Apartment living comes with its quirks, laundry squabbles, noise complaints, and, apparently, Tesla drivers who treat the communal chargers like their personal gas station. For one Redditor, the petty EV wars in their building escalated from polite notes to full-blown drama.
After years of free charging, considerate neighbors were losing patience with entitled drivers who ignored the building’s four-hour limit. But when notes got torn up and threats scribbled back, this tenant decided to escalate. The result? No more freebies. Want to hear how free juice turned into pay-per-charge justice? Let’s plug into the story.
A woman reported Tesla drivers hogging her building’s free EV chargers, leading to new paid chargers that hit hogs with fees after four hours
Sometimes the smallest rules cause the biggest conflicts, and that’s exactly what happened in this apartment complex. The Original Poster (OP) wasn’t upset about charging their own car, in fact, they followed the 4-hour rule, but about Tesla owners who ignored it, treating shared chargers like personal property.
The broken guest charger only made things worse, and when polite notes turned into hostile replies, OP escalated to management. The end result? A system upgrade where free charging ends at four hours, and anyone who overstays pays.
On one side, the Tesla drivers argue practicality: bigger batteries, more time needed, family obligations, or the inconvenience of moving cars mid-day. On the other, residents like OP see the rules as a shared courtesy.
After all, an EV charger is more like a laundromat dryer than a gas pump, you can’t monopolize it without inconveniencing the next person in line. The satire in this story is clear: it wasn’t until money got involved that the rule finally had teeth.
Zooming out, this issue is not unique to one building. As electric cars multiply, charging “etiquette” is becoming a flashpoint.
A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 47% of U.S. adults believe public charging infrastructure is inadequate, a concern that grows among EV owners themselves. With scarcity comes tension, and experts note that community guidelines often fail without enforcement.
Industry professionals emphasize how crucial shared responsibility is.
As Gil Tal, Director of the Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis, explained to The Guardian: “The biggest barrier is not technology but human behavior. People need to learn to share, to move their cars, and to think of the charger like a public resource, not a private one”. That quote fits OP’s building perfectly, rules were in place, but without accountability, the “free for all” won.
What could OP and others do? Beyond enforcement through fees, experts recommend proactive community agreements. Apps and networks like ChargePoint already send text alerts when charging is complete, reducing the “I forgot” excuse.
Some properties even implement idle fees of $1 per minute after a grace period, which all but eliminates charger hoarding. And at the personal level, communication, without ripped-up notes, remains key.
Here’s how people reacted to the post:
These Reddit users called it brilliant petty revenge, noting hogs lose most
Some praised her for fairness, sharing their quick-charging habits
This group suggested high idle fees or towing
One cited London’s steep post-charge fees
This commenter wished for a bolder note
One approved as a Tesla driver
Another warned hogs might pay to keep hogging
These Redditors clarified it’s not Tesla-specific
What began as ripped-up notes and petty insults ended with a system overhaul. The Tesla drivers who once treated the chargers like personal property now face hourly fees, while considerate EV owners get exactly what they need, fair access.
So, was OP’s nuclear option pure pettiness, or did they just save the entire building from endless charger drama? And how would you handle neighbors who think rules don’t apply to them?
