Supercharger - Laval, QC

[sakimano]

this whole 'oh no iceing' thing needs to end. I've never ever seen a regular car parked in a tesla supercharger spot.

I have only heard a few people talk about having it happen.

Of the thousands of supercharger spots and the hundreds of thousands of hours those supercharger spots were open, if it has happened a few times where 1 or heavens 2 cars park there illegally, it's not worth worrying or getting upset about. Especially not when there are 20 or 22 stalls at these new locations. People are largely decent. Quit worrying about the 1 or 2 dickheads.

Do people block off handicap spots with regularity? Do people block up the marked 'valet parking only' spots with regularity at malls like Yorkdale or Sherway? Nope. It's not that big of a deal.

 

[wayner]

I think this is a valid concern. You haven't seen it currently but so far the SCs in Canada have been in a partially leased strip-mall (Barrie), in a hotel parking lot away from the main entrance (Woodstock, Grimsby), etc. Now we have SCs being built in some of the busiest malls in the country. In these locations ICEing will be an issue. I think people will try to not use those spots but when they can't find anything else they will say F it - I am parking here. I try to do all of my shopping online these days but one of the reasons that I hated doing Christmas shopping is that it was very hard to find parking at the better malls.

 

[Doug_G]

That’s something of an over-generalization. I’ve been at a Supercharger in a busy parking lot in NY state that had multiple icings while I was there. I got a spot but saw someone else waiting afterwards.

I have seen icing in Kingston but not bad enough to be a problem.

It is a legitimate concern.

 

[SmartElectric]

ICEing is real.
On our very first road trip in 2015, we encountered it at Newburgh.
Two monster truck (lift kits and massive wheels) pickups were barely able to squeeze into two of the 8 stalls. I didn't post a picture of it on my trip report, but do remember it well.
Toronto to New York city - trip planning

In the thread for that supercharger, it is well known as a site where people park in supercharger spots.
Supercharger - Newburgh, NY

My point : If the charging spots are near an attraction and convenient for shoppers, they will absolutely block those spots.

 

[MarcoRP]

In some US shopping centres, there are 15 minute parking signs in SuC stalls for gas vehicles. Like they're ever respected...

 

[mrElbe]

Woodstock, ON used to be constantly ICEd by yuppie Fitness Center people too lazy to walk a few meters from a regular parking spot. When prominent No Parking signs were placed there, the ICEing stopped.

 

[sakimano]

Woodstock, ON used to be constantly ICEd by yuppie Fitness Center people too lazy to walk a few meters from a regular parking spot. When prominent No Parking signs were placed there, the ICEing stopped.

So a simple sign stoped the problem eh?
From a terrible situation to no problem at all with a sign.

 

[sakimano]

That’s something of an over-generalization. I’ve been at a Supercharger in a busy parking lot in NY state that had multiple icings while I was there. I got a spot but saw someone else waiting afterwards.

I have seen icing in Kingston but not bad enough to be a problem.

It is a legitimate concern.

I'm not saying it never happens but I dispute that's its much of a concern (my opinion... We can all have them) .

How many times have you Supercharged your car?
How many spots have been blocked by petrol cars?

You just mentioned what 3 or 4 spots blocked in all the times you've Supercharged?

Ive had my car a year so maybe today they sign the spots better than they did 2 years ago, reducing the problem.

My experience in 20,000 kms of driving, about 10,000 of which were long road trips with supercharger stops, has been that
A) I've never seen a petrol car in a supercharger spot
B) the only times I've had to wait to charge were in Toronto Lawrence
C) the only improperly parked cars I've seen hogging spots that they didn't need were fully charged teslas at Lawrence

I would say I've been to 20 different superchargers in that time, and have had about 40 stops at those superchargers. On average there were 7 spots at each one (between 6 and 8 although place very had 12) . Thats 280 spot sightings and zero petrol cars

Again I know I'm new at this relative to some but if you've Supercharged as much as me (or maybe more? ) you're talking about 3 or 4 spots blocked out of 280. 1% of the time isn't much of an issue especially when you've never been blocked out (my experience is also that these superchargers are all but empty 90% of the time with an average of 1 out of 6 or 8 spots being used...other than Toronto always busy and Kingston which is hit or miss but I've seen 4 of 6 used there)

As the understanding of the electric cars grows I think this is going to be way less of an issue, not more.

Just my opinion, which I'm backing up with facts, numbers and experience to give context. Would be interesting to hear other people's 'stats'.

 

[Doug_G]

It really depends on the location. Some are much worse than others.

 

[Drone Flyer]

So a simple sign stoped the problem eh?
From a terrible situation to no problem at all with a sign.

What a sign of relief!

 

[JSergeant]

I think this is a valid concern. You haven't seen it currently but so far the SCs in Canada have been in a partially leased strip-mall (Barrie), in a hotel parking lot away from the main entrance (Woodstock, Grimsby), etc. Now we have SCs being built in some of the busiest malls in the country. In these locations ICEing will be an issue. I think people will try to not use those spots but when they can't find anything else they will say F it - I am parking here. I try to do all of my shopping online these days but one of the reasons that I hated doing Christmas shopping is that it was very hard to find parking at the better malls.

I've used Superchargers at over 400 different locations in the US and Canada and I have never once seen a problem with ICEing. I have been to Superchargers where I had to wait to charge, but they are few and far and mainly in California:

- once at Barstow back when there were only 4 stalls, we had to wait 10 minutes for an open one
- recently in California we had to wait at Mountain View, San Mateo and Dublin, but I think that was mainly because locals use them for charging - we only waited because I'm on a quest to visit all of them. They've opened another 10 stall location in San Mateo since we were there in October. We didn't actually have to wait at San Diego, but there were a few other cars waiting after us - that is an area with a lot of Tesla's and only one 12 stall location to serve them.
- I remember Toronto being very busy because it's at a Service Center and Tesla seemed to be using a lot of the spots.
- I've charged at Kingston several times and never seen any ICEing. They seem to put cones to block off the SpC's and that seems to work.
- I've occasionally seen Paramus, NJ full, but that's been when Tesla has held an event there.

Otherwise in most places you're lucky to see one other Tesla and I only remember a handful of times where an ICE was occupying a charging space. I can imagine around the holidays there might be an issue at malls. I never use any local (NJ) SpC's since I charge at home.

 

[Doug_G]

See this recent post: Ok, what should I do about this?

 

[sakimano]

See this recent post: Ok, what should I do about this?

Sure.
See the one right above yours?

That image is not evidence of a serious concern. That image is evidence that this happens. Which is what everyone agrees on including myself. Where we seem to disagree is on how serious the problem is.

Testimonials from yourself, the searge and I however are evidence that it's not a big deal. Which is my contention.

Worrying about an incredibly rare problem is not worthy of thr fear and loathing the 'iceing' issue attracts. But again, would love to hear other people's experiences in the context of their entire supercharging use, just as the three of us have shared (and this ICEing epidemic is in fact so far only a fraction of one percent of the three individuals who shared overall context and it has inconvenienced none of the 3 of us as there were always other stalls open).

Even that photo of the truck. He's blocking 4 stalls, an aggregious example of the terrors of ICEing no doubt. Meanwhike there are open stalls behind him. So we can sit and moan about it...or we can park in the empty supercharger stalls and charge our car.

 

[SluyterCapital]

This icing happened in March 2017 in Wytheville. This was at a Holiday Inn. It was an easy mistake because the signage is small and not clear to a tired and weary traveler who may have pulled in later at night and not even noticed. Tesla needs to MAKE SIGNAGE MORE CLEAR. Property owners that are hosting Superchargers need to monitor and police the sites and enforce compliance. This will separate the icing that is an innocent mistake from the ICE-holes.

 

[Dakkor]

I think this is also a "what are the odds that 8 tesla come to charge while i'm parked in double with my trailer" mentality.

 

[rypalmer]

I've Supercharged at about 30 unique sites total. None were ICEd enough to prevent charging. Not even remotely an issue, IMO. Drivers tend to respect signage. The same cannot be said for public Level 2 stations.

 

[Drone Flyer]

I would worry a potty in this location would get supercharged...

Holy Crap !

 

[SluyterCapital]

Sure.
Testimonials from yourself, the searge and I however are evidence that it's not a big deal. Which is my contention.
Worrying about an incredibly rare problem is not worthy of thr fear and loathing the 'iceing' issue attracts.

Agreed it’s not a big deal and it’s not a worry. This is a process. Identifying a problem and making changes to existing and future infrastructure to reduce future incidents is the process. We as owners and users of the infrastructure have an opportunity to speak up. We identify the location, time and provide images of the improper use of the chargers and spots.

In my case, I believe the offender was not intending to disrupt. In the end they took up 6 of the 8 spots. It would have been an issue if it was a larger truck and trailer taking up all the spots. I was near empty and travelling back to Canada from Florida. It does raise concern and should not be taken lightly. To believe “well it was only 6 of the 8 and you could still charge” is ignoring the issue. The issue is it may be 8 of 8 next time. What can be done to mitigate this?

 

[SluyterCapital]

I have read several opinions that it was never a problem or never bad enough to be a problem. ICEing is a problem. Period. Imagine the opposite: you drive an ICE and are travelling a very long distance. You arrive in town that has only one gas station. You drive up to that gas station with the low gas indicator warning you that you are low on gas. You drive into the only station to find 6 of the 8 pumps blocked by EV’s. Do you not see that as a problem? I do.

Signage is lacking in size and visibility. Period.

 

[guillaumef]

But there are no "no parking" in front of gas pumps. You never see someone abusing those spaces, it is common sense...