardner with too noisy a leaf blower, or complain that my cigars are sentencing them to death by secondhand smoke.

I am not kidding either. All of the above has actually happened, and 100% from the Boomer generation.

People are twats. There needs to be repercussions for petty, twatty, time/money wasting behavior.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by vash

It’s like a laundry mat. Pulling someone’s clothing out of the dryer so you can use the machine. Is it ideal? No. But it sucks to bogart a machine unnecessarily.

Tesla has huge forum discussions about etiquette. It’s crazy.

Did you get an EV?

I would be interested in your assessment.

[rusnak]

^ I don't waste time worrying about that. If they are threatenting to my staff, or disruptive to another customer, then I'll remove them from the property. But they can say whatever rude or downright shocking thing to me and I don't really get triggered. I want them to leave happy, so I'll try to figure out a way to accomodate them without messing up someone else.

[svandamme]

Originally Posted by rusnak

People who get free stuff are the least grateful to have it.

I in support have been telling this in most companies I work for, even to sales.

Something given free, is perceived as not of any value..

You should at all times put a price on it, and bill it.
Doesn't matter what it is.


Example sales comes to me.. hey call that guy , he has an issue, fix it, and we might get a support contract
NO WRONG NOT doing it
Sell him a single incident ticket at 2 grand
i will fix it
then you give him a 2 grand discount on his support contract.

And I was right, we got way more support contracts that way then with freebies., like 95% vs 20%



Same with Tesla, they are stupid about it.
They should have a system of billing the charging, all of it.
And then do either a credit note or a cashback or some kind of reward incentive in return.

They'll get much better customer appreciation and upsell out of it.

[Zeke]

If someone is not monitoring his car while it's charging to the point that it been fully charged and just sitting there using up space, I'd unplug the cord, put my quarter in and go to town.

If the other party gets his panties twisted, I'd say just get in your car and check the data.

Yeah, I know, you don't touch another's automobile. But that's for polite folks that get it. If you don't get it, then GTFO.

To soften the situation a little, the 2nd guy in the 2nd car could pull up, pace around for a minute or so, give a couple of quick taps on the horn, wait another minute. At that point you do what you gotta do.

I mean I've seen it all, so things matter differently to me now. For instance, when I'm in a shopping center and someone pushes a shopping cart slap into the center of a handicap parking spot (including the zone for a ramp), I get a little obnoxious. I typically say loudly enough for anyone in the next 2 rows to hear, "What, are you gonna have the handicapped driver get out and move that into a proper spot??!!"

They deserve every little bit of humiliation.

[PorscheGAL]

No idea how those particular chargers work but here is how Tesla Super Chargers work:

-I pull in and plug up.
-I have a credit card linked to the car on file that it automatically bills after charging. No inserting cards in machines.
-About 5 minutes before charging is done I get a notification on my phone. Staying in the spot past the completion results in more charges.

I don't leave my car while charging. Usually, I use that time to catch up on emails and texts. That said even when done charging, I need to unlock the charge port from my dash or the app to remove the charger.

If the 1st guy's car was fully charged and he was taking up the spot, he is a jerk. But I'm not sure I would unplug anyone's car. But I also live in South Carolina where over half the population has a CCW. When they returned, I might (in my sweetest southern accent) inform them of how southern etiquette works. But in reality, those people will never change. It's best to avoid the crazy and move on.

[Zeke]

I will tend to agree ^^^^^. You make some good points. I like how the Tesla thing works.

[vash]

Originally Posted by PorscheGAL

No idea how those particular chargers work but here is how Tesla Super Chargers work:

-I pull in and plug up.
-I have a credit card linked to the car on file that it automatically bills after charging. No inserting cards in machines.
-About 5 minutes before charging is done I get a notification on my phone. Staying in the spot past the completion results in more charges.

I don't leave my car while charging. Usually, I use that time to catch up on emails and texts. That said even when done charging, I need to unlock the charge port from my dash or the app to remove the charger.

If the 1st guy's car was fully charged and he was taking up the spot, he is a jerk. But I'm not sure I would unplug anyone's car. But I also live in South Carolina where over half the population has a CCW. When they returned, I might (in my sweetest southern accent) inform them of how southern etiquette works. But in reality, those people will never change. It's best to avoid the crazy and move on.

I’m proud to be a fellow Tesla owner with you. Well said.

[Fast Freddy 944]

Electric cars dont "save" the freaking planet. Only a chump would believe that. Those batteries are strip mined and it tears up the land scape where they originate. They catch fire, fire pollutes, and worst of all, the smugness of the do righters makes us normals want to puke.

[A930Rocket]

It’s like using a gas pump. If I pulled up to a one pump gas station and there was a car sitting there with the nozzle in a car, but he was nowhere to be found after a certain period of time, I might be inclined to pull it out and start filling up my car on my credit card.

Edit. I’ve never done that before.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

It’s like using a gas pump. If I pulled up to a one pump gas station and there was a car sitting there with the nozzle in a car, but he was nowhere to be found after a certain period of time, I might be inclined to pull it out and start filling up my car on my credit card.

Edit. I’ve never done that before.

I doubt that the hose would reach your car in that scenario.