Some dude unplugged my I-miev

[genec]

We got two new charging parking spaces in our parking deck. The spots are clearly marked on the floor and the wall and there is a glowing charge box on the wall. ICE cars were parking there. I started putting slips of paper under their windshields which stated "this parking space is for electric cars only". On one day when I was parked in the charging spot someone had removed the charging cable from my Miev. The had to have done it in the beginning of the day because I did not receive much battery charge.
What kind of person does this and why? I also have a "Bernie" bumper sticker on the back. I don't live in coal country because if I did I would expect strong support for electric vehicles, as coal is the primary fuel for electricity production in the U.S.
Anyway, it made me a bit sad to find out that there are humans out there who would do this.

 

[PV1]

Yeah, someone unplugged my friend's LEAF once. I carry a padlock in my car for instances where I absolutely have to charge and will be away from the car, but so far it's only been used with my cord.

Hope you made it to your destination.

 

[Don]

I don't live in coal country because if I did I would expect strong support for electric vehicles, as coal is the primary fuel for electricity production in the U.S.

Who would unplug your car? The same sort of animal who would drag a key down the side of it or poke a hole in one of your tires - You probably got off easy

Coal and Natural Gas are now even at 33% each, with Nuclear not too far behind at 20%. Hopefully one day real soon coal will drop to third place as burning coal to generate electricity makes no sense at all

On a positive note, our local plant (Jack Watson) switched from coal to 100% natural gas last year, thanks to some . . . . urging . . . . from the Sierra Club - They agreed to drop several lawsuits over the infamous boondoggle known locally as the Kemper County 'clean coal' plant *still* under construction. It was supposed to be completed a couple years ago at a cost of about $2.5B but it's still not running and the costs have now gone above $6.5B

Don

 

[kiev]

Probably one of the rude parking violators who took offense at being told of their infraction. Mount a camera up high or in your car and catch them in the act if it continues...

 

[phb10186]

I use a little padlock for instances such as that - but then if they really wanted they could break the whole plug off. A vulnerability of electric cars. The only real way to prevent this is to have a totally enclosed charging plug, with space for the whole plug gun - but that would take up valuable space - though it could always be done. it would be even more waterproof too.

I had thought a charge point located in the cabin, with a specific place for the cable to exit would be good

Bring on induction charging, as that solves the lot, even the plug standard issues.

 

[genec]

Well, as early adopters we will all be potentially subject to blowback from people who feel threatened or uneasy with change. I would think that the worst blowback would come from people who work in the oil industry. Most other people should recognize the overall positive of electric vehicles:
1) cleaner air
2) reduced CO2
3) preservation of oil for future generations
4) less dependence on resources from unfriendly foreigners
5) less need for taxation to pay for military protection of oil resources.
Any more?

 

[Don]

Another thought - If this is at your work location *and* if you usually park there and plug in and leave your car parked there and plugged in for an 8 or 9 hour shift (without going out and unplugging and moving it when it's finished charging) it *could be* that someone else who occasionally needs to charge and has seen your car there plugged in all day long, every day really needed to charge that day, so they unplugged your car and charged their own

While it's a bit rude to unplug someone's car, it's also a bit rude not to unplug it yourself and move it when you have received all the charge you need so someone else can use it too - Just sayin'

Don

 

[PV1]

I had thought a charge point located in the cabin, with a specific place for the cable to exit would be good.

I hear the Model 3 has the charge port hidden in the trunk .

Bring on induction charging, as that solves the lot, even the plug standard issues.

This. 10 kW on-the-road transfer with 20 kW parking spot transfer. Even the EV1 had 50 kW quick charging through the induction paddle. A full belly pan coil should be able to do half that.

 

[jray3]

Even the EV1 had 50 kW quick charging through the induction paddle. A full belly pan coil should be able to do half that.

I generally oppose inductive charging due to the large efficiency losses, plus coil alignment and ride height restrictions that make standardization difficult, but a big belly coil would at least keep our batteries warm during winter!

back on topic- I got unplugged once early into a 3-hour meeting at an engineering firm where I'm a major customer! The security guard left a Notice of Violation for using a L1 outlet that was designated for their fleet of retrofitted plug-in Priuses rather than the nonfunctional Blink station. Losing out on that little bit of charge required me to divert into downtown Seattle for a DCFC rather than heading home, and it was at the height of the Blink Bankruptcy fiasco when we had very few functional DCFC in the region.
Deputy Barney got re-educated.....

 

[wmcbrine]

Google "rolling coal" -- that's the type of person.

This is why I avoid bumper stickers. I figure just being an electric car is provocative enough, to the easily provoked. (Time was, even just being a Japanese brand might be provocative. But I haven't heard of that particular kind of vandalism in some years.)

 

[joev]

In St. Petersburg FL in a city parking garage we had a learning curve for charging etiquette. Most EVers there now know how to tell from the lights on the charging station if the EV plugged in is finished charging. We now have an "understanding" that if the EV is finished charging its ok to unplug it for your EV to use. It works about 90% of the time but like I mentioned its just an "understanding" and if your not familiar with this etiquette rule.....well thats the 10% that are still trying to figure it out. It was a bit unnerving the first few times coming back and seeing my EV unplugged but anytime mine was unplugged it was fully charged! I always estimated how long the charge session would be and always moved the car asap after it was done charging. One side note is that when I unplug a Chevy Volt that is fully charged, the horn beeps for about 30 seconds. I think this can be changed in some kind of setting on the Volt.

 

[phb10186]

Even the EV1 had 50 kW quick charging through the induction paddle. A full belly pan coil should be able to do half that.

I generally oppose inductive charging due to the large efficiency losses, plus coil alignment and ride height restrictions that make standardization difficult, but a big belly coil would at least keep our batteries warm during winter!

Perhaps, but we are only talking about use when away from home. For charging away from home, I can see many benefits to this. Also, I suppose that a fair bit of inefficiency could be designed out?

I charge my phone wirelessly, and it does heat up the battery more than USB charging, but USB charging also heats it up somewhat.

How about a magnetic charger like the Macbook, with the addition of electromagnetic coupling - that would prevent tampering.

 

[genec]

Yes, i think it was most likely a 'rolling coal' type of *******. I may remove my "Bernie" sticker and replace it with an American Flag sticker. Rolling coal ******** seem to be cool with american flags. I thought they were cool with First Amendment - Freedom of Speech, but maybe I gave them too much credit.

I just bought this car sticker which I hope will disincentivise most electric car haters from damaging my car by suggesting to them that I do indeed still love America. We shall see.

 

[sandange]

We had a similar situation way back when there were very few charge stations around.
Really messed up our day and inspired me to make up a lock device.
Here is a link to that post if you're interested

http://myimiev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1370&start=0

 

[genec]

The Uni-Unplugger is at it again. For the second time this week I've been unplugged. Sadly, it was early in the morning again so I lost all those charging hours. I notified the parking authority, they said they would do more patrols. There are no cameras. Where are the cameras when you need them?
I came up with a few ideas. Let me know which one you think would be the most effective, or if you have another idea I would be glad to entertain it.

1) Leave a note next to the plug that says "Please don't unplug this, I forgive you if you unplugged it in the past"

2) Mount a fake camera on the car (magnetic attachment) to scare the offender if he (probably a he) tries to do it again.

3) Mount a real camera on the car (magnetic attachment) to scare the offender if he (probably a he) tries to do it again, and find out who he is.

4) Don't park my i-miev there anymore to avoid risking actual damage/confrontations with the offender.

5) Wait out of sight for the offender and confront him about it if he strikes again.

 

[PV1]

6) Find out who it is by either #3 or #5, follow them to the gas station, take the nozzle out of their vehicle and hang it up when they aren't looking :twisted: .

Seriously, #3 is likely your best option with a dashcam on the windshield pointed backwards towards the plug.

 

[genec]

He unplugged it within the last hour. I will increase my checking to every half hour instead of every hour.
I also draped an American flag over the charging gun hoping that he will be less likely to be an ******* to a patriotic American.
Then again, perhaps I've got this all wrong. Maybe he is a Saudi prince and isn't pro-American at all. Maybe he's pissed that he's lost a customer for his gasoline.

 

[PV1]

I wonder if it is one of these instances:

Well, we are having an issue at work. There is a New Employee who doesn't know the EV rules... and drives a C-Max. She blew a fuse when she plugged in when the Smart EV was also plugged in, another time unplugged the Smart EV (no note left). Smart EV guy left her 2 notes, no replies. Parking manager left her several notes and she didn't reply..... Obviously she feels privlaged as when he did talk to her, she wanted him to tell the Smart EV to not plug in when she is there ..... WTF !!

She also unplugged an electric Lift that is parked next to her, no charge when they went to use it.

That pissed off the Hospital main guy who is now just pissed in general..... He DID say to me today that I have a 'Need" where she does not and that is why they are looking into the Chargers... about time. We asked for them last year and the year before.

I think this girl needs to have the EV MANNERS BOOK put on her windshield.

 

[genec]

UPDATE: He's unplugged me 5 times. It still shows 'charging' on the meter, plus he's not parked in the other spot reserved for electric vehicles, so I think he's just a local neighborhood *******. I notified the parking authority. They said they were going to start monitoring the location. I will keep leaving work every 20 minutes or so to keep plugging it in.

I don't believe he's breaking any laws by unplugging me, which is really annoying. I guess there is nothing you can legally do to stop ******** like this.

 

[PV1]

Then I'd definitely wait just out of sight for him to come back and take video of him unplugging the car. Then padlock the connector the next time you plug in.