I have to believe that’s against some kind of code but I don’t know.

my neighbor charges his tesla with a cord and extension cord running out of his 3 floor window and on to the street, taped it, put a rug mat over it. i've tripped over it like 5 times. but hey! you gotta do what you gotta do!!

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To be honest I personally would not have an issue with using this set up to charge your car. The cord is covered so you shouldn't have issues going over it with a stroller, also the street does not look like it sees alot of foot traffic either. However, i doubt this would fly in JC. The car is parked the opposite direction for starters and I am pretty sure someone would use this to charge their own electric cars to.

Forget about the cord on the sidewalk for a sec: how do you make sure nobody else parks in “your” spot on the street?

If you put a cable ramp over it (the sorts of things you’d see at a construction site), it’s perfectly fine and no more intrusive than the bumps in the sidewalk. Certainly no worse than people who run sprinklers that spray the sidewalk.

I’d opt for one more heavy duty than the ones in the picture—they’re not super expensive and you can get the type that can even be driven over.

This is now a public charging station

If done right I personally don't see a problem. But, I have seen people not do it this way (there's someone in Paulus Hook that runs a cable and it is just strewn across the sidewalk, as a tripping hazard) and that's definitely not cool. Put a proper cable ramp, to minimize any tripping risk, and be mindful of others.

Move on, other things to worry about

Any measure taken to decelerate the demise of human civilization is considerate in my book

This begs the main question I have about buying an EV. How the heck is someone supposed to charge their own vehicle at their house if they don't have a garage?

Or driveway?

If this was Boston, the easy solution is a lawn chair. IYKYK.

Dollars for donuts , someone unplugs car , creates adapter and is charging his phone , 2 hrs after installing this in JERSEY CITY

I'm all for electric vehicle adoptions and DIY charging solutions. All for it.

But, I don't like this at all. They can saw a groove in the sidewalk and run the wire in the groove if they want to do this, I would have zero issues with that. But this is bad.

Do what you gotta do.

Tesla chargers are suitable for use outdoors, and I'm sure the others are as well. The molding they've used here is a helpful add (that I'm sure protects their cable as well).

The ideal set up would be lockable outlets at street level past the sidewalk, but this is not the end of the world to me.

My lungs definitely prefer EVs to ICEs, so if this is a stepping stone to better charging infrastructure across the city, I'm for it.

i strongly agree... that plus the other person's comment of how do you even get the same spot every night

however i'm actually just saying this specific "solution" is not a valid one. there are plenty of other options. none are as convenient as if we all lived in a single family house in the suburbs, so you'll have to decide if any of these are workable.

1. there are garages / parking lots in downtown JC with charging. would you be interested in renting a monthly spot and solving the problem that way? are you nearby?
2. there are several public level2 chargers in the area. how much do you drive, do you live near any of these chargers?
3. some of the destinations in our area have chargers (ikea, walmart, wawa, jersey gardens, newport mall), are you near those / do you frequent those?

if you hate all of the above i'd suggest not getting a battery EV yet

That’s a liability issue right there. Someone trips and falls and you’ve got yourself a lawsuit.

That looks like Portland!

As for the cable, idgaf I hate all cars equally

or just put the charger at work

unless the workplace is set up to charge EVs (in which case you likely would just be charging with their equipment) it's unlikely you spend enough time at work that L1 charging would recuperate the power used to commute much less do your weekend errands/trips

that said it's theoretically possible, just depends on your usage and commute and your work schedule i guess...

I have a neighbor who does this, and it seems fine. There are much worse tripping hazards on the block. It's a midsize apartment building, and she runs a cable out the window. I would consider it a real hassle, but she doesn't seem to worry too much about getting "her" spot. I think it's just opportunistic. If it's available, she'll plug in. I guess if there were 40 cars plugged in on the block, that would not be ideal, but it seems fine at this scale.

Least of my worries in the world, more power to them

Yeah whatever. All electric by 2030!

100% like PDX! The subaru, prius, and tesla, the sloppy vegetation from all the rain, etc.

Exactly. Or do all parking spots have to be deeded moving forward?

I’d stay away from this purely from a liability perspective. As a neighbor, I wouldn’t be mad about a cable ramp made for the outdoors but definitely check to see if your homeowners policy would cover someone tripping.

I have my own charger in my garage… but we were recently doing renovations and I didn’t have access to it for 3 months.

What we did was every 2 weeks or so we went to target and charged while doing some shopping. Both targets around us have L3(DC fast chargers) so it takes 40 minutes to go from 20% to 80% on my car.

My grocery store also has a set that’s opening in a few weeks.

It’s really not that hard if you can incorporate it into things you already need to do (groceries, shopping, mall, etc…)

JC isn’t quite there with the charging infrastructure, but it will be in the next couple years.

Need to sit at a charging station for 45 minutes somewhere. If you’re driving a ton of miles every week street parking probably isn’t a great idea at this point.

Not to mention having to park the opposite way on the street. Another great illustration of how technology has not met the demand yet.

Bigger challenge will be consistent parking availability within reach of an extension cord. You’ll also slow your (already abysmally slow) regular outlet pace because… physics. Threes a couple chargepoints littered throughout the city, or the supercharger in Newport mall if you’re going Tesla (+ discounted garage parking if you want to keep it in Newport)

This person specifically also has to park the wrong way on the street every day to reach the port which I believe you can be ticketed for. (The back of the car is where the front of the car should be).

Near Johns pizza?

Except the electric comes from a plant likely burning fossil fuels so…..kinda nets out

Nice enough to put a protective ramp over the cord.

Anyone who objects to this is Karen.

At least they did the considerate thing to cover most of the charging cable on the floor with a ramp/cable protector (coming from a photography profession, gaffing cables on floor/covering cables = a must), but you’re right, not a foolproof solution in regards to personal injuries.

Also winter/snow + ice is a near certainty for the area starting in ~8 weeks (after Thanksgiving at least), what’s the homeowner’s solution then in regards to shoveling/de-icing + keeping the cable (& the parking/sidewalk) obstruction free, in addition to keeping the cables neat?

You don't. You have to drive to a public charging station and wait 40 minutes.

At some point, someone's going to trip over it (or pretend they did) and sue the owner of the house/car. At least in the US it's bound to happen.

Aw man, now I miss Portland ☹️

Anywhere around here I can find a bunch of rundown RVs or tents surrounded by trash, for old times sake??

Right, but even if that were true (a fair amount of NJ's power is nuclear or solar), the $6 of electricity it takes to charge a car is using a lot less fossil fuels than a full tank of gasoline.

Not really. The plants generating the electricity are a lot more efficient at producing electricity from fuel than an individual car engine. There's some efficiency loss due to transmission and storage, but the net effect is less overall fuel burned. Furthermore, having the fuel burning consolidated to a single spot makes it a lot easier and more effective to scrub the output and reduce the level of air pollution generated.

Admittedly, it's not completely black-and-white -- battery production requires mining of rare earth metals, and that has its own Pandora's Box of environmental issues. But I would argue that the net effect of switching to an electric vehicle is positive.

agree, i would not do this. even if someone doesn't inadvertently trip on it, they may trip on it on purpose and nail you for it. There is a guy on Sussex near Washington street who charges his Volt on the street. He has the charger hanging from a nearby tree. It's a pretty crazy looking set up, but it does the job

I don’t have any problem with people doing this as long as they try to prevent accidents with the ramp/covers shown. But it’s clear that unless you’re neighbors are ok with it, sooner or later you’re gonna get a ticket or a lawsuit. It’s a shame because there are only a few places to charge EVs in JC.

Is the city doing anything on this? Revising codes or rules? Or ticketing for violating current rules? Sooner or later it’s going to become an issue if people are careless.

I think you will need to setup some sort of locking mechanism so people don't unplug your shit and use it for their shit. Otherwise idk.. I don't own electric and have contemplated the same issue. I use to live in jc now in bk.. it is one of the reasons I didn't buy electric on my last car about a year ago.

I'm sure this violates NEC code.. 240v line exposed and not encased... but it's JC, unless you live down by the water, the hood is another world. No rules lol

We need the city to partner charging station provider to start placing more charging stations around the city. It will happen, but it does seem like we’re moving slowly on something that will better improve the city’s visibility nationally and improve the life of its citizens. It’s hard to not see 4 charging stations per city block, two per each corner of a block. It will just take 5 years to get to that point.

I dont see this as a problem - what i do see is people blocking off spots because they feel entitled to them or NEED them to charge their car. Fighting with neighbors , putting cones , chairs ,garbage cans take up the spot the entire day so its there for them later.

The police will need a whole new category for calls. Dispatch : We got another 1022B Parking fight

You can't mandate electric cars because people live in apartment buildings or busy streets. So what they have to sit somewhere for 30 min to 2 hours every week vs stopping at a gas station for 2 minutes . That a huge step backwards for a lot of people . Unless every city block puts them in and makes the spot EV only but imagine the backlash .

Ha ha ha! You know the one...

That used to be strung across the trees then drop down.

Awhile back there was a company called Greenspot that was trying to get a foothold in Jersey City. Their plan was to help you run a metered line from your house to the curb in front of your house and then split the profits with you from anyone who used it to charge a vehicle. Not the worst idea, but I'm also not in love with turning over more public space to private interests and cluttering up the sidewalks with whatever these things would look like.

Edit: these folks https://joingreenspot.com/ and they appear to be located downtown! Now I'm wondering if I've been unwittingly pulled into a marketing ploy...

I'm in JC with an EV and without a charger at home - when I can't work charging into a trip, I drive to the Electrify America stations in Newark and Kearny when I need to charge.

A few questions, how much foot traffic on your block? What range and battery capacity are the EVs you are considering and what level charger would you be plugging in? Also, how many miles are you driving each week? My car takes 58 hours to charge on level 1, but just 7 on a level 2. I charge a little more than once a week.

If you have a cable across the sidewalk over night a time or two each week, I think you're OK if you use a cable ramp to avoid the tripping hazard and protect your cable. If you have the cord out night and day 4 or 5 days a week, I don't think it's viable.

YUP. I saw that iteration as well. Haven't walked past it recently, so not sure if it is still a thing. It always struck me as incredibly entitled to string an electrical extension overhead, wrapped around a tree, down to a parking spot. Surely they know they don't own that tree and overhead space to do with it as they please? People are interesting...

There is no requirement that you charge at home, its just more convenient to do so.

We own a plug-in hybrid, I don’t have my own spot but have two public chargers walking distance of my house in Greenville. Downtown JC has a ton of public chargers also. Many are conveniently next to playgrounds or grocery stores to be able to play accordingly. In terms of costs, it’s a bit more than $3/hr and get you 10 miles on the electric engine. I end up charging 2-3 times a week (my bat only holds up to 32 miles) and won’t have to put in gas but every 3 weeks.

In Sept I spent $40 on public charging and got 268 miles without using gas.

Can't wait until even more of our public space is given over to cars to facilitate charging them all.

I hope they figure out a better fast charging solution before all of our sidewalks are lined with charging stations.

LOL. I’ve seen one WAYYY worse IN JC. It was a orange AC cord that went down from a three story Apt complex and out into the sidewalk and plugged into the car. Also it was not long enough so it was tight and almost hanging blocking the entire sidewalk…definitely no good.

City just needs to invest in more charging stations…or simply don’t own a car in the city. Haven’t owned a car in 4 years and honestly I love it…

How do you fill up your car with gas at your house?

We just need the infrastructure for it. Destinations will have chargers at most spots. And superchargers can get you like 200 miles in 15 minutes. Yeah, its not 5 minutes to fill up like gas, but it's not that bad. If it's on a highway grabbing a cup of coffee and using the restroom takes almost that long anyway.

This is yet another reason why cars should not be viewed as the ultimate transport in cities. You should not need to worry about where you park, whether you can charge at home, etc. You should just be able to walk to a transit station a few blocks from your house. Of course, this is only possible for people in JC who live near a PATH or HBLR station.

I think that the neighbor is being considerate as possible while using his electric to charge his car and lucky enough to find a parking. This does not offend me personally. I come from the days where that Green Can in the street was reserved parking. And forget talk about it on Reddit; the only possible thing to do. Simply people weren't touching the can...

Nope, the cable ramp doesnt meet ADA standards

There are cable ramps that do. OP will not have been the first person to run cable in a place that needs to be ADA compliant.

Pic car owner seems pretty considerate tbh.

Just as long as you’re using your own electric and it doesn’t inconvenience anyone else I don’t see what the big deal would be. Will be interesting if we can build the infrastructure into light polls etc and just have a card swipe feature on them to pay to charge down the road. I see that maybe creating an annoyance if parking isn’t exclusively for Evs but wishful thinking things will even out based on future supply and demand.

There was also tech I saw in the UK being developed where there were the equivalent of pop up chargers staggered like working meters. I think as cities work on their future planning we will see the tech pop of over here.

Reality: they wont find a faster charging solution

Charging a Tesla at 4/miles per hour of charging lol - nope nope nope.

Im Dover people buy traffic cones to mark out "their" space

The best EVS are those that have steel tiers and run on rails

Silly question coming up; do we have portable power stations to charge an EV or are they still being invented?

Or the city could line the streets with chargers.

Or literally anything. I used to use a laundry basket or an Adirondack chair

I wouldn’t do this all the time. But there are charging stations, like at the mall. It’s technically public I assume and if anyone trips or some a**hole wants to destroy the cord, you’re basically fcked. I would recommend doing it when there’s less foot traffic. You’d barely get a charge depending on the voltage too

The lawn chair is only for a spot you shoveled! It’s not for reserving the spot in front of your house.

Please lawn chair responsibly.

Or a house?

In this pic, the cable has a ramp cover (good) but it isn't secured (bad). Sidewalks are for everyone—blind people, wheelchair users, people who can't lift their feet up very high, small kids, people using rolling carts and suitcases, etc etc. If the cord was secured in such a way that all of those people were not impeded, then it would be okay IMO. But you may still need to check municipal codes.

I think it's fabulous! Love to see people caring about the environment

You don't need to charge it every time, usually only like once a week. Fairly good odds you get to park within range of that at least once per week, unless someone doesn't move their car for cleaning. Yea, it's certainly not foolproof, and there's 100% gonna be times you need it and can't get right to it, but it would theoretically be fine more often than not

This is not in JC

This one looks like a mobile charger that they could just unplug and stow in their trunk. Probably just hooked up to a normal 120v outlet that they ran to an outdoor receptacle. Nothing really special here that someone couldn’t remove/close up before bad weather.

Could be 120v on the mobile charger

$3 for 10 miles seems kinda steep tbh.

Yes , I know.. I read the headline.

Regardless. The cable should be encased, pretty sure the insulation on that cable won't be rated for people to walk on lol

Doesn't matter what we think, it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Wireless. Hahaha

I've seen chargers in JC on the side of the street, Central Ave and Ogden Ave in the Heights. Downtown too

And even in that instance, I’m sure you can grab a charge somewhere else if really needed.

Normally wouldn’t be but that could be mitigated with a proper ramp to protect

Helpful, thanks!

This will never work in JC; no reliable access exists for any specific public parking spot.

Also legal issues for live wires over public property; it's actually dangerous.

This would likely be awful, narrower sidewalks, probably less parking, wires everywhere, more difficult trash pickup and a completely overloaded electrical grid.

On the plus side, maybe if they lined all the streets with chargers, they could move the grid underground.

If you lived there and moved here, I hope you have learned by now that such measures won't fly in JC. I mean, unless you are willing to go full southie and beat someone to death over their audacity to avail themselves of a cleared up spot. In which case, maybe don't come here... we have enough crazies already.

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It's a good point... but should we be forgetting about the elderly, handicapped, vision-impaired? Anyone could easily trip over that if they are distracted or it's night or any number of situations.

The permanent parts of this are armored.

The black cable and charger are just hanging. That’s likely stored in their trunk when not in use. That’s acceptable on a temporary basis. You just can’t permanently mount it like that.

They also technically protected on the sidewalk where it’s prone to damage.

This might violate local ordinances, but seems to have been done safely. That outlet looks like it might have been done by a pro too. I suspect that locks, so when not in use nobody can access the outlet.

I agree with you 100%. If someone needs to run a cord or hose across the sidewalk for a temporary project, ok. But a seemingly permanent thing like this? No way. I’d talk to them if I knew them, or SeeClickFix it.

You're going to have to upgrade the grid no matter what, it's not an option.

The rest, you don't need chargers on every street. Even if everyone had an electric car they wouldn't need to charge it every night, most would only need to once a week. Maybe put them on only one side of the street, every other block, wherever is appropriate.

Yes and... I at least appreciate the person in the picture put some amount of effort in! The sidewalks of JC have much bumpier sections than that!

This is wrong and completely selfish. You cannot block a sidewalk. People use sidewalks. Some people use wheelchairs and really need those sidewalks. This person is an asshole.

There's a guy named Sal in the New Jersey Tesla Car Club that does this in the heart of JC.

This post shows and explains it. Exactly what you're looking for. He's really open to helping people out and his hobby is to spread the word on EVs, so definitely reach out to him! He said he's been doing this for several years and has never had anyone tamper with it.

https://www.facebook.com/100002486827884/videos/427099685906978/

I was like, JC looking a lot like Portland, OR in this photo. Then read the caption.

I think that should be top priority when we inevitably upgrade the grid.

Discreet ev charging ports that are metered. Though It would probably be much more expensive unfortunately.

Too late, already here. Yes I did live in southie. I’m originally from here so no I have common sense and know where I am.

Actually checking my math it’s officially $3.20 for 2 hrs, and it’s lvl 2 so at 6.6 kWh it’s more like $3.20 for 40 electric engine miles. That’s why I only spent $40 for 268 miles in sept.

Try talking to someone in the department of infrastructure — engineering or traffic/transportation may be able to help.

Nope, it’s Jersey City. It’ll still be a private charging station when they steal it.

There are also chargers in the Newport mall parking garage. But parking itself costs 12$ for 6 hours. (Or day rate of 25$ after that) not sure if there is any kind of validation or discounted rates available. Tons of teslas parked too, think the cars are for car rental company, but the chargers look available to public and mostly empty.

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Small minority??? ...LOL you live a sheltered life my friend if that what you think . 30% of the population lives in densely packed cities with street parking . Hell that was the only lifestyle i knew for 30 year. The fight for spots around here is bad enough in winter as is. Add to that electric charging and there are going to be huge issues.

So recently had to rent a Tesla for work - it was the last car left at Hertz. Figured it would be fine because I live near a couple charging stations in the heights. Finally go to charge it and if you have a Tesla you need an adaptor to use the street side charging stations. Hertz said I had to buy my own. Even before I found a place to charge, people with non EV cars park in the designated spots so it was really frustrating all around. Wound up draping an extension cord across the sidewalk. I felt like I was doing something wrong and also was afraid people would mess with it. It takes over a day to charge using your house power. Had to go to Newport mall to charge. Wound up trading it for a regular car that day. You have to have a special living situation that accommodates it I feel