EV Etiquette: Six tips on how to be a good EV charging citizen – EQ Mag
Electric vehicles have been quietly and rapidly expanding in number around the world, and after a very slow start are starting to accelerate in Australia.
But it is already clear we are reaching the point that enough of them are around now to need some ground rules for sharing charging facilities. After all, when it comes to new social settings (and technologies), some commonly accepted norms need to evolve to smooth the inevitable friction of how to share that common space and infrastructure.
The same applies to the new paradigm of EV charging … just as it would have done in relation to feeding and watering horses at the local hostelry.
Below is a collection of six common etiquette rules that have evolved in countries where the EV transition is further up the adoption curve than here. Feel free to add others that you have seen in action in the comments section.
1. Sharing DC chargers
As the EV fleet expands exponentially rather than in a nice linear fashion, it is inevitable there will be times that DC charger networks find it hard to keep up with demand to install enough chargers. (A situation not helped in Australia’s by the electricity networks having very slow response times for approving, let alone making, a new connection).
As a result, the fits and starts of the DC network expanding to meet customer demand will occasionally get out of sync with EV sales until we reach saturation for both.
Currently, on some busy weekends overseas (and more recently even here) queues of waiting EVs can start to form at the most popular DC fast-charger sites. (Often due here to faulty chargers – more on that topic in a following article).
Without careful thought and regard for others, these sites may become clogged and waiting lines develop, slowing trip times and creating frustration with EV tech generally. A few simple rules do help to reduce this though.
i. First up, only use DC fast-chargers if you really need to. When leaving home for a long drive, charge to 100% overnight as most times that’ll get you to the destination without needing a DC charge at all. Remember, DC chargers are not a direct petrol station replacement. On average, 80 to 90% of the time, you don’t need to go there!
ii. Charge to 80% (or less) if at all possible. For technical reasons, DC charging speeds ramp down significantly after reaching 80 to 90%. This results in the DC charging time from 80 – 100% being roughly equivalent to the 0 – 80% time. Plus it saves you time to only get what you need and do an AC charge at your destination.
iii. If you only need another 100 km range to get you to your destination – add only the contingency for what you need to get back to the nearest DC charger to your stop and do the rest via an AC charge overnight. Remember: most cars sit parked for over 95% of the time: use that time wisely and charge when the time doesn’t matter to you rather than hold up others waiting for the last electron to reach 100% charged.
iv. If you don’t have access to home charging (for instance flat dwelling EV owners) charge at less busy times. By the way: it is likely as DC charging networks evolve that their pricing will reflect peak and off-peak times.
2. Can you unplug another car to get your charge?
This one relates more to AC chargers as they commonly lock into the car until the owner releases it. Even at DC chargers though, TheDriven has reported on squatters with 100% charged cars with no one within cooee of the car.
However, without knowledge of the owner’s intentions or knowing the correct disconnection procedure for a particular EV, you can damage the vehicle charging socket by attempting to disconnect a charging lead, let alone the potential for creating ill feeling between you and the EV owner for meddling with their property without permission.
If it is really urgent – find a power point and use the emergency EVSE that comes with the car until the charger becomes available.
On the other side of the coin – do your best to help others in these early days where there are limited public EVSEs. If you are using a public DC or AC charger – you have a couple of options to alert other users of your charging intentions:
i. Leave a note on your car. This may be as simple as ‘I am at the café across the road’ or ‘if you need this charger urgently, call 04XX YYY ZZZ’
Source: thedriven
