Money Moral Dilemma:Should I ask my neighbour to stop charging their car?

happyinflorida

The current government are aiming towards more electric cars - so this person is doing something this government wants.

It does not cost a lot to charge a car - not as much as you are thinking it obviously does cost more, you are wrong in your way of thinking.

Do you know which person is using this? If so have a polite conversation with them.

Have they asked permission to do this?

I wouldn't grass up a fellow neighbour to management. That is mean. Do you want to cause a rift with your neighbour or have a friendly neighbour who looks out for you too? Come on, be human, talk, discuss and find out more before making up your mind.

teddysmum

I wouldn't mention it to the car owner, as if prevented from using the power point, they will have a very good idea about who reported them and ,under such circumstances , some people can be quite nasty.


(We know of someone who retaliated by putting a dead rat through someone's letterbox.)

PasturesNew

Pincher wrote: »

...I believe the idea is the car has an inductive loop underneath, so you drive over the "induction hob" to charge. Poor cat and fox, who take shelter under the car. They must think, so cosy, why is it so warm here? :eek:

It must be safe - small children also crawl under random parked cars.

soulsurfer

I agree that you should go directly to the Property Management Company. When we pointed out to a neighbour that they were disposing of commercial waste (plastic containers filled with oil) in the plastic recycling bin of the communal bin area - we got a mouth full of abuse. He was elderly too and should have known better. Let the Management Company deal with it - less hassle.

EachPenny

Some utter nonsense in this thread

We are so fortunate then that someone has come along to tell us so. Or are we?

SewerSide wrote: »

Yet somehow people deal with kerbs absolutely fine! Give everyone a bit of credit. Of course if someone runs a cable at ankle height across a pavement that is dangerous, but it's the same for pressure washers if someone washes their car. And if one person gets injured, I'm not sure that leads to a flood of compensation claims.

You don't mention that you are blind, or know anyone who is, but being blind or partially sighted would probably change your view on this. A kerb gives a clearly defined edge that can be detected by a stick, a cable on the other hand may be above ground level and is flexible, so may not give the feedback via a stick that helps blind people avoid dangers. If you don't believe me, try walking around your garden blindfolded and imagine what life would be like if that was your everyday experience.

The difference between pressure washers and EV charging cables is the former is usually making a noise and it attended, whereas the latter is silent and often left for hours at a time. The similarity is if you leave a pressure washer hose laying on a public highway and it causes someone to trip you may get sued - just as you might if your EV cable causes someone to trip.

There is another difference, kerbs are not an item listed in Section 162 of the Highways Act 1980. That's quite a big one.

SewerSide wrote: »

Not really true. Power generated at a power station is done so much more efficiently than in a car, otherwise we'd just have power stations full of diesel engines. And if you get electricity from renewable sources, even better.

I think you need to check your science on that, think about how many processes there are between fuel and wheel in IC vehicles compared to EV vehicles?

Thanks to incoherent energy policies over the years this country now has minimal reserve generating capacity. Which means the government has been desperately trying to secure additional generating capacity. They really wouldn't encourage people to buy EV's - which add to the demand on the grid - whilst simultaneously paying other people to generate electricity using diesel engines. Would they? That would be nonsense.

SewerSide wrote: »

So if I drive the car from Mad Max, and I kill someone for every minute I am driving, every road user is responsible?

That is a bit of a nonsense argument. My point was simple - EV's add to congestion, congestion adds to pollution.

Cardew wrote: »

Anyway this thread is not about the merits of Electric cars v Internal combustion cars...

Actually, in some ways the merits argument is linked to the moral question. Not all, but some people who own or promote EV's believe their contribution to improving the world justifies all kinds of liberties. Perhaps the person in the OP is one of them - believing they are entitled to free electricity because they are doing the rest of the world a favour.

winston_1

andrewdavidson7 wrote: »

I'm new to the forum, so forgive me if I am repeating a point already made, but it is not a good idea to plug an electric vehicle into a socket not specifically installed for EV charging because the installation will be taking 10 amps for many hours and could overheat.
Dedicated charge points can be installed for a few hundred pounds and a government grant may be available.

A standard 13 amp socket can take 13 amps for many hours without overheating so 10 amps should be no problem.

winston_1

crmism wrote: »

You should report the matter to the management committee responsible for the maintenance of your block of flats, as the person misusing the supply is clearly in breach of his agreement, quite apart from stealing electricity for his personal use.

It is not possible to steal electricity as it is still there. Stealing electricity has been thrown out in the courts before for this reason. The charge is misusing electricity.

Cardew

winston_1 wrote: »

It is not possible to steal electricity as it is still there. Stealing electricity has been thrown out in the courts before for this reason. The charge is misusing electricity.

Electricity still there??

https://www.ukrpa.co.uk/about-the-ukrpa-energy-theft/energy-theft

Energy Theft is crime, and the offence is as follows:

Abstracting Electricity, contrary to section 13 of the Theft Act, 1968. A person who dishonestly uses without due authority or dishonestly causes to be wasted or diverted any electricity on conviction or indictment be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years.

SandraDJ

I met a friend for coffee last night. Her son has an electric car so had a charging point installed on the side of his house in London. He is having some building work done and one day received a phone call from the builder asking if they could unplug his car from the socket as they needed access to the side of the house. His car wasn't on charge - it was one of the neighbours! He is pretty sure who it was, and is having to switch the socket off when they go out .....

Pincher

SandraDJ wrote: »

His car wasn't on charge - it was one of the neighbours! He is pretty sure who it was, and is having to switch the socket off when they go out .....

There are lockable ones.

If I put a dedicated charging point in, with £500 government Grant, it's not fast charging anyway. I think it's twice as fast as the 13amp cable that came with the car. So it's two and a half hours instead of five. The full fat fast charge requires digging the road up and putting in three phase cables.

I just use the five meter cable that came with the car, which I bring in when not charging.