Urban Archaeology

What do people do when they charge their EVs?

I was feeling pretty good about myself earlier this week as I headed towards my local outlet mall parking lot charging station.  My car was at 21% charge. That’s just a single percentage point above when the red flashing light starts on my dashboard. Despite cutting it so close I hadn’t had much charge anxiety over the previous few days. I was driving my EV more and more like a pro every day.

I pulled into the parking lot and made my way down the row of charging stations, hoping to find one that I wouldn’t have to back into. That’s when I saw the dude. 

The dude had pulled in his tiny BMW i3 only part way into the spot. That left a decent amount of space for him to plunk down his similarly tiny lawn chair.  He was happily perched about five inches off the ground on his chair with a cigarillo in one hand and his smart phone in the other, scrolling as he sat there.  As I pulled to the end of the row of chargers, he looked up, and waved at me. I wasn’t quite sure why. But I didn’t want to interrupt him so I made my way to a spot a couple down from his.

After I pulled in I went over to see what he was up to.  He politely let me know that the charger I was initially headed for wasn’t working. Then he went back to his scrolling, occasionally picking up a cup of coffee he had next to him on the blacktop. 

It was 65 degrees at 9:30 on a Tuesday morning in March in Phoenix. The skies were partly cloudy and there was a slight breeze.   It was the type of beautiful weather that has led to both rapid population growth and an annual influx of tourists and snowbirds. Sure there was the awful sound of semi-trailers engine braking as they got off the freeway nearby. But the setting was pretty comfortable and this dude was living his best life. He had mastered the parking lot charge.

The encounter reminded me of my first charge in that same lot. I had had a long conversation with the woman who was charging next to me. I thought at the time that it would be the first of many charging conversations. But over the last couple of months I’ve found that people aren’t quite as interested in chatting as I thought they would be. There are occasionally people driving long distances that want to share their story. But for the most part I’m finding that people avoid others at charging stations.

As I waited for my car to charge, however, I noticed a number of clues that could give me a peek into what people do while they’re charging their cars. I had spotted a data source that archaeologists have mined for decades: garbage.  I decided I’d do some urban archaeology to better understand this emerging species: Homo-chargus.

First I noticed the smudged remains of plastic BBQ sauce tubs.  It was a clear sign that chicken nugget had once been consumed here. 

Consuming food appears to be a popular way to pass the time at a charger. The ketchup packages and soy sauce pouches I spotted clearly demonstrated that. But precisely what they meant was difficult to pinpoint. They could have been used with any number of foods.

I could, however, discern quite a bit more from the 1-ounce plastic tub that was still filled with tomatillo salsa. This is an artifact rarely seen in Northern habitats and evidence that homo-chargus has adapted to the local food culture in the Phoenix area. Someone had clearly visited one of the many delicious nearby Sonoran taco shops.

It definitely appears that while many drivers recharge their vehicles, they also recharge themselves with caffeine.  Coffee as a stimulant is clearly popular, as could be seen in evidence as subtle as slim green Starbucks stirrers and as blatant as knocked over cups with warm coffee still dribbling out. 

And lest you think we can easily pigeonhole this population, caffeine appears to be consumed in many forms. I also found a 16-ounce can of Monster Energy Drink nestled next to a 32-ounce soft drink container from a popular local burger restaurant. Given the proximity of those two beverage containers I think it’s reasonable to assume they were consumed by occupants of the same vehicle. Thus, pairs of passengers and drivers may choose to simultaneously consume different sources of caffeine.

I think it is also likely that charge anxiety is relatively common in this population.  Not only did I discover a cardboard Advil multi-pack casually tossed underneath a red yucca plant, I found that all six tablets were gone. I can only hope that the former owner did not feel the need to consume them all at once. Perhaps they were even shared with other anxious chargers.

There was evidence that some chargers engage in healthy practices.  I spotted a decayed orange rind – indicating that at least some chargers are eating healthy. And a number of them are clearly concerned about oral health as I found quite a few single use dental floss sticks/picks scattered about.    Both of these sets of artifacts made me feel a bit better about the population I was studying… apart from its propensity to litter.  

As for the 3/4 piece of a men’s red belt that lay strewn across a charging spot touting “Hyper-fast” 350 kWh charges? I’ve decided not to speculate.