I have been really enjoying camping in the MY recently with the TesCamp. The only thing that makes it better is finding a destination charger along my long roadtrips. Work pays stipend for lodging and transportation, no receipt or reporting. So, when I find a hotel’s destination charger not being used I calmy pull up, setup bed, fluff my pillows and get a nice 8hour sleep and wakeup with a full charge. Have yet to have any trouble with this but I know my luck is sure to run out one day and i’ll be caught crawling out of my back passenger door in my underwear at 3am using the excuse “I just followed the map to the nearest charger sir”. Does anyone have a similar story, or any advice from a fellow pennypinching road warrior?
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Trouble sleeping at “private” destination chargers?
- Thread starter whipatessy
- Start date
charlesoris
2022 MYLR Red/White, 19", OD:12/13/21
How would you feel if someone parked their car in your driveway, and connected their car to your wall charger without your consent?
Fellow car-camping road warrior, here:
I think it’s fine to do this at public chargers, but not at private businesses like hotels where the chargers are to support their customers.
I think it’s fine to do this at public chargers, but not at private businesses like hotels where the chargers are to support their customers.
Dude, either pay $150 for the room like the rest of us or use a Supercharger.
Free electrons are great, but what you’re doing is stealing something that does not belong to you, and is provided as an amenity for paying hotel guests. This is no different than if you snuck into the hotel lobby in the morning and helped yourself to a coffee, hit the omelette station, used the bathroom and walked out with a copy of USA Today.
You’re also risking your job if your employer finds out you were arrested in a hotel parking lot for stealing electricity - or just lying about how you used your expense account. But mostly, you’re just giving the rest of us EV owners a bad name.
Free electrons are great, but what you’re doing is stealing something that does not belong to you, and is provided as an amenity for paying hotel guests. This is no different than if you snuck into the hotel lobby in the morning and helped yourself to a coffee, hit the omelette station, used the bathroom and walked out with a copy of USA Today.
You’re also risking your job if your employer finds out you were arrested in a hotel parking lot for stealing electricity - or just lying about how you used your expense account. But mostly, you’re just giving the rest of us EV owners a bad name.
I haven’t considered hitting the omelette station in the morning. Good looks mate!
bradtem
Robocar consultant
I'm with those critical of you, and not just because it's theft of the hotel's electricity and parking -- which it is, and I suspect they could call the police on you, though it's unlikely.
It's what you are doing to your fellow Tesla drivers. I very often arrive quite late at hotels on road trips, and unless you make sure there is still a different open charger for the full night you are there, you might be ruining the day of an actual guest.
You have to ask, "what if everybody did this?" If a lot of people did, hotels would then need to add a bunch of expensive bureaucracy to stop it, which is a hassle for the legitimate guests and the hotel.
So stop it. I don't care if you do this at paying chargers along streets and in parking lots. But on private property?
It's what you are doing to your fellow Tesla drivers. I very often arrive quite late at hotels on road trips, and unless you make sure there is still a different open charger for the full night you are there, you might be ruining the day of an actual guest.
You have to ask, "what if everybody did this?" If a lot of people did, hotels would then need to add a bunch of expensive bureaucracy to stop it, which is a hassle for the legitimate guests and the hotel.
So stop it. I don't care if you do this at paying chargers along streets and in parking lots. But on private property?
Operator64
Member
At hotel / motels that’s a service provided for a fee ( room rental) therefore theft of service is one charge that could be used, trespassing , your car can be towed immediately by any private property owner because you are not a patron.
You are getting the money from your employer, if you want cheap, rent a camp spot for $10-$20 a night don’t make the rest of EV owners look bad for your inability to to make ethical decisions.
You are getting the money from your employer, if you want cheap, rent a camp spot for $10-$20 a night don’t make the rest of EV owners look bad for your inability to to make ethical decisions.
This has actually recently happened to me. I check in to an otherwise ordinary Marriott in a small town, and find a J-1772 charger in the parking lot. Charger has an alarm-type keypad on it, and a big sign directing you to the front desk for the code. So I ask for the code (after checking in as a paying guest).
Desk clerk said that they had to install the keypad “after a guy who lives up the hill” kept plugging his car in.
Here’s the punch line to it all: the keypad doesn’t work at all. They just installed it as a deterrent to people like the OP (and the guy up the hill).
bradtem
Robocar consultant
Cute, and would deter the OP. I figure the guy up the hill would figure out there was no code after a while. You lurk until you see somebody parking to charge and after they come back out say "when will you be done? I want to charge after you. Oh yeah, what's the code?"
But at some point hotels would buy chargers that really have the code. I have been to hotels where the clerk has to turn it on. (These are most likely hotels that see rare use and just leave it off to avoid theft and just throw the breaker when a guest asks.)
The bad news is that now that plug and charge is defined and more and more cars are supporting it, EVSEs will support it and that will lead to the eventual end of free charging in most places. Things like volta might still exist, though I don't find it very useful -- at 3kw you pick up maybe 75 cents of electricity during a one hour parking stop, not a big incentive unless it's the most convenient spot. (I also find most volta stations are filled with employees who are ignoring the 2 hour rule.)
Yeah, this is a douche move. If I paid to stay at the hotel, went to plugin and say you sleeping in your car, I'd alert the hotel. It's not cool. Company pays the bill...at least go rent a spot in an RV park or something.
AMPd
Well-Known Member
And the hotel.
All that nonsense over a few bucks worth of electricity?
Can’t tell if OP is serious or if he’s just having a giggle
bradtem
Robocar consultant
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