[Barry]

This is a great way to protect EV charging spots. You are supposed to call security, and they send someone to unlock and collapse one of the gates for you. This took about 4 minutes for me today. This is at an outlet mall in North Carolina. They used to have a terrible time with ICEing. I had never seen this before. On Saturday, there was still one spot iced because as soon as an EV pulls out, someone can pull in before security raises the gate. Also, some of the gate locks are broken, so anyone can easily lower those by hand and ICE the spot anyway, if they know.

[not my picture, pulled from PlugShare]

 

[obermd]

You know, for paid EV charging this could be a good way to prevent ICEing and pseudi-ICEing (EV parked but not plugged in). Have the charging system lower the gate after the driver activates the charging system.

 

[Upper5Percent]

Actually...forget the gate, go with tire spikes that lower after you activate the charging system and are immediately re-engaged when you plug in...when you leave, you back over the one-way spikes which are now ready for the next ICE vehicle trying to sneak in...
http://www.secure-lane.com/Traffic-Spikes.html

 

[DaveG]

The best way would be for local municipalities to issue parking tickets.

 

[llninja]

All of these require money, labor, or extra hassles. When I pull up into a spot, I don't want to wait to use it. If the original signs had a $300 fine for icing it could be just as effective.

 

[Barry]

You know, for paid EV charging this could be a good way to prevent ICEing and pseudi-ICEing (EV parked but not plugged in). Have the charging system lower the gate after the driver activates the charging system.

This particular location is free charging, but it is a ChargePoint EVSE that requires an access card to activate (or other method, such as the app or a phone call). That same access event could theoretically be used to lower the gate. The main problem is: what is the cost of an automated gate like that? It is a shame that a station owner would not only have to pay for the charging infrastructure and electricity, but also the security system to prevent iceing. The advantage of ticketing or towing is that then only the offender is paying the cost of enforcement.

As for spikes, that would be effective, but there would inevitably be rare occasions when people fail to notice the signs and actually hit the spikes. Then the shopping center manager has an irate customer to deal with, possibly the threat of a law suit, bad PR, and someone mad enough to vandalize EVs. I don't think a center owner would want to open up that possibility.

 

[Raymondjram]

The best way would be for local municipalities to issue parking tickets.

Some local laws allow for private security to punish special parking violators with a wheel clamp or immobilizer. The violators cannot move their cars out, so they must visit the security office, pay a big fine, and wait until a guard comes out to release the wheel clamp. The loss of time and money (which pays for the clamps and security payroll) is a working method in many universities where students bring in their cars and take up limited and preassigned faculty spaces. The violators learn fast!

But I believe that if a business wants to reserve parking spaces with charge stations for EVs, those spaces need to be far from the entrances, under a video camera watch, and have a printed and posted sign warning violators of suffering a fine and immobility (clamp or barrier) or a forced removal (leave a tow truck parked nearby). City and state legislation must help!

 

[Barry]

The gates above are probably not much more than a foot tall. I wonder if a truck with a really high lift could drive over them. I am sure the owner of such a truck would delight in parking over the gate.

 

[rhodomel]

Actually...forget the gate, go with tire spikes that lower after you activate the charging system and are immediately re-engaged when you plug in...when you leave, you back over the one-way spikes which are now ready for the next ICE vehicle trying to sneak in...
http://www.secure-lane.com/Traffic-Spikes.html

What if there's a blackout and you're parked there?

 

[llninja]

The gates above are probably not much more than a foot tall. I wonder if a truck with a really high lift could drive over them. I am sure the owner of such a truck would delight in parking over the gate.

In addition to the lift kit, this trucker also needs to be a coal roller.

 

[Barry]

What if there's a blackout and you're parked there?

When exiting the parking space, the spikes harmlessly drop down under the weight of the vehicle. They are dangerous only in one direction (entering the parking space).

 

[Dutch]

I think the simplest answer is to have a post (with the chargers mounted) that senses a vehicle in the space.
if the vehicle isn't hooked up to the charger...have a strobe on top that starts flashing after a reasonable interval (say 5 minutes).
Ticket and/or tow the offending vehicle.

People will get the message pretty quickly even with just a small fine. In fact a "nuisance" fine like $20 might even be more effective because it would waste the offender's time.

 

[obermd]

I think the simplest answer is to have a post (with the chargers mounted) that senses a vehicle in the space.
if the vehicle isn't hooked up to the charger...have a strobe on top that starts flashing after a reasonable interval (say 5 minutes).
Ticket and/or tow the offending vehicle.

People will get the message pretty quickly even with just a small fine. In fact a "nuisance" fine like $20 might even be more effective because it would waste the offender's time.

As long as that fine is tied to the vehicle's registration - pay it or be unable to register the car again. Otherwise it'll never get paid.

 

[Dutch]

As long as that fine is tied to the vehicle's registration - pay it or be unable to register the car again. Otherwise it'll never get paid.

Yeah that's what I mean.

 

[telveer]

A simple traffic cone can work. I have seen it deployed in some parking garages and the system appears to work fine. EV owners would simply move the cone to park and plug in their vehicle but an ICE vehicle owner would not risk moving the cone and ICEing the spot.

 

[Barry]

A simple traffic cone can work. I have seen it deployed in some parking garages and the system appears to work fine. EV owners would simply move the cone to park and plug in their vehicle but an ICE vehicle owner would not risk moving the cone and ICEing the spot.

That is an ingeniously simple idea, and inexpensive. Well worth a try.

 

[PodCat]

My solution is simpler: call security and have the ICE car ticketed or towed.
They'll do it.
Spreads the word fast, with no special technology required.

 

[Ron in Omaha]

The gates above are probably not much more than a foot tall. I wonder if a truck with a really high lift could drive over them. I am sure the owner of such a truck would delight in parking over the gate.

I own such a vehicle. The body might be high enough to clear it, but that bar is plenty high enough to smash up the steering arm that runs across the front of the axle. Remember, even 40 inch tires only have a 20 inch radius and the differential hangs down at least 7 inches lower than the axle centerline. You would need HUGE tires to get the axle above that bar. Those barrier bars are highly effective, but probably not the most cost-effective way to solve the problem.

I think the best anti-douchebag tool is a towing and impound bill. Second best is an in-place immobilizer boot with a big fee required to remove it. Just setting a traffic cone in the spot will stop 99% of ICErs and eliminates any claim of ignorance for the other 1% when they are faced with the previously mentioned monetary obstacles. The drawbacks to traffic cones are that it might dissuade EV drivers who think the station is closed and it requires EV drivers to replace the cone when they pull out.

 

[abwx]

This is a great way to protect EV charging spots. You are supposed to call security, and they send someone to unlock and collapse one of the gates for you. This took about 4 minutes for me today. This is at an outlet mall in North Carolina. They used to have a terrible time with ICEing. I had never seen this before. On Saturday, there was still one spot iced because as soon as an EV pulls out, someone can pull in before security raises the gate. Also, some of the gate locks are broken, so anyone can easily lower those by hand and ICE the spot anyway, if they know.


<image removed>
[not my picture, pulled from PlugShare]

I can't read the signs in the image. How many people approaching these spots will be able to read them? What do they say?

A highly legible red-on-white "tow away zone" sign should be on every charging spot, with diagonal pavement stripes, and smaller-print informational signs allowing vehicles to "occupy space" (not "park") while charging.

The majority of charging stations I have visited fail to say "no parking except while charging." Even "EV parking only" isn't enough - if an EV owner is one of those "entitled" folks, they will park there without charging. Does the entire general public really know what "EV" means? "Entitled Visitor"? "Elderly Visitor"?

Call security to access a charger? Only to avoid dying on the road enroute to a more accessible charger.

 

[kdawg]

A simple traffic cone can work. I have seen it deployed in some parking garages and the system appears to work fine. EV owners would simply move the cone to park and plug in their vehicle but an ICE vehicle owner would not risk moving the cone and ICEing the spot.

This is what I was going to post. It's funny how a little plastic cone can be such a deterrent. The trick is make sure EV drivers know they can move the cone (and put it back when they are done). Hopefully we will get to a point where EVs are common place enough that things like this won't be required anymore.