Idle fee hate

[blturner]

I got hit by a $30.50 idle fee in Hays Kansas at a RAN Charger when I was the only user at a 6 charger site. I even went out in the middle of the night to avoid it. I was expecting the idle fee to be $0.50 per minute starting at an hour but it charged retroactively the whole hour.
Tesla has congestion fees that only apply when most the chargers are full. I go out of my way to be polite and I am still learning charger etiquette but this seems abusive.
I got up and plugged in so that it would be done about breakfast time. I got an emergency call from work that took a while. My wife went out to move it as we approached the hour mark but she struggled with unplugging and we went 1 minute over the grace period.

$0.55 per kwh is like $5.50 per gallon for gas. Add in the idle fee and it is like paying over $10.00 per gallon.

I have almost 80,000 miles on my Rivian and this is only its second trip over 200 miles. I ordered it 1 week after it was announced and waited 3.5 years to get it. Whenever someone asks I tell them I love it.
Right now I am feeling like a sucker not a pioneer.

I know that I am making flame bait here. But I want to get it out here rather than at some charger in the future. This kind of stuff has to end or I will be eating humble pie in front of all my EV negative in-laws.

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[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Rules are rules. You only have yourself to blame and you know it. What Tesla does is irrelevant. Different company.

 

[webfootdawg]

If I'm on a charger with idle fees, I set charging limit to 100%

 

[Time2Roll]

Maybe put it on your expense report
Your employer received the benefit...

 

[Seano]

That retro charge is a bit much and it does seem as if the system could poll the other chargers. Sorry, man

 

[shrink]

I was expecting the idle fee to be $0.50 per minute starting at an hour

I just pulled up that RAN on the Rivian app. The grace period is 10 minutes, not 60 minutes. You were not charged retroactively for going over a mythical grace period that does not exist.

Sorry. I know you were being mindful but you were misinformed. This is user error.

 

[zefram47]

As above, the grace period is 10 min. Leaving your vehicle plugged in that long after it finishes is not a good look. I've plugged into a few DC stations while the site was empty and during my 30 min charge the station became totally full. If you're not there to see it, you never know if you're the one being the problem. If you think you're going to be there for awhile, always set to 100% charge limit just in case and be prepared to move it when it's finished...going all the way to 100% takes a *long* time. Someone else may need it. I've also been in the position several times on road trips over major holidays where I had to wait in a line for a charger at a busy station...and many of them were slow-charging vehicles like Chevy Bolts that were charging to 100% instead of what they actually needed to make it to the next stop. Charging etiquette is a big deal and idle fees are supposed to help mitigate the issues.

 

[Dark-Fx]

All Rivian stations have a 10 minute grace period as far as I know. You can even see that they didn't charge you for the 10 minutes in your screenshot.

 

[Jeffh32]

I was speeding once, and I was the only car on the highway. The cop still pulled me over, and I just told him the rules don't apply to me, he agreed have me his gun and badge as an apology for my inconvenience. So I totally get why you're frustrated.

 

[lefkonj]

Most public chargers have these its part of EV ownership. Regardless of how busy a site is to you visually there is no way for the site to know this.

 

[COdogman]

I get why this is frustrating, but I also understand why Rivian has it set up this way.

It’s a fair and clear rule to have a simple grace period followed by idle fee. What if when you start your session there are no other vehicles charging but by the time yours is almost finished it has filled up? Or it fills up just after your grace period ends? The chargers are supposed to turn the rule off and on multiple times during your session?

The rule is easy to understand - after your session you have 10 minutes to unplug or you pay the fee. I’d rather have that than something arbitrary that includes other factors.

 

[beatle]

I get why this is frustrating, but I also understand why Rivian has it set up this way.

It’s a fair a clear rule to have a simple grace period followed by idle fee. What if when you start your session there are no other vehicles charging but by the time yours is almost finished it has filled up? Or it fills up just after your grace period ends? The chargers are supposed to turn the rule off and on multiple times during your session?

The rule is easy to understand - after your session you have 10 minutes to unplug or you pay the fee. I’d rather have that than something arbitrary that includes other factors.

+1 to this. When I had a Tesla I always banked on being charged idle fees even if the station was mostly empty. I've seen stations fill up in the time I've been away eating, and I wouldn't guarantee a longer time away from the car if it were empty anyway.

The strategy to change the maximum percentage is solid. I've used that at least once, including a trip to Philadelphia where I was at a supercharger. I only needed 80% or so to get home, but I would have been idling while finishing my roast pork sandwich, so I bumped it to 100%. The car was still only at 89% after charging for 75 minutes. While that car charged slow as hell, this should still give you plenty of time away from your truck if you need it.

 

[iansriv]

Not as bad as one of the guys in our office that was charged about $350 for going over the 3 hours on the Chargepoint at work.

 

[COdogman]

Not as bad as one of the guys in our office that was charged about $350 for going over the 3 hours on the Chargepoint at work.

Let me guess - he's probably also the guy who tries to join office zoom calls from the bar thinking his blurry background will save him?

 

[therealcmj]

Let me guess - he's probably also the guy who also tries to join office zoom calls from the bar bathroom thinking his blurry background will save him?

FTFY

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