EV parking at train stations

dec2000

Hey all,

My wife drives a leaf and recently changed jobs so is now commuting by train into town. She is currently parking in a regular space and paying the daily charge.

The station offers free parking while charging: “Free parking for up to 24 hours is available at this site when charging an EV” - what’s the etiquette with this type of offer? She has the 6.6KW charger so if she plugged in at empty, it would be well charged before she came back to the car in the evening. Is she liable to be clamped if it’s not actively charging or does it just need to be plugged in?

The other side of it is hogging the charger for others who might need it but we’ve yet to see a car charging there and there is another public on street charger in a car park about 100metres away.

I searched but can’t see a definitive answer on this.

KCross

It's as it's says. Park and charge. There is no expectation to move the car once charged.

It's a train station so expecting someone to return once charged would be ridiculous.

Use it.

Unless you don't actually need the charge and are just using it for free parking, that would be sly on someone who needs it but no way for anyone to know one way or the other so it's down to your own morals if that's the case.

goz83

If there is only spot and it's being taken all day by a car that doesn't need a charge, it is definitely a sly thing to do. If there are 2 spaces, then it's not so bad, because it at least gives someone else the chance to plug in if your car is finished charging.

k123456

Grey area, if the parking is patrolled, I think you unfortunately risk a fine, as the car will be charged before you return from work

The parking attendant will know from the charger when charging is complete

OldMrBrennan83

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goz83

Patww79 wrote: »

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Use the Leaf APP to check state of charge :pac:

SteelyDanJalapeno

Why would they do that? Free parking up to 24 hours if you've charged

DesperateDan

Yeah I'm pretty sure with the current uptake any parking attendant is going to ignore a plugged in EV if it's in a green spot, I would certainly risk the fine and then argue with Irish Rail to court if needed. Last I checked there was no by-law saying you couldn't park for free if it wasn't actively charging, that's impossible to police.

unkel

I wondered about this myself. Bit of a grey area I think, the way it is worded. In Ioniq you can limit the charging speed, so you could make sure it's almost full, but still charging by the time you return. Can you do this in a Leaf?

The lips

Where did you see the terms of the charge points? I have been thinking about the two charge points in my local train station that are always free but only a few minutes walk from my house.

goz83

unkel wrote: »

I wondered about this myself. Bit of a grey area I think, the way it is worded. In Ioniq you can limit the charging speed, so you could make sure it's almost full, but still charging by the time you return. Can you do this in a Leaf?

No. Interesting...I didn't know that about the ioniq.

dec2000

The lips wrote: »

Where did you see the terms of the charge points? I have been thinking about the two charge points in my local train station that are always free but only a few minutes walk from my house.

On the ESB eCars map - if you click the chargepoint, it sometimes has additional info. The train station has the sentence about Free for 24 hours once charging. 

For anyone that knows it, it's Balbriggan train station I'm referring to - it has 2 spaces and as I mentioned in the original post, another on street charger in the public car park about 100metres away.
I might contact Irish Rail to confirm but from talking to herself last night, she'll probably pre-pay a week or a month parking (as it works out cheaper) and then just charge there if / when needed.