EVs, stupidity, and common sense…
Discussion
Despite having covered nearly 6000 miles in my Polestar 2, this is the first week I have relied heavily on public charging.
It strikes me that the biggest threat to EVs is the stupidity and selfishness of the general public.
For example…. on Saturday I witnessed a bloke at an InstaVolt in Northumberland trying to use the Chademo with his Merc EQA. He seemed enraged when I told him the car next to him was using the only connector suitable for his car. How can he not know what does and doesn’t work with his car?
The next day we drove down to the Lake District, stopping at Killington Services en route. At the Gridserve chargers a guy in a Hyundai Kona was parked across two spaces, meaning I couldn’t use the second charger.
Whilst at our hotel the two chargers have almost exclusively been blocked by ICE cars, or by EVs not actually charging. Yesterday it was another EQA (not even plugged in) and a Vauxhall of some description, and as I write this, an iPace that finished charging hours ago, and a Peugeot 106. Earlier in the week a Cupra Formentor hybrid occupied a charger for at least a day.
I’ve never experienced a problem with a charger that wasn’t entirely down to another human, and I can only see this getting worse as more people buy EVs.
It strikes me that the biggest threat to EVs is the stupidity and selfishness of the general public.
For example…. on Saturday I witnessed a bloke at an InstaVolt in Northumberland trying to use the Chademo with his Merc EQA. He seemed enraged when I told him the car next to him was using the only connector suitable for his car. How can he not know what does and doesn’t work with his car?
The next day we drove down to the Lake District, stopping at Killington Services en route. At the Gridserve chargers a guy in a Hyundai Kona was parked across two spaces, meaning I couldn’t use the second charger.
Whilst at our hotel the two chargers have almost exclusively been blocked by ICE cars, or by EVs not actually charging. Yesterday it was another EQA (not even plugged in) and a Vauxhall of some description, and as I write this, an iPace that finished charging hours ago, and a Peugeot 106. Earlier in the week a Cupra Formentor hybrid occupied a charger for at least a day.
I’ve never experienced a problem with a charger that wasn’t entirely down to another human, and I can only see this getting worse as more people buy EVs.
TheRainMaker said:
Our local leisure centre has 4 EV chargers close to the front door and two a fair distance away, nearly every weekend we go the four by the door are always taken by EV's not plugged in, and the two further away never have anyone parked in them.
People are morons.
I almost find misuse by other EV drivers much harder to forgive. They shouldn’t have the excuse of ignorance, but yes, people are morons. People are morons.
C.A.R. said:
Just on my last day of holidaying in New Forest and Cornwall and took the decision to drive the company EV here. Covered over 1200 miles and haven't once had a problem with charging.
I should probably make it clear that I’ve travelled from my home in Yorkshire to Northumberland, then to the Lake District, and I’m now in Lytham, and I’ve not actually struggled to charge the car once. I’ve just witnessed a lot of idiocy along the way, none of which has directly affected me. Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff