What to DO when somebody UNPLUG you at a Public station

[mark_rivers19]

Hi guys!
I just want to get the temperature from our fellow members!
Right now, i'm fuming mad about this.

I parked at Santa Monica Place around 4:12pm at a Chargepoint space. (2 out of 7 are free)
Unfortunately, i have to park backwards to get access to the Chargepoint station.

Anyway, i started charging and got a confirmation email from entune that charging started successfully.
Around 5:08 i got an email stating that charging was interrupted, so i decided to walk back to the car park ONLY to be surprised that a Chevy Volt unplugged the cable and used it.

This is rudeness at another level. I took some pictures of the Volt's license plate.

Has this ever happened to you? With so many new EV owners, i expect to be unplugged more often than usual.

I removed the cable anc placed it back to my RAV4EV.
I was thinking of leaving a note, but i dont want to waste anymore time with this jerk.

A Volt being a Range extender, can drive back home using his/her ICE.
An electric car CAN'T. Especially if it has no juice.

 

[mhkp]

interested to hear other members comments. These Volt owners just seem like they live on a different planet.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I normally lock the plug on my car.

 

[mark_rivers19]

I normally lock the plug on my car.

Thanks!
how do you lock the plug? am i missing something here?

 

[srl99]

I have the opposite problem:

I leave a note on my EV at public charging stations "if the pedestal reads Finished or Charge Complete, please take the cable". I've only had someone follow those directions once. It might take me an hour to get back to, and move my car.

Was your car fully charged, or drawing very little current?

 

[mark_rivers19]

I leave a note on my EV at public charging stations "if the pedestal reads Finished or Charge Complete, please take the cable". I've only had someone follow those directions once. It might take me an hour to get back to, and move my car.

Was your car fully charged, or drawing very little current?

i normally charge at home. But thanks to the 31st charging bug, it screwed the remainder of my week.
i have 29 on my GOM and i'll be doing a another 28 mile trip before going home.

i left the facility ( Santa Monica Place) with 45 on the GOM.
i don't stay more than 3 hours on any public charging station.
you will get a ticket here in Santa Monica if you do.
and if i don't really need to charge, i don't hog the space.

I do get your point about Pedestal reading finished/ charge complete. in that case, i guess it's ok.

 

[Dsinned]

Hey, I own a Volt, but would never do that to another EV owner's car, UNLESS that charging station completed charging. Even then, I would probably just skip it unless there was a sign posted that clearly stated "the rules" for using the charging station(s).

Sadly, it is because of these kind of incidences that public EV charging stations may need to actually cost real money. The freebies, which I think was the situation here, almost encourage this type of behavior. Another alternative is only have charging stations that are under constant surveillance with a PAID attendant on duty during the busiest periods of use. Bottom line, public charging stations based on the "honor system" are bound to be compromised, and this trend can only get worse as EVs become mainstream.

 

[Scott1258]

I normally lock the plug on my car.

Thanks!
how do you lock the plug? am i missing something here?

I too would really like to know how to lock the cable. Please post up the directions for us. Thanks!

 

[crxpilot]

Hi guys!
I just want to get the temperature from our fellow members!
Right now, i'm fuming mad about this.

I parked at Santa Monica Place around 4:12pm at a Chargepoint space. (2 out of 7 are free)
Unfortunately, i have to park backwards to get access to the Chargepoint station.

Anyway, i started charging and got a confirmation email from entune that charging started successfully.
Around 5:08 i got an email stating that charging was interrupted, so i decided to walk back to the car park ONLY to be surprised that a Chevy Volt unplugged the cable and used it.

This is rudeness at another level. I took some pictures of the Volt's license plate.

Has this ever happened to you? With so many new EV owners, i expect to be unplugged more often than usual.

I removed the cable anc placed it back to my RAV4EV.
I was thinking of leaving a note, but i dont want to waste anymore time with this jerk.

A Volt being a Range extender, can drive back home using his/her ICE.
An electric car CAN'T. Especially if it has no juice.

A fully charged Volt with a flat tire wont get very far. :twisted:

 

[Scott1258]

Hi guys!
I just want to get the temperature from our fellow members!
Right now, i'm fuming mad about this.

I parked at Santa Monica Place around 4:12pm at a Chargepoint space. (2 out of 7 are free)
Unfortunately, i have to park backwards to get access to the Chargepoint station.

Anyway, i started charging and got a confirmation email from entune that charging started successfully.
Around 5:08 i got an email stating that charging was interrupted, so i decided to walk back to the car park ONLY to be surprised that a Chevy Volt unplugged the cable and used it.

This is rudeness at another level. I took some pictures of the Volt's license plate.

Has this ever happened to you? With so many new EV owners, i expect to be unplugged more often than usual.

I removed the cable anc placed it back to my RAV4EV.
I was thinking of leaving a note, but i dont want to waste anymore time with this jerk.

A Volt being a Range extender, can drive back home using his/her ICE.
An electric car CAN'T. Especially if it has no juice.

A fully charged Volt with a flat tire wont get very far. :twisted:

No it won't! But hey, we are all better than that here and we know two wrongs don't make a right. BUT what we can do to help,prevent someone from unplugging the car is roll over the charging cable with our back tire so they can't take it out and put it in their car. This should provide a bit of protection. It's not locked in the charge port but no one else would be able to use it with the rear wheel locking that cable in place .

 

[n3ckf]

I've unplugged other cars when the charger (also a chargepoint) was reading a full charge on the other car (ie. charing complete). Chargepoints automaticlaly go to "port available" status when the car signals its disconnecting after a full charge.

Alternatively if a car is parked in the next space with the charge port open, i will plug that car in when i leave and start the charger for them.
(yes, at a pay chargepoint that means i'll end up paying for their charger, but i dont actually care since its probalby a buck or two).

I think this is fair play overall.

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?p=307888#p307888 has a guide to being able to tell when a vehicle is done charging or not.

At my work, we have an internal page w/people adding how to tell about their own vehicles. The set of models of EVs and PHEVs we have at work is a lot smaller than that big list (mostly Leafs and Volts, 0 Rav4 EV so far).

 

[yedrav4]

I normally lock the plug on my car.

Thanks!
how do you lock the plug? am i missing something here?

I too would really like to know how to lock the cable. Please post up the directions for us. Thanks!

Maybe he is sliding a padlock through the hole in the release trigger of the J1772 plug....My Leviton charger has hole there...but I don't know if all chargers are supposed to have one.

 

[reeler]

I park at the airport in a private lot with chargers. If the car plugged in is done charging, I will yank the cable for my car. Almost always that is the case. 4-6 spots share one charger.

Tonight, I did just that on a Volt. The owner had set the alarm in the car with motion detection and the car proceeded to honk for a couple minutes. Do you think it was uncool to arm the alarm?

 

[TonyWilliams]

Maybe he is sliding a padlock through the hole in the release trigger of the J1772 plug....My Leviton charger has hole there...but I don't know if all chargers are supposed to have one.

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Lock-131Q-Covered-Aluminum/dp/B00004Y8D4#productDetails

 

[mark_rivers19]

Thanks Tony!

first thing on my list to buy tomorrow.
i'll drop by my local walmart to get one.

after 15 minutes, i've decided to drive to the nearest walmart and pick up this locks.
Got a set of two for $6.97 with 2 keys that open both locks.

One lock goes to my Leviton. Fits like a glove.
Second one goes inside the car.

Problem SOLVED!

 

[Luckyduckie]

.
Second one goes inside the car.

One of my biggest fears ... being unable to drive off because the cord will not detach from the socket (this happened to me when my EVSE was new and was so tight that it wouldn't unplug and I had to leave in a hurry !!! It finally came off with some significant force). I'm also an expert on losing car keys (lost 2 in last 3 years)

 

[mark_rivers19]

 

[amped up]

I'd post on the Volt forums, although I doubt someone that inconsiderate is a real EV enthusiast and might not be a member there. I'd definitely post on PlugShare about this as well.

 

[Dsinned]

I park at the airport in a private lot with chargers. If the car plugged in is done charging, I will yank the cable for my car. Almost always that is the case. 4-6 spots share one charger.

Tonight, I did just that on a Volt. The owner had set the alarm in the car with motion detection and the car proceeded to honk for a couple minutes. Do you think it was uncool to arm the alarm?

This is "normal" for a Volt when the doors are locked while the car is left plugged in, even when the charge has completed. I do not know if there is a way to disable this security feature since in the situation you described, that would be when a Volt owner may not want the car's security alarm to engage. I think this feature was intended to prevent theft of the 120V charging cable that comes with the car, so GM should have provided a way to disable the alarm when doing a public charge.