Tesla haters are parking their pickup trucks at Tesla Supercharger stations
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At one time I leased a very desirable parking space in what was a half-private, half-public lot. People would sometimes ignore the warning sign stating that the space was private parking only and violators would be towed.
When I would arrive in the lot and there was someone in my space, I just called any tow company in the phone book and they'd (very rapidly) send out a truck to remove the offending vehicle. All I had to do was sign the bottom of the form attesting that I was the legal user of that space.
This was Texas, so other states may vary.
In Texas theres a phone number, 311, a website and the towing company should also leave a sign at the parking lot entrance/exit with instructions.
Isn't it a civil matter? Does it involve the Police?
I would assume numbered gasoline pumps will see no change. Gas stations can attract purchases from electric car owners by providing low-cost chargers away from the pumps.
If anything, gas station owners are just capturing a new market segment.
(For the record, I'm a big fan of gas station hotdogs and beef jerky.)
I too am a big fan of gas station hotdogs, and I must say one station's dog is about as good as another station's dog. Time spent on the warmer is more important than brand of dog at a gas station.
http://pluginsites.org/plug-in-vehicle-parking-legislation-r...
Disclaimer: Have worked with a municipality to craft their EV legislation using home rule.
There was a story on reddit a few weeks ago where this happened outside a hotel. The hotel staff called the cops who knocked on rooms and found owners.
The tricky part is in a lot of situations it can be hard to find the property owner so they can call the cops. Tow truck companies are careful about having an authorized person request the car to be removed.
To make sure the right towing company is called, the lot owner puts up signs detailing the terms of parking and stating which towing company is responsible for the lot. Every time somebody sees a car parked in violation with the stated rules, they can call that towing company who will show up and tow anybody they can, making a tidy profit from each car they tow (they profit by holding those cars for ransom.)
These signs are a fairly common sight in America: https://i.imgur.com/nPYaOBf.gif This system works, only the occasional idiot will dare testing those signs.
That being said, I prefer it being hard to tow, privately administered ticketing systems are much better. While in this case the pickups are knowingly taking spaces that aren’t theirs, most people I know (including myself) have only ever been towed when they’ve accidentally broken broken a rule, often in a disputable manner. There is no trial or attempt to resolve, property is seized with no chance to appeal a priori, and people’s means of transportation and livelihood are held hostage for payment. It’s really a pretty awful system.
I’ve had an issue with parking in apartments before. I wasn’t able to call and get a car towed. The office staff were the only ones. After hours and late night it was an issue.
Tesla and the EV movement in general is plausibly seen as threatening to these people.
Tesla is banned from even being sold in some states in part because of how they obsolete dealerships (and their associated service departments, which employ local mechanics).
EVs obsolete combustion engines and all the associated service companies and their employees. From the oil/gas industry to the service and maintenance of engines, many people paying attention feel threatened.
So I can at least empathize with these goons on some level, not that I agree with their actions. We're talking about a fundamental shift of a massive global industry, lots of jobs are in the midst of becoming irrelevant. It's not going to happen without any backlash.
If the worse of it is shit like UTI students parking their trucks in charging spots, that'd be kind of incredible.
In other news the black soot of diesel exhaust is a powerful carcinogen. People who do this are willfully poisoning people so don’t worry too much about calling them out.
Which gave Uber thousands of new customers.
Whereas Tesla drivers are probably seen as rich people from out-of-town in a lot of places (because they are rich people from out-of-town.)
Having grown up in a place where people drove pickup trucks for real (as in not purely symbolic) reasons, I can tell you from experience that the trucks in that photo are status symbols in exactly the same way a Tesla is. The idea that this is about "rich people" is pretty far off the mark. It's about totally empty cultural signifiers and nothing else.
I'm from a small town, and there's a small number of people in town that own expensive cars (A Lotus and Lamborghini come to mind), as well as a number of affluent residents that own Teslas.
And it doesn't surprise me at all that those that love their lifted pickups don't like the Tesla owners. Even though though it seems silly to say your $30K - $50K truck with $10K+ of lift kits, tires and engine/exhaust mods is somehow morally superior to someone's $50K Tesla.
https://www.caranddriver.com/lotus
I guess whether or not that's "expensive" depends on your financial situation.
The Elise was cheaper, in the $60K range, but unlike a $100K Tesla, most people aren't going to use a $60K or $100K Lotus as a daily driver, it's more of a weekend toy.
Child 1 hits Child 2, both children go to detention.