Leaf it alone! Should you unplug someone’s EV if they're not charging?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ย. 2024
- Did I do a bad thing? I unplugged another car. I came back after a few minutes and the owner of that car looked like he wanted to punch me.
So should you unplug another EV if they’re not charging or leave their car alone?
Here’s the story of what happened to me and why I’ve changed my mind.
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Hi Andrew, there’s two things here. 1. Yes you did the right thing, as you know having had an eNiro the charge port can be set to auto so that when your EV stops charging the plug can be removed without unlocking the car. This is so that others can start to use the charger. 2. It does however highlight how Ridiculous it is that in 2022 we still don’t have enough chargers. These charging hubs like Braintree and Birmingham should be going up everywhere. The building of 1 charger here and 2 there is just playing with the future electrification.
The situation ought to be much better in another 2 to 3 years, with Gridserve now pressing on with their plans. Gridserve's Norwich and Gatwick Airport sites are underway. And UK company Connected Kerb are set to install a further 30,000 public charging connections this year alone.... Other companies - large and small - are doing their bit too. In my neck of the woods, Charge My Street are installing charging in more rural parts of Cumbria and North Lancashire. They are also working with Carlisle City Council to install a number of chargers in the city centre, doubling the number already there..
@@Brian-om2hh Lincolnshire will have electricity soon. Allegedly. 🤯
@@Brian-om2hh Interesting to pick this up 11 months later. According to The Guardian a record 8,700 public chargers were installed in 2022, so a long way short of the target.
Two words would fix this… Idle Fees
He showed them in the video. Pretty low though, 1 GBP for 10 minutes. By me, Tesla's is 1 USD/minute.
Had you had Flaviana with you, just one cold stare from her / a few choice words and the 'tough' guy would have ran for the hills. 😉
On a serious note, I would have: 1) Took a photo of the car not charging 2) Unplugged and left a note on their car stating 'Your car was not charging (check you last successful charge)'. Is there not an app / screen for your generation of Leaf that would indicate the last successful charging event? Did you really need to charge to get to your final destination?
Blah blah blah ALORA
I’ve returned to my car to find someone in the act of unplugging my car, a MG ZS EV. He explained that my car wasn’t charging and he needed to. I couldn’t fault him as my car probably had stopped charging. The MG EV ZS did have a problem with Polar/Pulse chargers where it would stop for no reason (haven’t used one in a while and it might be fixed).
Anyway, it was annoying for me but not unreasonable from him.
You are clearly a reasonable person who didn’t get all uppity seeing someone else hovering around your car. I think Andrew was right in the moment as if the other Leaf was still charging he wouldn’t have been able to pull the charging plug out. The argument around not touching someone else’s property is interesting but does it really apply? You can pull a charging plug out without touching their car, in fact it would be a courtesy to close the charging flap for them. Here in France I have used some 7.2 kw chargers that charge an occupancy fee, so when your charge has finished you are still paying until you unplug your car. In that case someone unplugging you would be doing you a favour.
Starting the video with a black eye filter would have been hilarious 🤣 but good discussion! As EVs are becoming more popular, these sorts of issues are sure to arise. We have plenty where I live…but the only bad etiquette I’ve seen here is EVs using electric bays but not charging as its a short stop and not worth getting the cable out etc. ICE cars get fixed penalty fine so it’s good that they are being monitored.
I'm completely on your side here....there's never an excuse to be taking up a charging spot if you're not actively charging
In my neck of the woods (Lake District) if an EV remains connected to some chargers after the charge is complete, a penalty fee is added to the cost of the charge. I think I saw something like £5 for every 15 minute interval you block the charger.... And quite right too. We can't be having this sort of thing once there are even more EV's around. Just imagine if you wandered off and left your car parked on a petrol pump somewhere? You'd have a mob round you car when you got back to it.....with someone wanting a quiet word in your ear......or worse.
@@Brian-om2hh do we actually know the charge was ‘complete’ and the guy knowingly left it there? I don’t think so.
I have unplugged EVs that are blocking a charge spot at 90%. There’s only one dc charger in my county and my car could add 150 miles in the time it takes them to add the last 30. I show absolutely no mercy to hybrids that use level 2 chargers just for the better parking spots.
I think you did the right thing. If he sees leaf app he knows it’s not charging he should get back if it’s a problem. People can’t just occupy the space without active charging. You did the right thing if you waited 5-min and guessing you took longer time since you had time taking pictures and record some stuff.
If it was a Leaf in the base trim (Visia) it doesn't have app functionality
The Leaf app doesn't activity notify you of a ceased charge, by whatever cause, so there is no alert. He would have to walk around with the app open AND press refresh every minute - not going to happen! 😉
BTW don't put the ponies on councils to provide charging. Do they run petrol stations, no! Chinchilla don't get enough funding for the stuff they're legally meant to do never mind the nice to have stuff.
I'm an EV owner. Councils should encourage providers to put in chargers.
Perhaps the other driver was a journalist trying out EVs and the infrastructure to see if it will cope. Expect a headline article soon reading, “I tried to charge the 2nd hand leaf and some self-rightious so and so unplugged me. I’ve now had to sit on a slow charge with a 3 pin plug for 3 days to get home!” Accompanied by “EVs don’t work!”
Removing a charging cable is not touching someone else’s car.
Did you miss the bit where he closed the charge flap? Isn't that part of the car? What if he'd broken it? Not worth it you never know if you're dealing with a nutter.
Agreed
Thank you for the video, which touches an interesting scene. I did that once in a 22 kW free charger that was often occupied by a PHEV for many hours, up to 7-8 hr, when the time limit was 2 hr. Quite fed up with this behavior, I unplugged it one day (it was obviously not charging anymore after many hours), charged mine for 1 hr or so, came back, and the car was still there, so I couldn't interact with the owner. The good thing is that the owner may have learned something out of it and, although I've seen this PHEV after this charging there sometimes, I’ve never seen it again doing it for longer than 2 hr.
Hes more likely upset as he cocked up and didnt charge properly and you are the easy one to blame rather than himself.
Or worse it has now dawned on him he has been sold a leaf with a dud battery
This was a no-win situation where, like most men, the guy was unhappy about a stranger interfering with his car despite the circumstances and your passive demeanour. I fear confrontations like this will become the norm as a rapidly growing number of EVs are sold but the charging infrastructure fails to keep up, which the UK media will report on with great enthusiasm.
Companies installing EV chargers need to install them in groups of 4 or more chargers.
Installing only one or two EV chargers at a site contributes to the problem.
And maintain them... i drove in Denmark once with my EV (I live in Sweden) I had to go trough 11 chargers until i found a public 22 kW charger i could use. Utter bullshit!
Chargers need to be programmed to incur a penalty charge once the charge has ceased, and if the car is still plugged in 5 minutes after the charge has ended. With some chargers in my local town, it's a £5 penalty for each 15 minutes you block the charger....and it is added to the cost of the charge.
I'd say yes, you're fine plugging in if his car was not charging!
I think what you did was fine, but I was quite nervous the one time I did the same. Fortunately I didn’t encounter the other driver. However, the many people commenting that you never touch someone else’s car as if it’s a sacred rule concern me. Seems like a worrying trend that so many people place more value on their possessions than they do on other people.
Well said. It's very toxic. It's just painted metal.
This is one of those EV problems that can quickly escalate into getting seriously injured in parts of America.
that because yanks are thick as shit.
Only discovered your channel recently so I am a bit behind and catching-up. Very interesting video. Bottom line, you never know how someone is going to react, and logic or etiquette might not play a part.
If it was the only charger and the car had finished charging, it only seems reasonable that you can unplug and use the charger. Problem is many people are not reasonable.
I think you did the right thing if it was not charging. And if this was the only charger he should not be there anymore using it like his own parking space and remove the car to another location so others can use the charger. He was being unreasonable not you.
Agree with you 100%- if you need a charge HE is at fault. If he was charging I wouldn't unplug. He needs to look in the mirror- shame on him
I feel for you Andrew. A fellow might be angry and ask "Why did you stop my charge?" and proceed to work through it with you. A fellow might not and just blame you and not discuss it. This is the risk that you took.
Even though the charge session had already stopped, it's not the point. The point is that people don't trust and often won't discuss.
To that end, the only solution is the Tesla approach (intended/coming) where you will be charged for time elapsed after charging stops. This needs to be implemented across the board, but that will take time - if it happens at all.
In 1990's California, EV drivers would put a paper on their dashboard with the time of day they expected to have sufficient charge to move on. This "OK to unplug time" was indicated by placing a paper clip on the appropriate hour on the side of the paper. Good practice if you want to avoid blocking someone who needs to use a scarce, or only, charging station in the area.
This is still the case with modern EVs. The culture over there is that it's okay to unplug a car that has finished charging since they use tethered Type 1 cables. You can buy a plastic hang tag to hang from the cable that says "OK to unplug at ____ %" on one side or "Please don't unplug, I need 100% to get to my destination" on the other side.
I worked in a place that had 3 or 4 chargers and they sent us an email that had a form with a clock on it. You put a paperclip on the hour when you would be done charging and left it on your dash.
In my country we are allowed to call police if there is someone not charging if this is not a parking spot but charging place.
All this is going to get worse as more people get EVs and the infrastructure remains woeful.
I am finding more and more charge point blockers around. They use the space as their own personal parking space and do not even activate the charger. I would love it if rapid chargers only charged 80% and had overstay charges.
A lot of chargers do have over stay penalties. I'd also like a charge to 80%.
Chargers need a History screen so that you can both look at to see what went on.
Some new cars have warnings at 80%. A higher rate over 80% could work and cameras to fine people for idling over a certain period without charging.
I can see Charger Blocking being a massive problem if a solution is not found, I am not just talking about ICE cars but have seen a few ev drivers who have parked, plugged & not initiated a charge thinking it's legitimate parking, Public chargers are a limited time consuming resource for everyone, if you're not charging you should vacate, once plugged in there should be a 5 min limit when charging ends and then overstay fees to deter any abuse or misuse.
You were 100% right! According to him, he can leave his car plugged, go on holidays for 2 weeks and after that he should come back and the car should be plugged in like nothing happen! If not he will say "not cool". You should have called the service Charger provider and make a complaint about him! Say that he keeps a plug busy without charging and when people come to charge he gets pissed off!
Andrew...I love your videos because they typically represent real life use cases for ev owners.
Yes,you are 100% right! Even the app says it wasnt charging at all.
You did exactly the right thing. Nasty person who should apologize for his behavior.
I think that's perfectly fine. Like you say, if the car disconnects, its obviously not charging. I've done this and had it done to me several times with no complaints from either party. Sound like he was having a bad day.
As the other Leaf was driven away, it didn't need a charge - so either the charge had finished, or the person was 'cheating' and using the parking space with no intention of charging.
I had a similar experience a couple of years ago at Watford Gap. It was torrential rain and only two of the chargers were working. ( good old ecotricity) One was charging and one not. There were four cars waiting to charge.
The car that was charging finished after 15 mins and the next person started charging.
After 45 mins wait, we decided to unplug the car that wasn’t charging.
15 mins into our charge, the lady came out of the services and started ranting that you shouldn’t touch peoples cars. (Out of courtesy I closed the flap for them too).
Everyone else waiting to charge said we did the right thing.
A creature of habit with a hybrid blocked a charging station without charging on a daily basis. I took his charging cable and brought it in to the police as a found object. It stopped.
Well done, mate.
Absolutely !!!! You did the right actions
Until there’s universal adoption of Need To Charge this quandary will continue for the foreseeable future.
Operators should also look at much tighter overstay penalties on high use chargers.
I'll do another video about Need to Charge as I've not signed up for it myself yet.
Agreed, I use Need To Charge and have the QR code on my car so that someone can tell me they need to charge. I also have my mobile number on the charging flap (put that on before I found out about Need To Charge), so I'm easy to get hold of when there's a need. If only more people used it!
Really difficult (I'm not an EV driver although I will have one some day). My gut reaction is I wouldn't have done it. If it had been my car I might have been a bit miffed although I like to see myself as a reasonable person so I would have listened to your explanation and I'm sure we would have parted on good terms. More generally I think we are in a difficult interim period. In the early days there was a spirit of camaraderie amongst EV drivers - a band of early adopters/pioneers. This is rapidly changing as EVs become much more mainstream and it is certainly the case from what I've seen that the number of chargers is lagging behind the number of new EV owners.
There is another EV channel - can't remember his name and he talks about charger anxiety being the real issue rather than range. I think he's spot on. The reason I bought a hybrid last year was solely down to charger anxiety. The charger network needs inbuilt redundancy so there are always empty chargers at any given location. Hopefully then issues like this will fade. I am really enjoying your channel Andrew. Great stuff.
Yes, you did the right thing. People are selfish if they are occupying a charger and they aren't charging. Even if they are charging and they're above 90%, I think it's fair to unplug them.
Every now and then one comes across angry people no matter what. You were right from your point of view and the other driver was right from their. If the car was not charging I would do the same thing. On the flip side though if the other driver thought his car was charging I can see their point too. We just need more chargers. I am surprised that there is only one rapid charger in Canterbury. I live in Doncaster and there are more than enough in the town. They are almost always available.
If an ev is taking up a spot and isn’t charging then you have every right to unplug it and start charging yourself. My town in Ontario, Canada has ONE L2 EVSE and I use it once a week since I live in an apartment with no EVSEs at all ( that is the CORRECT term for ev chargers) and this one lady has a model 3 that hogs it all day long while she works at a bank. The evse is a sun country model that is free to use and has an Indicator when an ev is fully charged.
Yes I have unplugged her many times and rightfully so. Left comments on PlugShare as well. Only once I talked to her husband ( who ironically is a electrician) and he said that she cannot just simply leave her job and move when it is done which is understandable but still they live three blocks away, in their own house, and they figure they can do without a EVSE because this free one is so close.
Talking to mayor and township about the issue soon.
I'm seeing more and more EV owners plugging the charger into the car and not activating, where I live there are two rapid chargers near a KFC and I went into the charger to charge, the EV in the other bay got out and plugged his car in - when I got back to my car he still wasn't charging he just wanted somewhere to eat his KFC and felt socially awkward enough about it he had to go through the motions to pretend to charge when I was there.
You may say it's fine as long as nobody needs the spot but people like me drive past chargers and check to see if they are free before pulling in, if not I go straight to another one.
Etiquette should be
1 - Only park in a EV bay when you intend to charge
2 - Make sure your car IS charging before you leave the bay, that includes checking the app isn't just giving you the 5 minute grace like some PodPoint chargers do
3 - Make sure you return to your car to move it as soon as the charging is complete.
Some people are treating it like a free blue badge given how close they are to the shops and amenities usually.
I was recently accidentally on the other side of this argument. I stopped briefly in a Devon town car park and as there was a Geniepoint charger I thought I'd do quick top-up to 100% as I had a long journey the next day. Our little bit of shopping turned into a few bagfuls and we went for a coffee and a snack afterwards, losing track of time. When I got back to the car someone had been patiently waiting so I apologised profusely and moved my car immediately. The other driver was absolutely fine about it but I got my just deserts as I had a £10 penalty for over-staying at the charger. The moral of this story is that you should have waited until the other driver returned or gone to another charger.
Just asked my wife about this dilemma. Her reply was succinct and emphatic - you don't touch other people's property.
As I read it, he should have unplugged, so he could charge and he would have saved you a penalty as well. What element of your story points to the idea that Andrew should have waited?
@@howieb2001 charger can be unplugged without touching the car.
@@petecousins6364 Perhaps interfering would have been a better word although in this case Mr EV did say he closed the charging port cover on the other car.
Obviously you did the right thing. If he's plugged in and not charging then it's fine to unplug (close their charge port cover!) and charge your own car.
Interesting scenario. I generally would say it's absolutely fine to do this however slim though it is; How about in the situation where he plugs in his car and starts charging, pops into the shop and subsequently discovers that for a myriad of reasons the charge has stopped, goes out to the car with the intention to restart it to discover in that short time somebody has 'stolen' the cable and are now charging their own car! Meaning he now has to wait 30 minutes or so before he can charge again, he might also think that the reason it stopped charging in the first instance was that the emergency stop button was pressed...
But daz that’s too unlikely a scenario to govern the way you treat things with a non charging car.
Well if he had bothered to let Andrew speak he would have known the situation wouldn't he?
@@constructioneerful Indeed, hence use of the word slim above! I think generally its acceptable to do as Andrew did in this situation!
@@richardhaywoodh In my opinion, he made an incorrect assumption that he had been intentionally disconnected and was consumed with range
If emergency stop allows you to unplug a car then it is not cool to unplug a car. Imagine the chaos if you could never leave your car without someone taking your charge point.
No, if you need a charge, plug in. I went to use a rapid there was a leaf plugged in but not charging. The chademo unlocks if finished charging. Simple.
It is absolutely mandatory that chargers are not blocked by non-charging vehicles if electric transportation is to succeed. And when you do remove the plug you should definitely close the socket so it can't be tampered with by others or rain getting into the socket. 😊
Not just something for the council to sort out if each supermarket invested in a few
Never had that problem here in Norway. I do drive a Tesla, which helps. Never been in that situation even if out in the neck of the woods. I charge a lot at third party chargers but they always have redundancy at their sites. So even if a CCS charger is down I can opt for Type 2 OR go to another charger. The one charger setup I’ve only experienced in the UK ( drove my EV there!). But mainly used Instavolt with at least two CCS/Chademo setup ( typical Tritium chargers) With future roll out like we have here, I think this will be a problem of the past. Keep up the good work Andrew! Long time subscriber here!
I reckon he is pissed off he cocked up starting the charger.
Really the number of public chargers is not keeping up with demand.
Personally I feel that you should have to move your car at a fast charger if it's not charging and the punishment being that someone unplugged your car seems pretty light. You should be at your car before it's done charging to ensure no one touches it if it's that big of an issue to you.
Yes. If not charging then then they are parking which we should have a term similar to being ICED.
Mrs EV would have given them what for when they came back if she were there!
He was just having a bad day and needed someone to take it out on.
I believe that you were right. If someone's car is not charging, it should not be left ocupying a charger. You helped him becoming a more considerate citizen, even if he does not recognize it. He was the one at fault, not you.
The bigger question should be is it ok to block a public charger after your charge has finished. The answer is obviously no, hence why charging systems work that way.
This is equivalent to someone using the gas pump to take their lunch break in the shade with their 20 ft trailer blocking pump behind
A conversation is everything!
If one person doesn't want to discuss something with another then you got to feel sorry for the one that doesn't want to talk.
I feel there should be a way through the charging company to call/notify/text the owner before you unplug another persons car.
That's a good idea.
You should also be able to send a ping to someone if their car is over 80% and ask if you can charge. Too many times I’ve ran into people who fast charge during errands and leave their car charging an extra hour for that last 20% even though they don’t need it and would probably be fine with some else plugging in.
Always a difficult one but there was an article in our local paper where they asked the police for some advice. As far as they were concerned as long as the vehicle is finished charging then its okay to unplug.
To hit the emergency stop is just petty.
We had a guy on an Outlander PHEV near us who'd plug in, leave it, and stand over the other side of the car park waiting for someone to unplug it just to get the altercation. Then once he'd spouted his crap he'd wait for you to leave and hit the stop. He did this to a lot of people until everyone new him and what was going to happen. It only stopped when he picked on a bloke who didn't take kindly to his attitude and put him on his arse.
Lmao I would have unpluged his stupid hybrid every time just to inconvenience him. I can not stand the fact that California has hundreds of public L2 chargers just for Volts and hybrids to clog them up for a better parking spot.
On another point, I wear the same jumper for several days and I'm not even videoing myself.
I feel much better about that!
No question in my mind. If the thing wasn't charging (which I assume he could see in his app), then it's available. Some people need to grow up.
It was his excuse to park there. He knew it wasn’t charging.
There’s no benefir in just parking there in a supermarket car park away from the entrance.
You were completely in the right, and the guy should have just listened to you, I would certainly do the same .
Where was Flaviana? She would've put that SILLY man in his place!!
Unplug it. It’s not charging. The problem is that he’s probably used the emergancy stop button in the past for himself, so he just assumed you had done the same. It’s not cool for people to be parked in charging bays and not charging!! You did the right thing
The charger was not in use even whilst "holstered" inside another vehicle. The charger is for CHARGING. If you're not actively charging then you can't get mad bc the plug is not sitting in your vehicle like you thought it would be. If it was done in error then you can have a conversation about what is going on.
I'm glad I'm not an EV early adopter. We have lots of road rage as it is.
There probably needs to be some legislation in such situations.
I think its fine tbh. The guy was probably just angry at himself for not checking it was charging properly. Sadly some people are just unreasonable
You did the right thing. The other car wasn’t charging. He did wrong in pressing the emergency stop. That was bang out of order.
Chademo plugs are designed so that the charger controls the lock so that it can be unplugged when it’s finished for use on another car.
I love Chad!
I have done this in the past, when there was a single charger at a services and vehicle had very obviously stopped charging. There are currently 3 rapid chargers in Port talbot, 1 geniepoint in morrisons and 2 at McDonald's though the car park is very small so often iced. I think you did the correct thing, it's a shame that your rapid would not be available once store closes and locks access to car park.
If my car has already been charged and someone else needs to charge, I don't see anything wrong with that person disconnecting my car and connecting theirs, it wouldn't bother me, because I could have gotten lost and I could be doing things and not being able to go disconnect my car, no problem, you disconnect it and charge your car, it seems correct to me.
What would Flaviana think of this? I guess she doesn't think the same...
Unplug him. He could have been hours. I am happy for some one to unplug my car if it stopped charging.
You are a good man with a conscience.
Hi Andrew, You waited for 5mins, he was not charging , as you say you cannot unplug whilst the car is charging. He should not have hit the red stop button. Sounds like he had issues. I've found that most EV drivers are polite, he could have at least engaged politely with you. I have a niro and it is set up not to release, I do use the app and get back quickly if charging has finished or stopped as notified by the app. Totally, agree that there needs to be more rapid chargers in well lit areas, ban hybrids from using, just for EV's.
I would not mind if a considerate person like you unplugged my car 🙂. I do not think you did wrong but I also kind of agree with your afterthoughts. Here is another one: He might have believed you continued charging on his bill. The charging system (at least in my Country) is not yet well harmonized and billing procedure is rather intransparent. So initially, I took special care to end my charging myself, following the specified procedure exactly, which usually involved waiving my RFID card a second time and waiting until the charger declared itself available. Today, I'm not that worried any more and trust that unplugging immediately stops billing.
The problem of blocking a charger without actually charging has become more acute over time. I, too, would feel bad making someone wait unnecessarily. On the other hand do I value the possibility of doing shopping or eating while charging.
Thanks for sharing your experience. It's a pleasure watching your Videos.
All that hassle for 6 minutes of electricity 🤦
I plugged in again after he'd gone and stayed for another 30-something-minutes!
You were absolutely right unplugging the other car. You waited for 5 min and that's it. I would do the same...don't care what the reasons of the other person are. One doesn't go to petrol station and leaves the fuel pump dry and blocking other people from refuelling....
That is totally different lol 🤣
Having been a petrol tanker driver for many years I have had time to study people on forecourt’s and you’d be surprised by how many people park on the pumps and just go in the shop and do shopping for 30 minutes or so.
Exactly! Post up in front of a petro/gas station longer than time to fill up and pay, you’re getting towed (and rude AF) and that is how EV charging should be looked at, as well 🫶
It's his own fault. Seen it many times. People that leave the car before making sure that it's started charging. If the car is not charging (battery full or not started) I will take the plug. There is no chance that I would ever just leave it there and waiting for the owner if I'm desperate for a charge. It could be hours! I would most likely stay with the car though. So in this case I would do my 5 min shopping and then take the plug afterwards and hang around. If the owner came back, I would gladly give them back the plug.
That guy acting like that just makes him seem like a big baby that blames everyone else for their own faults.
This post is timely as I unplugged a car here in Italy that had finished charging just last night at the free charging point in the town square. Clearly the owner was ok with it as my car didn't have a message on it or anything. I think you did the right thing and you were polite about it anyway, you just had bad luck meeting Canterbury's leaf driving version of Vinnie Jones! I certainly wouldn't mind someone detaching my cable from the charger. Good job it didn't happen to Flaviana, my Italian wife wouldn't have been happy either 😅
Hi, firstly I am sorry this incident spoilt your day and obviously upset you, the saying you cant please all of the people all of the time comes to mind. Most people, myself included would want you to unplug their vehicle if the charge was finished. So the other guy probably thought you had stopped his charge, it is sometimes hard to do, but he should have taken a deep breath and asked what was going on, he should also learn how to use the Leaf app. The fault here is with him, not you. Hopefully, when he has calmed down he will know this.
Tricky one. He clearly did not behave reasonably. But just imagine he really needed a quick charge, thought all was well and then returned to see he had been unplugged. He would have thought the worst, that you had ‘stolen’ the charger and gone off for a 45-minute coffee. You can see how he might then over-react…
No excuse to not even want to listen to an explanation though.
But if he really needed a charge, why did he drive off?
@@petecousins6364 Agreed, Pete. Clearly Andrew was unlucky in coming across an unreasonable guy. And he’s spot on that developing the charging network is the key issue. I was just trying to state that, in principle, I would not unhook somebody else’s car unless it was an emergency, in which case I’d stay with the car to explain if they came back. Each to his own! 👍
Agree with pretty much everyone here: it wasn’t charging, so the only person that needs to piss off is that guy.
Definitely OK. There is a feature/button to unlock the cable in the niro to allow this when charging is completed.
Yes, it's also enabled by standard in the Hyundai IONIQ 5.
I can just imagine Mr Bean installing a fake cable in his yellow mini to get free parking. So yes, I think you were correct, but perhaps the EV companies should have an indicator light saying 'free to use' which would eliminate some of the fiticuffs.
Andrew, you did the right thing in the circumstances. How long would people expect you to wait for him to return to the only rapid charger in town? Also, good practice to video record the whole process to settle any disputes.
You live you learn,best not to get in the situation again 😬
Yes, but Andrew was in the right.
I agree with Anthony C Brown. Unplug the fully charged car, plug in your car and leaf a note explaining your actions. Suppose a gas car had the pump inside the fill neck and the pump shut off because it was full. And there was only one pump. Same thing.
A bit off kilter but recently saw the middle bay of three EV charging bays, being ICEd by a 7 series BMW, front bumper against the charging post. I presume the driver couldn’t see further than his self entitlement. This was when I was going into the store. On the way out, the same car was there, only now it had the bonnet raised. I wondered what was happening, so hung around for a few minutes more and a breakdown van pulls up.
After a bit of fiddling under the bonnet, the immortal words were uttered, “You’ve got a flat battery.” The rescue guy says he’d jump start the car but will have to wait for either of the EVs to move, as his cables won’t reach around two cars. Fifteen minutes go by, (I wasn’t in a hurry and parking is free there for a few stores) and one of the EV drivers returns, puts some shopping into the boot, while self entitled man is on tenterhooks to get his battery jumped. EV driver checks on his charge but it’s not done yet and he decides to do some more shopping in another store.
As he’s walking away, self entitled man calls over and demands he moves his EV. The EV driver retorts, that his car needs more charge and points out, that entitled man is blocking an EV charging bay. To which the troubled man replies, “So what? Doesn’t make a difference where I park.” EV driver shrugs and says, something along the line of, evidently it does matter where you park. Then takes a photo of the entitled man’s car with the breakdown van parked behind it and says, if there’s any damage to his car when he gets back, he’ll know who’ll be paying. Self entitled man looks to breakdown guy for support and in return the breakdown man says, “Look, I’m not going to risk damaging someone else’s car, just because you parked in the wrong place. I can wait if you want or you can cancel the call-out.” Then self entitled man goes off on one. In answer to this, the breakdown guy says, it’s not his fault that self entitled man parked without consideration for others, in a bay that is clearly marked & signed for purpose and since entitled man is aggressively blaming him and the organisation for things that plainly aren’t his fault, that the call-out is being cancelled and a report will be filed. He somehow manages to get a signature from boiling red in the face entitled man and leaves.
By this time, the Police are circling the car park and kindly wait till the EV diver gets back, unplugs and drives away. Entitled man then starts verbally at the Police, to which they advise him against his outrage or reprisals against the EV driver. By this time, I’m bored, the self entitled man still had a flat battery and deflated ego but at least the EV got a charge. All this took maybe twenty five minutes from the time I left the store. The fossil-burner must have been there for awhile before I arrived and the EV driver was away for ten or so minutes more.
Could have a sticker in the car that says "Please unplug me if not charging" or an icon that represents that as a form of charge etiquette. No sticker = leave alone.
If this is an issue, plugged in and not charging, large idle fees need to be charged.
Just returning from first EV6 trip to France. In France we were given a parking/charging disc for displaying inside your EV. One side is used to display the time that your charge should finish and a mobile number so that someone coming and waiting to charge knows your plan and can call you if you get delayed. The other side is used if you are the one who is waiting. It displays the time you arrived and asks the person who is using the charger to call you when they are done so that you can return to the vehicle and plug in. It's very simple and easy and even though not everyone will play the game, many would. Could be a good advertising opportunity for an EV related company? Can you use your fame to inspire something in the UK and or internationally?
You did everything correctly, he's a nutter..and should be ashamed at being clueless..he's being selfish staying connected that long.
If this were a gas pump the etiquette would be the same. You don't leave your car connected to the only available option if you aren't fueling up. Fuel type does not matter. If someone gets angry at being disconnected, then they should point that anger towards themselves for leaving their car unattended and not charging.
People are just AHOLES! Another reason why I bought a Prius Prime... don't have to deal with public charge stations...
1. Just one single charger for an entire town is just ridiculous.
2. Chargers fail way too often, leading people to think charging has started when in fact it has failed to start.
3. This will all be solved in a couple of years as the charging Infrastructure grows.
All absolutely true.
In my opinion, it's just not worth the hassle Andrew. Unless you were absolutely down to your last few miles of range and were on a deadline to get home for something then I don't think that unplugging the other car was correct. I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't have done it myself, but then I don't tend to graze much anyway. I'm quite happy charging overnight at home, which minimizes my interaction with the unpredictable UK public charging infrastructure (and by extension the equally unpredictable UK public).
Andrew is correct parking only while charging I have a leaf and you know when the lights go out on the dash it is done the guy is crazy
Unfortunately just because someone drives an EV it does not mean either they are a nice person or sensible.
Some people are just stupid . You did right thing .