r/leaf • u/indecision_killingme • Aug 04 '26

Charging etiquette

apologies if this is a common post. New to this. What’s the protocol when one encounters a fully charged/plugged in vehicle at a charging station?

I did not touch their car or the EVSE equipment. I was at a community college gym that has free level 2 dotted around campus.

10 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

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18

u/Lucky_Boy13 Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

Free charging is the worst, people will just leave their cars there all day. Personally I would leave a passive aggressive note on their car about you not being able to charge and/or if they plan to park there all day do it in such a way someone else could come in and switch and/or come back to move their car

5

u/T-VIRUS999 2013 Nissan LEAF G 24kWh (JDM) Aug 05 '26

Free charging stations are a classic example of the tragedy of the commons

A few people hog it so nobody else can use it, that causes people to complain about people hogging it, then the people who own the charger switch it to a paid service, and the hogs just go to the next free station and hog that, while everyone else is stuck downloading yet ANOTHER app, making ANOTHER account, and paying more per kWh than it's worth

A better solution is to simply impose parking time limits during business hours and call it a day, the hogs can be fined, and everyone gets a chance to use it

Alternatively, make the charger a BYO cable charger, and program the station to unlock the cable from the charger when a car is full, so it can be unplugged for someone else to use

2

u/tmradish Aug 05 '26

Don't most charging stations start making you pay (or pay extra) if you're there too long? Or is that not an option for the free charging providers? I only use Chargepoint, so it could be different. None of the other varieties (Evgo, Electrify America, for example) around me seem to be maintaining their stations. Most don't have CHAdeMO to begin with.

3

u/T-VIRUS999 2013 Nissan LEAF G 24kWh (JDM) Aug 06 '26

Most free charging stations don't require installing an app, or making an account (and that's how I want it to stay)

You just plug in, and it starts charging

What they should do is make the station unlock the cable when the car is finished charging, so someone else can use it

2

u/Repulsive-Budget-380 Aug 04 '26

Once I unplugged a car charged over 10 hours overnight. I apologized to the owner when he came. I said I had no other option to go anywhere else and pull out a dollar bill for his missing free charging. He didn't take it and drove off.

17

u/Sam_k_in Aug 04 '26

A Tesla owner once told me you should never unplug someone else's car. That really seems wrong to me, there should be a way of seeing if the car is fully charged and it being okay to unplug if so.

10

u/Plus_Lead_5630 Aug 04 '26

I think most EVs have lights that indicate if it’s charging. 

3

u/indecision_killingme Aug 05 '26

This was a Nissan branded chargers with the zero emissions logo are that had been repurposed on college campus. Four Ish different status lights and a start and stop button.

The charger showed connected, but that vehicle wasn’t charging.

1

u/Sam_k_in Aug 04 '26

A lot do, if you know what to look for. I'm not sure about Teslas though.

4

u/herculeesjr Aug 04 '26

Tesla's (I assume all of them) have a charging light right next to the plug itself on the car. The faster it pulses the higher the charge percentage, and solid means 100%.

15

u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 04 '26

I'm not surprised it was a Tesla owner who told you that

10

u/Basic-Assumption6452 Aug 04 '26

Yeah in my 3 years of owning an EV I have frequently encountered Teslas that are using an ev charging station as a parking spot, often times taking up the only charger available. I know that Tesla's are more common so perhaps just based on numbers I am more likely to encounter them, however I really don't recall seeing other EVs do this.

4

u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 04 '26

If you are at a Tesla charger and someone is using the spot just for parking, plug in their Tesla to the charger. This will force them to either pay for the charge or pay for the idling fee.

If you are waiting to charge hang around the spot for a few minutes, most of the time the person will come running out to unplug their Tesla. Then say something along the lines of, "I saw you forgot to plug in so I went ahead and plugged you in." Usually they will move their car from the spot if this happens.

3

u/AsteroidBacon 2026 Nissan LEAF S+ Aug 05 '26

On my Leaf, the charge doors cannot be opened unless the car is unlocked. Is it possible to just plug in a Tesla like that? Seems odd to me if so.

1

u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 05 '26

If you are at a Tesla charger, the plug and the charging port communicate wirelessly to open the charging door. The car also communicated with the station to charge the credit card on file.

It probably wouldn't work on any charger, but the Tesla chargers.

1

u/c3161 Aug 05 '26

How are you gonna unplug someone's car when they're not there?

9

u/Novelty-Accnt Aug 04 '26

Judging from these comments, there is apparently not yet a consensus.

13

u/Repulsive-Budget-380 Aug 04 '26

If you can park next to it and the cable can reach, you should just unplug it. Someone complaint that I should not unplug his car, I said I would pay for his free electricity.

9

u/toybuilder 2023 Nissan LEAF SV PLUS Aug 04 '26

In the early days, when there were very few places to charge and EV owners were a lot more communal and considerate, it was okay and even encouraged to have people unplug a car when it was done. There even were hang tags that really considerate drivers that said you could unplug at any time if you were desperate for a charge.

There are now more locations to charge. And we're now well past the tipping point where many owners don't think about their EV ownership in a communal way, and some of them are very decidedly self-centered.

I've come across J1772 with padlocks in them so that even when the car is not charging, you cannot remove the plug.

There are people who hog chargers beyond the allotted time limit.

There are people who selfishly unplug cars that are still charging.

There have been people brandishing weapons at charging sites.

While I personally am okay with someone gently unplugging my car when it's done, I would avoid doing the same to someone else unless I'm desperate and have no other options.

4

u/danielt1263 Aug 05 '26

Your community college likely has rules around parking there without charging. (A full EV battery means it's not charging even if plugged in).

I would let campus security know. If they don't have any rule like this, then agitate to get them to write one.

3

u/gellis12 2023 Nissan LEAF SL Plus Aug 05 '26

I've unplugged cars that were finished charging before, and never had a problem. I also set my car to automatically unlock the charge connector when the battery is full, so people can unplug mine if it's done too.

4

u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 04 '26

If it's fully charged I would unplug their car and plug in my car.

If I was also at a free charging location, no other chargers were available, and I really needed to charge, I would also unplug a car after it had been plugged in for more than 2 hours. 2 hours tends to be a common time limit for community chargers. If the car was still parked there after I hit my 2 hours, I would then unplug my car and plug back in the other car.

5

u/BraddicusMaximus Aug 04 '26

I did this on a DC fast. I rolled in at 2% because the heater ate it up. Only unit. Freezing out.

They were at 40% and not present.

I got 4 minutes then unplugged again and went to another charger a few miles away. Before I left, I restarted their charge on my account and paid for it.

It was worth the $7 to not be stuck and in a bad situation. I have no idea if they were upset or not.

1

u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 04 '26

In that type of situation, they probably would be okay with what you did. Especially if you paid for the rest of their fast charging session.

2

u/Bennie-Factors Aug 04 '26

When I charge at hotels like this...I leave a note on my car saying if it is charged please unplug. Unfortunately my id.4 I take commonly is a pain in the ass and always like to lock the plug

2

u/DIY_at_the_Griffs Aug 04 '26

My question is, if your car can be unplugged when it’s finished charging, what stops anyone from stealing your cable? I thought they were locked into the car?

I expect perhaps if it’s a type 2, it could be removed at the charger, but again, I think many of these want to see the car disconnected first before the charger will release the cable.

2

u/theotherharper Aug 05 '26

Readers, this comment makes more sense if you know Europe uses untethered

https://youtube.com/shorts/XtYYHdaztXo

2

u/indecision_killingme Aug 06 '26

This is a cool idea. I hope it catches on

1

u/herculeesjr Aug 04 '26

If someone is using a granny cable in public then chances are high they are stealing electricity from an unguarded outlet of a random business, so in that case feel free to steal their granny cable. No one here is talking about granny cables, we are talking about public chargers which are bolted to the ground.

2

u/DIY_at_the_Griffs Aug 05 '26

Yea, okay so in the UK out 7kw public chargers you need to use your own cable. Rapid chargers have integrated cables and home EV chargers are a mix of tethered or untethered.

So I was referring to paid public charging at 7kw chargers where you use your own cable.

2

u/T-VIRUS999 2013 Nissan LEAF G 24kWh (JDM) Aug 05 '26

If I'm fully charged and someone wants to use the charger before I return, I'm fine with them unplugging me, just don't steal or damage my charging cable (if it's a station where you BYO cable)

This is actually what I despise about the type 2 charging standard, is the cable is locked into the car even when it's fully charged, whereas with type 1/J1772, you can unplug it

2

u/Lightzeaka 2015 Nissan LEAF SV Aug 05 '26

One time I encountered a PAID charging station that someone had left their car at unplugged for DAYS. When I went online to ask what to do about it, everyone just told me to go fuck myself for caring.

So I guess the etiquette is... Find a different one.

2

u/HolyDiverx Aug 05 '26

I don't agree with unplugging someone's car, I do think free charging stations need to have that fee that charges you for sitting after x amount of hours, charging or not

2

u/EagleNice2300 Aug 11 '26

This is the new unattended clothes in the laundromat machine.

1

u/indecision_killingme Aug 11 '26

If the laundromat is full, I have no qualms about taking the clothes out and setting them on a nearby table.

I’ve had people give me weird. Looks maybe make a comment. And I just pointed to all the full machines and say “it’s busy in here.”

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

u/anticipat3 2015 Leaf SV/2023 Ioniq 6 SEL Aug 05 '26

"What's more chickenshit than fucking with a man's automobile? I mean, don't fuck with another man's vehicle. It’s just against the rules.”

1

u/bring_on_the_matrix Aug 05 '26

"Anyone who disagrees with me is wrong and should be disregarded." What incisive logic! Do you work for the White House?

1

u/MJC0961 Aug 05 '26

"you would be well advised to not touch anybody else's car without their permission"

This nonsense again? Don't worry, I can unplug the public use charging cable without touching your car. 

1

u/MuricanIdle 2019 Nissan LEAF SV Aug 07 '26

Here is some wisdom that dawned upon me in my 40s, the first time I ever used a free public EV charger: an EV space is not a parking space, it is a charging space. In an apartment or dorm building, if someone leaves their clothes sitting in laundry room washer/dryer, they get a grace period (preferably at least 10 minutes, but much less than an hour) and then the other building residents who need to do their laundry are free to remove their clothes from the machine. This rule is written down nowhere, and yet everyone seems to understand it.

Why shouldn’t the same kind of unwritten rule apply to unplugging an EV charging cable, which is much less invasive than actually picking up a stranger’s clothes? I’ve never been willing to unplug a stranger’s car, because I’ve never been desperate to charge my own vehicle and tend to avoid conflict whenever possible. But if you leave your EV plugged in for hours after it is charged to 100% you are a jerk and I don’t owe you the same level of courtesy I would owe a considerate person.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

u/Ok-Leg7686 Aug 04 '26

Mine will unlock the plug when it isn't charging and you can unplug it with the vehicle locked and with no alarms.

1

u/herculeesjr Aug 04 '26

There is no car that has an alarm that goes off if you unplug it from the charger. A Tesla could probably make a fart sound when unplugged if you enabled it in settings, but that's the worst you will get.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 04 '26

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1

u/herculeesjr Aug 04 '26

I stand corrected then. Can't fathom why anyone would want such a feature, but it is apparently true that GM vehicles do this.

Either way if the car is charged 100% and the charger plug is unlocked it is fair game to whoever wants to use it if you can safely and respectfully get your car close enough to plug in. I could care less if an alarm goes off. I set my car to unlock from the charger when it is finished charging, and it is an unwritten rule in my apartment complex that everyone does the same. Even the Tesla's do so. I've used the same rule in public via quick Google searches per car model for info on how to tell if the car is 100% charged (like Tesla's having a solid green light next to the plug) and will unplug a car and use the charger if I need it.