Am I crazy? Model Y without home charger...

[jmd2024]

I am in the market for a new car, and with the tax credits and being a nerd, I have finally begun to consider an EV. Test drove a MY last night and really liked it, but here's the catch.

I live on Staten Island, and my landlord will not be installing a charging option at home. I know there is currently one Supercharger site which is ~10 minutes away from me. The mall has a bunch of public/free chargers, but like 8kWh or some such experience. There is another SC site coming soon which I found out about on the site, and there are some SC sites between my residence and where I work (I have customers between Philadelphia and Long Island).

So here's my ask, since I know of no one around me who owns a Tesla, or any EV.

Am I crazy even considering going EV and relying on the charging infrastructure? Odds are slim I will be anywhere but here in 3 years, and odds are nil that the landlord budges on the charging. I know the prices for SC sites aren't posted, so I am curious if any of my island neighbors can indicate rough costs there, since that's my likely best bet as a frequent fill-up spot. mostly hoping to see that if I did go MY and SC, that my weekly costs would be under the 40ish dollars in gas I am spending currently. If it's 20-30 bucks, and i can do some en route work? No biggie. If it's 30-40 which is basically the cost of gas...then I get to thinking now is not Tesla time still. And, will it be an issue if I am not regularly charging to 100% (like, if its every couple weeks versus every week?)

the other vehicles I was considering are an Ioniq5, which I would be even more limited with on the island for charging, or an ICE Nissan Rogue, which may win out but my company GM is pushing hard for me to get a Y like him lol

thanks in advance!

 

[cbdream99]

You can try to rent one for few weeks and try normal routine, some extra trips, and different patterns, then you will have a feel what it looks like always have to go to SC to charge... remember this lifestyle will last a while until you move..

 

[Jim R]

If my Tesla cost as much to run as an ICE car, it would still be my choice. One pedal driving, low weight for level cornering and awesome acceleration are three things to start with as advantages. Next, no oil changes (in 2 years my maintenance consisted of changing the cabin air filter) and not much in maintenance at all. No pollution of our atmosphere. Great electronic conveniences of the modern software. Software improvements happen with software updates. No need to buy the latest model upgrade. Hundreds of free form voice commands to keep your eyes on the road for safety. Lots of storage - frunk and under back deck. And you could move to a place with EV charging at home.

 

[gtae07]

The real savings comes with less maintenance, insurance, etc.

My insurance costs went up quite a bit, but I was also previously driving a clapped-out F150 with liability only. But still, I wouldn't expect insurance to be a savings compared to another comparably-priced vehicle. My insurance increase eats up about half of my gas savings every month, and makes the car basically break-even compared to a hybrid.


Otherwise I'm in agreement with everyone else--I would not get an EV of any kind if I could not charge at home, and I live walking distance from a supercharger.

 

[dcfas]

We didn’t have the wall charger installed in our garage for almost three months after we got our M3. I drive about 70 miles a day total to work and back. There is a SC on my way to/from work that I stopped at least twice a week, and it was barely an inconvenience at all. But I will add that I plugged the car into a standard wall socket (120v) each night for about up to 50-60 miles of range. I would also always charge up 100% each weekend.

There is no question about how much of a game changer it is to be able to use a level 2 charger at home, but that being said, for some it’s do-able without. YMMV.

 

[gx9901]

I love my MYP and I feel like EVs are superior enough to ICE that I'd drive one even if the fuel cost is the same. However, I think having home charging is a HUGE difference maker in EV ownership. It's almost like owning a different product when you have home L2 charging compared to not having it. As much as I love EVs, I'm not sure if I would be willing to put up with the time spent supercharging the car every day or every other day (including time it takes to drive to the charging station) unless the station is literally right next door to my house.

As some have mentioned, it can be managed if you don't have home L2 charging, but the difference is 5 seconds per day plugging the car in at night versus perhaps a lot more time spent per week driving to and charging at a charging station.

 

[jay1122]

I simply see no advantage other than the driving characteristic of EV. Instant torque and regen brake is nice. The cost in fuel is nearly identical if you supercharge. Insurance will be similar to other $40-$50K cars. Maintenance saved over a Nissan counter part probably will get offset by the extra tire wear. Depreciates harder than Nissan Rogue for sure. And then there is the biggest inconvenience factor, the time you spend waiting for charge. If you drive so little, only supercharge 1ce per week, you may as well get a V8 ICE. If you drive a lot, need to supercharge everyday or two. You have to waste 30Min -1Hr sitting in car waiting for charge. Just do this, Everyday or two after work, drive to the supercharger and park there in your ICE for 30 Mins. See how you feel after a week or two. I can't even fathom to that idea. You have to be a true EV zealot to do that.

 

[Watts_Up]

I live on Staten Island, and my landlord will not be installing a charging option at home.
I know there is currently one Supercharger site which is ~10 minutes away from me.
The mall has a bunch of public/free chargers, but like 8kWh or some such experience.
There is another SC site coming soon which I found out about on the site, and there are some SC sites
between my residence and where I work (I have customers between Philadelphia and Long Island).

How many miles do you drive daily or weekly ?

Because if you only need to charger once a week, like you might do with an ICE car,
this is very different than if you had to charge every day, because you have a long commute.

Also, if you plan to stay for a while at this location, can you have an estimate of the cost installation,
and pay for it, if the landlord just don't want to pay for it? It is not clear if the landlord is not willing
to pay the installation or do not want at all to have a charger at this location?

 

[Mike728]

This advice is so general and location dependent as to be almost meaningless.

There are several supercharger stations around me that are CHEAPER than my lowest off peak home electricity rate.

As is your post. How much is your cheapest "off peak" rate? How much are they charging per kWh and where at?

 

[MYmike]

How many miles do you drive daily or weekly ?

Because if you only need to charger once a week, like you might do with an ICE car,
this is very different than if you had to charge every day, because you have a long commute.

Also, if you plan to stay for a while at this location, can you have an estimate of the cost installation,
and pay for it, if the landlord just don't want to pay for it? It is not clear if the landlord is not willing
to pay the installation or do not want at all to have a charger at this location?

I agree with approaching your landlord regarding installing a level 2 charger. The convenience of charging at home cannot be overstated. Many variables to consider because each EV charger installation is different. Here in California charging rates are much lower during non-peak hours (12am to 3pm). If your Long Island electric rates are higher during the day you might have a significant savings if you charge during non-peak times. You might even offer to share the cost of the charger installation if the numbers work for you.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Thanks for the responses so far, it's good food for thought.

I park on the street, for what it's worth. that + landlord being against it, and that's my pickle.

I am coming from a BMW 330. 4 cylinder turbo charged, does really well on the highway but around the island (say, for errands or getting the kids around) it's under 20mpg usually
But, if I get away from brakes and oil changes and all that, and gas vs charging is slightly better...possibly worth it maybe.

Also, thus far I have not found insurance for a new MY to be less than replacing my 2021 BMW. If i keep my current provider and trade the BMW for the Tesla, my insurance cost actually goes up almost 1600 per year, which I was not expecting.

my honest hope is if I got the Y, the landlord (never been in one or drove one) would borrow it and change his tune. long shot, but who knows. i never thought i'd be looking myself. and not something I can gamble on of course

downside to all this...i liked the MY a lot more than I expected. a month ago, i was basically set on the Rogue, where now I don't want to even drive it...looked at a few hybrids and nothing really piques my interest. Neighbor has a hyundai hybrid, they seem happy but

When you talk about asking you landlord to install a charger, where are you talking about? Note in a pinch, if where you park just has a 120V outlet, that can still provide a useful amount of charge overnight. The mobile connector the Model Y comes with has a 120V plug option.

Are you talking about installing one on the street? If so, that's a much larger undertaking. If installing one in a garage or carport, the 120V plug may be an inexpensive alternative (especially if one already exists).

 

[ucmndd]

As is your post.

Right, that was kinda the point… glad you caught on.

Relative costs are entirely location dependent and you can’t just throw out a metric like “superchargers are 4-5x more expensive than home charging” and expect it to apply everywhere. On the contrary I suspect that statistic is flatly untrue almost everywhere.

Its not even close to true where OP is in Staten Island, where the average home electric rate appears to be about 23 cents per kWh and the local supercharger is $0.39/kwh.

How much is your cheapest "off peak" rate? How much are they charging per kWh and where at?

Here in central California my cheapest off-peak rate at home is now $0.34/kwh - on a specific EV charging plan.

Some superchargers in the region are as low as $0.24/kwh, several others close by are basically at parity with my home rates (around $0.32-0.36).

 

[Unclepaul]

If you have access to 120V plug, then you are probably in good shape. Means that slow overnight charging plus occasional SuperCharging will be pretty easy to live with.

 

[LostVector]

Thanks for the responses so far, it's good food for thought.

I park on the street, for what it's worth. that + landlord being against it, and that's my pickle.

I am coming from a BMW 330. 4 cylinder turbo charged, does really well on the highway but around the island (say, for errands or getting the kids around) it's under 20mpg usually
But, if I get away from brakes and oil changes and all that, and gas vs charging is slightly better...possibly worth it maybe.

Also, thus far I have not found insurance for a new MY to be less than replacing my 2021 BMW. If i keep my current provider and trade the BMW for the Tesla, my insurance cost actually goes up almost 1600 per year, which I was not expecting.

my honest hope is if I got the Y, the landlord (never been in one or drove one) would borrow it and change his tune. long shot, but who knows. i never thought i'd be looking myself. and not something I can gamble on of course

downside to all this...i liked the MY a lot more than I expected. a month ago, i was basically set on the Rogue, where now I don't want to even drive it...looked at a few hybrids and nothing really piques my interest. Neighbor has a hyundai hybrid, they seem happy but

Feels like more detail on this situation is still warranted. How far are you from a plug of any kind? Is anything in the way? What exactly is your landlord against? Electrical receptacles are not particularly controversial ... maybe he/she doesn't want to put in a whole EV charger, but that could still leave other charging options as a possibility.

 

[Watts_Up]

Feels like more detail on this situation is still warranted. How far are you from a plug of any kind? Is anything in the way? What exactly is your landlord against? Electrical receptacles are not particularly controversial ... maybe he/she doesn't want to put in a whole EV charger, but that could still leave other charging options as a possibility.

Also the current charging situation can change very fast...

I remember when I got my Model 3 about five years ago, there was no charging charging station in my area,
but now there are several Tesla superchargers and tons of L2 public chargers, but I am in California...

Also I have some relative living in Long Island, NY and for many years I rarely saw a Tesla,
but now there are several Tesla superchargers, showrooms, and service centers all around this east coast peninsula.

 

[Leftlane22]

My home rate is .075 cents per kw, and all of the superchargers I’ve used in Texas have been either 31 cents or 34 cents, so it’s a big savings here.

BTW, my daughter has the new Rogue and it is amazing how much tech and amenities you can get in a car for low 30s. She has more stuff in hers than in my Model S

 

[jmd2024]

So, hopefully this clarifies the living situation...we rent an apartment which is a part of a house on the island. we park anywhere we can on the block, almost never in front of the house (that's where the landlord parks). so, no spot for us to put a plug without having him give up his spot, which he has already said he won't do. offered to pay, declined. i see it as us offering to improve the value, but no luck there yet.

miles per week is tough to gauge. right now, mostly i am driving errands, picking up kids and stuff. i work from home, unless i have to visit a client. if i do visit a client, the one is 140miles round trip, the other is 80 and both do have SC along the route (like right off the highway, plus if i am ever overnight, a couple of the hotels). so, doing that would not be a major issue, and those trips are not every day. once a week would be alot, more like 2x monthly.
but, I can drive my BMW for a week and only fill up once, and using that mileage as a guide is why i expect if i did go MYLR, that i'd be OK charging once a week and maybe augmenting with some free public chargers when someone is running errands.

i did a lot of checking the map last night. where i go to take my daughter to school, within a mile there are a couple options, plus where i tend to go for my son's soccer is putting in chargers too. and, a target not 5 minutes from us gets SC this summer, and the wife goes there more often than she wants to admit.

plus, i do still have a gas car remaining. we got a '17 mini for our daughter to drive...which she hasn't yet, but it's kept the miles off of my lease in the meantime.

for now though, the resource i had that swore they were getting me out of my lease? more talk than anything, so it looks like my decision is delayed by a couple months. gives me time to pepper the landlord and maybe convince him...

 

[E90alex]

but, I can drive my BMW for a week and only fill up once, and using that mileage as a guide is why i expect if i did go MYLR, that i'd be OK charging once a week

So like I said earlier, if you fill up your ICE once a week, you can expect to have to fast charge 2-3x per week.

It’s EPA rated at 310 miles, but real world is probably more like 280. But that’s 100% to 0% which is not going to happen. To keep it between 20-80% that gives you about 165 miles of usable range.

 

[phxazcraig]

So, hopefully this clarifies the living situation...we rent an apartment which is a part of a house on the island. we park anywhere we can on the block, almost never in front of the house (that's where the landlord parks). so, no spot for us to put a plug without having him give up his spot, which he has already said he won't do. offered to pay, declined. i see it as us offering to improve the value, but no luck there yet.

miles per week is tough to gauge. right now, mostly i am driving errands, picking up kids and stuff. i work from home, unless i have to visit a client. if i do visit a client, the one is 140miles round trip, the other is 80 and both do have SC along the route (like right off the highway, plus if i am ever overnight, a couple of the hotels). so, doing that would not be a major issue, and those trips are not every day. once a week would be alot, more like 2x monthly.
but, I can drive my BMW for a week and only fill up once, and using that mileage as a guide is why i expect if i did go MYLR, that i'd be OK charging once a week and maybe augmenting with some free public chargers when someone is running errands.

i did a lot of checking the map last night. where i go to take my daughter to school, within a mile there are a couple options, plus where i tend to go for my son's soccer is putting in chargers too. and, a target not 5 minutes from us gets SC this summer, and the wife goes there more often than she wants to admit.

plus, i do still have a gas car remaining. we got a '17 mini for our daughter to drive...which she hasn't yet, but it's kept the miles off of my lease in the meantime.

for now though, the resource i had that swore they were getting me out of my lease? more talk than anything, so it looks like my decision is delayed by a couple months. gives me time to pepper the landlord and maybe convince him...

The type of miles you drive has a huge impact. EV's get their best mileage at low speeds, meaning city driving. Do a lot of that and you may well get the rated range. Do 80mph on a freeway commute and watch it drop to 1/2.

 

[jmd2024]

Much of the driving can/would be under 45mph around town, often even less than that. the only times at home i can exceed that would be for a five minute stretch once a day when picking up a kid. or, if/when i go to a client, which happens maybe 4x a month at most.

 

[phxazcraig]

Much of the driving can/would be under 45mph around town, often even less than that. the only times at home i can exceed that would be for a five minute stretch once a day when picking up a kid. or, if/when i go to a client, which happens maybe 4x a month at most.

Other than charging at home, it sounds like an ideal situation for EV range.