How to best deal with charging spot parkers?

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Joined
Oct 22, 2016
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There is a charging spot near me that is often parked in by EVs all day. Yesterday a Volt parked at ~8:40am and I received a notification from ChargePoint that the spot was open 6:04pm. Today a Prius Prime jumped into the spot around ~7:30am and is still parked there now as of 11:14am. Charge time for a Prime is 2 hours, 10 minutes on a Level 2 station. So even if their battery was completely empty they would have reached a full charge by 10:00am.

What is the best way to deal with these parkers and inform them that the charge spot is not a parking spot, and once you're charged, move so that someone else can charge?
 
Jeremy1026 said:
There is a charging spot near me that is often parked in by EVs all day. Yesterday a Volt parked at ~8:40am and I received a notification from ChargePoint that the spot was open 6:04pm. Today a Prius Prime jumped into the spot around ~7:30am and is still parked there now as of 11:14am. Charge time for a Prime is 2 hours, 10 minutes on a Level 2 station. So even if their battery was completely empty they would have reached a full charge by 10:00am.

What is the best way to deal with these parkers and inform them that the charge spot is not a parking spot, and once you're charged, move so that someone else can charge?
Leave them a note on the window.

Is it free? If it is a pay spot, they are paying even when it isn't charging.
 
Its a free spot. So there is no benefit to them to walk outside in the cold to move their car.
 
1) Leave a Nice Note
2) Leave a less nice note

3) Leave a note telling them to 'find the dent' you left on the car (Which you didn't leave) :)
 
Unless there is signage that says otherwise, unfortunately there is nothing you can do about charging spot hoggers other than asking nicely.

I've seen some charging locations with state-approved signage that limits the time you can park there, and only for the specific purpose of charging. But others simply say "Parking only for electric vehicles." And others have no signage at all.
 
Jeremy1026 said:
Its a free spot. So there is no benefit to them to walk outside in the cold to move their car.

This is the reason why free charging does not work long term. Just look what Tesla is having to do now after their promise of "Free charging for life." They are now having to charge a fee if you leave your car for too long once it's done charging and for cars sold after Jan 15th they are only including 400 kWH of free Supercharging every year.

For free public charging to work, you have to do the same thing; limit how much free electricity you get, and then charge a lot of money for overstaying your welcome.

A few idiots ruin it for everybody else.
 
I've left notes before saying "Even a dick knows to pull out when finished, you're worse than a dick. This is a fill-up station, not a parking spot, please move immediately when finished filling up with electrons."

But the real solution is not to rely on mooching free electrons. Provide your own EVSE and own filling station for electrons, at your domicile or home, and don't deal with the monkey business of looking for and mooching free electrons. It's not a sustainable filling up model for anyone with a regular BEV, exception being a Tesla.
 
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