Furious and ignorant Nissan Leaf driver

Given the lack of advertising for the Prius Plug-in, I am not surprised that the Leaf driver did not know about it.

 

(I am actually a Leaf enthusiast and plan to lease one.)
OP, it looks like you crossed paths with My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - ICED - Images of Offending Vehicles Board of Shame.

First off, were you actually charging when he showed up? If no, you were breaking the law (see California AB 475). AFAIK, you must be actively charging to be in such as spot. See My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - CA AB475 requires connection to the EVSE to avoid cite/tow. Yeah yeah, I think it's dumb as it prevents people from sharing EVSEs (unplugging car that's done charging to be moved over to another) and also can cause problems if jerks unplug EVs. See Why We're Asking the Governor to Veto AB 475 | Plug In America.

Second, was there actually a J1772 charging station (w/J1772 handle) accessible from that spot? If no, you were in the wrong. That post mentioned and shows a DCQC (which is CHAdeMO). If there was only CHAdeMO, you were DEFINITELY in the wrong. No shipping Toyota EV/PHEV has a CHAdeMO port.

Edit: also ok would've been the presence of a 120 volt outlet in reach and the OP plugged into it.

 

There are too many squatters out there. For example, if someone goes to work early and took up a charging station for his car, do you really think that he will leave his office and move his car after 3 hours? Most likely, he'll leave his car there for the entire day unless someone forced him to move.

I see a company in my area that installed charging stations but they are mostly occupied by company cars.

 

So, the leaf owner posted this event On the mynissanleaf site... He said you were parked in a 440v chademo quick charger spot.. Only the LEAf supports that charging... I wish I could find that post... Can you confirm the charging location you were at? Also, it sounds like you were in a parking spot dedicated for charging Ev's...not merely reserved for Ev vehicles.. As a pip owner, it would be just as annoying to not be able to charge my own car bc someone took a charging spot just for convenience vs charging their car.

 

This is why many EV drivers are in favor of charging station owners continuing to bill even when charging's complete but the car is still attached, or collect more MORE $ (vs. actively charging) for a car that's completed charging but still attached. That will force people to move.

My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - ICED - Images of Offending Vehicles Board of Shame

 

I agree 100%.


The op should look in the mirror regarding his 'ignorant' comment

 

If true, the situation is totally different. Total communication breakdown.

 

From the information I got from youtube, the NG would be in compressed form, not liquid. The car owner would need to buy a special pump that could compress the NG into the tank at very high PSI. I think it needs to be 3000psi. The NG conversion kit will allow you to run on NG or just regular gas by just flipping a switch.

 

Dude! You were parked in front of a DC Quick Charger, that your car can't even use to charge. If you'd been parked there all day you would have stopped any number of LEAF owners from reaching their destinations. Jackass.

 

I have heard of people shooting other drivers on the freeways, can't wait to hear shooting at charging stations.

 

The OP did say in the post"I went to drive away my PIP after charging, a black Leaf was charging next to me."
So he is charging and the picture in the MNL clearly shows his PIP is backed in for charging.
Unless he is lying, he should be legal to park there.

​

 

I think the Leaf driver very much knew that OP's car was hybrid. But I think he expected special treatment since the Leaf's only source of "fuel" it electricity. Since a hybrid car has another choice he feels EV cars should be the only ones to use charging stations marked, "electric car only".

The reality is, if charging only took 5 minutes or less, like filling a tank with gas, then there wouldn't be an issue. Until charging can be done in less then 5 minutes, from empty to full, this will be a continuing issue. Think of the number of gas stations in the world, which are capable of a 5 minute fill up. Now replace that infrastructure with Electric Stations with enough ports to equate to the number of gas pumps. If we use a typical 1 hour charge time we would need 12 times more charging stations than fuel pumps! There are already too many gas stations. The only way I can see it happening is if majority of parking lots install charging stations similar to parking meters. That way when a person parks at work or at a store they can put money in the meter to charge while the car is parked. The option I was thinking about would be a mobile service that comes to your car and charges it in the parking lot while you work, shop or otherwise are away from your vehicle.

 

Electric Charging Station Etiquette for Plug-In Cars

 

If this is the same incident with a photo posted on the LEAF forum, the PIP is parked directly in front of a Blink branded DC Fast Charging CHAdeMO station. Only LEAFs and IMievs have these optional charging ports. (PIPs, Volts, Focus EVs, RAVEVs, FitEVs, TESLAs, etc... without this port cannot utitlize CHAdeMO stations).

It is important not to block the two spaces in front of the BLINK fast charging station if your car is not using/can not use the ports as DCFCs are too few and far between! These stations are very expensive to install and maintain, so the existing functioning ones are well appreciated and relied upon by EV daily drivers and especially by EV drivers having longer trips. In comparison, there are many, many, many more standard L2 J1772 charging stations.

It might not seem to be a big deal as there are two spaces. But sometimes one charging cord is not operable for whatever reason. The heavy, wieldy, handle and short cord for the other space will not reach the opposite parking space. If a car was parked in the other spot, not using the charging cord, that would deny a very important resource dependent on for charging. The other cool reason with these BLINK DCFCs having a second port is that if 2nd LEAF or IMiev pulled up while one car was already charging, they can plug in their car and upon completion of the 1st car, the 2nd car's charging will automatically start. Makes charging more efficient! If you're not using one of the charging cords and think... I'll just park here about 5-10 mins (and end up there closer to 20), a fast charge at that station can bring a car from 0% to 80% state of charge in 20-30mins... so blocking that space for even a small amount of time can make a huge impact. Some people use fast charging stations for 10-15mins.

Many times, there will be nearby BLINK J1772 L2 charging stations installed near a BLINK DCFC. In the picture referred to above, I cannot tell if that is so. If there was one/some, any EV using the J1772 charging should be parked in front of that J1772 station and definitely not use the fast charging spaces.

It is exciting that there are many choices of EVs now and coming and the adoption rate of EVs have been ramping up so quickly. But, the charging infrastructure, learning curves and plain old common sense and etiquette needs to keep up!

 

Exactly! I'm still waiting to hear whether or not there were any J1772 EVSEs (or other reachable compatible outlet e.g. 120 volt outlet) accessible from spot the OP was parked in. If no, he committed two wrongs: breaking CA law by not actively charging, and blocking a spot for a charger (yes, the huge unit in this the case of CHAdeMO is a charger) that he can't even use.

For those who don't know, to be clear, this is what a CHAdeMO plug looks like.
My Nissan Leaf Forum • View topic - Quick Charging comes to Southern California
File:Nissan Leaf in Prague - Charging Sockets.JPG - Wikimedia Commons shows the CHAdeMO inlet on the left and the J1772 inlet on the right. The PiP, Volt, Rav4 EV, FFE, etc. only have J1772.

The only shipping cars in the US that can have CHAdeMO currently are the Leaf and i-Miev. There is a Zero electric motorcycle that can have it as well.

 

I see two EV parking spaces in front of a DC Quick Charger. Unless there is a L2 charger out of shot but within reach of his car, there is no Prius on earth that can use the charging station he's parked at.

 

I can understand from Leaf owner's perspective. It'll be like a no-plug car parked at a L2 charging spot - PiP unable to use the charger.

In defense of the PiP owner, Leaf owners shouldn't call PiP a hybrid. It is a plugin hybrid. The missing "plugin" made a whole difference in how the conversation went down.

 

Oh, that wont be for a while. You'll first hear stories of how a Leaf owner came back to his car and it was all key'ed up by an angry PHEV owner. Then you'll hear stories about how PHEV owners had THEIR car key'ed AND their windows smashed while it was in a charging spot. After that, then you may hear stories of physical violence.

 

It sounds like (after reading both accounts) that there was over-reaction due to education that made the conversation break down rapidly. It's hard to be educated on what every phev, bev, etc refueling standard there is out there but one thing we can do is know what 'we' can and can't use. A Prius plugin can use gas, 120/240v outlet (evse dependent), and j1772 so if you're not actively using these, don't be parked in that spot. A Leaf can use 120/240v outlet (evse dependent), J1772, and CHAdeMO (if quick charge equipped) so if you're not actively using these, don't be there. Tesla has it's charging standard so don't be parked in a super charging station in your Prius or Leaf.

The last thing we need to do is war with each other because we aren't considerate of our 'cousins' charging needs.

 

OK, my two cents: apart from education about slightly different technology applications, I notice that the conversation as reported started with Emotion, and continued with Emotion (never shifted from the emotional plane to the rational plane). IMHO, whatever the observed facts, there is a choice in any and every conversation: to remain on an emotional plane, or to start there and then transition to a rational plane. The emotional plane has been recognized academically as a necessary conversational phase before we humans can approach a shift to the rational plane (see Harvard studies by Chris Argyris). Successful conversations in, say, business, have to reach the rational phase to be successful however, they do not get there by themselves. It takes both participants to a conversation to, 1st, develop some sort of an acceptable emotional bond, and then and only then to both agree to examine the business at hand as a team. Of note, studies indicate that most conversations start on the emotional plane and never, ever leave it. Witness all the conversations where we as teens and our clueless parents had talked past each other almost every evening - right? Well, per the OP's posts, the two drivers' choices to learn from each other couldn't be acknowledged until and unless the emotional acknowledgments of the other's position had been exchanged beforehand. Not that this is easy to do...