Parking Tradeoffs - put us way in the back?

[ericsf]

Not sure if it's worth creating a separate thread but I also wanted to make a suggestion to the companies who are installing EVSE for their employees :

Think about the occasional guest who needs to juice up and plan something for that. So far I've been in this situation twice: I was visiting a company for an hour or two meeting. Found available EVSE on their parking lot but they were "restricted access". Very understandable that they don't want strangers to come charge for free on their campus. However at the front desk, the receptionists were in both places completely clueless about the EVSE and how to use them. I won't name those 2 but they both world known tech companies based in the Silicon Valley.
So here is my suggestion to all companies who have or are installing EVSE: Create a guest account (or not), decide on simple rules such as "employes have priority over guests", "advance booking needed" or "no guests" and educate your front desk receptionist about it. Believe me, it will make a world of a difference when a guest who drives an EV will show up (if you build it, they will come).
I am even willing to bet that building or HR managers who are dragging their feed to install EVSE might find this guest EV program a better reason than helping their own employees.

 

[planet4ever]

I agree, putting them in spaces that no one wants, helps to make sure they don't get ICE'd
also prevents Volts that those that don't need to charge, and don't want to walk from using them.

That second part is an awfully biased statement. Can we reword it this way?
Discourages drivers of LEAFs, Volts, and all other pluggable cars from using the spaces when their battery doesn't need recharged.
Provides better access to those who do need the charge or are strongly motivated to reduce their use of gasoline.

Ray

 

[TomT]

Sometimes the truth hurts...

I agree, putting them in spaces that no one wants, helps to make sure they don't get ICE'd
also prevents Volts that those that don't need to charge, and don't want to walk from using them.

That second part is an awfully biased statement.Ray

 

[walterbays]

I was told at the Balboa Park unveiling that one of the chargers had to be ADA compliant. Therefore one was installed in a handicap spot with an empty spot next to it so it could have dual use. The rest of the EVSEs were on the other side of the empty spot. I don't think there are different rules for public parking vs a private business, but there very well could be.

This seems like the best arrangement, particularly if the adjacent parking space is marked "EV only." And particularly if the odious AB475 is repealed so that it's possible to share.

I went to Ikea today after seeing on Blink status that 2 of the 3 chargers were available. Fortunately I didn't really need the charge; it just would have been nice. In the 15 minutes it took me to drive there, one charger was taken by a Leaf, one by a Smart2Go car, and one was ICEd by a van with disabled placard. At Ikea there is not another parking space next to the disabled access spot, so that charger was unused but inaccessible.

Disabled access charging spots ought be be marked as requiring both a disabled placard and an EV sticker. Although the Leaf isn't a very good vehicle to carry a wheelchair, it has pretty good access for crutches; and the existing and new Ford EV vans should be great for wheelchairs. The way EVSE's are installed now it seems almost impossible that a disabled EV driver could ever find an accessible charger. First, there's only one space he could use, and second, that space is almost guaranteed to be ICEd.

I think someone's observation here was right, that with the arrival of the Smart2Go cars it will now be very difficult to find any available public charger. However I hope Smart2Go does well, and that its success will eventually bring many more public chargers. Better still if when businesses install their second set of EVSE's they do so in the back corner of the parking lot.

Although free charging is great for opportunity charging where you don't really need it, generally I think that so long it's free, you cannot count on it to provide needed charge for a trip. Once we start paying for our charges, and especially once we can make reservations (a la Chargepoint) then it should be possible to plan trips which count on public charging availability.