So the lock is on the cable when it is charging? Or is it that the vehicle has a lock that only engages during charging?
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Who has or is planning to get an electric car / EV Talk
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So the lock is on the cable when it is charging? Or is it that the vehicle has a lock that only engages during charging?
What I was trying to get to is the universe of people who can’t control their cars is not limited to fast EVs. It’s unfortunately truck drivers, big ICE and slow ICE vehicles both large an small. A good driver will control their vehicle (as much as one can given stuff happens). It’s the old expression - “a bad driver never misses their exit”.
I know I am speaking antidotally, but in the Long Island NY area there are TONS of Tesla/EVs. When I see accident, it’s almost always someone else hitting the EV.
To be fair, most of the time we have slow moving traffic lol. But the times I see someone flying by, it’s almost always an ICE.
I was rear ended in my TM3 LR, it was $13k worth of vehicle damage. The dashcam footage was sent to the insurance company. Clearly showed the other drivers failure.
I know fast cars exist beyond EV's, I just worry that even the cheapest EV's have acceleration capabilities far beyond cheap ICE vehicles that people may be used to. A kia Niro is faster than a Fiesta ST and I think people are in for a bit of a shock when they transition.
Just my thoughts though, not a debate as such.
Same arund where I live, but there are very few EV's apart from Tesla's. Its very common to have people racing and its always young lads in ICE vehicles. Road deaths are disproportionately high in my part of Wales across the Valleys.
We had a Tesla Model 3 crash near us last summer when it lost it off a roundabout, which was part of what made me think about this. There are still bits of it under the hedges as it was completely written off.
While speed could certainly contribute to accidents I think the downfall of driving over the last 20 years is twofold:
1) Entitlement/Selfishness/Self Importance - most view their time as more valuable than others. People no longer wait until they get up to speed to merge onto the highway, they just jump in at 30mph and then get mad when you honk at them. There is next to no courtesy on the road. Unfortunately I put between 30-35k on my car a year for work so I live it almost every day.
2) Phones - if you don't already, and please use caution, check your mirrors and see how often people are looking down or visibly have their phones in their hand. I am not one for regulations but I would be ok with phones having extremely limited functionality (calls or carplay only) while in motion which would be fairly easy to do with the GPS. Obviously we would need to figure out trains and busses but I think phone free driving would be a gift to the world. And before anyone asks, yes I am guilty of this too.
1) Entitlement/Selfishness/Self Importance - most view their time as more valuable than others. People no longer wait until they get up to speed to merge onto the highway, they just jump in at 30mph and then get mad when you honk at them. There is next to no courtesy on the road. Unfortunately I put between 30-35k on my car a year for work so I live it almost every day.
2) Phones - if you don't already, and please use caution, check your mirrors and see how often people are looking down or visibly have their phones in their hand. I am not one for regulations but I would be ok with phones having extremely limited functionality (calls or carplay only) while in motion which would be fairly easy to do with the GPS. Obviously we would need to figure out trains and busses but I think phone free driving would be a gift to the world. And before anyone asks, yes I am guilty of this too.
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Some J1772 EVSE have hold for locking the trigger, which may lock the EVSE to the vehicle.
0-20 is pretty fast in almost every EV. After that, ehhhh. haha. Our Volt hit 20 pretty quick then falls flat on it's face, which seems like the case for most inexpensive EV's. Along with very conservative pedal maps.
I also think a big part is that vehicles are much better at maintaining control, until it exceeds its traction control vs tire traction abilities. This is MUCH later than cars even a decade ago. It gives everyone a false sense of security right at that tipping point. Then went it let’s go, it does so spectacularly…
Yes, my J1772 does have a small slot where you can put a small padlock to prevent unintentional disconnection.
But the CCS chargers do not lock into all vehicles unless it's a Hyundai, Mercedes, VW, and Audi which will only unlock once the driver releases it.
My Ford will unlock as soon as you press on the charger disconnect button next to the charge inlet.
I would prefer to have my Ford EV not stop charging and unlock unless I am there with a keyfob or my phone (PAAK) nearby.
my Bolt EUV does not lock and I'm ok with that, never had an issue.
I once was at a hotel with free L2 chargers and at night all spots were taken incl a BMW PHEV plugged in. When I got up in the morning, early like around 6, I saw an empty spot next to that BMW so went down to get some charge, but no, the BMW has a lock that didn't release when I tried to, and clearly the car was done charging. That quite frankly sucks and shouldn't happen, charger should unlock after charge complete ...
I understand that frustration, but the BMW should have moved his car once it was fully charged.
The problem with being able to move the cable when it’s finished is the person going to scratch your car, put your plug cover back correctly etc?
I really don’t want a stranger involved on that on my car.
Definitely not a smart move handling my car without permission. Sure it may be rude but come on it is a destination chargers; finders keepers for those.
If you are on top of things and will come out and move your car when the charging is done, then cool. But if the car has been done charging for an extended time and there are no other charging cables available, it should be perfectly legit to unplug them and use the charger. If they don't want that to happen, they should manage their charing sessions better. Squatting on a charger is rude. Of course you don't want to damage their car, but that is not likely from just the everyday unplug action.
sure, I can relate somewhat, at the same time, in Oregon and New Jersey you are still not allowed to fuel your car yourself at a gas station, not sure there are many complaints about scratching ... and you certainly leave your car to strangers when you bring it into service, get new tires etc ...
for me, a car is a tool, no more. it gets scratches, dings ... life goes on
I think some here may be exaggerating the risk of scratches and dings from unplugging a charger. You would have to be very unskilled and clumsy to damage a cart from unplugging a J1772 plug.
The difference with a service station or garage though is you are paying for a service. Some random just comes and unplugs your car? No thanks. Never had anyone fill up my car here in the UK. I don't think I've ever seen that as an option in all my decades of driving, but I get the US is quite different.
Absolutely you would be very unlikely to. Just my point is it wouldn't even be an issue if you manage your charging better.
When the phone app tells you its done, you move it on. With a destination charger I appreciate that could be in the middle of the night. But in those circumstances I just get up early and move my car (unless there are plenty of chargers available of course).
back in the days, I think to at least ti; the late 70s/early 80s, in mainland Europe, there were specially marked "full service" gas stations, they charged higher prices (like 5-10 cents per liter if memory serves), cleaned your windshield, checked your oil etc ... and I remember on a biz trip to NJ, I needed to fill up, pulled into the gas station and just did what I always do and got yelled at
. I't only NJ and OR Oh it’s very likely. And even more so, at a destination charger it is my cable. The whole point of destination chargers is that you don’t manage it quickly. You park it, leave it whilst out for dinner or in the car park, or sleeping in the hotel etc. Fast charger, totally different story. Anyway the way cables are can cause serious damage to paintwork or wraps if not handled correctly. I’ve even caught people (typically minicar drivers) on purpose hitting the emergency button to try and unlock them, or pull hard.
People should leave other peoples property alone and not touch it.
Have you ever met other people? Plenty of clumsy people about. Gets even worse when they are water cooled cabled for an ultra fast charger. Granted that is not typically a destination charger but I’ve had people trying to stop and get the cable out so they can charge.
so if/when you pull up into a hotel, and all the chargers are being used, and 1 or 2 are done charging already, you're ok with that when you'd prefer charging overnight vs having to stop at a fast charger the next morning? ok, that's fine.
But, "at a destination charger it is my cable" is an odd sense of entitlement in my opinion, but whatever works for you.
well, vandalism can and does happen almost everywhere unfortunately, with ICE and EVs involved ...
The lock on the L1/L2 AC charger is on the charger handle. See picture below.
CCS or Tesla or CHAdeMO DC fast charging are public and do not have the provision to lock it. The lock depends on the vehicle's capture socket - some brands have automatic locking while charging and others like my Ford EV does not.
The lock on the L1/L2 AC charger is on the charger handle. See picture below.
CCS or Tesla or CHAdeMO DC fast charging are public and do not have the provision to lock it. The lock depends on the vehicle's capture socket - some brands have automatic locking while charging and others like my Ford EV does not.
![charge-lock-jpg.1003059]()
What I didn’t understand was the point that was mentioned that it locked when charging, but wasn't when finished. It didn’t make sense to me that the lock wasn't tied to the door locks.
I thought it was a requirement for all DC charging to have locks, it’s too dangerous to have that kind of Amps just dangling there, someone could trip over the cable and create a problem.
Often the destination chargers are untethered. So you literally have to use your own cable. If that was able to be detached once it was finished charging then it could easily be stolen.