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[Rant] locals clogging the Highland Park, IL supercharger

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andrewket

Well-Known Member
Dec 20, 2012
5,704
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Ok, forgive me - I'm going to complain and rant here for a minute. I've reached the boiling point with owners who use superchargers for their daily charging. I've driven around 15k miles on road trips using the superchargers, and the only place I've had to wait because locals are clogging the pipeline is in Highland Park, IL. I've talked to some of these people, and they will seriously wait an hour plus charging time to save 8 dollars rather than charge at home. I just don't get it. Is your time really worth that little? Highland Park is a northern suburb of Chicago, and the median income is 115k/year. I just had one owner tell me, after seeing there was a line, "oh well, I guess I'll just go home and pay for it." And then I got into a verbal altercation with another owner who tried to take a spot after someone pulled out and I was sitting there first in line (after I watched him arrive and park and go into the service center.) Yes, another local trying to get 8 bucks of "free" fuel. When I called him on it, he started yelling at me that he called ahead. Oh, valet service for your "free" energy? Could you at least allow people with out of state tags charge first so they can get on with their trip?? I think it might be time for Tesla to limit local supercharging. Ok, rant off. Thanks for listening. May the debate ensue.
 
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Ok, forgive me - I'm going to complain and rant here for a minute. I've reached a boiling point with owners who use superchargers for their daily charging. I've driven around 15k miles on road trips using the superchargers, and the only place I've had to wait because locals are clogging the pipeline is in Highland Park, IL. I've talked to some of these people, and they will seriously wait an hour plus charging time to save 8 dollars rather than charge at home. I just don't get it. Is your time really worth that little? Highland Park is a northern suburb of Chicago, and the median income is 115k/year. I just had one owner tell me, after seeing there was a line, "oh well, I guess I'll just go home and pay for it." And then I got into a verbal altercation with another owner who tried to take a spot after someone pulled out and I was sitting there first in line (after I watched him arrive and park and go into the service center.) Yes, another local trying to get 8 bucks of "free" fuel. When I called him on it, he started yelling at me that he called ahead. Oh, valet service for your "free" energy? Could you at least allow people with out of state tags charge first so they can get on with their trip?? I think it might be time for Tesla to limit local supercharging. Ok, rant off. Thanks for listening. May the debate ensue.
locals abuse of the superchargers is a problem that happens in some of the more urban areas where some people live in apartments/condos and aren't able to charge at home,
(maybe an ev isn't for them but that's a topic for another thread), I've encountered this same (abuse) usage of the chargers at the sysosset ny (LI) supercharger which is also at a service center.
I've also heard of behavior like this in CA.
in a fair world the locals would cede the use of the charger to someone who needs a charging to continue a road trip, unfortunately there is no shortage of self centered narcissistic people who couldn't care about anyone else's needs.
 
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I've reached a boiling point with owners who use superchargers for their daily charging.

It's another example of the human difficulty with determining valuation. Is their time not worth the few dollars? Obviously the abusers aren't able to make that crucial calculation. On top of that, the fact that they're blocking spaces needed by travelers is pure ignorance. It's truly equivalent to ICEing.

 
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I found out from the super nice staff there that one of the cars had been parked there all day. Apparently this individual is well known. Not only does he not have charging at home, but apparently he doesn't have a garage, so he routinely just leaves it plugged in at the SC. Mind you there are also 4-5 HPWCs at this location. Bad enough to leave your car there, but at a supercharger when there are other options... Boggles the mind.
 
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Playing devil's advocate, because any point deserves a counter point. I live roughly 25-35 minutes away from my nearest Supercharger that is also a Service Center. I work in sales, and I'm on the road between 150 & 400 miles per day. More often than not those miles are up and down the major highways around Massachusetts, conveniently positioned near 3 Superchargers. I'm a local, I have a nice charging set up at home, limited to about 7kw due to service restrictions. Am I "abusing" supercharging because I'm not on a long distance road trip? The guys at the SC know be by name, and every time I go in to use the WC, I joke that my Supercharger Abuse Letter must be in the mail from Fremont at this point.
 
I found out from the super nice staff there that one of the cars had been parked there all day. Apparently this individual is well known. Not only does he not have charging at home, but apparently he doesn't have a garage, so he routinely just leaves it plugged in at the SC. Mind you there are also 4-5 HPWCs at this location. Bad enough to leave your car there, but at a supercharger when there are other options... Boggles the mind.

Actions this horrible are very likely caused by lack of information, poor information, or mis-information. If this individual is well know, then someone needs to reach out gently and try to educate the poorly informed individual of the harm he is doing to others and the simple solution of using an available HPWC.
 
Annoying for sure. But we don't know their entire story. I'm trying to be nice here...

Personally, my time is worth much more than the measly 4.50 it costs me to charge at home and I would never wait in a line to charge if I had a home charging option, which I do. Some people think small. Some think big. The guy parking all day at the SC is completely inexcusable to me. I would think that the Tesla ees would say something. Amazingly inconsiderate.
 
I found out from the super nice staff there that one of the cars had been parked there all day. Apparently this individual is well known. Not only does he not have charging at home, but apparently he doesn't have a garage, so he routinely just leaves it plugged in at the SC. Mind you there are also 4-5 HPWCs at this location. Bad enough to leave your car there, but at a supercharger when there are other options... Boggles the mind.
he needs to learn the difference between a charging spot and a parking spot, if he is parked and not charging having the car towed from the charging spot will give him a very quick lesson in the "new" EV charging etiquette.
 
I had this happen in Syosset as well. Going from NYC to East Hampton, and trying to keep pace with a friend in an ICE without the EV looking like a terrible compromise. First I had to wait 15 minutes for a spot to open up. Then, because all the spots are busy with active charging, the charging was very slow. While I was sitting in the waiting room, a local came in and said something about the charging always being slow. I engaged in conversation and found out that he makes the run on a regular basis and typically has to wait. Then I asked if he has charging at home. The answer: Yes, but I choose not to use it.
 
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Tesla should charge $10k for supercharging option on the Model 3, if not it's going to be really bad then.

Unnecessary. Just charge a nominal fee for activation, then charge by the kWh. The car knows when it's charging, it's a couple web developers away from being a reality. I'd be more than happy to pay for supercharging, as long as the superchargers were actually available where and when I need them.
 
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I think if Tesla bills $10 for each hour over 2 hours of parking will help fix this... people will have to pay a bit more attention to how long they park the car. It shouldn't affect anyone at all that uses the network properly, but those that tend to leave the car, unthinking, might have to think twice.
 
I wonder if some of the larger Supercharger sites could have 1-2 pairs of Superchargers dedicated to true out-of-towners. They wouldn't even start charging for locals and signage would indicate it. When passing through a non-Supercharger city on a long trip, I did encounter a local Tesla owner had just arrived at the Nissan dealership before me and was using the CHAdeMO. After a short discussion, they revealed they lived just a few blocks away and even had a decently sized solar array. They were just using Nissan's CHAdeMO to keep getting money from their local utility and was initially content making me and my family wait for them to charge to 100%, even though I had indicated I was a long distance traveller with out of state plates. After a little social engineering which involved the clever use of my children, I was able to charge our car to make it 200 miles away to our destination for the night.

I was truly taken aback by that person's mindset and used it to teach my kids a valuable lesson.
 
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In most state's it's illegal to bill by the kWh.

Here is a very simple solution, that I propose for progressive billing:
  • Give owners, many, multiple educational warnings. Accept special situations, and give two more warnings before starting to bill.
  • First hour free, even after going to Bill mode.
  • Second hour $5.
  • Third hour and beyond, $50 per hour.

That gives many chances and even when an owner has been put in the "Bill" mode, the first hour is free and the second hour reasonable. Once in the "Bill" mode, going into the second hour is annoying, and going into the third hour and beyond will get most folks attention.
 
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Charged at the downtown Chicago Tesla SC on Sunday. I intentionally went for an HPWC instead of a supercharger because I wanted to charge for 7 hours in order to help my battery stay warm. But when parking, noticed the couple of livery plated Model S's at the super chargers. Now that would PISS me off if I needed to charge fast to be on my way. A local company taking advantage of the free fuel to keep their black car service running. There are abuses to the system. Density is not making it critical in its mass yet. Yet.