[NewsCoulomb]

I had the opportunity to stop by the Electrify America charger site that recently opened at the San Francisco Premium Outlets in Livermore, California. My biggest issue with this site is that there is zero parking enforcement and rampant disregard by both EV owners and PHEV owners. When I arrived, only one charging stall was available, and the other nine were being blocked by vehicles that could not (or no longer were) charging.

The spot I stopped at needed to be rebooted, and while I was waiting, a Model 3 moved and stopped blocking one of the chargers, so I moved there. It needed to be rebooted as well, but I was able to move to a third spot that also opened up. So I was finally able to start charging.

I'm not a huge fan of DC fast chargers at retail locations for this very reason. When the parking lot gets crowded, people will take EV charging spots they can't use just because they are driving an electric, hybrid, or plug-in vehicle. However, Electrify America does have a contract with Simon Group, so in California alone, we can expect a total of 17 sites similar to this at various outlet malls.

https://youtu.be/y922nO7QbnI

 

[SparkE]

California needs a law that allow municipalities (well, any law enforcement agency) to ticket charging scofflaws. CA's current law allows OWNERS OF THE LOT to call for towing. (As if a business is going to estrange customers by doing that!)

I would like to see a law/fines similar to carpool lane first fine is X dollars, next fine for the same offense is X dollars plus twice the total of all fines accrued by that license plate over the past 18 months.

So, as an example :

1st time : $150
2nd : $450 ( $150 + (2*$150) )
3rd : $1050 ($150 + (2*$450) )
4th : $2250 ($150 + (2*$1050) )


There's a town (?in Georgia?) that I read about that pays a good portion of one officer's salary from a single handicapped parking spot in town. It is a handicapped spot that EVERY officer checks whenever he drives within a couple of blocks of it (and not on an emergency). It happens to be in a very busy area and they nab many people who just stopped "for a minute" : to the tune of 10s of thousands of $$$ every year.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

Electrify America is also going to adding a site at the Great Mall in Milpitas. I foresee that site being even less usable for travel than the Livermore site. I only once tried to use the Milpitas EVgo chargers for travel, and I will never make that mistake again. Imagine seven LEAFs, my Bolt EV, a Volt, and a Pacifica PHEV all attempting to use a site with two DCFC and two J-1772.

 

[dbostrom]

I suppose it would infringe on our Freedumbs to equip chargers with cameras and simply have them mail parking bills to owners of cars who have imaginary mobility problems? Toll bridges mail bills (Evergreen Point floating bridge, I'm thinking of you!) without any issues. Why not charging stations? I'm guessing this might not even require a very large legislative lift, given that paid parking isn't very controversial.

Maybe a bill for $100 for 30 minutes of parking would seem a bit steep, but on the other hand the bill could come with a pamphlet explaining that the owner of the CS paid N thousands of dollars to install it. In a very real sense people using charging stations as parking spaces are stealing money from investors.

 

[NewsCoulomb]

I suppose it would infringe on our Freedumbs to equip chargers with cameras and simply have them mail parking bills to owners of cars who have imaginary mobility problems? Toll bridges mail bills (Evergreen Point floating bridge, I'm thinking of you!) without any issues. Why not charging stations? I'm guessing this might not even require a very large legislative lift, given that paid parking isn't very controversial.

Maybe a bill for $100 for 30 minutes of parking would seem a bit steep, but on the other hand the bill could come with a pamphlet explaining that the owner of the CS paid N thousands of dollars to install it. In a very real sense people using charging stations as parking spaces are stealing money from investors.

The Golden Gate Bridge toll works that way.

Perhaps if there was proper signage stating that all vehicles will have their license plate photographed within 30 seconds of parking. If the charger wasn't activated, the vehicle will be assessed a $10 per hour fee. A month later, they get a $40 or $50 "ticket" for parking in the space.

 

[redpoint5]

Sounds more profitable than actually selling charging services. Perhaps that's just the thing needed to make it profitable while keeping these stalls de-ICEd.