Hard to Believe:Young Women With Such Bad Etiquette @station

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fetv

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 31, 2015
Messages
114
Hard to Believe, but it is my real experience, Young Girls With Such Bad Etiquette At EV Charge Station

If you were me, what would you do?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1nHrp1X7Gw[/youtube]
 
Unfortunately, nothing to do with them being young girls.
I have the same thing happen to me with adults from time to time.

It would be great if all EV owners were thoughtful of other EV owners, but some people just have the "I was here first, so I can do what I want" attitude.

That said, there is a guy who tends to beat me to a charger I stop at on the way home, but he does it right. He charges for a bit on the QC, but then moves his car to the L2 charger. So I never have to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes for him..
There are still thoughtful people out there.. ;-)

It would be nice if those chargers would cut off the quick charge after 30 minutes (assuming there is an L2 charger to finish up), but that's up to whoever installs/manages the charger...

It's just the nature of people. A percentage of them will be like that.. Especially with the free chargers..

This is the reason we need more infrastructure, but that won't happen until the prices drop a bit for the chargers themselves.
When it doesn't cost much more to install multiple DCQCs at one location, then this situation will be eased a bit..
(Even if that would entail power sharing, in that if a 2nd car shows up, the 2 cars split the load and each charges a bit slower.. That wouldn't be the case in this situation tho, as the car was drawing power slowly enough there would be more power for the 2nd car at a faster rate..)

... Or we wait until the new Leafs (and other EVs) have enough range to not have to worry and almost exclusively charge at home...

desiv
 
i am fully with the 30 min limit but it would only work in a dual head situation like Blink as the people in the video would likely vote to restart a 2nd session
 
it's nice to hear the opposite of what I experienced (your guy moving to L2).

The blink quick charger will put the 2nd people in queue.
the chargepoint L2 charger will share the charge (the 2 cars split the load and each charges a bit slower), but if charger1 is reduced to 1kw, charger2 still stays at 3kw (I would hope charger2 would increase to 5kw, but it does not).

desiv said:
Unfortunately, nothing to do with them being young girls.
I have the same thing happen to me with adults from time to time.

It would be great if all EV owners were thoughtful of other EV owners, but some people just have the "I was here first, so I can do what I want" attitude.

That said, there is a guy who tends to beat me to a charger I stop at on the way home, but he does it right. He charges for a bit on the QC, but then moves his car to the L2 charger. So I never have to wait more than 10 or 15 minutes for him..
There are still thoughtful people out there.. ;-)

It would be nice if those chargers would cut off the quick charge after 30 minutes (assuming there is an L2 charger to finish up), but that's up to whoever installs/manages the charger...

It's just the nature of people. A percentage of them will be like that.. Especially with the free chargers..

This is the reason we need more infrastructure, but that won't happen until the prices drop a bit for the chargers themselves.
When it doesn't cost much more to install multiple DCQCs at one location, then this situation will be eased a bit..
(Even if that would entail power sharing, in that if a 2nd car shows up, the 2 cars split the load and each charges a bit slower.. That wouldn't be the case in this situation tho, as the car was drawing power slowly enough there would be more power for the 2nd car at a faster rate..)

... Or we wait until the new Leafs (and other EVs) have enough range to not have to worry and almost exclusively charge at home...

desiv
 
fetv said:
(I would hope charger2 would increase to 5kw, but it does not).
Yeah, that's not something that couldn't be changed with the proper electronics..
There just hasn't been enough of a reason for it yet. It's easier to do it the way they did it, and since DQs are so expensive, it makes sense..
But as DCQC prices come down and features get tweaked, I think this will improve..

desiv
 
Is there any logical reason for any non-Tesla car to QC more than 30 minutes? I would think putting these stations next to activities including work where you can multi-task is the wrong idea. They should be in activity deserts where your only option is to either sit in or stand by your car. Maybe next to Wakgreen's is ok too. You can only waste so much time there. That does not mean out in the woods. Surrounded by metal crunching junk dealers in the city would achieve the same impact.
 
If I were a young woman and some guy with a camera in my face tried to tell me I was hurting my battery by charging, I'd probably want to say anything that would make him go away. I don't believe that it will hurt the battery, and they probably didn't either...and since you tried to scare them with that, they probably discounted everything else you said, too.

Next time just ask politely...and if it doesn't work, wait politely...don't put them on YouTube and make shocked comments. Any kind of time limit has be programmed in, you simply won't get general, spontaneous observance of a made up etiquette rule.
 
Tesla thought through this situation and designed a dual head super chargers, where as one ramps down the other will increase with a combined total of 135kW. that would have helped you in this situation.

But again all those girls need to do is to switch the car ON to see all 12 bars lit, and then they may realize they are already pretty much full.
 
mjblazin said:
Is there any logical reason for any non-Tesla car to QC more than 30 minutes?

yes, on a greenlots Chademo in Asheville, NC I charged to full (92.9% per leafspy) and it never slowed down to L2 rates. If you are on a Chademo like that there is no reason to stop until you hit full assuming you need the range.

It took me 34 minutes to charge to full gaining 13.7 kWh. I don't remember the exact volts and amps but I'm thinking it bottomed out around 17KW at the end of the charge. Oh and it did auto shutoff because the Leaf wouldn't accept anymore charge.

Well faster even on the last percent than my 2012 SL would charge on L2 with my 3.x KW onboard charger.

So just because a weak Chademo might dip down to sub L2 charging speeds don't assume all Chademos do.
 
they see the bars, but also they saw the 97%.

mkjayakumar said:
But again all those girls need to do is to switch the car ON to see all 12 bars lit, and then they may realize they are already pretty much full.
 
fetv said:
they see the bars, but also they saw the 97%.

mkjayakumar said:
But again all those girls need to do is to switch the car ON to see all 12 bars lit, and then they may realize they are already pretty much full.

Dude, when I was chademoing in asheville a guy rolled up while I was still at 30%, I told him I'd probably be done in 15 minutes as fast as it was charging. He waited and when I got to 80% I told him I had enough charge to get where I was going and offered to move one, he deferred and let me charge all the way to full which in my case was roughly 93%. It cost him a few minutes but definitely not 30 since my entire charge session was 34 minutes he maybe waited 20.

I can't imagine a good reason to worry about a couple of percent once you get up in the 90+ range.

I can understand that they might have felt confronted because you had a camera pointed at them. If you talked to them before you turned the camera on and they were like that I can't explain it, if you went in camera first you are also partly to blame for the awkwardness of the whole situation.

all in all the video on youtube isn't technically correct (some chademos will charge to full without slowing down), you are correct that the cheapo Nissan chademos will slow down. I'd pull it and move on. Forget about it unless you have to deal with them in the future.
 
Except this one, for all my other videos, I only use the camera when it is my turn to charge. This time, I talked to them first without camera and explained to them the technical aspect. If they did not believe me, they could have used their cell phone to verify the information, but the two girls were simply sitting in the car chatting as if no one was waiting.

dhanson865 said:
fetv said:
they see the bars, but also they saw the 97%.

mkjayakumar said:
But again all those girls need to do is to switch the car ON to see all 12 bars lit, and then they may realize they are already pretty much full.

Dude, when I was chademoing in asheville a guy rolled up while I was still at 30%, I told him I'd probably be done in 15 minutes as fast as it was charging. He waited and when I got to 80% I told him I had enough charge to get where I was going and offered to move one, he deferred and let me charge all the way to full which in my case was roughly 93%. It cost him a few minutes but definitely not 30 since my entire charge session was 34 minutes he maybe waited 20.

I can't imagine a good reason to worry about a couple of percent once you get up in the 90+ range.

I can understand that they might have felt confronted because you had a camera pointed at them. If you talked to them before you turned the camera on and they were like that I can't explain it, if you went in camera first you are also partly to blame for the awkwardness of the whole situation.

all in all the video on youtube isn't technically correct (some chademos will charge to full without slowing down), you are correct that the cheapo Nissan chademos will slow down. I'd pull it and move on. Forget about it unless you have to deal with them in the future.
 
and in what city, st did this occur, would it not be reasonable to pull up plugshare once you found out she wasn't going to budge and find the next closest charger?

What would you have done if she unplugged, drove off and when you tried to charge the charger wouldn't start a session? What if the release button failed and she couldn't unplug? What if...

I totally understand she made things worse than they had to be, but you also have to move on to the next charging station if one isn't available for any reason.
 
it's one with a quick charger and it's the closest to the sfo airport. There are a lot of chargers shown in plugshare but not quick charger. I tried to share the following key points here, hopefully it will bring awareness:
1. My fault by reading wikipedia that quick charger stops after 30 minutes (plugshare does not warn you that the quick charge is this type either), my other limited experience gave me that impression of 30-minute stop but this video shows you it is not true.

2. there are risks if you plan your trip based on the quick charger's 30-minute stop. I used this rule to help the planning in the past, but I won't do it again based on this experience.

3. some people may keep you waiting for their last 0.72 KWH and you can do nothing about it.

4. As you had listed all the potential problems, don't drive EV if your current fuel does not cover the round trip. It's probably not worth the trouble for most people.


dhanson865 said:
and in what city, st did this occur, would it not be reasonable to pull up plugshare once you found out she wasn't going to budge and find the next closest charger?

What would you have done if she unplugged, drove off and when you tried to charge the charger wouldn't start a session? What if the release button failed and she couldn't unplug? What if...

I totally understand she made things worse than they had to be, but you also have to move on to the next charging station if one isn't available for any reason.
 
Besides the time limit, it seems that QCs should simply shut off if the car is pulling less than say 3 kW or so.

Anyway, the real issue here is that there simply isn't enough charging stations. Having single QCs scattered around makes this type of problem very common.

Some suggestions:

1. Attaching this video to the description of the station on PlugShare strikes me as inappropriate. If you're going to stick a video in the description, it should be a video that highlights the features of the station.

2. There is another QC 3 miles away from this one, so your assertion that there aren't any other QCs around is false. This location also has a bunch of L2 stations. Even 30 minutes of L2 if the QC was busy would give you a decent boost if you have 6 kW charging. There is a third QC another mile from that one. You were surrounded by QC stations!
 
if you select the No Charge To Charge from plugshare, you don't see those two stations you linked. If you charge there, though it is better for the earth, however compared with gas car you pay more and wait longer to use EV, a lot of trouble , not worth it, right?

drees said:
2. There is another QC 3 miles away from this one, so your assertion that there aren't any other QCs around is false. This location also has a bunch of L2 stations. Even 30 minutes of L2 if the QC was busy would give you a decent boost if you have 6 kW charging. There is a third QC another mile from that one. You were surrounded by QC stations!
 
fetv said:
however compared with gas car you pay more and wait longer to use EV, a lot of trouble , not worth it, right?
I think it's still worth it..
But I'm patient and I have "what if the charger is occupied/broken" time built in to my drives..

desiv
 
davewill said:
If I were a young woman and some guy with a camera in my face tried to tell me I was hurting my battery by charging, I'd probably want to say anything that would make him go away. I don't believe that it will hurt the battery, and they probably didn't either...and since you tried to scare them with that, they probably discounted everything else you said, too.

Next time just ask politely...and if it doesn't work, wait politely...don't put them on YouTube and make shocked comments. Any kind of time limit has be programmed in, you simply won't get general, spontaneous observance of a made up etiquette rule.

I agree with what you say here about this incident and the shaming, with regard to how to responsibly deal with people with whom you disagree or whose behavior you want to affect.

also, the author might reflect on his choice of words in calling the women "young girls."
 
I agree with you it is worth it because it is good for the environment. But at $0.59/KWH and 30 minutes wait, you may try once as I did but will not try it again.

Most of us got EV because we wanted to save the time using carpool lane. But in this case when it costs more time and more money than a gas car, most people would choose gas car. So i will use these simple rules:
1. Use EV: going to work round trip. In this case it really saves you the time with carpool lane, and saves you the money either because home charge is cheaper or free/low charge at work.

2. use gas car: un-familiar route, EV charge does not cover round trip.

desiv said:
fetv said:
however compared with gas car you pay more and wait longer to use EV, a lot of trouble , not worth it, right?
I think it's still worth it..
But I'm patient and I have "what if the charger is occupied/broken" time built in to my drives..

desiv
 
fetv said:
I agree with you it is worth it because it is good for the environment. But at $0.59/KWH and 30 minutes wait, you may try once as I did but will not try it again.
No.. I will do it again...
I don't do it often, but I do it from time to time...
It's just currently the cost of owing an EV, and I'm OK with that...
I'm glad it's good for the environment, but i got an EV because I wanted an EV, not to save the planet. ;-)

desiv
 
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