Charging Station Etiquette

If you use Plug share or any of the other plug locating apps, all kinds of locations are listed- mostly hotels and other car dealers. By my house in PA, the closest stations are BMW, Ford, Volvo and Nissan dealers, as well as Marriott hotels.

We plugged in at a Marriott using their charge point station. I had every intention of paying for it, but it turned out to be free. I was not a hotel guest. And, shouldn't the station be left open for actual guests?

I couldn't fathom going to a Nissan dealer or the like and asking to plug in. For us, we can use gas so it's not a big deal. But, what if you have a purely electric vehicle?!? The Toyota app lists locations without the type of business, just an address.

I don't want to "steal"someone's electricity. It's a weird thing. What do you think?

 

I think I need to be male to be a mensch...I need to brush up on my Yiddish, oy.

 

Hah. For the literal meaning of that, you absolutely have to be male.

Are you channeling my Nana?!?

 

The one we charged at for free was in Lancaster, PA. The Marriott by my house in NY charges .25/kwh, whatever that means (as far as, I don't know how much it would cost compared to the $1 worth of gas that will also get you 25 miles).

 

(I have this plug in car, and nowhere to plug it in at our house, since the previous owners of our house converted the garage to another living room-that we don't use. In PA, the garage has my vette and motorcycles and I won't leave the vette on the street, so that's that. I need to find an electrician to get an outside outlet)

 

The other location near my house in NY charges a set fee of $3 and then .29/kwh. At my job, the local charger is $2.57/hr and you need special permits to park there (the charger is at a nearby train station).

 

I was thinking about that. In PA, my Challenger is next to the garage, I won't leave that on the street either. People drive like maniacs on the narrow streets. In NY, I'm worried about running a cord out of a window etc, as a security issue. So, it's public chargers at the moment.

The Nissan dealer (all dealers, actually) listed in PA is closed on Sundays and the chargers were out in the open. I felt it would be like stealing to plug in at a place like that, maybe put money under the door? Who knows. And, I felt like we were completely trespassing. Something felt wrong about the whole situation.

 

The one at the Marriott in PA was Charge point. It's near (.6 miles) from Costco. There's a Hampton Inn that's even closer, .4 miles, both use charge point, but are free. I think that the stations should be for hotel guests though, so the whole thing was weird.

We parked at the Marriott and went to Costco. I ran back (literally), got the car, and picked up my husband at Costco.

Has anyone considered the health benefits of owning this car?

 

I suddenly think everywhere we go should have a charger! That never entered my mind before this.