Idle fee hate

[Supratachophobia]

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

Ouch......

.....agreed.

Sponsored

 

[srkz]

What would be fun is if idle fees charged at a station went into a kitty that discounted the rate for active charging. Don't publish it anywhere but just at the end of the session when they send the receipt email add a note that says "Tip your hat to the slow-poke idling on 4A - they saved you $5.18 today!"

 

[SANZC02]

It is not hard to be courteous. I’ve moved my Tesla to another stall a couple of times at an SC to make room for a Rivian to charge. I use the 150 chargers at EA when they are open, I’ve actually moved to a 150 that opened after I started charging when a Hummer pulled in so they could get the 350. It is not hard to do these little things to be a good neighbor.

 

[mkhuffman]

Now I wonder what some of you think about "hogging" destination chargers, particularly at hotels. I mean, the specific policy is to plug in overnight. Duh.

Yeah, these are the worst. 100% should be idle fees. Big ones.

As long as we have to share a limited number of spaces, you should move your truck when it has the charge you need, full or not. (I don't charge to full unless I need it.)

Arriving at a hotel, tired after a long drive, and needing to charge, it is maddening to see a fully charged vehicle, sitting there hogging the space. And even more maddening when it is still there the next day when I am leaving. What an a-hole.

Hotel charging is so unreliable, and charging hogs are a big reason why.

 

[s4wrxttcs]

I think we need to kiss goodbye some of what we enjoyed in the past.

• Hotel L2 charging - Especially ones included with the valet parking cost as it now seems to be a separate charge. One might think the valet solves the problem but they're often unreliable
• L3 Charging while going on some adventure where you might come back a bit late.
• Sleeping while connected to an L3 charger
• Free L3 Charging.
• Cheaper than Gas L3 charging at least for vehicles similar to the R1

I completely agree that we need to instill the need to move your car after the charge, but there are obvious times where this is just silly.

I charge at work about 1 time a week where its always a 30% to 85% charge. By the time it reaches 85% the chargers are complete empty except for my vehicle.

One can't possibly compare that to the biggest problem I have with charging at work. That is the issue of people not moving their car when it charged. The difference is the chargers are at near capacity during the middle of the day, and not after everyone has left. There are no idle fees because charging is free.

For a RAN I'd put the no idle fees at anything under 40% full. This way it eliminates concern over trying to make it back just in time or in playing silly little games. I'm sure most long time EV owners have played the game where they move the charge target to 95% if they're going to be a bit late. I played this game with my Model 3, but the Rivians battery is so much bigger that its restored the time to eat at a normal pace even with a 85% target.

 

[NY_Rob]

One can't possibly compare that to the biggest problem I have with charging at work. That is the issue of people not moving their car when it charged. The difference is the chargers are at near capacity during the middle of the day, and not after everyone has left. There are no idle fees because charging is free.

Had the same issue at work where there was a free Chargepoint L2 charger. Even worse, if I didn't get to work 25 min early, the only spot that could access the charger (it was located at an end parking spot of a shared municipal lot) would be ICE'd all day long by a County Supreme Court employee. After leaving several polite notes about keeping the spot open for you know, charging EV's like the sign at the spot said, I finally got a short written reply on my windshield... "you don't own the parking spots". I ended up getting the Court Clerk involved, that worked for a few months... then I guess the ICE owner/employee was still bitter enough that she continued to give the Clerk a hard time and he got fed up and had the charger removed, permanently. That's what you're up against with free public charging.

 

[ElGuano]

I think we need to kiss goodbye some of what we enjoyed in the past.

Yep, a lot of these early adopter and loss leader perks are going to go away as EVs get more mainstream. Folks may recall, every Tesla sold used to have a guarantee of free supercharging for life. And before EVs were so prevalent, nobody had a good sense of how much electricity costs, so plugging in a car for free somewhere was not a big deal (try asking your hotel for 4-5 gallons of free gas).

A lot of these things are already gone, and a lot more are probably going away sooner rather than later.

 

[SwampNut]

Yeah, these are the worst. 100% should be idle fees. Big ones.

LOL, I figured you'd spout off without knowing anything about the situation. They specifically state that they are overnight spaces.

you should move your truck when it has the charge you need, full or not.

No, absolutely not. I had to leave much sooner than that. I left with a good charge, but not what I needed. The chargers were too slow. Again, talking before thinking.

Also at no time were even 50% of the spaces in use.

 

[mkhuffman]

LOL, I figured you'd spout off without knowing anything about the situation. They specifically state that they are overnight spaces.



No, absolutely not. I had to leave much sooner than that. I left with a good charge, but not what I needed. The chargers were too slow. Again, talking before thinking.

Also at no time were even 50% of the spaces in use.

What are you complaining about then? If your truck is still charging, of course you can still occupy the charging space. I mean, if you're considerate, and you have enough charge, you will move even if it's still charging. But you said you needed more and it was still charging. So what are you even saying?

If your truck is fully charged, you should move it. That's it. If you don't move it, you should be charged in idle fee.

I can't believe you are so inconsiderate that you would prevent somebody else from charging, someone who arrives after you, when your truck is fully charged and you can easily move. Are you really that self-centered and that selfish?

I generally agree with your posts, so I hate to get into this argument with you, but dude. There are other people that need to charge. You're not the only one.

 

[Time2Roll]

What would be fun is if idle fees charged at a station went into a kitty that discounted the rate for active charging. Don't publish it anywhere but just at the end of the session when they send the receipt email add a note that says "Tip your hat to the slow-poke idling on 4A - they saved you $5.18 today!"

Yes give credit to the person right behind that has been waiting.

 

[SwampNut]

What are you complaining about then?

What complaint? Honestly I'm lost at what you might be assuming.

I can't believe you are so inconsiderate that you would prevent somebody else from charging

Never have, most likely never will, what are you assuming again?

If my truck finishes charging at some time in the middle of the night, in your high and mighty world, how often should I set an alarm to see if it's done and go move it?

 

[emoore]

Really wish there would have been gas station idle fees. Nothing more anointing than waiting in line at a truck stop while people are done fueling and go inside the convenience store for 20 min while still parked at the pump.

 

[Dave Cundiff]

One of our favorite hotels has exactly one Level 2 charger.

Front desk staff have been marvelous about reaching out to owners of vehicles that have finished charging.

We try to pay it forward by telling the staff whether our charging is "must have" or "nice to have." If it's "nice to have," we tell the staff to wake us up if anyone says they need to charge more than we do. We've never had other EV drivers, or the hotel staff, abuse our trust or wake us up unnecessarily.

The world is a better place, IMO, when everyone gets their needs met....

Best to all!

 

[mkhuffman]

If my truck finishes charging at some time in the middle of the night, in your high and mighty world, how often should I set an alarm to see if it's done and go move it?

Once. Then go move it, and go back to bed. It sucks, I know. I have done it.

Right now I am at a hotel with destination charging. I am choosing not to even bother using one because I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to move my truck. I have just enough charge to get home, so I can go without it. They are "free", but the inconvenience isn't worth the free charge to me.

 

[RickRivian]

I have used hotel chargers many times. I evaluate the charger ahead of time, and arrive with a SOC% so that assuming the charger is available, I will be at 100% at my 8AM departure time. PlugShare allows me to know the charge rate ahead of time.

I would not plug in if I knew I would be finished charging at say 3AM. If a hotel called me after midnight to move my vehicle, I would be very angry.

I also try to find hotels with fast charging backup nearby in case the chargers are full or iced.

I would never set my alarm for 3AM to move my vehicle. Nobody is waiting to charge at 3AM, but more importantly hotel chargers are so slow that a few hours is near useless anyway.

I do get annoyed at PHEVs plugging in at a hotel charger, but that is their right. If I saw a driver doing so, I might strike up a friendly conversation during which I would bring up the need of an EV driver to charger vs. the desire of a PHEV driver to charge, but it is their right.

Sponsored