An interesting Ampabout experience. >Most of the time, the EV drivers will plug in their cars, but sometimes > they just use the spaces as their 'reserved' space and don't plug in. > More recently, PIHs have been parking there as well, plugging in about > half of the time.
Now this is the ugly part of having many, noob EV drivers that have not adopted that 'be-considerate' friendliness that the EV community has enjoyed for so long. New EV drivers are doing things that are just as raunchy/inconsiderate as ice-drivers (:sigh: times they are a changing). I have seen this bad-behavior way-too much. Of course it could be that the plugins were originally plugged in, later had their coupler moved to a different vehicle (so it just looks like the driver was rude to block access to an EVSE out of sheer laziness). GM put plugin ticket/tow-away laws on the books (by pulling in favors to those many Govt reps they donate to), but parking law enforcement in Tom's (and my) SF Bay area, not only do not know of them, after you informed them, they do not care to take action (there is no incentive as it was not written into their SOP). GM put those laws on the books to protect their pih (they incorrectly call an EV to garner all the perks/accolades without the EV commitment). Inconsiderate parking has been discussed on the evdl in the past: How to effectively-communicate to the inconsiderate plugin driver without yourself being-nasty . >Three different Ford plug-ins (new Ford Escort EV, Ford C-Max PIH, > Electricar (1989 Escort conversion). I think Tom meant 'new Ford Focus EV', as the Escort line went bye-bye awhile ago. I had a nice Ford Escort Wagon conversion for a while. It was a sweet ride. http://brucedp.150m.com/escort/ For all those newswires I sieve through on a daily basis that I find a huge portion is tainted anti-EV that says 'no one wants EVs' , you have to wonder how can the public swallow that garbage(?). I have resolved that the large growing base of the plugin (EVs and pih) drivers are mostly in the 'enlightened' areas of the U.S. Thus, there are portions of the populous that do not: know of EVs, want to know of EVs, nor (as they were told to) like EVs or their frackin' drivers. We may have many more plugins on the roads (yay!), but we still have a-long-row-to-hoe in getting total acceptance (:buck-up and smile:). {brucedp.150m.com} ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frak_%28expletive%29 ... http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/a+long+row+to+hoe.html ... http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=buck%20up - On Sun, Jan 6, 2013, at 09:44 AM, Tom Keenan wrote: > The City of Alameda installed a pair of Chargepoint dual Level 1 / Level > 2 charging stations at the Alameda Theater parking garage. The first > incarnation of public charging there was three 120v outlets, installed > around 2009. There were installed because I asked the city engineers to > consider EV parking as they built the parking structure. I had a Citicar > then, and most days would be the only one parked in one of the three EV > spots. > In 2010 or so, the city installed a Chargepoint unit, replacing one of > the 120v outlets. It was still a rare occurrence to see more than my > Citicar parked there. I installed a J1772 system in the Citicar to take > advantage of the faster charging afforded by Level 2 charging. > With the advent of the Leaf, the city installed a second Chargepoint > station, and removed the remaining 120v outlet. In 2012, the charging > stations began to see more use, and for the first time I saw three EVs > using the three EV parking spaces! > Since mid-2012, it has become quite common for the three spaces to be > occupied, and I occasionally find I have to park my EV (currently an > Electricar) elsewhere. > Most of the time, the EV drivers will plug in their cars, but sometimes > they just use the spaces as their 'reserved' space and don't plug in. > More recently, PIHs have been parking there as well, plugging in about > half of the time. > Some recent highlights - > Four Leafs in a row (two charging). > Four different EVs (Tesla model S, Leaf, Electricar and a BMW Active E) > all four plugged in! > Three different Ford plug-ins (new Ford Escort EV, Ford C-Max PIH, > Electricar (1989 Escort conversion). All three charging. > This particular location has become quite popular with plug-in vehicles. > The problem used to be that there weren't enough EVs to justify > installing charging infrastructure, now it seems to be a case of not > enough infrastructure to be able be certain a plug will be available. I > suppose the next step is to petition the city to install another pair of > charging pedestals. - -- http://www.fastmail.fm - Or how I learned to stop worrying and love email again _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
