Question: Ever been ICE'd?

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ChargePoint

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 12, 2017
Messages
129
Location
Campbell, CA
Question: Have you ever been ICED'd? What did you do about it?

We usually suggest to the station owners that they update their signage to clearly state "EV Charging Only," stenciling it on the spot, and painting the bordering lines green to help give a clear visual clue that this space is special. ;)

What do you do when a charging space is being used by a gasoline car? Share your suggestions below if you've got them!




;) For lurking newbs:
ICE'd is when an Internal-Combustion Engine car parks in spaces reserved for plug-in EV's.
 
Has anyone ever used printables like these? You print them out, keep a few with you, and leave them on windshields as needed.

source: https://cleanchargenetwork.com/resources/

ICE-notice-download.jpg
 
Has anybody else noticed ChargePoint asks a lot of questions but never answers any?
 
The ChargePoints near me are frequently ICE'd. There is a phone number to call mall security about it, but they can't do much. Of course, those EVSEs are broken as often as they are ICE'd. The mall has 9 EVSEs. On a good day, 2 are working.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
The ChargePoints near me are frequently ICE'd. There is a phone number to call mall security about it, but they can't do much. Of course, those EVSEs are broken as often as they are ICE'd. The mall has 9 EVSEs. On a good day, 2 are working.

I'm sorry to hear about those stations not working. We don't own stations on our network, but we do our best to help fix problems. The next time you come across this, you can click the “Report” button on the station details page on the ChargePoint app to tell us about a problem and we’ll work with the station owner to address the issue. You can also call our 24/7 driver support line. :)
 
ChargePoint said:
GetOffYourGas said:
The ChargePoints near me are frequently ICE'd. There is a phone number to call mall security about it, but they can't do much. Of course, those EVSEs are broken as often as they are ICE'd. The mall has 9 EVSEs. On a good day, 2 are working.

I'm sorry to hear about those stations not working. We don't own stations on our network, but we do our best to help fix problems. The next time you come across this, you can click the “Report” button on the station details page on the ChargePoint app to tell us about a problem and we’ll work with the station owner to address the issue. You can also call our 24/7 driver support line. :)

Will do, thanks. I never thought to use the ChargePoint app - I do typically mention it in PlugShare.

I think this is just a case of using the EVSEs to "greenwash" the mall rather than provide an actual service to customers. Something that's really out of ChargePoint's hands, and I get that.

And to be fair, there are other ChargePoints around that do work. Two local Chili's restaurants have free EVSEs for customers and they are very reliable. Although one of them ICE's one of the two spots with their snow plow. It's blocked for about 4-5 months of the year.
 
GetOffYourGas said:
ChargePoint said:
GetOffYourGas said:
The ChargePoints near me are frequently ICE'd. There is a phone number to call mall security about it, but they can't do much. Of course, those EVSEs are broken as often as they are ICE'd. The mall has 9 EVSEs. On a good day, 2 are working.

I'm sorry to hear about those stations not working. We don't own stations on our network, but we do our best to help fix problems. The next time you come across this, you can click the “Report” button on the station details page on the ChargePoint app to tell us about a problem and we’ll work with the station owner to address the issue. You can also call our 24/7 driver support line. :)

Will do, thanks. I never thought to use the ChargePoint app - I do typically mention it in PlugShare.

I think this is just a case of using the EVSEs to "greenwash" the mall rather than provide an actual service to customers. Something that's really out of ChargePoint's hands, and I get that.

And to be fair, there are other ChargePoints around that do work. Two local Chili's restaurants have free EVSEs for customers and they are very reliable. Although one of them ICE's one of the two spots with their snow plow. It's blocked for about 4-5 months of the year.


Don't hesitate to reach out to our team regarding those ICE'd scenarios, too! We can give the station owner a few suggestions that can help educate non-EV drivers on the appropriate use of the space, like updating signage to clearly state "EV Charging Only," stenciling it on the spot, and painting the bordering lines green to help give a clear visual clue that this space is special. Often that helps!
 
I like this idea and have often thought about doing something like this. In reality I’ve only been ICE’d 2 times in a year. (Bay Area, CA)

I’d like to go one step “stronger” and have some printed on stickers. You know, so it takes the ICE owner a minute or two to actually remove it, and forces them to read it. Stick it to their windshield right in front of driver’s view.

A) sticker adhesive won’t hurt glass (it may hurt paint)

B) it won’t blow away

C) requires more effort to take off / toss away, so kind of teaches them a lesson - may make them think twice next time

20 years ago when I lived in a crowded apartment complex I got some off the shelf neon pink stickers that said “this vehicle is illegally parked and subject to tow”. They were professional quality and official looking and were a real bugger to take off. People assume it came from management, not me.

Worked like a charm. I did not see repeat offenders parking in front of the trash dumpsters, walkways, on sidewalks, or parking in aisles.


ChargePoint said:
Has anyone ever used printables like these? You print them out, keep a few with you, and leave them on windshields as needed.

source: https://cleanchargenetwork.com/resources/

ICE-notice-download.jpg
 
While haven't ICE'd yet were we Tesla'd. We planned a stop at the Camirillo Premium Outlet Mall to use the DC fast charger. It tends to be very crowded on weekends. When we stopped there a Tesla Model S had decided that the charger location is really a private parking space for themselves (not even bothering to plug in).
 
The big problem I have with ChargePoint is that their public 30 ampere wallboxes are so junky. Usually one of the 2 j1772's won't release, or the access card won't work. Of course I'm grateful for the charging facility being there, but it is not of much use when planning a trip if I can't be sure it will work when I need it.

The new ones with the silly cartoons on the screen seem even less reliable.

I suspect these things were designed with San Diego weather in mind, and simply cannot take extremes. ChargePoint must know several of their stations have been repaired multiple times, yet keep failing. Since they charge so much for their 'network', you'd think they'd be more proactive about it.

Frankly it must be just Government Largess that supports CP's business plan. If there were no free money, I can't see why a business that wanted a public charger wouldn't just get a $200-$400 reliable charger 'cord' that would just always work for their customers, with absolutely no 'network fees', not delays in authorization, or trying to get one of their marginal wallboxes to work.

I'm constantly sent mail to buy one of their way overpriced 32 amp home wallboxes. Seeing what junk their public stuff is, is enough of a turn off to ever consider buying any wallbox of theirs myself.
 
One universal problem with ChargePoints is they never have long enough cords.

They are so worried about their spring retractors that they don't bother to have cords long enough to reach several spaces.

That's just poor layout. They should be located such that there are at least 2 spaces free on each side of a dual wallbox.

That way, up to two of the four spaces can be taken by ice's, yet 2 evs can still charge.

You would have thought they would have anticipated this, but in fairness to chargepoint, other companies' wallboxes are layed out in a similar dopey manner, as well as having cords way too short.

In downtown Buffalo, NY where I am, there 2 dual GE DuraSTations - of which only 3 of the 4 have ever worked, now 2 only work because they shut off the breaker of the WORKING one mistakenly, and there are only room for 2 cars since they put the 2 duals so close together only 1 or 2 cars could ever charge simultaneously anyway. Amazing Stupidity, and the guys who lay this stuff out probably get paid plenty for doing an incompetent job.
 
BillHowland said:
Thank you for sharing your feedback on station designs! Anytime you find you're having an issue with a ChargePoint station, don't hesitate to reach out to our 24-hour driver support line 1-888-758-4389. You can also use the Report feature on the ChargePoint app to let us know when a station isn't working, if you'd like! To help keep this thread on topic, shoot us a private message if you have any additional feedback you'd like to share about ChargePoint and I'll continue sharing it with our team - we welcome your thoughts! :)
 
ChargePoint said:
BillHowland said:
Thank you for sharing your feedback on station designs! Anytime you find you're having an issue with a ChargePoint station, don't hesitate to reach out to our 24-hour driver support line 1-888-758-4389. You can also use the Report feature on the ChargePoint app to let us know when a station isn't working, if you'd like! To help keep this thread on topic, shoot us a private message if you have any additional feedback you'd like to share about ChargePoint and I'll continue sharing it with our team - we welcome your thoughts! :)


Uh huh, yeah I did just that - then your 'rep' wanted to know all kinds of personal information about me, and I finally said,

"Hey, do you want to take the report of the busted station or not?", and he said he must have all this info to file a report.

So there's one practical thing you can change guys. If someone calls saying the station is broke, it is not out of the realm of believability.

To KEEP YOUR responses on topic, please note that being ICE'd at a ChargePoint station is:

1). A small problem to begin with.

2). Wouldn't happen if the people laying out the locations had half a brain - you'd think the store owner would have a slight interest in this. It also helps when one car is done charging and the cord could be simply moved to the next space. Uh, guys, you have to have the additional space so that the other BEV can park there to take the cord.

3). Is no where near as big an issue as the faulty chargepoints which you guys have not improved your repair times on.
 
The other day I came up to a new dual ChargePoint (dual 30 ampere unit), where there was an old LEAF that had finished charging, and also a new FORD ENERGI (the ones with 15 miles of AER or whatever), WITH TWO TEENS awake in the car. - I nicely asked them if they wouldn't mind moving their car so that someone else could use the charging cord (they obviously were done charging also), but they just sat there speechless.
 
BillHowland said:
One universal problem with ChargePoints is they never have long enough cords.

Looking at the routes where I may be most likely to want to use fast charging, I see that ChargePoint chargers are mostly 24 kW. For comparison, on those routes where EVgo chargers are present, they tend to be more numerous and 60kW.

24kW "fast" charging would mean a driving:charging time ratio that is less than 2:1.

I.e. it would make ChargePoint more competitive if they had more 50-60kW fast charging instead of 24kW.
 
ChargePoint rarely owns the stations. They sell and install charging stations, and put in whatever the client buys (is willing to pay for) and the cost of the electricity at the station is set by the owner, not by ChargePoint. Asking ChargePoint to install higher-power DCFCs is like asking Time, Inc to ship more copies of Time magazine and fewer copies of Sports Illustrated (they produce and sell both) - the buyer gets what the buyer orders.
 
Hundreds of public charging events over the past 8 years, have only been ICE’d twice. Cord reached to another space the first time and I just went to another site the second time.

Re; reliability, ChargePoint L2 sites have been pretty reliable here on the west coast, thought older sites occasionally have had stuck handles. For CCS chargers, EVgo’s have been the most reliable. I have found the 25kW Bosch units working less than half the time. Blink units have the worst reliability, both L2 and DCQC, I never plan on using them. With Bolt’s long range, I hardly ever worry about charging anymore.
 
BillHowland said:
The other day I came up to a new dual ChargePoint (dual 30 ampere unit), where there was an old LEAF that had finished charging, and also a new FORD ENERGI (the ones with 15 miles of AER or whatever), WITH TWO TEENS awake in the car. - I nicely asked them if they wouldn't mind moving their car so that someone else could use the charging cord (they obviously were done charging also), but they just sat there speechless.

Frustrating, I'm sure. Does the future include sections on EV etiquette in driving classes/tests (especially for new teenage drivers)? :ugeek:

We're wondering if you ( + everyone reading) have any suggestions for helping to get the word out on EV etiquette. We share tips with our followers often, but EV enthusiasts aren't usually (generally speaking) the same drivers who need the tips. :)
 
ChargePoint said:
BillHowland said:
The other day I came up to a new dual ChargePoint (dual 30 ampere unit), where there was an old LEAF that had finished charging, and also a new FORD ENERGI (the ones with 15 miles of AER or whatever), WITH TWO TEENS awake in the car. - I nicely asked them if they wouldn't mind moving their car so that someone else could use the charging cord (they obviously were done charging also), but they just sat there speechless.

Frustrating, I'm sure. Does the future include sections on EV etiquette in driving classes/tests (especially for new teenage drivers)? :ugeek:

We're wondering if you ( + everyone reading) have any suggestions for helping to get the word out on EV etiquette. We share tips with our followers often, but EV enthusiasts aren't usually (generally speaking) the same drivers who need the tips. :)

Since they didn't have a parking tag, the owner of the lot was going around issuing tickets and fines. I hope they got one. That's some incentive for next time.
 
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