What happens to an EV if they park in a regular spot??? oh the horror!

They're not able to charge? I drive a PHEV and I'll only use a EV park if I need to charge.

hsvhel:

 

What happens to an EV if they park in a regular spot??? oh the horror!

 

Yes, good attempt at humour... But an EV parked in a regular spot won't prevent other cars from fueling. These people parking in EV slots do block access to chargers.

freitasm:

 

hsvhel:

 

What happens to an EV if they park in a regular spot??? oh the horror!

 

 

Yes, good attempt at humour... But an EV parked in a regular spot won't prevent other cars from fueling. These people parking in EV slots do block access to chargers.

 

Whilst I would love it to be an attempt at a funny.  Yesterday it happened at the Ormiston center in AKL.  All EV spaces were full and a guy was in a regular park having a smoke.  All the surrounding parks were full at lunch and the driver of the car I was in asked if he was leaving soon, the reply, nope, just waiting for a free top up when one of these leaves. 

hsvhel:

 

What happens to an EV if they park in a regular spot??? oh the horror!

 

I doubt drivers of ICE cars would be happy if EVs were blocking gas station pumps.

There are different rules everywhere - no national consistent approach from my experience. The Wellington ChargeNet sites have this:

This is a pay & display car park. Normal parking fees apply while charging.

However it seems common sense and common courtesy that EV charging spaces should only be occupied by EV cars that are actually charging and not by either EV cars that aren't charging or ICE vehicles.

These EV charge car parks are only a transitional thing right ? 

Untill EV cars match ICE cars in range and only take few mins to charge, I guessing petrol stations will slowly become charge stations.

One thing is for sure: there are fools in both the ICE and EV camps. 

I've posted a photo of a new Tesla station by Countdown in Johnsonville to the EV news thread. 

With Wellington plans to reduce/charge for train station parking I wonder if it would be a matter of days before someone parks their car at a charging space in the morning, plug the charger and hop on a train to the city leaving the car the whole day parked in that space.

Assuming it is a Tesla in addition to the charging fees they will be charged idle fees once their car is done charging.

$1/minute, increased to $2/minute at times the station is 100% occupied. Would end up quite expensive if one was to leave a car plugged in for several hours.

https://www.tesla.com/support/supercharger-idle-fee

I assume cars that are not plugged (or not allowed to use the Tesla only charger) in would be towed. (once appropriate signage is in place that is)

Good to know, thanks!

I see mentions of petrol stations with EV charging and leaving EVs on chargers. 

That is not really how most people use their EVs, they don't go out to charge them up in day to day use.

Any modern EV with an OK battery will have 200+ KM range, and the main place to "fuel up" would be at home.

The Tesla chargers are not as much petrol stations to be used by Teslas in every day use, as they are chargers that there to allow you to go long distances. So most Tesla owners in Wellington would probably seldom if ever use the Johnsonville Tesla chargers.

jarledb:

 

I see mentions of petrol stations with EV charging and leaving EVs on chargers. 

 

That is not really how most people use their EVs, they don't go out to charge them up in day to day use.

 

Any modern EV with an OK battery will have 200+ KM range, and the main place to "fuel up" would be at home.

 

The Tesla chargers are not as much petrol stations to be used by Teslas in every day use, as they are chargers that there to allow you to go long distances. So most Tesla owners in Wellington would probably seldom if ever use the Johnsonville Tesla chargers.

 

And that's my main worry - any trip would require planning to stop where there are charging stations - and then time to wait if you get there and they are all being used up...

From what you are saying you think the Jville Tesla chargers would be used by travellers...

freitasm:

 

And that's my main worry - any trip would require planning to stop where there are charging stations - and then time to wait if you get there and they are all being used up...

 

With the Tesla the screen will show you were there are charging stations, and you can see how many are available before you get there.

 

 

From what you are saying you think the Jville Tesla chargers would be used by travellers...

 

That is what I would expect. It is the only Tesla fast chargers in Wellington from what I understand. Mind you, the Tesla can charge on any of the ChargeNet chargers as well.

People living in Wellington owning an EV would probably be charging it at home and have a "fully topped up" car every morning ready for their commute.

With a car like the Tesla you don't have to charge it up every day, but the people I know with EVs typically charge the car every day.

With a Tesla you are looking at stopping once or twice for a trip from Wellington to Auckland. 

Being an 8 hour drive I would be stopping every 2 or 3 hours anyways. And a top up does not really make your break a lot longer than it would otherwise be.

The new EVs coming out this year or next year. VW ID.3 and ID.4, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 etc. all have good range and would be able to do that trip without too many charges, and they can charge up quickly.

Having just recently done the trip from Auckland to Wellington (and then on to Christchurch), yes, you only need one charge in Taupo to get onwards to Wellington with a Model 3 Long Range/Performance. I stayed the night at a hotel that has a Destination Charger (basically the same as a home charger) so the car charged overnight for "free".

TBH, it's the destination charging that we need to see more of at hotels/motels as many people with longer range vehicles wouldn't actually need to use the fast chargers if they knew they could just charge overnight in the hotel car park. There has been once or twice at hotels where it's been busy and people have chosen to park their ICE vehicle in an EV spot but the hotels are usually pretty good at tracking down the owner and having them move.

Generally I find the mall EV car parks to be fairly well respected by ICE drivers. The few times I've seen one parked in a EV spot there have been other EV spots available so it wasn't the end of the world. I actually find it more annoying when an EV owner treats them as EV parking and just parks in them without charging.

jarledb:

 

With the Tesla the screen will show you were there are charging stations, and you can see how many are available before you get there.

 

Is this based on whether the charger is in use, or whether the space in front of the charger is occupied? If it's the former then there's a very high probability that you'll turn up and find a nuisance vehicle obstructing the charger.