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"Towing strictly enforced" signs at superchargers

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TexasEV

Well-Known Member
Jun 5, 2013
7,656
8,941
Austin, TX
What we've all been waiting for--
I was at the Huntsville, TX supercharger yesterday, it's on the side of a Holiday Inn Express, and was pleasantly surprised to see a sign under each of the original Tesla 60 min. parking signs that said "Towing strictly enforced for non-Tesla vehicles". This location was reported on Plugshare to have been completely ICE's a few weekends ago. No one was parked there yesterday afternoon.
IMG_0426.JPG
 
What we've all been waiting for--
I was at the Huntsville, TX supercharger yesterday, it's on the side of a Holiday Inn Express, and was pleasantly surprised to see a sign under each of the original Tesla 60 min. parking signs that said "Towing strictly enforced for non-Tesla vehicles". This location was reported on Plugshare to have been completely ICE's a few weekends ago. No one was parked there yesterday afternoon.
View attachment 55446

Very good, and I guess that all Supercharger stations in all countries will soon have these signs too, in the appropriate language of each country ofcourse.
 
I just wonder if tesla really did that or if a pissed off owner went and got a bunch made and bolted it on in the middle of the night LOL

^^^
That's exactly what I was thinking!!! If this was in California, you would have to put the name of the towing company, the local ordinance code, and some other yada yada stuff.
Then again, you only have to put that stuff there if you are actually going to tow someone. The presence of the sign itself may be sufficient to prevent most ICEing.
 
^^^
That's exactly what I was thinking!!! If this was in California, you would have to put the name of the towing company, the local ordinance code, and some other yada yada stuff.
Then again, you only have to put that stuff there if you are actually going to tow someone. The presence of the sign itself may be sufficient to prevent most ICEing.


V C Section 22511 Off-Street Parking: Electric Vehicles

Off-Street Parking: Electric Vehicles

22511. (a)A local authority, by ordinance or resolution, and a person in lawful possession of an offstreet parking facility may designate stalls or spaces in an offstreet parking facility owned or operated by that local authority or person for the exclusive purpose of charging and parking a vehicle that is connected for electric charging purposes.

(b) If posted in accordance with subdivision (d) or (e), the owner or person in lawful possession of a privately owned or operated offstreet parking facility, after notifying the police or sheriff’s department, may cause the removal of a vehicle from a stall or space designated pursuant to subdivision (a) in the facility to the nearest public garage if the vehicle is not connected for electric charging purposes.

(c) If posted in accordance with subdivision (d), the local authority owning or operating an offstreet parking facility, after notifying the police or sheriff’s department, may cause the removal of a vehicle from a stall or space designated pursuant to subdivision (a) in the facility to the nearest garage, as defined in Section 340, that is owned, leased, or approved for use by a public agency if the vehicle is not connected for electric charging purposes.

(d) The posting required for an offstreet parking facility owned or operated either privately or by a local authority shall consist of a sign not less than 17 by 22 inches in size with lettering not less than one inch in height that clearly and conspicuously states the following: "Unauthorized vehicles not connected for electric charging purposes will be towed away at owner’s expense. Towed vehicles may be reclaimed at

___________________________________________________ or by telephoning

(Address)

____________________________________________________________________."
(Telephone number of local law enforcement agency)



The sign shall be posted in either of the following locations:

(1) Immediately adjacent to, and visible from, the stall or space.

(2) In a conspicuous place at each entrance to the offstreet parking facility.

(e) If the parking facility is privately owned and public parking is prohibited by the posting of a sign meeting the requirements of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 22658, the requirements of subdivision (b) may be met by the posting of a sign immediately adjacent to, and visible from, each stall or space indicating that a vehicle not meeting the requirements of subdivision (a) will be removed at the owner’s expense and containing the telephone number of the local traffic law enforcement agency.

(f) This section does not interfere with existing law governing the ability of local authorities to adopt ordinances related to parking programs within their jurisdiction, such as programs that provide free parking in metered areas or municipal garages for electric vehicles.

Amended Sec. 1, Ch. 274, Stats. 2011. Effective January 1, 2012.
 
...
V C Section 22511 (d) The posting ... shall consist of a sign not less than 17 by 22 inches in size with lettering not less than one inch in height that clearly and conspicuously states the following: "Unauthorized vehicles not connected for electric charging purposes will be towed away at owner’s expense. Towed vehicles may be reclaimed at..."

Exactly. I am thinking other states may (or may not) have similar laws regulating signage prior to removing private property, otherwise, one could claim theft. That makes me think that Tesla would not put up signs so willy-nilly. Maybe it was a concerned owner. If so, God bless him!
 
60 min should get almost everyone to well over 90% and on to the next Supercharger. If there are a line of people waiting to Supercharge an hour time limit isn't bad and that person should be back at their car anyway ready to move it or simply sit there and watch it charge the last 5% if no one is waiting.
 
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And I suspect many property owners are not willing to threaten their paying customers with towing.

+1

Many are afraid to take the slightest action which might annoy or inconvenience an illegally parked ICE customer. However, if you're a paying customer in an EV, your needs don't seem to count as much.

Someone once asked a security guard at the Casino de Lac Lemay near Ottawa where the charging stations were. He gave the directions to the spots, but warned that they would probably be ICEd, and he was right! When the EV driver asked if there would be towing, ticketing, or warnings, the guard replied, "we don't bother people with that." The EV driver did end up complaining to the charging station network and the Casino promised to start giving warnings and to ticket repeat offenders.

I was in a local mall during the busy Christmas season and a Honda Odyssey was taking one charging station place and making access to two others very difficult (the spaces aren't wide enough). I asked the mall to make a public announcement politely requesting that the Odyssey owner move his vehicle. The mall refused to do this.


17493.jpg
 
I was in a local mall during the busy Christmas season and a Honda Odyssey was taking one charging station place and making access to two others very difficult (the spaces aren't wide enough). I asked the mall to make a public announcement politely requesting that the Odyssey owner move his vehicle. The mall refused to do this.


View attachment 55526
Doesn't get much more blatant than that. Green painted spots, huge painted sign on the wall stating that this is EV parking only which even those of us who don't speak French can understand, charging device clearly mounted straight ahead on the wall. Despite these multiple obvious indicators that those are EV spots only, it still got ICEd.

That driver was either totally oblivious or just didn't care. I'm going with the latter.
 
This morning as I was plugging into a 220V charger (not a supercharger) I watched a Volt owner pull up next to me into an EV charging spot in an otherwise empty parking lot and as I'm plugging in he just nonchalantly gets out and walks away to the train without plugging in at all and I'm just staring at him like WTF. How rude. The lot was STILL empty (it fills up fast in the following hour). Of he wasn't going to charge he shouldn't have hogged the spot. Despicable. If the car is still there when I get back ill snap a photo and flame him. Do we have a thread dedicated to random ICEr's?