Electric vehicle owners get charged up over poor manners at the ‘pump’
As of September, there were roughly 11,500 plug-in electric vehicles in the Bay Area. They come with standard owner manuals, but no Emily Post books on “EV Charging Etiquette.” Meanwhile, electric vehicle charging stations are multiplying at a fast rate across San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.
So, call these next-level first-world problems, but complaints like Papadogonas’s aren’t isolated. Though almost cultish in their support of the electric car community, EV owners are bristling at being unplugged or having to unplug other idle, fully charged cars. Even worse is finding their spots snatched up by non-EV drivers.
Compounding the problem, industry insiders say, is a lack of standardization when it comes to the indicator lights that let people know the car doesn’t need any more juice.
Some feel there’s an implicit hierarchy involving non-EVs, hybrid EVs and “pure” EVs. Non-EV drivers shouldn’t ever park in charging spots, they say, whereas hybrid drivers could always “top off” at a regular ol’ gas station.
“Please don’t park your MS in an EVSE parking spot unless you need to charge,” a online commenter pleaded in a Tesla-related forum last month, referring to Tesla’s Model S. “On several occasions I’ve seen an MS taking up an EVSE parking spot without charging. I even informed a MS owner that it was discourteous…his response was, ‘but these are the best parking spots.’”
http://blog.sfgate.com/inthepeninsula/2013/12/13/electric-vehicle-etiquette/
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