Elbows on the table. Loud music on the tube. Slurping your tea. Life is fraught with opportunities to mess up social etiquette. And to add to it all, the EV revolution, along with lower running costs, cleaner air, and high performance cars, has brought its own set of social rules. Welcome to the world of EV chargepoint etiquette.

The Six Golden Rules

Understanding the rules of the road public chargepoint will help you cruise along as smoothly as a Tesla Model X, with zero risk of upsetting your fellow EVers.

Here they are:

1. A chargepoint bay is not an EV parking space

Those spaces with a parent and child painted on them are just for parents with children, so one with an EV painted on it is a parking space for EVs, right?

Err, no.

The list of benefits to driving an EV is as long as your arm, but reserved parking isn’t one of them. Most people get this, but we’ve seen enough pictures on social media to know that some drivers haven’t cottoned on. Or maybe they’re just pushing their luck? Either way, it’s a no-no.

2. Never unplug another car

You need to top up but there are no bays free. Surely that Tesla on the rapid charger has got enough by now. They’re probably on at least 80%. I’ll just quickly unplug them. It’ll be fine.

Woah there partner. This isn’t the Wild West. Unplugging another driver’s cable definitely crosses a line. It’s like the old days, when somebody would pull your washing out of the launderette tumble dryer before it was done.

Picture this: you’ve plugged in, popped to the supermarket, and you get a ping on the app to say your car’s just been unplugged at 25% charge.

Don’t even.

3. Don’t hog rapid chargepoints

If we’re going to forbid ever unplugging another driver’s car, then we’ve got to uphold the other side of the coin.

As chargers get faster, hogging bays could become more of an issue. A rapid chargepoint can charge a car in under 30 minutes. That’s probably enough time to pick up a few things for dinner, but not to catch a movie or take a long lunch.

4. Never park a gas guzzler in a chargepoint space. Ever.

Surely the ultimate sin. A polluting gas guzzler does not belong in a charging bay. They’ve done enough damage to the planet without denying someone a top-up.

It’s not like we’d park an EV at a petrol pump and go off to do some shopping, would we? (Don’t go getting ideas).

5. Try to avoid using ultrarapid chargepoints if your car isn’t designed for them

Charging a Renault Zoe on a 300 kW chargepoint may not go down well with owners of larger vehicles. EVs with smaller batteries typically can’t take such a powerful charge, because the battery can’t absorb so much juice at once.

It’s like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If you’ve got a choice, leave the sledgehammer for people who need it and use the nutcracker instead.

6. Don’t trail the cable across bays

Occasionally you might come across a chargepoint that isn’t working for one reason or another. It happens, just like petrol pumps are out of action sometimes.

If it does happen to you, just repark in another bay, rather than trail the cable across the tarmac. Otherwise, you risk damaging the cable and getting in the way of other drivers.

Bonus golden rule: get your home charging sorted

Of course, there’s one surefire way to dodge all of this and avoid the risk of so-called charge rage (yep, apparently it’s a thing): set yourself up for home EV charging.

Home charging is low cost, convenient, and great for the environment. It means you can charge whenever you want to, and take advantage of lower cost and greener off-peak tariffs. Unless you’re going on a long trip, you won’t even need to think about pulling into a public charging station.

No need to factor in that dash to the chargepoint before a journey. And no need to hang about in the supermarket car park while you charge up. Just a fully topped-up battery, ready for whenever you need it.

There’s also the ultimate EV charging setup: a home EV charger, solar panels, and a smart energy system. 

Solar energy equals free juice for your car and the smart system manages it all for you, making sure you make the most of the sunshine. Our Guide to Buying Solar for your EV has all the info you need.  

About Powerverse

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