How to use Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

To have an environmentally friendly and sustainable transportation growing, you need to have charging infrastructure in place at many areas, especially at home.  It is ideal to have Level 2 and/or Level 3 DC Charging stations at points of interests where people can dine or shop while charging is in progress, such as restaurants, shopping malls, rest areas along the highways, etc.  The advantage of the electric car era is that it is possible to put charging stations anywhere they like, whereas is not possible to put any gas stations anywhere.

To use a Level 2 charger, one needs to prox a registered network card onto the reader to identify who is using the charger.  Then once it is authorized, the user simply plugs the charger into the car and let it charge while the user do its errands and shopping or dining.  When the user finishes its errands, he/she simply unplugs the charger and puts it  back onto the charger and drives away.

Many electric car charging stations are connected to the internet wirelessly, to tell the public which stations are available, which are not available, and can also have the ability to remotely check the status of the charging, or starting or stopping a session using the smartphone app or website.  

For level 3 DC Charger, the way how to operate is the same as Level 2 charger, with the exception that the user must press the start button to start charging and the stop button on the screen to end a session.  This extra step is needed for safety reason due to very high power being put into the EV car in a short period of time.  In case of emergency, the user can push the Emergency Stop button.  This button is not to be used to end a session.

Electric Vehicle Charging Etiquette:

• When the car is finished charging, move the car away to let other users use it
• Users can also put a note on the windshield to have other drivers text or call them in case they desperately need to charge their car (ie: message using the Plugshare app)
• It is possible to lock the charging cable into the car to prevent other users from pulling it out and abusing it
• Don’t unplug someone else’s car while they are charging – it is abusive and disrespectful.  Perhaps they should contact the car’s owners first before doing so.  Also consider to use the lock on the car charging cable
• Try to coil the cables to organize instead of lying the cable around to prevent being damaged by car rolling over, or at least put the cable away from the car’s path