Public charger "protocol"

[lindaspins]

What is a public charger?

It's a charger that's not in someone's garage, placed for public use. Some of them are free, most of them are on a network, and their are apps that tell you if they're being used, how much they cost, and reviews of the charging site.
Since Jeep doesn't sell a full EV yet, we really don't need to use them because we're never out of power. I figure somebody with an actual EV who might need that extra charge to get home has priority over me with my plug in hybrid.

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[BXFXJeep]

A BEV requiring emergency juice from a level 2, is like a gas car running out of gas, if people are running out of charge they have bigger problems than needing a level 2 charger, just like the stupidity of running out of gas.

EVs are rarely desperate enough to require emergency level 2 charging, that's why they block chargers more than ICE vehicles. Why sit for hours at a level 2, when they get the same juice from a super charger in minutes.

No one really needs a level 2 more than anyone else, don't give up a level 2 because you think you are doing a greater good, all you may be doing is probably giving a BEV a chance to block the charger.

 

[BXFXJeep]

Anyone with a hybrid that plugs takes up a spot on a public charging spot is a pure smuck. It not bad enough you are stealing from the rest of us, free power, not pay gas tax for our roads, getting subsidies for buying a hybrid, it goes on an on. An owners of them wonder why us ICE folk despise them so much.

Consider this, there is probably some poor bastard driving a pure EV out of a charge that will be stuck because of they are out of juice. They might even be tempted to take a key to a 4xe hogging the spot! Something to consider.

4xe owners, lets be real, you don't need the spot, be thoughtful and happy you were smart enough not to buy a straight EV, you can always run on gas and get home, a true EV is sol when out of juice.

Granted they were stupid to let their charge level get that low but im sure it happens, so think about other's who really need the stations!

Luckily most charging locations have cameras to monitor people like you that vandalize vehicles, I typically only use charging locations that is monitored by cameras.

Public level 2 chargers have time limits for a reason, and it's meant for all electric vehicles, plug in like the 4xe cannot use level 3 charging, so if a clown is running out of , they are better off spending a few minutes at a level 3.

Went to charge earlier and a Tesla is blocking a spot as usual, eventually they get banned from the parking lot, there was a Dodge RAM guy that would to block the chargers at the shopping complex, he got banned from the lot, now he have to pay for parking blocks away on the road and fetch his bags of groceries, his wife looks sour AF walking down the sidewalk, it's even more fun come winter, and he cannot use the heated parking garage.

If you drive a BEV and runout of electric, you are an idiot, just like the idiots that run out of gas.

 

[azjl#3]

No Thanks.
I will stick with my 10 minute fill up and wash the windshield.
I can make more money but I can not make more time.

Wise beyond your years. My thought exactly. I can't hope the grid can support the car charger on a snowy or frozen day. Like the movie: Nope.

 

[BXFXJeep]

]

Hey mister canuck, Screw you asshole, I don't vandalize vehicles and you got some real balls to infer that I do.

Perhaps you should go back and read what I said before you make such a comment!

They might even be tempted to take a key to a 4xe hogging the spot! Something to consider.

You give the impression this is the space you dwell in when you don't get things your way.

 

[BXFXJeep]

Oh yea this is another issue, because the BEV people (read Tesla) can charge at a higher level 2 rates than the PHEVs, they fiddle with the public chargers and cause failures, now no one gets to charge.

 

[Inkhero]

I rarely use the public chargers, since I charge at home. The only time I seek them out is on a trip. I've never had an issue with other drivers before, so it's a bummer to read that some here view it as poor etiquette to use them in a 4xE, rather than leave them available for some BEV.

I understand that the battery is more for recreational use in my case, but these public chargers are first come/first serve, comparable to the gas pump. That said, if someone really needed it in the case of emergency, I have no problem moving. However, that is more of a common courtesy thing and less of an entitlement thing..

 

[rickinAZ]

Another issue that hasn't been discussed on this thread is "overstaying your welcome". By that I mean going to a public charger, actually charging (so far, so good), but then using the spot as an all day parking spot WELL past the point where your vehicle is fully charged. I've heard that some chargers will continue to bill your credit card, at a reduced rate, for this overtime period, but most don't. It's like going to a busy restaurant and spending hours nursing a coffee; taking up a table that could have been turned over multiple times. Poor form.

 

[Dabrakeman]

I am not buying the argument that a BEV has privileges over me when it comes to using a public level 2 charger. The BEV buyer made a choice in what they bought and the restrictions associated with it. Whether I have an ICE engine or not I normally am going to run in electric when I can particularly if the electricity is publicly provided free, that for economic reasons which was part of my buying decision. I do avoid most pay chargers because at the kwh rate they cost I am usually better off using gas.

On a side note I know a few times while I was up in the UP of Michigan it worked out well on occasion to park in the spot adjacent to the EV slot if open and just put a friendly note on the car charging to be so kind as to plug me in after they were done. I was on the receiving end of the note the first time and then have written the note a few times since. Sometimes of course they never finish but it is a courtesy option.

 

[BXFXJeep]

I am not buying the argument that a BEV has privileges over me when it comes to using a public level 2 charger. The BEV buyer made a choice in what they bought and the restrictions associated with it. Whether I have an ICE engine or not I normally am going to run in electric when I can particularly if the electricity is publicly provided free, that for economic reasons which was part of my buying decision. I do avoid most pay chargers because at the kwh rate they cost I am usually better off using gas.

On a side note I know a few times while I was up in the UP of Michigan it worked out well on occasion to park in the spot adjacent to the EV slot if open and just put a friendly note on the car charging to be so kind as to plug me in after they were done. I was on the receiving end of the note the first time and then have written the note a few times since. Sometimes of course they never finish but it is a courtesy option.

This would be like going to a gas station and telling the guy with the pickup truck he needs the gas more than you, because he's got to fill up his truck, his 10 Jerry cans for his powerboat, while you wait for 20 minutes.

I only use paid chargers that aren't exorbitant, the government chargers which are the most common paid, range from 28 - 50 cents per kWh, but the government chargers are usually blocked, it's cheaper running gas than paying for charge.

Sometimes I'll pay for charging because it's cheaper or the same as paying for parking.

Now PHEVs and BEVs are a lot more common, level 2 public charging is becoming more difficult, factor in broken and vandalised chargers that don't get fixed.

What I'm finding now, is people don't know how to put the connector back into the holster, so they leave it laying on the ground and it eventually gets damaged.

 

[rickinAZ]

OP here. There have been a number of references to drivers being motivated by public chargers with free charging. Very early on (like ten years ago), when there were very few EVs, that happened in limited instances, but isn't free charging more of an urban legend today?

 

[BXFXJeep]

OP here. There have been a number of references to drivers being motivated by public chargers with free charging. Very early on (like ten years ago), when there were very few EVs, that happened in limited instances, but isn't that more of an urban legend today? Where are people seeing these unicorns?

I'm in downtown Toronto, Canada, I don't have home charging(condo), and exclusively use free charging at a couple of nearby retail complexes.

Push comes to shove I can find some relatively reasonable paid charging, but if free dries up, I'll most likely switch to a BEV, where I can charge up once a week for $6, or access some reasonable priced DC, vs the 4xe which will require $4-6 charging a day, sometimes more than once a day, add winter or rain into the mix of inconvenience.

I'm in a weird location, if I go 2 miles west or north, or 1 mile east or south there isn't any convenient access to charging paid or free.

Alternatively gas in a Wrangler will cost $70+ a week.

I was hoping someone would have a decent convertible EV by now, it's hard to give up the gas guzzling Wrangler.

 

[sentience]

OP here. There have been a number of references to drivers being motivated by public chargers with free charging. Very early on (like ten years ago), when there were very few EVs, that happened in limited instances, but isn't free charging more of an urban legend today?

This really depends on where you live. Out here, the public chargers in our (local/state) government facilities were largely grant funded, with one of the stipulations that the chargers would be free to use. Because of this, we frequently have high end (eg Tesla, Rivian) owners parking overnight in our public lots. A piece of me thinks the free charging should be limited to one or two hour per vehicle daily, since it was originally meant to be a courtesy, but what do I know.

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