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Posted

I read that this morning and was like are u serious there's far more worse crimes being commited and your going to arrest the guy for chargin his car so he can get his family home safely

Posted

I read that this morning and was like are u serious there's far more worse crimes being commited and your going to arrest the guy for chargin his car so he can get his family home safely

Somebody paid for the electricity... but it wasn't him.

Posted

Meh. he shouldn't be plugging into to other people's power outlets, but jail time is beyond stupid. I wonder if these cops arrest people for plugging in their phone and computer chargers?

Posted

Actually he does pay by paying personal property taxes which go into the school. At least we do here. Besides that, that is plain ridiculous.

Posted

It seems no one is bothered by this, what if he had siphoned gas from a school owned vehicle for his gas powered car?

Not even remotely the same thing. We don't know if he did this not caring, or just simply plugged it in without thinking of the drawbacks. I could see myself doing something like this. Not now that this story is making the rounds, but nobody ever accidentally siphoned gas without really thinking about what they were doing.

His punishment is absurd. I don't think it's no bog deal, it's technically stealing, but c'mon.

I suppose the good thing to come out of this is they are making an example out of him, so I would assume it would draw enough attention to let other electric car owners to pay attention to what htey are doing.

Posted (edited)

Yes, theft is theft...but I'm kinda wondering if somebody called 911 hollering "OMG OMG !!! SOMEONE IS STEALING POWER FROM A SCHOOL OUTLET !!! OMG OMG!!!".

Or, are the Chamblee cops so lacking for actual work to do that they have to go looking for folks engaging in unauthorized extension cord use?

I'm quite familiar with that particular Atlanta suburb, and there's a donut shop pretty close by. Maybe waiting for the "hot donuts" sign to light up got so boring, they just had to go looking for someone to bust.

Man, I'm glad they're keeping the world so safe. Another warm-fuzzy making story.

Really...wouldn't a reprimand have been sufficient, and possibly sending the guy to the principle's office to work it all out?

By the way...where were these freaking clowns when all the copper was stripped out of the house I'm renovating?

And please don't get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for law enforcement officers in general, but this is the kind of stupidity that makes people resent authority, and it paints the cops as being...well, you know.

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
Posted

This is actually a big issue in my business, Facility Management. Companies have provided premium parking spaces for car pools and hybrid cars, and the greenies are demanding outlets for electric cars. Companies want the best publicity so they're eager to consider new environmental ideas. My old company was trying to decide a policy when I left. It was determined that it would cost thousands of dollars to install the outlets. And how many are enough? Suppose you are the car that gets there late and can't get plugged in to get home again?

And the gas using employees are crying foul. Shouldn't they be getting a gas allowance to make things even?

Businesses are another story. The King of Prussia mall has installed free hookups , but that's to attract business.

But this all will be history before long. I was at a meeting at an energy company a few weeks ago where they had an electric Mini Cooper in the lobby that gets it's power from the grid. Where technology may not solved the battery capacity issue, it will be cool to have an electric car that is constantly getting it's power from thin air.

Posted

Interesting case, Yes the dude did steal the electricity. Did he mean to or, was he just careless? Who knows. While electricity theft is a big deal, jail time may be a bit much. Perhaps a warning or, even a fine would have been enough.

Seems they wanna make an example of him.

Posted (edited)

But this all will be history before long. I was at a meeting at an energy company a few weeks ago where they had an electric Mini Cooper in the lobby that gets it's power from the grid. Where technology may not solved the battery capacity issue, it will be cool to have ...................................an electric car that is constantly getting it's power from thin air.

Do you have a website or company name for this technology? I wasn't aware this was possible at the moment. Nicola Tesla did a lot of work in the field, but it was never really practical operationally. In 2007, MIT was working on powering cellphones and laptops with "radiated" power, but I had no idea the ability to run a vehicle was even close.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/wireless-0607.html

Edited by Ace-Garageguy
Posted

Do you have a website or company name for this technology? I wasn't aware this was possible at the moment. Nicola Tesla did a lot of work in the field, but it was never really practical operationally. In 2007, MIT was working on powering cellphones and laptops with "radiated" power, but I had no idea the ability to run a vehicle was even close.

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/wireless-0607.html

The company is PJM, they run the power grid for the eastern half of the USA and Canada. The car was in their lobby. The concept is called V2G- or Vehicle To Grid, which will allow the fleet of electric cars to be used as one huge storage battery. Depending on the situation, the car will receive power from the grid, but will be able to sell it back in times of need. Today the fleet is plug in vehicles, eventually they say it will be wireless according to a presentation I sat in on.

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/electric-vehicles-start-selling-power-into-pjm

Posted

I read that this morning and was like are u serious there's far more worse crimes being commited and your going to arrest the guy for chargin his car so he can get his family home safely

The article doesn't mention the car being dangerously low on power, which might be excusable (though still a theft). I don't get to drive up to the town garage and pull up to the gas pumps, and I'll bet nobody else here does either. It could be that the guy does this sort of thing whenever the opportunity presents itself...a little here, a little there...no different from stealing office supplies from work IMO. It's not enough that no road use taxes are being paid on the electricity, even when it's paid for...some folks have to have the whole thing for free...

Posted

If someone helped himself to the car's power cord while it was parked, would he have called the cops?

Posted

Now, see, in Canada (especially northern Canada) this wouldn't be an issue. Go far enough north and all the parking spaces at malls and sports stadia have outlets for block heaters. All the apartment buildings in Thompson, MB have outlets for their parking spots, as well as the mine for employee and visitor parking. Typical Americans. :rolleyes:

Posted

Everyone knows that it cost to plug things in, why do we replace appliances with newer more efficient ones? Why do we turn off TV's and lights when nobody is in the room?

I would think that if he had the cord and had found the outlets location and then parked where the cord could reach he knew exactly what he was doing and had even done a little research. I'll bet he saw what charging that thing did to his monthly power bill and found a cheaper alternative.

What if your next door neighbor ran his recharge cord to your outdoor outlet?

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