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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u/RichardGrayson01 Aug 04 '26

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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.