Gas car parked at a Supercharger

[SomeJoe7777]

If you can afford it, get some wheel dollies for about $50 per set. An aluminum quick pump jack. If there's an ice car parked in a Supercharger stall that's clearly marked "tesla parking only", jack that piece of crap up, slide the wheel dollies underneath the tires and roll the car out of the way. Me personally, it would be worth the $50 to just leave the Ice car on them and let the owner figure out how to get the car off of them.

While I love the idea and have half an impulse to run down to Harbor Freight :smile:, I question the legality of taking it upon yourself to move someone else's vehicle.

Even if fully legal, with the way people are these days, this is probably a good way to get yourself into an escalated conflict situation where someone could get hurt.

I have a stack of the placards that explain that the spot is for electrical vehicle charging only and I leave it on the windshield. It's the most I'll risk. I've had an ICE driver give me a dirty look just for doing that. :frown:

 

[TexasEV]

Half the spots, the ones closest to Starbucks, have signs that allow general short term parking. I was in 2A and came back to an ICE in 1A next to me. I was mildly annoyed until I noticed the signs. They also left about 5 minutes later.

This has been suggested before, but as a reminder, at superchargers with some stalls that allow short term general parking, you should preferentially use those first. That leaves the reserved spots for Teslas that come later.

 

[Armadillos]

The Silverthorne CO superchargers were located in a rarely used overflow lot at an outlet mall; ICEing has never been a problem...

...until now. They built a Starbucks adjacent to the Superchargers with a drive-thru traffic pattern that utilizes the overflow lot. My wife was there charging this week and says that there were ICE cars parked in some of the SpC bays. She took no photos, though.

I was wondering if that was going to happen. And hopefully it won't be a problem in the winter when I need to get a charge up there on the way home, and everyone has stopped at the Starbucks to get a warm coffee.

 

[ozweepay]

I really think having cheap barriers (even plastic and malleable) that lower when you press a button on your center console would be cheap technology and would add even more cachet to the experience of visiting a SC.

This can't be done at SCs that allow ICE parking, but at spots that are Tesla only, it would be ultra-cool and not at all difficult to implement.

Or just do snipers like yo mama suggested...

 

[ozweepay]

How about one of these for Superchargers?

In This Mall, Holograms Of Disabled People Appear If You Try To Park In Their Space - YouTube

 

[Max*]

I really think having cheap barriers (even plastic and malleable) that lower when you press a button on your center console would be cheap technology and would add even more cachet to the experience of visiting a SC.

526 Superchargers, with an average of 5.6 stalls, that's ~3,000 stalls to retrofit.

Define cheap? You need to pull permits, dig into the ground, install the bollards, etc. I would WAG at least $5k per stall

So you want to spend $15M to fix a problem that is... well... sucky but somewhat rare. I bet there are better things Tesla can do with the money.

 

[Porfiry]

If you can afford it, get some wheel dollies for about $50 per set. An aluminum quick pump jack. If there's an ice car parked in a Supercharger stall that's clearly marked "tesla parking only", jack that piece of crap up, slide the wheel dollies underneath the tires and roll the car out of the way. Me personally, it would be worth the $50 to just leave the Ice car on them and let the owner figure out how to get the car off of them.

Couldn't they just drive off? I'm pretty sure if you get the wheels moving those dollies are going to shoot off, probably at a high rate of speed.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

526 Superchargers, with an average of 5.6 stalls, that's ~3,000 stalls to retrofit.

Define cheap? You need to pull permits, dig into the ground, install the bollards, etc. I would WAG at least $5k per stall

So you want to spend $15M to fix a problem that is... well... sucky but somewhat rare. I bet there are better things Tesla can do with the money.

Instead of bollards, how about a wood or foam gate attached to a beam, such as the gate used at a parking garage? I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper...but also not nearly as durable. I could see potential problems in windy areas...but it would make it really obvious that it's a NO PARKING zone and only approved vehicles would be able to raise the gates.

 

[Max*]

Instead of bollards, how about a wood or foam gate attached to a beam, such as the gate used at a parking garage? I'm sure it would be a lot cheaper...but also not nearly as durable. I could see potential problems in windy areas...but it would make it really obvious that it's a NO PARKING zone and only approved vehicles would be able to raise the gates.

Probably cheaper.

An even cheaper sign "Towing at owners expense" and actually enforce it.

 

[luvnMyTS]

Couldn't they just drive off? I'm pretty sure if you get the wheels moving those dollies are going to shoot off, probably at a high rate of speed.

That would get the drive wheels off maybe, but wouldn't help in the wheels that don't drive the car. So unless it's an all-wheel drive car, they're going to be stuck on at least a couple of them.

 

[sub]

I may have said this before but I agree with the above, partner with local towing companies that make it a priority to tow the vehicles out of the stalls immediately. Place number on Supercharger. Win win, car gets moved and they get a costly reminder never to do it again.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Probably cheaper.

An even cheaper sign "Towing at owners expense" and actually enforce it.

Great idea! Sometimes the simplest option is the best. I can understand that local business might not want to upset their customers but they should've planned for this when signing a deal with Tesla. Tesla is effectively spending $30000 or more per space when building a Supercharger. If they are going to make that kind of investment, they should do their best to ensure it will be available for Tesla owners.

 

[AudubonB]

An other way for Tesla to do it on the cheap is:

1. Erect SpC sites at quite a few hundred locations around the world
2. Sit back and wait for this forum to fill up with numerous ideas on how to solve the problem
3. Paw through these various threads and choose the location-appropriate solutions

Group-think at its finest!

 

[smartypnz]

CAUTION
Inappropriate vehicles located here may cause extreme high voltage arcing !!!

 

[ElectricTundra]

I think pop up gates or bollards are going overboard. Well, maybe not. Anyway, there are some that require no digging, attach on top of cement/bitumen, and just hinge up. They are fairly inexpensive and typically work with homelinc so a common code could be downloaded to cars. They do have a guard available for places with snow plows to keep them from getting damaged.

 

[MikeL]

Most powerful trebuchet in the world - YouTube
:biggrin:

 

[wdolson]

Most powerful trebuchet in the world - YouTube
:biggrin:

My SO now wants one for Christmas. She's now googling videos of Medieval siege engines especially ones throwing flaming things. She's currently watching a video of some guys destroying a motor home with a robotic trebuchet.

She just announced she wants to mount a siege engine on the roof of the house. Why? Because she thinks it would be cool.

 

[ggr]

DC does not travel as well as AC does. The simplistic answer back in the day of Edison (who favored DC power) vs Nikola Tesla (who invented AC) was DC fell off the line going around corners. It isn't quite that way, but you want DC runs to be as short as possible.

Funnily enough, a lot of the high-power long distance backbone distribution networks have gone back to using DC. At a couple of hundred kilovolts, the transmission savings eventually overcome the cost of converting to/from AC. Also, no synchronization issues with DC. High-voltage_direct_current

 

[e-FTW]

Rest areas, national parks, and scenic areas are all public areas funded by the public. No supercharger should be there and the public shouldn't and wouldn't allow it (for good reason).

We can dream can't we?

 

[slevit1md]

Two of four chargers ICED in Duluth, MN last Thursday evening. I mentioned it to the Holiday Inn front desk and they seemed concerned and said they would take care of it. Still there after a range charge, sooooo....
View attachment 97548

Looking at that pic is kind of infuriating for me. It's blatantly obvious that those spots are for Tesla parking. Those two cars are asking to get keyed...deeply. Not that I'd ever do that, but just saying, it might happen. They may also lose valve stems.

If there were a way to plug in and block those vehicles (appears you could), that would absolutely be happening.