Consequences for blocking EV chargers

[llamafilm]

I arrived at the Santa Ysabel supercharger expecting to find 2 empty spots, but there was actually a line of 3 Teslas waiting to charge. Those 2 spots were occupied by abandoned ICE vehicles. Unfortunately all of us Tesla owners have no power to prevent this situation.
The county sheriff and highway patrol both told me they have no jurisdiction over parking issues on private property. The local tow truck dispatcher said they can’t help unless they get a call from the property owner. The charger was in the parking lot of Farmhouse Restaurant, so I spoke with their manager, who said she doesn’t want to “waste her time” helping with this.

I think this is a systemic problem, where non-EV drivers can intentionally block spots either for convenience or for spite, knowing there won’t be any consequences.

One solution could be for Tesla to contract with a local tow truck company at each location, posting their phone number nearby. That way the restaurant management does not need to get involved. Anyone else have a better idea?

 

[KJD]

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-0...&qid=1698542693&sprefix=valve+,aps,125&sr=8-6

 

[rlsd]

Nothing we can do about this. San Ysabel is a busy tourist place. It's hard to find parking. The two people are abusers.
I hope that we won't find many abusers like that.

 

[karkrazy]

Given how only Tesla (as the property leaseholder of owner) can call for tows, can you imagine how speedy Tesla’s response times will be? look at the response times for service or roadside assistance. And frankly, how often does it happen for someone to setup this kinda service (that’s not even a revenue generator)? We have no metrics or are able to quantify exactly when/how SC’s are ICE’d. So we’re SOL and only Tesla can do anything about it

 

[fholbert]

Nothing we can do about this.

For the record: If you did do something about it, I didn’t see a thing.

 

[karkrazy]

For the record: If you did do something about it, I didn’t see a thing.

Ditto. Sentry wasn’t working at that time too

 

[father_of_6]

I like squirting ketchup under the door handle.

 

[rlsd]

For the record: If you did do something about it, I didn’t see a thing.

If I do something about it I would not let you know.

 

[LoudMusic]

I guarantee you there will be a cybertruck owner who tows an ICE vehicle out of a charging stall and starts a brawl.

 

[swaltner]

The Honda in your picture is posted in a stall posted as "60 minutes parking", and is available for any vehicle, not just a Tesla or someone else that can eventually use this stall through upcoming compatibility.

Until EVs reach a higher critical mass (let's say 50% of all vehicles on the road), property owners will not call a tow truck on someone that has blocked an EV charging station. They don't want to tick off the larger group of their potential customers. You don't want tow truck operators responding to a request from the general public that gets pissed off at your parking job. You want all those requests filtering through the property owner or you'll find yourself on the other end of an angry driver at some point.

 

[Dracaris]

https://www.amazon.com/Motion-Pro-08-0183-Valve-Remover/dp/B001KO84I0/ref=sr_1_6?crid=2H98OF331AHD8&keywords=valve+stem+tool&qid=1698542693&sprefix=valve+,aps,125&sr=8-6

Hilarious and sooo tempting, but that would just guarantee they're in the spot even longer.

BTW, this illustrates a set of reasons why we try to target spots with more than two SC plugs - we don't want to get iced out, and we don't want to wait in a line.

 

[WyoDude]

I arrived at the Santa Ysabel supercharger expecting to find 2 empty spots, but there was actually a line of 3 Teslas waiting to charge. Those 2 spots were occupied by abandoned ICE vehicles. Unfortunately all of us Tesla owners have no power to prevent this situation.
The county sheriff and highway patrol both told me they have no jurisdiction over parking issues on private property. The local tow truck dispatcher said they can’t help unless they get a call from the property owner. The charger was in the parking lot of Farmhouse Restaurant, so I spoke with their manager, who said she doesn’t want to “waste her time” helping with this.

I think this is a systemic problem, where non-EV drivers can intentionally block spots either for convenience or for spite, knowing there won’t be any consequences.

One solution could be for Tesla to contract with a local tow truck company at each location, posting their phone number nearby. That way the restaurant management does not need to get involved. Anyone else have a better idea?

Some would say just call the tow company and pretend to be the property owner, not me though

 

[Unclepaul]

This would be like a group of EV owners leaving their cars at gas station pumps on a buys Thanksgiving weekend. They could go into the mini market, buy some snacks, use the restroom and this would block the ICE owners from being able to fill their tanks.

Courtesy would be for ICE users to leave charging stalls for those needing charging, and EVs staying away from gas pumps as well.

 

[Mercimek]

Perhaps a change in the supercharger hardware for the V5 superchargers: add a camera. If software detects car parked there without charging, it automatically informs tow truck company. Add a sign on top warning people. That should work.

 

[jsmay311]

The Honda in your picture is posted in a stall posted as "60 minutes parking", and is available for any vehicle, not just a Tesla or someone else that can eventually use this stall through upcoming compatibility.

That’s interesting. I’ve never paid much attention to the wording on the signs at Superchargers before.

This video goes over some of the different signs at Superchargers. Restrictions vary from only allowing actively charging vehicles, to “General Parking” with time limits but no mention at all about charging (as seen with the “Honda” spot in this case), to “General Parking” with no restrictions at all.

 

[thyname]

Is it just me or is this just as bad as parking at handicapped spots with no handicapped permit?

 

[davewill]

Is it just me or is this just as bad as parking at handicapped spots with no handicapped permit?

Usually no, as many supercharging spaces are not posted for EV charging only. Generally the spaces still belong to the site owner (NOT Tesla) and very few businesses are willing to tow their own customers for the sake of EV charging.

Even if they are posted EV only, inconveniencing an EV driver just doesn't equate with blocking out the handicapped. The law certainly doesn't accord them the same treatment. For example, the law enforcement officers who said they don't enforce private parking almost certainly would have been willing to write a very expensive ticket for parking in a handicapped spot... because the law calls for that.

 

[llamafilm]

The Honda in your picture is posted in a stall posted as "60 minutes parking", and is available for any vehicle, not just a Tesla or someone else that can eventually use this stall through upcoming compatibility.

Wow I hadn't even noticed that! Thank you for pointing that out. It seems weird that Tesla would allow installations like this because it totally breaks their "available spots" indicator.

 

[Dracaris]

Wow I hadn't even noticed that! Thank you for pointing that out. It seems weird that Tesla would allow installations like this because it totally breaks their "available spots" indicator.

Interesting point - it might be nice if Tesla would flag the SC locations where parking in front of a supercharger is open to anyone vs. just vehicles recharging.

 

[rhumbliner]

I guarantee you there will be a cybertruck owner who tows an ICE vehicle out of a charging stall and starts a brawl.

This has already happened, without the brawl: Patrick