Electric car owner charged with stealing 5 cents worth of juice

Probably, but the point is still valid--just because there is an outlet available, doesn't mean you can/should plug in without asking permission.

O

Where's the paper or sign up sheet asking permission when people plug their cell phone, tablet or computer into every available outlet? Replace the Leaf with a large laptop. Would the police be arresting a person for using the same 5 cents worth of juice for the laptop?

Depends on how dumb the cop is and what their agenda is... do people get arrested for "stealing" $0.0005 to charge their phone? Sadly, yes.
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20121112/ARTICLE/121119888

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Akikiki said:

Where's the paper or sign up sheet asking permission when people plug their cell phone, tablet or computer into every available outlet? Replace the Leaf with a large laptop. Would the police be arresting a person for using the same 5 cents worth of juice for the laptop?

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For the "I can plug in anywhere" crowd, don't do it in Atlanta...

Atlanta doesn't agree

Link

As EVs become more and more popular, new issues are going to present themselves.

While I 100% agree with "ask before plugging in" this was a public school (tax payer funded, whom was harmed/stolen from). Are teachers/administrators allowed to charge their cellphones/personal devices at school? Not sure who called the police.

Plug Share seems to have many locations that are '110v plugs on light poles, parking lots' etc.

Arrested 11 days after the fact? To me that shows no one knew how to deal with the situation. Personally, this was a huge waste of the LEOs resources (slow crime week in ATL? chasing a nickel worth of electricity.)

Think big airports... the people sitting on the floor outside of Elite Travelers clubs, plugged in, "stealing" mili-amps and wi-fi. Where does it stop being "theft" and the risk of delayed incarceration end?

Education is key, the value of a kilowatt (~$0.12) vs a gallon of gas (~$4.00). However, there are always 3 sides to every story.

omarsultan said:

Probably, but the point is still valid--just because there is an outlet available, doesn't mean you can/should plug in without asking permission.

O

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Lots of wrongs here. Owner was wrong to plug in without asking, school was wrong to call the cops rather than asking the owner to unplug, cop was wrong to arrest him rather than talk to him about it (although I don't know if the cop had any flexibility based on the complaint).

I complained about workers using my garden hose for drinking water when building a house in the adjoining lot. Didn't really care about the cost of the water and would happily have let them use it … if they had asked or at least left a note.

As I noted in another thread, the driver was wrong to plug in without asking. The school was also wrong to call the cops, they should have just asked the driver to unplug. I'm unclear on whether the officer had flexibility on whether to cite the driver once the complaint was made.

It's simply inappropriate to plug in without asking; granted this escalated farther than it really needed to.

Ask before you drink out of their water fountain too!

This is an interesting situation.

One hotel I patronized told me at the time of booking that "there is an oulet in the parking lot you may use." As a matter of fact he even coned it off ahead of time so the space would be available when I arrived.

When I arrived, I plugged in for the night. Before going to bed, I checked the car via the app to find out it had stopped charging. I went out to investigate to find the pug was dead. Informing the hotel, I was told that section of the parking lot and the pole was actually "common" to the business park, and that outlet was actually a city-maintained outlet, thus they didn't have the breaker for it.

Doing a little snooping around, it appears it was actually a circuit branch off a billboard pole at the far end of the parking lot that overlooked the adjacent roadway. When night fell and the billboard lights came on, the combined load along with my car was sufficient to trip the breaker. So my car stopped charging, AND the billboard went dark.

I was able to find another outlet to charge at, however the billboard remained out, as the hotel mgr didn't know who to notify.

So even when you DO ask, there are some interesting situations that can arise...

My friend was charging in Vacaville, CA at a Chevy dealership before the store opened and when the dealership owner arrived he just walked up and unplugged him. And it was a 30A j1772 with a plaque that said EV charging and it is on plugshare and the web.

Man goes to jail for stealing $.05 of Electricity

Give me a break.

Electric car owner charged for plugging in at Ga. school

There's a thread on Charging Etiquette here

While I agree you probably shouldn't charge without permission, sending the guy to jail? Really? What if I brought my portable radio and plugged it into that outlet? What about if I wanted to use my laptop while my kid plays in the park and I am low on charge? How about I plugged in to charge my iPhone? By this officer's argument, anyone plugging in to charge their phone or laptop at the airport should get arrested too.

Nowhere does it say the guy went to jail. He was arrested.

There's a whole big criminal justice system between those two things.

Says he was arrested and spent some hours in jail.

Zextraterrestrial said:

My friend was charging in Vacaville, CA at a Chevy dealership before the store opened and when the dealership owner arrived he just walked up and unplugged him. And it was a 30A j1772 with a plaque that said EV charging and it is on plugshare and the web.

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There are still some dealers who don't get it. I went to a (kind, but clearly misinformed) Ford dealership with a 30A J1772 station. After making well-sure it was alright to charge using their station, I plugged in and went to work. An hour later I checked the Tesla app and found the car was not charging. After speaking with the mechanics at the shop I discovered that the charging station was using the same breaker as all of their tools require. Of course the first mechanic who turned on anything at all tripped the breaker and the car stopped charging. I apologized for the inconvenience but wondered which electrician would've installed the charger that way and what the dealership's intentions were if it can barely be used.

This is why you should ASK before you plug-in. Doesn't matter how much electricity he used, it will get all of us a bad name.

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pgiralt said:

By this officer's argument, anyone plugging in to charge their phone or laptop at the airport should get arrested too.

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Airports provide outlets specifically for travelers.