chargerblocked.txt   2/22/02


Below is an excerpt from a note I received from Tom Adams, of the City
of San Francisco.

What he says makes sense, and applies also to other situations, such as tire
department ICE cars parked in EV spots at Costco.  It's much better to have
a spot blocked by an ICE car that can be easily moved than to have that spot
blocked by an ICE car whose driver and keys cannot be found.

So, if an ICE car is blocking an EV spot in valet parking, be sure to ask
the attendant to move the car so you can charge.  At Costco, check with the
tire center.

Tom Dowling

===================

"As a matter of policy, I thought I would explain a little bit about the valet
chargers.  Because the chargers are valet, they will almost always be iced if
the garage is anywhere near capacity. This is by design and the attendants have
been instructed to move the cars if an ev shows up to use the charging. Valet
parking is the way our most heavily used garages maximize sq. footage and it is
less a luxury for the rich and moreso a management strategy to address demand.
Many people don't quite understand the concept of valet in our garages. I know
it doesn't look great to have ICE cars parked in the EV spaces, but most of the
attendants I have talked to know that it is their responsibility to move the
cars for evs. Valet charging allows the city to offer charging and not lost
revenue from a garage that is typically at capacity - from what I understand,
this is a fairly common practice in ev charging and there are numerous sites
like this in LA.

"Is there any way that you can communicate this concept to your users? The City
obviously needs to do a better job in educating its attendants, but EV drivers
also need to understand that the valet charging spaces will often be taken by
ICE cars and this should not pose a problem as the ev driver should merely ask
the attendant to move the other cars as this is the way the system was designed.
Thanks for any help you can provide on this and let me know if you have any
questions. 
============