How to wait in line for charger to free up?

[ohseedee]

Please don't do this. Human brains are not wired for parallel tasking. Rear end collisions where the distracted driver's foot is still on the accelerator kills way too many people and cripples even more.

Agreed. I should have said "my passenger checks." I never roadtrip without my wife. I ride motorcycles and very aware of the impact of people on their phones...

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[emoore]

That's because parking lots weren't designed for queues to charge electric vehicles. The whole process is vague. It only works out when either there's unused chargers, but they're busted many times at EA, then what? Or if it's obvious there's a single line. With EA, someone jumping the line is an issue as half their chargers are busted or charge slow. So when someone does that, it really creates a delay for that behind him. And if you do catch someone cutting the line, then what? Call him out on it? Fight as on throwing punches? Accept it and wait longer? Then of course there's those charging to 100%, how do you handle those?

Lots of experience with DCFC?

 

[godfodder0901]

Extra credit if you get out of your truck initially wearing one of these Borat singlets.

Not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed, but I actually own one of those... Very nice!

 

[COdogman]

Not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed, but I actually own one of those... Very nice!

You should proudly keep it stored in your gear tunnel with your tanning oil and other emergency gear.

 

[Zoidz]

Just pull up, get your camp speaker out and turned up to max volume, then strip down and oiled up for some good sun tanning in the bed of your truck. A spot will open up quickly.

one technique to clear up spots quickly.

 

[R1TCA]

This is perfect timing to tell this story of bad etiquette from yesterday.
FYI I'm new to the dcfc deal and yet I think there's common sense involved. Here's a story of NOT that.
We pulled up to the Paso Robles (North CA) BOA EA fast chargers all of the 3 were full, while one was offline (and also away from the others randomly positioned in a corner of the lot.)
I back into a position out of the way of through traffic in the parking lot, and put on my blinker, ready to take a small turn into a charging position whenever its free. Meanwhile my wife steps out and walks the dog around the grassy area at the bank while I wait.
Everyone (Ioniq, Mach e, Bolt(?)) had been charging for 5-10 min max so I figured it would be minimum 10 min.
So the fun starts: A dude rolls up with a lady in a BMW of some EV sort. They pull past me and do a 3 point turn to turn around 180 degrees. Now we're essentially facing each other with the chargers to the side for us to pull into when they open. I pull a little forward to show that I'm actually ready to make the move into the next spot asap. We're at a max of 30' apart at this point, 3 parking spaces between us.
Then the one car finishes on the end closest to the beemer, and begins to pull out and so the BMW begins to inch forward like he's about to park in that chargers spot. I was seeing them start moving but since the car leaving pulled out in such a way towards the bmw, I easily pulled into the spot as they left it. Apparently my wife could see from where she stood the woman was giving a side-eye to my wife and the guy was flustered. It was clear they thought I snaked them into the spot.
What would you all have done in this situation?

I think there's a market to have lit LED signs or something that reflect the number you've beren assigned based on when you roll into the area and "check in" or something. And then if your number comes up and you're not able to hit the "I'm here now" like when picking up online orders from a grocery or whatever, then the LED display shows the next car to who is in line for that next available spot. The chargers could show they're about to be available as the current charger hits stop and wraps up their charging session.

 

[goldburger]

This thread is relevant to my interests and it all sounds terrible. What a bummer.

 

[R1TCA]

I usually just look around, don’t care what the order of people in front of me is just who they are.

At the Tesla Super Chargers over the years it has worked out well. occasionally you will see someone jump (or try to jump) but people for the most part respect the process.

'
What do you mean "don’t care what the order of people in front of me is just who they are." ?

 

[SANZC02]

'
What do you mean "don’t care what the order of people in front of me is just who they are." ?

I just need to know the cars I am waiting 4. Not uncommon to pull up to a Super Charger and have 3 or 4 people waiting. I just look around to see what cars are there and mentally note as they get a spot. Once the last car there before me has a spot I’m next, anyone that pulls in after me does the same thing.

For the most part in 7 years it has worked well, only seen a few people try to jump usually if you tell them there is a queue they get in line. Only once was the person really arrogant and started charging anyway.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

This should be solvable with software. If someone tries to jump the line the software will not activate the charger for them.

I'm surprised this hasn't been implemented by now.

 

[SSteveEV]

Extra credit if you get out of your truck initially wearing one of these Borat singlets.

The only true way to fully enjoy ventilated seats.

 

[moosetags]

We have used EA chargers about a half dozen times on our way back to Florida from the Factory. Fortunately, we always found an open spot. Most often, there was no one else there upon our arrival. At the EA in Athens, Alabama, we arrived to find all the chargers open. We selected one of the 350's and began a charging session. We went into WalMart and got a sandwich at the Subway. About 25 minutes later, I checked the app on my phone and found that we were nearing 80%. We returned to the charger and found that all four chargers were now in use and there were two more EV's waiting in line. Surprisingly, two of the other EV's were R1T's.

We ended our charging session and pulled out. The next person in line was a Chevrolet Bolt. I think that this is how you see Bolts at the 350 EA chargers.

Brian

 

[Count Orlok]

well the Count and Countess are off on their first long range trip with the R1S... during a busy Fourth of July week no less. They thank everyone for the advice and plans to hoover in line with a long axe and a grin.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

Sometime in the future you’ll go up to an empty EA charger and then realize there is a long line to the Tesla chargers down the street. You’ll then go line up and wait for the Tesla charger because they won’t burn your car to the ground and work pretty much all the time.

 

[moosetags]

Sometime in the future you’ll go up to an empty EA charger and then realize there is a long line to the Tesla chargers down the street. You’ll then go line up and wait for the Tesla charger because they won’t burn your car to the ground and work pretty much all the time.

That's probably pretty much the truth. EA needs to greatly improve their performance or they are not going to be around.

Brian

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