Not really an AIBU but this is where PARKING threads belong, right?

[MrsHathaway]

An office with patchy but not non-existent public transport links has a car park not big enough for all its employees, so some people have to park on (wide, quiet, non-residential) nearby streets and walk a minute or two. Main office hours 9-5 but someone providing 24/7 cover, and often people working early/late as needed, given international clients etc.

Employer has recently installed five charging points for electric/hybrid cars. Two very senior people have electric cars; they now have reserved charging spaces with their names on, leaving three for other employees.

There are currently three other employees with electric/hybrid vehicles. The number is likely to rise as (1) the company pays fairly well and (2) is in a technical field so full of geeks.

The senior people don't always bring their electric vehicles to work. Sometimes they bring a snazzy sports car or beefy 4x4.

If/when someone else gets a hybrid, bringing the total number of chargeable cars to a number greater than the number of charging points, how should the company manage parking allocation?

Do the directors get to use their reserved spaces when they aren't charging?

Do electric cars automatically get a car park space when everyone else might end up parking on the road?

What do you think?

No CFs at present, sorry. This is the RL situation of someone I was talking to this weekend (the fifth hybrid owner) and I thought it interesting.

If you park next to a charging bay would the lead stretch to charge? Is that a thing? I have no idea how hybrids work because I think they're ridiculous but trying to think of something helpful!

For the purposes of the hypothetical, assume you can only charge from a charging bay.

If you're an internal combustion engine fan, how would you feel about hybrid drivers getting a guaranteed space when you're trudging through the rain from parking round the corner?

Surely electric cars would only get priority if they needed to charge up? If a space has been reserved and isn't used then if someone needs to charge, they should be able to charge.

But then I don't know much about electric cars so I don't know if those who would have them have to drive to work and charge before they can go home or how long a charged car lasts for.

But with the hybrid cars, doesn't the petrol part take over when electric is low or only use part electric anyway?

They need to decide if (A) the named parking spaces are for the named people and so shouldn't matter which car they drive
Then the chaging point being on their place is just a nicety/encouragement/perk.

Or (B) the spaces are for electric cars in which case the names come off. And if more people get electric cars then the company gets more charging points.

Fully electric cars have around 300 miles range on a full charge. Hybrids get maybe 50 miles on electric before the petrol takes over. Either way it takes hours to charge. Someone commuting would need to charge every day or use petrol. If they charge the car at work it costs them nothing as opposed to £1.20-odd a litre for petrol.

My friend thinks people should be able to "book" a charging spot effectively for half a day and expect to swap at lunchtime.

I wouldn't buy an electric vehicle unless (a) I knew I could make the return journey to work without recharging, even if there was a traffic accident on a snowy day than trapped me in gridlock for hours, or (b) I had a guaranteed recharging space that meant I knew I could make the one way journey whatever happened.

Anyone who drives an electric car to work and needs to charge there needs a guarantee they will be able to use the charging space. (Depending on speed of charging people may be able to share spaces by shuffling cars around.)

Fully electric cars have around 300 miles range on a full charge.

A Tesla maybe, I wouldn't rely on the earliest Nissan Leaf to get me to work 30 miles from home. I think the theoretical range was something like 100, but this easily came down to 60 in less than ideal conditions.

My friend thinks people should be able to "book" a charging spot effectively for half a day and expect to swap at lunchtime.

I agree. I mean, it's up to the company, they're paying for the spots, but if I were a director this is what I would make policy.

Some hybrids are plug in hybrids. Mine isn't.

We don't have any charging points, one ex-employee drove an electric car, I gave the only hybrid currently based in my office

All electric car drivers who need recharging need to have a reserved slot. Say it takes half a day to charge, person X needs to know their slot is electric space 2 until or from 1pm.

You walk a minute or two?! Blimey at my work a parking space may be 25-30 minutes walk and I pay £25 a month for that privilege , i.e. To 'look for space' nothing guaranteed plus it's in a hospital so no parking in residential streets nearby it's a poxy park and ride that takes forever and really unreliable if you're picking up children after work
I think you've got a reasonable deal there

Hybrids always come second to electric cars in priority. I gather from a comment that someone seems to think cost has something to do with it. Electric charging points are not there to save anyone fuel costs, they're there to ensure people don't get stuck at the side of the road. This is a risk for the electric cars, who can't refuel quickly along the way. It's not a risk hybrids take.

My workplace doesn't have enough spaces so there's a bit of shuffling going on as people leave. I think you need a clear system to avoid ppl getting pissed off or blocked in

Where's the diagram?

I worked at a company with a similar issue, and the way they got around it was by saying it was a "green" policy so they were rewarding staff who were in line with the company's environmentally friendly stance by giving them parking slots.

Your employer is under no obligation to provide parking - people will have to get over it.

I think even the people who park a couple of minutes walk away on the street for free have got it pretty cushty to be fair. My car park at my work is a 1 minute walk but costs £30 per month so I'd be we'll happy if I could park almost as close for free. So the hybrids using the spaces wouldn't bother me. But if I had a hybrid/electric car never I would be miffed if I needed to charge it and the big bosses were in the charging bays in their big fat beemers. I don't know many companies where the bosses would want to portray that sort of entitled rude behaviour but if that's how they want to come across then fair enough for them but it will eventually create a big issue amongst those that have hybrids/electric cars.

f you're an internal combustion engine fan, how would you feel about hybrid drivers getting a guaranteed space when you're trudging through the rain from parking round the corner?

It wouldn't even cross my mind as an issue that electric cars were getting a closer space, as the issue is about them being able to make it home at all, which dwarfs all other considerations.

For hybrids that are primarily electric, e.g. BMW i3 with backup engine, I'd think it would be a pity for them to have to use petrol when ideally they are intended to run on electric as much as possible.

A plug-in Prius (which I think has such a short electric range most journeys would use some petrol) I would see use of the space as a perk rather than a necessity, but as long as it's a perk that anyone who went to the trouble of buying a plug-in Prius could have, I'd still not see a reason to be bothered.

Diagram, of course! No awards for this one but here you go.

I don't work there so I've no idea what it looks like but this fits the description I've had. The road parking is right there but you have to go all the way round the building because of security fencing.

I mentioned the cost because although it isn't why charging points are installed, it is a factor in choosing a hybrid over petrol (in friend's case, because he has solar at home so can charge without taking from the grid).

I agree that people should only use the charging spaces while they're charging, and be prompt to move elsewhere when they aren't and someone else wants to - furthermore that the company needs to make this policy now while it's not an issue.

The directors' BMWs (other expensive and powerful cars are available) are a separate issue sort of - at the moment nobody else is allowed to park in those spaces whether the directors have parked a Tesla or Hilux, so it would be pretty rude of a director to park his Hilux in a normal space and thereby block two spaces in total. I think the named spaces bit will have to change once there's a critical mass of chargeable cars, again meaning it needs a policy now.

I think I would make having a parking space a perk of choosing to run an electric car - so you can book a space, and it may or may not be a charging space and then at lunchtime you swap with someone else with an electric car.

I wouldn't care at all about a 2min walk. I don't think directors should have dibs on 2 out of 5 electric spaces if they don't bring an electric car that day.