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Supercharger is NOT your personal parking spot

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I went to the Bethesda supercharger on Friday morning to charge up before heading home and there were two Model S parked in the two supercharger spots. After waiting for an hour and a half, one of the owners came out, apologized profusely and left. I proceeded to charge my car for 25 minutes and left myself a margin of 15 miles to get to the Newark supercharger as there was another owner that was waiting for my spot. This second car however was there when I got there and still there when we left, making their total time taking up that spot at a good 2 hours.

Superchargers are meant to be places for charging your car. If you wouldn't leave your car at a gas station pump for two hours, then you should use your common sense and realize that it's completely inappropriate to do that at a supercharger. There's a reason there's a phone app so you can remotely monitor your charging. Thank you for getting a vanity plate so it will be easier for present and future owners to recognize what an utter d-bag you are. Guess money can't buy class.

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Bethesda is really tough since it is in a high demand area and has only a single (pair) SC. It is often occupied and often there is a wait. Seems like folks could also leave the QR code on their dash so they can be called if anything goes wrong. It may be time for Tesla to provide some software hooks beyond notifications...
 
Bethesda is really tough since it is in a high demand area and has only a single (pair) SC. It is often occupied and often there is a wait. Seems like folks could also leave the QR code on their dash so they can be called if anything goes wrong. It may be time for Tesla to provide some software hooks beyond notifications...

That QR code thing is absolutely useless if the person trying to reach you doesn't have an iPhone. Just leave a phone number. Everyone can use that.
 
you wouldn't leave your car at a gas station pump for two hours, then you should use your common sense and realize that it's completely inappropriate to do that at a supercharger. Thank you for getting a vanity plate so it will be easier for present and future owners to recognize what an utter d-bag you are. Guess money can't buy class.

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That is BULL$#/€ :cursing: !!!! Thanks for posting. I guess it's too difficult for this supercharger hogger to leave his/her business card/contact info on the dash.

PlanB, LOVE the vid !
 
Once again Tesla's horrible signage is a problem, the sign says "Tesla Electric Vehicle Parking" nothing about charging, nothing about time.

Tesla really needs to stop with those ridiculous red signs, they aren't useful for anything at all. Put up a standard no parking sign with a label under it "except for electric vehicles while actively charging"

(That said, it might not solve this situation, the guy could be just as disrespectful regardless, but at least it's one more reminder)
 
Once again Tesla's horrible signage is a problem, the sign says "Tesla Electric Vehicle Parking" nothing about charging, nothing about time.

Tesla really needs to stop with those ridiculous red signs, they aren't useful for anything at all. Put up a standard no parking sign with a label under it "except for electric vehicles while actively charging"

(That said, it might not solve this situation, the guy could be just as disrespectful regardless, but at least it's one more reminder)

I emailed Tesla to ask them to do exactly that - put in standard no parking signs with "Except for electric car charging" - BEFORE they installed the signs at the new Kingston supercharger. They said "We appreciate your concern and we will monitor the site closely. The site will have the standard signage at first and if “No Parking” signs are necessary, we will have them installed." And now that the construction is done, I see that they have put in the useless signs that say "Tesla Electric Vehicle Parking" and "Tesla 30 Minute Parking".

So Tesla's approach seems to be to wait until their customers get stranded and very angry before dealing with the problem, rather than opting for the simple and cheap pre-emptive solution of proper signage. I don't get it...
 
Once again Tesla's horrible signage is a problem, the sign says "Tesla Electric Vehicle Parking" nothing about charging, nothing about time.

Tesla really needs to stop with those ridiculous red signs, they aren't useful for anything at all. Put up a standard no parking sign with a label under it "except for electric vehicles while actively charging"

(That said, it might not solve this situation, the guy could be just as disrespectful regardless, but at least it's one more reminder)
Signage may be the issue for a space that is ICEd, but it shouldn't be necessary for other Tesla owners. Every Tesla owner should already know not to leave their car parked at a supercharger any longer than it takes to get the charge they need. Especially in a busy place like this-- they might have an excuse if they were the only car parked for an extra hour at a site with 8 stalls, but not at this mall!
 
Signage may be the issue for a space that is ICEd, but it shouldn't be necessary for other Tesla owners. Every Tesla owner should already know not to leave their car parked at a supercharger any longer than it takes to get the charge they need. Especially in a busy place like this-- they might have an excuse if they were the only car parked for an extra hour at a site with 8 stalls, but not at this mall!
The difference is that right now all he's done is go against common courtesy. We all hate it, but he hasn't broken any rules. With the right signage there's an actual rule that has been broken, and then you can start talking enforcement options.
 
I don't think many have been really told of charger/supercharger etiquette at their delivery either.

One other suggestion is to have a message on the charging screen to say when finished charging move your car if all spots are full--you have XX minutes until that time.

-m
 
Meh... I won't be going back to the Bethesda SC. Both spots were "open" (Nov 12, early afternoon) but I had to contort myself to get in there and not ding anyone's car.

I am a bit concerned about Potomac Mills (Woodbridge) too. I was there this Saturday evening, very busy shopping day. There were still 2 stalls open but 3 cars were there before I arrived and were still there after I left ~30 minutes later. I doubt they were still charging but who knows.

Parking was at a premium. As I was waiting for the last bit to get me home to W-burg, a driver would eye up the open spots to the left & right of me about every 30 seconds :)
 
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Signage needs to be tougher, you need something like EV charging only, violators will be towed at there own expense $250 fine. This should be on any electric vehicle charging spot. I find on a regular basis the ICE cars park in an EV charging stall. People are clueless unless there is a penalty incurred. A sign saying Tesla EV parking is useless.
 
Signage needs to be tougher, you need something like EV charging only, violators will be towed at there own expense $250 fine. This should be on any electric vehicle charging spot. I find on a regular basis the ICE cars park in an EV charging stall. People are clueless unless there is a penalty incurred. A sign saying Tesla EV parking is useless.

So who would enforce this?
 
Towing a Tesla without a fob being present is very difficult. There is no way to get it out of Park. It needs dollys under both rear wheels to move it.

They won't do it but Tesla could revoke supercharger access for a week or two for repeat offenders. They should already have the data on how long the car has been connected, after charging has been completed, at a supercharger. They probably also know whether anyone is sitting in the driver's seat.
 
It's kinda ironic that Tesla used to pitch the opportunity to go get a nice meal or go shopping at outlets and such while the car supercharged; now, supercharging is so fast and there's much more contention that one has to hover quite close to the car and move it more proactively.

Not excusing this person's behavior but, am remarking on how things have changed since the early supercharging days of late-2012 / early-2013.