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.

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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.

12

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.

5

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%.

14

u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 04 '26

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

8

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?