Share Your Charging Horror Stories

[ajdelange]

I have heard Tesla's could be paying fines per minute for being plugged in but not charging at Tesla superchargers. I also have heard superchargers starting to have wait time during holidays. Specific CCS location advantage may also be contributing to increase in Tesla charging refugees.

True, Tesla drivers pay "idle fees" of typically $1/min if they stay connected more that 10 minutes past the completion of the charge and more than half the stalls at the station are occupied. True, there have been horror stories of long queues at some busy chargers especially at hollidays.

Not true that CCS stations attract Teslas because only the very few people that have CCS to Teslla adapters can charge from them, but they can charge at 50kW from the CHAdeMO side of the terminals that have the CHAdeMO plug). Come to think of it I believe the current crop of CCS to Tesla adapters are limited to 50 kW too.

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[Max]

I was saying it kind of in jest (it's not a big problem). But the times I've seen them hanging out, it's literally just parking at the charging location. They haven't been using the chademo plug. It's just people thinking they can get away with parking at the EV charging spot because the are an EV.

Aside from this, electrified drivers seem to have so much patience about being ICED. I have not converted yet and I am ready to blow a fuse just reading about this. I would have a hard time staying civilized if a tractor trailer blocked all charging stations when I needed to charge at 2 AM.

 

[SeaGeo]

Aside from this, electrified drivers seem to have so much patience about being ICED. I have not converted yet and I am ready to blow a fuse just reading about this. I would have a hard time staying civilized if a tractor trailer blocked all charging stations when I needed to charge at 2 AM.

Oh, no, I was definitely a bit frustrated I pulled up the the Walmart I referenced. And the other ID.4 owner that pulled up and *actually* needed to charge clearly was not happy.

That being said, EA chargers have been essentially empty for a couple of years now, and in some locations they have prime parking, so I can't blame drivers too much for playing the odds. The walmart I mentioned has them up front by the store, and the only time I've seen them ICED was when the lot was fairly full the weekend after Thanksgiving. So laziness and betting that because they've never seen an EV there before that there wouldn't be one when they parked won out. Just a bad bet.

Now someone damaging the chargers, or parking in the back of the parking lot just to block them... I'd be really annoyed with.

 

[Denver_Paulie]

Aside from this, electrified drivers seem to have so much patience about being ICED. I have not converted yet and I am ready to blow a fuse just reading about this. I would have a hard time staying civilized if a tractor trailer blocked all charging stations when I needed to charge at 2 AM.

You have to be patient because the worst kind of charger blocking happens in more rural areas where people are openly hostile to ZEV's. These are the poorly educated, Fox News watchers who have more guns than sense.

In my road trips out West, I have adopted a certain charging pattern to skip chargers in towns like Grand Junction, CO or Cedar City, UT. I had unique encounters with people in both those towns. Let's just say putting a ZEV charger in a Walmart or Sam's Club parking lot is not always the best idea in a town where people think success means having a house without wheels and an F-150 in the drive way. You think I am going to argue with that type of person if there dually RAM truck is blocking a charger?!!!!

I will never forget driving my old Model X across Wyoming just after the superchargers along I-80 went live in 2017. People came out of the Applebee's in Green River, WY just to stare at the weirdo from Colorado charging his car. Those same people put "this charger powered by Wyoming coal" stickers on the chargers just to make a point.

I hope the hostility lowers a bit when the ZEV F-150 and Silverado start rolling out, but it will take some time out in more remote areas of the country. Until then, expect to occasionally see chargers blocked at hotel parking lots or in Walmart parking lots in rural or remote areas.

 

[Max]

You have to be patient because the worst kind of charger blocking happens in more rural areas where people are openly hostile to ZEV's. These are the poorly educated, Fox News watchers who have more guns than sense.

In my road trips out West, I have adopted a certain charging pattern to skip chargers in towns like Grand Junction, CO or Cedar City, UT. I had unique encounters with people in both those towns. Let's just say putting a ZEV charger in a Walmart or Sam's Club parking lot is not always the best idea in a town where people think success means having a house without wheels and an F-150 in the drive way. You think I am going to argue with that type of person if there dually RAM truck is blocking a charger?!!!!

I will never forget driving my old Model X across Wyoming just after the superchargers along I-80 went live in 2017. People came out of the Applebee's in Green River, WY just to stare at the weirdo from Colorado charging his car. Those same people put "this charger powered by Wyoming coal" stickers on the chargers just to make a point.

I hope the hostility lowers a bit when the ZEV F-150 and Silverado start rolling out, but it will take some time out in more remote areas of the country. Until then, expect to occasionally see chargers blocked at hotel parking lots or in Walmart parking lots in rural or remote areas.

I may just have to wait for the right kind of EV then:

 

[Monkey]

I have a few "horror stories" involving charging. They're mostly anticlimactic and lame, but it's what I've got...

Twice I've arrived at a Tesla Supercharger with my Model X only to have all the chargers blocked. Once by a semi for no good reason. No driver to be found anywhere. Was able to access from the opposite side by backing up onto the charge island a bit. Not ideal, but made it work. Charged for almost 40 minutes and grabbed lunch. Still no sign of driver of that truck when we left...

The second time all the chargers were blocked was more irksome. Some asshat towing a U-Haul trailer with his Model X decided it would be appropriate to pull in alongside the chargers and block every single one while he plugged in and walked off to have lunch. I arrived to find several other Tesla owners had been waiting a while and ready to murder the U-Haul guy when he returned. He arrived shortly, many heated words were exchanged. U-Haul guy quickly drove off.

I slipped on ice, fell on my butt walking away from the charger at the Stanley Hotel...

And I watched sentry video from my Model Y of a Model 3 parking next to us to charge. Passenger gets out of the 3 and is obviously very intoxicated. Can barely stand up and unzips and pees in full view of my side camera, then falls back into the 3 and closes the door. Driver did not seem to be intoxicated or nowhere near as bad as he got out, plugged in and got back into the car. I saw them when I returned to the car from grabbing a coffee, didn't think anything of them being there as I drove off. Saw the video the next day when I decided to flip through them.

Those are all nothing compared to some of the gas station experiences I've had over the years....

 

[Monkey]

True, Tesla drivers pay "idle fees" of typically $1/min if they stay connected more that 10 minutes past the completion of the charge and more than half the stalls at the station are occupied. True, there have been horror stories of long queues at some busy chargers especially at hollidays.

Idle fees are only charged if the charger location is more than half occupied. Idle fees can vary by location.

Not true that CCS stations attract Teslas because only the very few people that have CCS to Teslla adapters can charge from them, but they can charge at 50kW from the CHAdeMO side of the terminals that have the CHAdeMO plug). Come to think of it I believe the current crop of CCS to Tesla adapters are limited to 50 kW too.

Yep. For the most part no Teslas are using CCS chargers. There are a couple adapters available, but Tesla has only just started making high speed DC charging available via CCS within the past couple months and their own CCS adapter should be available soon. It's already out in some international markets, Korea being the first. Third party CCS adapters exist, but up until the latest software update, they were pretty limited in terms of charge rate. I think the third party CCS to Tesla adapters out there are limited to 50kW like you say. Tesla's own adapter does much better, so I'll wait for theirs to show up in the store. Haven't needed to worry about it, but it would be handy to have in the kit just in case.

 

[kylealden]

I haven't had anything too bad that wasn't my own fault.

When I first got my Model 3, I drove to Winthrop, WA once for an overnight (pretty much the ass end of nowhere for EV infrastructure, but a fun little town). I knew it would be tight but figured I'd make it work - there was a Tesla destination charger at a hotel we were visiting for dinner. Unfortunately there were probably a half dozen Teslas thinking the same thing. When we got back to our motel I was able to back up partway onto the sidewalk so I could just reach my car with the charging cable if I unplugged my room's AC and ran the charger out the window. That got us a few miles overnight - the next day we found a 12kW free Level 2 charger at an RV park which gave us more than enough to get home. (Hot tip - RV parks and many state campgrounds have 30a and 50a outlets which are just as good as a Level 2 charger for all intents and purposes, and will almost always let you charge for the price of a friendly hello. Bring your adapters.)

I now carry a heavy duty extension cord everywhere I go - I never really need it, but if I'm skiing someplace out of town I'd rather run it into the garage at my Airbnb instead of making a round trip to the local supercharger every few days.

I've gotten my Model Y to 0% displayed once, and 1% displayed probably 4 or 5 times, always as I roll into a Supercharger. Every time it's been because I cruised right past one at like 20% because I liked my odds. ?

The 0% occurrence was towing a heavy U-haul trailer over Snoqualmie Pass in miserable weather with a huge gun safe inside, and my wife shaking her head at me in disbelief the whole way (as I left with a low SoC and cruised right past the 250kW charger at North Bend). When we got to the Cle Elum supercharger, the pull-in (trailer friendly) spot wasn't working, and I was so freaked out that I just pulled up alongside and blocked three stalls until I was at 15% or so, rather than taking the time to unhook. Don't be like me!

These were all my fault and easily avoidable; However, I've never actually gotten stuck, so it's safe to say I've learned nothing! ?

(Four years in to this now and I hit 1% coming home from a ski trip at Baker a couple weeks ago, after cruising right by several DCFCs and declining to plug in at a friend's house overnight...)

 

[SeaGeo]

Come to think of it I believe the current crop of CCS to Tesla adapters are limited to 50 kW too.

The SK one isn't. You can find a post recently of a fella who modified one to work with our CCS plugs and used EA for his trip primarily to avoid SC congestion. He apparently had a good experience, and ended up charging next to a couple R1Ts.

Max misinterpreted my post. What I've seen blocking CCS spots more than ICE are Tesla. And not for charging.

 

[r1t_kev]

@kylealden

 

[kylealden]

Max misinterpreted my post. What I've seen blocking CCS spots more than ICE are Tesla. And not for charging.

This resonates with my experience - lots of Teslas (and other EVs) posted up in "EV charging only" spots but not plugged in. Especially at L2 chargers but I've seen it at CCS too.

 

[Blueassassin]

I used to take the drive from Socal to Tucson AZ a lot during one of the big holidays when everyone else was doing the same thing i pulled into the town in the middle of the drive "Quartzsite" where most everyone has to stop for gas and also to Charge at the supercharger. Gas stations had a line of people waiting to get gas which is no big deal the Carls Jr that had the fast charger though was completely full of teslas and you could tell people had been hanging out for a long time waiting for the next open spot. Gave a perspective if everyone is going a certain way the tesla system will tell them all to stop at the same spot to charge.

 

[IPTV65]

I was saying it kind of in jest (it's not a big problem). But the times I've seen them hanging out, it's literally just parking at the charging location. They haven't been using the chademo plug. It's just people thinking they can get away with parking at the EV charging spot because the are an EV.

It's a charging spot NOT a parking spot. They probably park in a "loading zone" or a handicap space as well!

 

[DuckTruck]

For those of y‘all who are already EV owners, do y’all have any EV charging horror stories(ICE cars parked at charging station, EV fully charged but still parked at charger, chargers not working and have to move car multiple times to find working charger) If so, please share. I will be a first time EV owner and am interested in hearing of everyone‘s experience. I know that most of us will be charging at home, but I am wondering how stressed I need to be for long trips.

I personally have seen ICE cars parked at charging stations. It seems like this is getting to be a problem in China and Tesla has started deploying floor locking devices. Is this something we need in the US?

https://electrek.co/2021/12/09/tesla-system-prevent-gas-cars-iceing-superchargers-integrates-app/

Longhorngirl,

Thank you for starting this thread. Not only is it fun to read, it's informative to me, having never yet had a full BEV. With a PHEV for over 5 years now, I think I've charged it away from home only once, that was during my drive home to Portland, OR from Cincinnati, where I'd flown a red-eye to purchase it.

Luckily for me, no real horror stories. I'm just chiming in to say that I found many hotels in cold areas (in this case, Roosevelt, Utah) have 110 volt plugs right outside their rooms for block heaters in the Winter. Not going to get a ton of charge quickly, but my little battery was full by morning using my portable charger, like the one that comes with either Rivian.

Thanks again for starting a thread where all of the angst seems to be shared, rather than directed at each other. ?

 

[kylealden]

Thanks again for starting a thread where all of the angst seems to be shared, rather than directed at each other. ?

Wait, I can fix this.

So I have a battery powered coffee mug (Ember), which I love! But I didn't have a good way to charge it during the day (after leaving for work).

Fortunately, Ember came out with a 12v charger that nests in the car cupholder in my Tesla! It's perfect!

But it won't work with Rivian's pop-out cupholder design! How can a $70,000 vehicle not have more and better cupholders!??!?!?!

(hopefully obvious /sarcasm ? )

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