Securing charger in public places

There's a Level 2 charging station near my office where I charge my car. I usually un-plug once the charge is full but was late once due to meetings plus the E-Tron app and website wasn't working and the charging station didn't email me when the charge was done like it normally does. When I got to my car, I found someone else took the charger from my car to charge his/her BMW i3 car. Completely rude. I would've "paid back" the i3 but then I wouldn't be any better than that person. Plus, I notice something in the car that indicates that the person works at the same place. Anyways, the BMW i3 locks the charging cable to the car when the car is lock so this doesn't happen. Why Audi didn't think of that, I don't know. But is there some way to secure the cable or even secure the Audi portable charger when charging publicly or in outside?

Not sure of your location, but I've read that in the US, the charging cables don't lock per some regulation.

Did you get a full charge? If so, did the BMW use up some of your time/money?

If I'm full, I'm fine with someone swapping the cable. Or even if I'm not full, I don't think I'd mind a purely electric car (like the BMW may have been) swapping the charger as I've got the ICE to travel on.

Note, where I live we don't have any extra taxes/fees for driving an ICE over an EV. If I did, and I was trying to avoid the fee and someone disconnected me, then I'd be pissed.

cbdrake":2gxx6ddw said:

There's a Level 2 charging station near my office where I charge my car. I usually un-plug once the charge is full but was late once due to meetings plus the E-Tron app and website wasn't working and the charging station didn't email me when the charge was done like it normally does. When I got to my car, I found someone else took the charger from my car to charge his/her BMW i3 car. Completely rude. I would've "paid back" the i3 but then I wouldn't be any better than that person. Plus, I notice something in the car that indicates that the person works at the same place. Anyways, the BMW i3 locks the charging cable to the car when the car is lock so this doesn't happen. Why Audi didn't think of that, I don't know. But is there some way to secure the cable or even secure the Audi portable charger when charging publicly or in outside?

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Wait, I'm confused. You were occupying an EV parking spot, after your car was completely finished charging - which prevents the other EV owners in the neighborhood by your office from using it, and you think that the person who used the charger after you was rude?

You, sir, need to readjust those expectations. Especially if you're talking about "paying back" the i3, who did nothing but unplug your fully charged vehicle. What would that mean, by the way? Did you intend to unplug their partially charged vehicle out of spite? I don't see how you were harmed or slighted in any way in this scenario.

I'm in agreement with Overpanic. I typically look at the readout on the CS to see if the car is still charging. ChargePoint stations will say "paused" or something like that, at which point I would unplug and charge my car.
In Canada, the locking of the charging cable is not permitted.
Other than "pay back", why don't you simply get the person's ph # and communicate with them so you 2 can work with each other to charge your cars. He/She can tell you when they're finished and you can go at that time - & vice versa.

I've got an IKEA next to a grocery store that I often like to pop into that has two EV chargers. Out of 5 times I've stopped by only once has either of them been free, and several times I've noticed its the same cars. I'm hoping it's not employees squatting on the spots all day.

Anyway, it brought to mind that it might be a good idea to plug in and check the ETA on charging to full, then write a quick note and leave it on your windshield. Something like- "Car will be charged by 11:15am, after that feel free to unplug. Thx!". Since the Max time it takes to charge from LEVEL 2 is 2h15m, it definitely seems a good thing to do if you don't want to have you go back to your car to unplug. People who are going to be jerks are going to be jerks regardless, but for those of us with an ounce of common decency being transparent about charging times, and making sure that chargers aren't sitting connected to FULL vehicles would be a big benefit.

I am not sure about the comment about the cable can not be locked due to some regulation, as I am pretty sure that the Tesla ones are locked when charging.