Monthly Archives: April 2015

Boy was I wrong says the USA Today

The other day I posted about how Americans wont be fooled again, buying gas guzzling SUV’s because fuel prices are at a relative historic low, as are wages.

But instead of being proven right I read an article just days later that we are not buying hybrids or high gas milage vehicles but once again the sales of SUV’s are on the rise in the  April 22 USA Today “Earth Day or not, hybrids take a hit”.

The article states that many electric or hybrid owners are less likely to trade their current vehicles in for another hybrid but would get an SUV instead.

The article goes on to say that “For better or worse, it looks like many hybrid and EV owners are driven more by financial motives rather than a responsibility to the environment,” says edmunds.com Director of Industry Analysis.

Although the impact on the environment does have a cost though we choose not to quantify it. It’s an unaccounted for externality that makes the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) Vehicles look cheaper than they actually are.

I question who the sample size or who these vehicle owners are.  Just a look around the streets and highways of Phoenix, Arizona (where I live) you will see lots of hybrids. And many of those are older cars from the first generation Prius as well.

From the looks of things, hybrid owners don’t replace their cars that often. In the last year, as well, I have seen many new model (2014+) hybrids on the road. My mother just bought one, a 2015 Prius V. So in my opinion, any car company that forgoes hybrids and BEV’s or PHEV’s and builds lots of SUV’s is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past that allowed Japanese car makers to take much of the US market share that they retain to this day.

As long as car makers let fuel prices decide what they build instead of sound long term strategies the shortsighted idea of current fuel prices staying low forever will lead car makers off the cliff of bankruptcy over and over.

Efficient cars should lead fuel prices lower instead of low fuel prices leading to cars that consume more fuel which has historically lead to higher fuel prices.

Innovation leads to success. Henry Ford was an auto industry innovator. Maybe the last one. Why? Because many of the innovations of the auto industry in the last 50 years were forced on them by regulation. Seat Belts, MPG requirements just to name a couple biggies. For the most part the auto industry is like your grand parents. Dragged into the next century kicking and screaming if they don’t die first.

The article also states that GM has temporarily halted production of the Volt. Well, considering they announced that next year they will have the Volt 2.0 that’s going to be significantly better, who’s going to pay full price for last years technology. They might as well keep dropping the price till the last buyer wants it so cheap it makes more sense to donate them to a charity for the tax break.

People who can pay full price for an iPhone don’t go running out once the timeframe for the new iPhone is near. Which is why Steve Jobs kept the next big thing a big secret till it was ready for sale.

And while car dealers give rebates and incentives on last years model all the time cars like the Volt will be much more sensitive to new model announcements. Many of the people buying these cars want the latest and greatest tech. This will also become more common on all cars as things like blind spot monitoring, adaptive cruise control and a host of many other technologies become more prevalent in cars of all trim levels.

The USA Today article also talks about dismal sales of Plug in Toyota hybrids being down 61%. That might have something to do with the fact that it’s hard to find one on a dealers lot if you don’t live in a CARB State.

Toyota only sold their Rav4 EV in California. Yet I personally know 3 people who bought one and brought it back to Arizona. They love that SUV. Even though it’s sort of a bastardized RAV4.

Honda only sold their Fit EV in AZ for a very short time and then only leased them. And then discontinued making then shortly there after.

I’m not sure car dealers like EV’s much, especially BEV’s as they require so little maintenance. A large profit center for dealers.

When I was car shopping with my mother earlier this year their were no plug in Prius’s to be found in Arizona. How can someone buy one when dealers don’t have them to sell?

And when I went shopping for my Ford Focus Electric (FFE), you couldn’t find any of those in Arizona either. At least  The dealers sold them all 20 minutes after they hit the lot. I had to go to California to buy mine. And the economics made sense. And they still make sense as gas prices are actually 15% higher than the day I bought it. The price of gas would have to go to 70 cents a gallon to equal the price of electricity per mile. And since most of the electricity produced at night is from nuclear the amount of carbon per mile is much lower.

The tags in AZ for the equivalent Ford Focus are $500 for the first year. The cost of the tags for my Focus, $60 for 5 years. Access to the HOV lane. I would say you can’t put a price on that but you actually can. There are people who can no longer get a HOV access plate with a new hybrid car who are leasing plates from prior Prius owners for $1000 per year.

If people are buying SUV’s and trading in their hybrids it has nothing to do with the economics. It has more to do with the emotions.

Hybrids for the most part are pretty boring and very utilitarian. The Toyota Prius does make a great Taxicab though. It has a very large back seat with lots of legroom.

The fact that hybrids are so boring is why Tesla is so successful. Their cars, while quite expensive are actually fun to drive. They don’t handle like a box truck. They aren’t the bottom of the line trim levels. But the VW Golf E, The Kia Soul E and Ford Focus E are actually very nice cars as well and at the top trim levels can be had for less than 30k after the tax credit.

Had Ford not dropped the price of the FFE to 32k and the dealer not also dropped another 2k off the price I would have probably bought a Volkswagen Golf Electric. Another car maker who chose to go top of the line trim instead of bottom of the line trim. Just like the FFE. That’s what swayed me away from the Leaf. In order to have the price make sense the only Leaf would have been the S or bottom trim level.

One other thing car makers need to do, not just in their EV vehicles but all vehicles is stop selling expensive Nav packages with old useless tech. Almost everybody today has a smartphone. All they need to do is put the necessary interfaces for people to use their smartphones. At least Tesla chose to make their tech an improvement on current display tech vs using 3 or 4 year old tech in the average new car.

Like 15 or 20 years ago nobody new they wanted let alone needed a smartphone and that they would become as ubiquitous as watches were just 20-70 years ago. In 10-20 years the Electric Vehicle that primarily drives itself, will be the new iPhone. All it takes is some leadership and vision from an industry that has a dismal track record of predicting the future.

Elon Musk will be seen as the next Steve Jobs but just like Apple it took companies like Google, Samsung and LG to join in on the road to the future we now know. Maybe it’s time those companies take their huge stockpiles of cash and start building cars while the current car companies fade into the sunset and stop perpetuating the myth that bring hydrocarbons is good for the planet.

While GM got it’s bailout, like Chrysler before it, this will probably not be the last time we see a big automaker in need of a financial lifeline. It’s time they stopped being pretending to be experts. The last thing they need to do is build the next Hummer. If they can’t lead they need to follow or just get the hell out of the way.

This time if we support innovators with the bailout money instead we can transform our society into the future sooner rather than later.

Don’t let low gas prices cloud your judgement.

I was born in the 60’s. When I was 13, I wrote a report  for my eighth grade class on how to invest in the stock market. I was a budding young republican just like Alex Keaton (Michael J. Fox) on Family Ties.

In my report I chose to invest in a company called Tyco Labs. Why? Because they had this budding new technology that was going to free us from the strangle hold that Middle East Oil and the damage price spikes created by OPEC were doing to our economy. They went bankrupt a few years later.

This promising new technology, solar panels. That’s right solar panels. The solar panel of 5 years ago was barely changed from the one in 1973. In the 1970’s $1 a gallon gas was considered outrageous. Yet, that $1 in 1973 would buy the same amount of goods $6 buys today. So when gas topped $4 a gallon just a couple of years ago it was still cheaper than it was in 1973. And today at less than $2.50, well gas is a bargain.

So why go solar. Well, in the 1970’s it cost about $100 to produce a watt of electricity using a solar panel. Today that cost is less than $1.

So why is gas so cheap? They would have you believe that it’s because they keep finding new and vast supplies of oil. Yet, they have to drill and dig deeper or travel farther into the wilderness to get it. And at what cost? An Exxon/Valdez, BP’s Deepwater Horizon. That sounds more like a horror movie than an oil rig. Well, it was actually a horror story that is still unfolding.

We pump water and toxic waste into our land to fracture the earth so it give up natural gas. Again at what cost to the environment, our food and water. Then we burn it all and release more toxins into the atmosphere. Coal isn’t any cleaner either. Just look at China. Take all the environmental protections off burning coal and you get barely breathable air and lots health issues.

But’s it not cheap. It does bring down the cost of oil. At least the direct cost of oil. Only because of competition, not because there is a vast supply. The price is based on the alternatives. So when alternatives threaten the cash flow, oil companies and oil producers lower their prices.

They stifle technology and innovation. For years, in the case of solar, almost 40 years. So why is solar finally coming of age. Well, not because of U.S. innovation. Because other Countries are not making clean energy a political wedge issue. Other Countries don’t subsidize fossil fuels by allowing the cost of waste and by-products to be hidden in their national budgets. They tax the crap out of fossil fuels. They make the indirect costs part of the price through taxation, not hiding it through subsidies.

So why should we subsidize alternatives? Why should there be tax credits for solar panels and electric vehicles? Well to a few (very few) that’s pretty obvious. Because we already subsidize fossil fuels either directly or indirectly. Through tax credits for depletion or through military campaigns to protect our “interests” in foreign lands.

When you add up all the costs associated with fossil fuels, EV friendly power generation is far cheaper and far more efficient in producing electricity and propelling personal transportation than fossil fuels.

So don’t let the price of gas today cloud your judgement. The future price of fossil fuels is far more costly than it appears to be.

A good conservative takes advantage of every tax break available. They also conserve resources. Natural and economic.

A smart conservative will actually look past the industry sponsored “research” and find the facts.

It’s time for the U.S. to take back the lead and finish what we started almost 40 years ago.

 

Finally, an affordable Electric Car that isn’t ugly.

The Ford Focus Electric.

The 2015 Ford Focus Electric Car has a list price of $31,990 with Leather Seats,  Without leather seats it’s almost $1k less.

If you are in a Compliance State they have many of them and not so many buyers.
They should have more buyers but people fear all electric cars. They shouldn’t.
If you live in a non-compliance State like I do they sell for a premium. That’s why I went out of State to get it. Actually I never left my house to get it. It was all done using email, phones and FedEx.

I bought this car in March.
Sticker Price:                 $30,990.00

Ford Focus

2015 Ford Focus

Negotiated Discount:   $-2,057.40
Price before Rebates:   $28,932.60
Sales Tax and Title:       $ 1,428.23
Out of State Delivery:   $   300.00
Ford Rebate:                   $-3,500.00
Total Out the Door:       $27,160.83
Federal Tax Credit:       $-7,500.00
5 years of tags:               $    60.00
Price after Tax Credits: $19,720.83

Or about $60-80k less than a Tesla S. To get the max tax credit you have to have paid at least that much in Federal Taxes in the year you purchase the car. Check with your accountant to make sure you qualify. It might make more sense to lease if you don’t get most if not all of it.

In Arizona the License Plates are only $30 a year and you have access to the HOV Lane. In California the plates are more but they give an extra $2500 tax credit which more that offsets that. There are other incentives available depending which State you are in.

To find currently available Federal Tax Credits Click Here. For current incentives and tax credits in you State Click Here.

I did get the windows tinted with SunTek CXP for $370 plus a set of wheel locks for $35 off eBay so I guess I have a few more bucks in it but I still consider that a smoking deal.

That’s a lot of car for 20k. Try and find a used one for that price let alone a gas model Focus with the same trim level.

And to date I have never got home with less than 20 miles of charge left on it. Thats running the AC in the Arizona Sun. I’m also not hypermileing.

My utility company also has a EV value charge plan where midnight to 0500 is 6 cents a KWH and I’m averaging 4 miles per KWH so 1.5 cents per mile. The average car in the same class as the Focus gets 30 MPG.

So if my math is correct, 30 miles in this car costs 45 cents. Compared to a gallon of gas today at $2.19 I’m saving the equivalent of $1.74 per gallon.

That’s almost 6 cents per mile. I doubt gas is going much lower. But even if it did, I haven’t seen 45 cent gas since 1971.

If gas goes back to $4 a gallon then I’m saving close to 12 cents per mile.

Should we see $1 gas again then it’s still a savings of $3k over 100k miles. $2 gas,  $6k savings and $4 gas $12k savings at 100k miles.

And don’t buy the BS that an electric car will be worthless in just a few years. After 3 years the car will be worth at least 14k. Even if the battery loses 10% of it’s range. The odds of that are slim. The Ford Battery is liquid cooled unlike the Leaf.

My 2011 Miata which cost $25k out the door sold 3 years later with 31k miles on it for $14k An $11k loss. It also needed 3 oil changes during that 3 years and only got 26 MPG with $3 a gallon gas average.

Any car should easily get 100k miles and if taken care of 300k miles or 15 years before repairs cost more than its worth..

The Focus Electric is much more practical than the Miata with room for 4 and some Cargo space. The back seats also fold down. I have put a bicycle in the back with both wheels on it.

In the 3 years I owned my Miata it only went more than 70-80 miles in a day twice. Those two times we could have rented a car. It went 600 miles in 3 days and it would have made more sense to rent for those trips.

If you are interested in a Nissan Leaf you won’t get as much car for the money. I spent about 2 weeks negotiating on one before I decided it wasn’t a sound financial decision. At least not yet at their current prices. A fully loaded Leaf is almost $6k more than a Ford Focus. A bare bones Leaf S is comparable in price after dealer incentives but with far less luxury.

Thanks to Justin Tezano at Santa Monica Ford for making this deal happen. Mossy Ford in San Diego and Frankie Musilli had the deal first but their F&I guy got greedy and blew the deal.

A version of this post is in my other blog at www.imreallycheap.com

Are you in charge of an airport parking lot? Or any parking lot.

Parking at the airport

Parking at the airport

This is the employee parking lot at the airport where I work.

It might be a little little hard looking at it but can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?

Well, for starters the space I’m parked in has a sign that says you can only park here for 72 hours. The space opposite says the same thing. The next two spaces adjacent to me and also opposite of them have 10 hour parking limits on them.

So lets start there. As a pilot I can be gone for up to 4 days at a time. Yet the limitations on the space are 3 days, not four. Another thing you might notice is that I’m the only EV parked there. Now I’m being a bit unfair with that statement because when I took this picture the spaces had just opened up. There is also special parking for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in a  parking garage at the terminal. Probably not for long though as these spaces are very new. At the other garage there are no charging stations. This parking lot is far away and nobody wants to park here. It’s not covered and it’s not protected. It should also have lots of solar panels as this is the desert. But that’s another issue. Then you could charge all the EV’s you wanted to for free.

But lets get back to the other problems with the picture above. My car and most EV’s don’t take days to charge. Generally only hours. From 2-18 depending on the amperage of the charger.

The best way to install Car Charging Stations.

The best way to install Car Charging Stations.

My vehicle only took 3 hours to charge since when I parked there I was half way charged already. So now I’m there just taking up valuable real estate for another 2-3 days while somebody else could be using it. Had they placed the chargers like this picture at Target, when I was done charging someone else could park next to me and take over the plug I was using.

 

The next issue. The odds of all the 10 hour spaces getting used here are pretty slim. There should be far more 72 hour spaces than 10 hour spaces. Most of the folks working at the Burger King are not going to have Electric Vehicles. Hybrids maybe. Most of the people parking here are going to be Flight Crew. That will change in the future as the price of EV’s comes down but right now EV’s are generally second vehicles and the median family income of EV owners is 100k a year.

Another thing you should do as an Airport Parking Manager is make the spaces next to the ev-carsregular electrical outlets in the parking garages EV only spaces. Most of us have the equipment to plug in our cars just like all the people in the airport who plug in their cell phones and laptops. And over the course of the 3-4 days we are on a trip our cars would charge up in plenty of time for when we return. If my car was on empty when I got to the airport it would only take 15-18 hours to charge off a 100v outlet. A Tesla on empty would take maybe 36 hours.

While I do appreciate what you are doing for the EV community by installing these chargers, there is no question you could do more for less.

It doesn’t take a lot of money to make your business or workplace EV Friendly

Maybe you have been told that you need to install expensive charging equipment to charge Plug in Vehicles. You see these charging stations many places now days. They cost about $3000 each plus installation.Blink Chargers in front of a business

Notice that there is only one charge station per space. This is actually a big waste of resources. If you are going to install chargers like this you should place them where they can reach at least two spaces or if it’s not to expensive to run the wiring to place them where they are accessible to up to four spaces at once. Like the picture below.

The best way to install Car Charging Stations.

The best way to install Car Charging Stations.

Some cars may only need 30-minutes to an hour to charge and others may need 2-3 hours. If these were at a mall one driver might be getting coffee while another might be seeing a movie. By putting the charger where more than one vehicle could access it the movie goer might be charged before the movie is over and another driver could unplug and start charging their vehicle.

A portable charger for an electric vehicle.

A portable charger for an electric vehicle.

 

But why install expensive equipment when all many EV’s need is a plug. Many of us have our own portable charging equipment like the picture to the right.

Most if not all Electric Vehicles come with a portable charging cord and adapter. Most if not all work on standard 110v power outlets.  The one you see here has been upgraded to not only use 110v power but 220v as well. So if your business has a standard power outlet or can install a 220v outlet or two near a parking space or two, you are now an EV Friendly workplace or business.

RV Plug Enclosure

RV Plug Enclosure

You can buy an outlet and waterproof enclosure like this at Home Depot for as little as $60 and they can be installed for as little as $100 in many cases.

Save the money on the expensive bling (sorry, Blink) and let your employees or customers charge for free. Let your EV customers know that you have a plug and they will more thank likely spend more time and money at your establishment.

Another thing you can do is if you have 110v outlets scattered around your parking lot, designate the spaces near them as EV Spaces. Just like you see people at the airport plugging in their laptops and cell phones to the nearest outlet, EV cars would be able to do the same thing. And at the speed a 110v outlet charges they will be spending far more than the 25 cents an hour or so in electricity they might be using. Even if you let them charge on a 20-30amp 220volt outlet the most it would cost is about $2.50to fully charge the vehicle.  If you sell high ticket items or even charge $20-30 for an average meal the extra business you would get would be worth the expense of catering to the EV market.

EV driver are also among the top earners. Even hybrid drivers are usually far above median income earners. This is a pretty good customer base for any business.

Does being wealthy entitle you to pollute more than anybody else?

Richie Rich

Richie Rich

I did not think this question up on my own. This question was brought up on a episode of “Fully Charged”. In case you have not heard of or watched it you can follow this link.

There is no question that in our society that being wealthy comes with many privileges.

You live in the best neighborhoods. Have access to the best medical care and the best schools just to name a few.

There are others we don’t openly admit to like hiring the best lawyers that most likely will help you get away with many crimes a poor person would plead guilty to, or in the case of Elliot Spitzer, money allows you to buy some really hot tail.

Yet what most people would probably agree is that your wealth does not allow you to dump your garbage in my backyard. Unless you live out in the woods or desert somewhere the odds are pretty good that if you get caught dumping your garbage on my land or changing your cars oil and dumping it down the city sewer system you would be liable for damages if not criminal charges.

But, we do not only allow the wealthy to dump large amounts of waste but even the poorest among us as well. Why. Well for some reason we don’t consider the burning of fossil fuels as dumping waste. And while the average person driving a 4 cylinder Kia dumps less than the V-8 Chevy Suburban a V-12 Jaguar dumps even more.

If you had to pay for the amount of CO2 your dumped in the atmosphere like you have to pay for the amount of trash or waste water you dump in the sewer system would you drive a 12 MPG car or opt to buy the 30-40 MPG car? And yes, the wealthiest among us could drive the biggest gas burner ICE car and would have no problem paying the cost but isn’t that individual responsibility and paying for what you use?

The Carbon Tax was originally a “Conservative” idea. Because it is based on conservative values. You pay for your own actions. You don’t pass them off on to others.

And please don’t start with how electric vehicles use more resources than a gas car. How do you think they refine a gallon of gas? They use electricity. As much electricity as it takes to make 3 gallons of gas will power most electric vehicles further than the 3 gallons of gas will move your car.

Electric Cars are mostly charged at night. This is when most Utilities are running on Nuclear Power. Your utility uses their cheapest sources of energy first. See this video for an explanation. Although this is in the U.K. the principle is the same here in the U.S.

And finally. Are Electric Vehicles only for the rich? That’s a post for another day.

People are not so EV Friendly

Ford Focus

2015 Ford Focus

I have had my BEV (battery electric vehicle) less than a week now. And just like the complaints about cars having to share the road with bicycles, ICE cars have to share the road with drivers who are trying to get the most range out of their battery.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love flooring the gas pedal and going fast but I do it for fun, not because I am trying to get anywhere in a hurry.

Yet most drivers, my wife included drive like they are always late to work or trying to catch a flight leaving in 5 minutes. You’ve seen people like this or you might be one. They are first to the red light and the first to honk their horns if you aren’t going at least 10 MPH faster than the posted speed limit.

Just today while driving just a few miles to my mothers house. I was doing the speed limit when I saw the light ahead of me turn red. There was a line of about 5-6 cars ahead of me so I clicked off the cruise control, (yes, I do use the cruise control a lot now and have it set at the speed limit) and coasted to the light ahead of me. I was probably at least a block away from the light when I did this. The person in car behind me threw  up their hands in frustration. I look in the mirror a lot more now too.

As I coasted to a stop, so I didn’t hit the car in front of me, the light turned green. Had I gone faster all I would have done is wasted a lot of energy by not getting all the regeneration from slowing down and put a bunch of wear on my brake pads instead. An advantage of hybrids or electric vehicles.

Once I reached 30 MPH I let the car coast again so I would make the next light where I was turning left, now we all know you have to slow down to turn. That is unless you want your passengers puking in your car.

At this point the Chrysler 300 that was dying to get out from behind me did and speed off ahead into the distance. Not so far a head though that two miles ahead I caught them at the second stop Light. They were now 6 cars ahead of me instead of just behind me. Probably still frustrated though they weren’t the first car at the light. LOL

This is not a one time incident, this happens all the time. Every day, many times a day. More than once has someone speed past me giving me the finger only to have to sit next to me at the next light if not the next 2 or 3 traffic lights. And that’s not in my Electric car. That’s with my Miata or my Mazda 6. Going fast just to stop ahead just wastes gas and adds a lot to your maintenance bills.

If you wonder why your gas millage is terrible, why you need to replace your brake pads every 12k miles or why your cars are beat to crap in just a few years, just look in your mirror.

Next time you drive to work, or the store or somewhere you always go trying doing this. When you reach the speed limit, set your cruise control. When the light ahead of you is red cancel the cruise and coast. If it turns green before you come to a complete stop and it is safe to do so hit the switch to resume your speed on the cruise control. Try to use your brake as little as possible. Do not speed or at least don’t do more than 5 MPH over. Time it. See how much longer it takes to get where you are going.

See how much less stress you have driving like that as well. Another benefit is you won’t stand out when the police are around. Drunks and stoners drive to slow and thieves and drug dealers usually drive to fast. How many times do you see some guy who sped by you getting a ticket down the road?

Another thing you can do is compare your gas millage. Like most cars now days your car probably has a trip computer that is pretty accurate. It probably even tell you how long the trip took. There was a reason they set that 55 MPH speed limit back in the 70’s. That’s the speed where you generally get the best gas millage per mile of driving. After the power needed to move your car through the air takes far more gas than the engine moves the car efficiently.

I do realize that 55 feels slow, real slow but 65 is really pretty fast and since most people are doing 70 anyway the 75 MPH speed limit is ludicrous. At most it will say you 5 minutes every hour and cause you far more stress of having to be vigilant of others. Another draw back is if you opt to have one of those drive safe discount monitors on your car it will send love notes to your insurance company every time you exceed 75.

The easiest way to see what kind of damage and wasting fuel speed can do is take your car to the race track.

I have a Mazda Miata that I have taken to the track and a car that can get a combined MPG of 26 becomes a car that gets less than 12 MPG. The tires last about a third of their regular life and the brakes last even less. Even if you aren’t going from 35-110 and back down to 30 again in seconds, all that acceleration and stopping is what causes wear and tear on your car.

In an Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) driving smart can be the difference between getting 50 miles per charge versus 100 miles per charge. Maybe the reason you don’t like or have never considered driving a BEV is because you drive like a teenager. That or you don’t have to pay the bills.

Check out this website. It will open your eyes. https://www.fueleconomy.gov

EV Parking Only

Maybe the problem is with the sign and not the EV Driver?

T5615In the week I have had my BEV I have seen some pretty poor charging etiquette.Electric-Vehicle-Parking-Sign-K-8559

There is a Level 2 charger near my home. Less than a block away as a matter of fact. It is also close to the home of a Tesla Driver. While we are both BEV drivers he plugs in, goes home and doesn’t unplug when he has topped off. He stays there till he decides to leave again.

So while the sign says “EV Parking Only” it doesn’t say your are the only EV that can park there.

The problems with parking your car and leaving it as long as you feel like it are many. This is not your personal parking space. There are people who actually need to charge their cars.

You wouldn’t go to a gas station, fill up your car and then leave it there while you go to a movie or have lunch? or would you. Do you think the owner of the gas station might have a fit if you were blocking their gas pump. They put it there to make money. Or in the case of my friend with is Tesla, they put it there as a convenience to the people who live there or visit friends.

When you are done charging, move your car. I doubt you would keep your car there if your were charged for time in the space vs. time actually charging?

There is also the question of being a Plug in Hybrid vs. a pure BEV. Yes your Plug in allows you to use a charger but as a BEV owner I might really need that charge to get home. So as a Plug In you really need to get out of the way when you are done. I’m sure many of you have fits when you see and ICE vehicle parked in the EV space, don’t you?

Just like many States now are limiting or eliminating exemptions for Hybrids it won’t be long before they eliminate special privileges for PEV’s. You are not committing to the cause, you are just testing the waters. Pretty soon if you need to feel special you will have to jump into the deep end and go pure BEV.

So, since somebody has to make the rules I propose the following.

If you have more than enough juice to get home (if you have a home charger) then leave a note saying that it is OK to disconnect you. If you have a PEV and a BEV needs the juice please move ASAP or let the BEV disconnect.

And so businesses will keep installing and expanding the charger networks please let them get as much paid time as possible. If we want more places and spaces we are going to have to show that we can be responsible consumers and that we are not just looking for Rock Star Parking.

If you stay parked in a space and not charging you are no better than that friend who comes over to your house every night to drink your beer, eat your food and play footsie with your spouse when your not home.

Parking at the airport

Parking at the airport

There is one and only one place where I have seen an acceptable place to park for an extended period of time. An airport parking lot. There were 2 spaces that had a 72 hour limit on the sign and 4 spaces that had a 10 hour parking limit sign. They want you to drive and park there. Odds are really good you can’t get back to your car quickly.

Tesla S

As for my neighbor, either you live nearby or your girlfriend lives nearby. Get of the couch, stop drinking for a few minutes and go move your car. Either that or go home to your wife and kids.The excuse that daddy is just going out for a charge isn’t going to work for long.