Ed Responsible electric car driver jailed for stealing.

Jail time sounds a bit extreme. A fine sounds reasonable. A warning sounds best.

Electricity isn't so expensive nor rare as to require criminalizing such borrowing; no airport has ever cracked down on flyers using outlets to power their laptops. The new world of electric travel may need not just new places to re-fuel, but new social rules for doing so.
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Borrowing? Was he planning to give it back later?

I agree that some effort to make the 'rules' more clear is probably going to be necessary. But the law often follows ethics, and I think most people would not think it is ethical to plug their car into someone else's electrical socket without asking first. Though a public place like at a school public function is a little more gray to me.
 
Not much different than plugging in smart phones and laptops. However if electric autos become widespread...social precedents will need to be set.

laptops and smart phones ok....cars = jail
 
DGM said:
I don't think so. Would it also be "gray" if you siphoned some gas from a public vehicle (say a cop car)?
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I don't think that is a comparable analogy.

You might try this one though: "Would it also be "gray" if you filled your radiator from the schools outdoor lawn faucet?"
 
Denver said:
I don't think that is a comparable analogy.

You might try this one though: "Would it also be "gray" if you filled your radiator from the schools outdoor lawn faucet?"
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Water is not the stuff that makes it go(it's also not free in most places). Think about it, it is the same.

Point is, how often has this guy done this and just figures it's OK (or anyone else). I don't want my school tax dollars going to pay for his ride.
 
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Sounds of ax grinding coming from this thread.

What the guy did was wrong, but as noted, it's somewhat of a grey area, with people being used to being able to plug their re-chargers anywhere they go.

Jail for this is pretty outrageous.
 
uke2se said:
Sounds of ax grinding coming from this thread.

What the guy did was wrong, but as noted, it's somewhat of a grey area, with people being used to being able to plug their re-chargers anywhere they go.

Jail for this is pretty outrageous.
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Um. . . how is using a publicly available power outlet at a public function in any way "wrong"? Water does make humans live, would I be arrested if I drank from a water fountain at a school that I was not a student at? I think this will be quickly dismissed. Outlets in public places on public property are public.
 
Has anyone seen a picture of the charging station in question?

If it's at a public school and it's not locked down and there is no signage outlining who may use it, I would say he just should have been told that the charging station is off limits to him. That's as far as it should have gone.

My question is who thought they should call the cops about this rather than talk to the guy?
 
Like all environmentalists he probably thinks his farts don't smell. **** him. If he got what he REALLY deserved, then he'd have AIDs.
 
autumn1971 said:
Um. . . how is using a publicly available power outlet at a public function in any way "wrong"? Water does make humans live, would I be arrested if I drank from a water fountain at a school that I was not a student at? I think this will be quickly dismissed. Outlets in public places on public property are public.
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Taking without asking is normally considered to be wrong. Given the circumstances, I'm pretty sure the outlet was not intended for anyone but school staff, and was budgeted as such.

That said, as Drs_Res said, he should have just been told that he couldn't use the outlet, and that would have been the end of it.
 
Yep, a verbal rap on the knuckles at the time leaves him feeling embarrassed and would have been perfectly adequate. Unless, maybe, there was a big sign at the recharging point saying "Staff Only" in which case he deserves several years in the toughest state prison for his steaming arrogance. Kindly get off my lawn.
 
GlennB said:
Yep, a verbal rap on the knuckles at the time leaves him feeling embarrassed and would have been perfectly adequate. Unless, maybe, there was a big sign at the recharging point saying "Staff Only" in which case he deserves several years in the toughest state prison for his steaming arrogance. Kindly get off my lawn.
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I once had a girl scout selling cookies shipped off to Guantanamo bay and waterboarded after she knocked at my door damaging and stealing molecules of paint and wood. I could have let that go with a swift beating and a letter to her parents but then when I opened the door she had the temerity to steal my air, breathing in a few of my most valuable free floating skin cells. At the same time her shadow illegally entered my house and assaulted my feet and legs up to my knees by blocking the sun light entering that region and stopping that region of my body from helping to produce vitamin d!1 VITAMIN D!!!1!!1!!
 
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Strange article; we know the guy drove a "Nissan Leaf" because it was mentioned about three or four times, but why?

Strange thread; what's with the "responsible" in the headline?
 
Was this an emergency situation? How much $ does it cost to recharge a car? Do you have to fully recharge when charging? How long did he charge? Why did he pick this spot to charge?: Was he already at the school for some function and wanted to make sure he got home?...or did he come,here to sort of steal because he remembered that this school had a charging station, knew where it was, and thought he`d get it here for free?...a premeditated act.
This is a lesson for everybody and probably will result in signs being put up, as suggested here.
 
I was looking at getting a plug-in car, it was difficult to get a fix on how much it would cost to fully charge it.
My last conclusion was that a full battery costs about € 3. (but it depends a lot on what kind of deal the outlet has with the energy company.

Since I would have to charge after every commute, I would have coughed up € 6 per work day and adding to that the inconvenience of finding an outlet that is not currently occupied by another car, I decided against this inconvenient technology. For now.

Add to that the fact that your electric car likely runs on coal, if you look at the source of the electricity.
You might as well drive a steam train from the 1800's.

Hello small French diesel engine, take me 1200 kilometres to the next convenient place that sells diesel.
 
how much worth was it he stole? and how does the jailtime compare to other crimes in regard to the worth stolen? jail time sounds extremely harsch.
 
DC said:
how much worth was it he stole? and how does the jailtime compare to other crimes in regard to the worth stolen? jail time sounds extremely harsch.
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According to the story linked in the OP it was a nickel's worth of electricity (5 cents). That's just an approximation in the story.

As far as I can see, he wasn't sentenced to jail time but he was arrested and held in jail overnight. Unless there is a lot more to the story (for example that he was requested to attend a police station and failed to do so resulting in an arrest warrant being issued - or there's some kind of local zero-tolerance to petty theft), the punishment does seem out of kilter with the crime.
 
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