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Any Mass. residents live in condos and have home charging?

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David29

Active Member
Supporting Member
Aug 1, 2015
2,626
2,229
DEDHAM, MA
I live in a condo and have been unsuccessful so far in my attempts to get a charging setup here. (Details are in other threads.)
I'd love to be able to put my condo board and management firm (Barkan) in touch with other condo boards that have wrestled with the issues and could (presumably) help my board see that it is a good idea, not a big risk, etc.
So, a quick question -- Are there any other members who live in condos in Mass. AND have gotten approval of charging installations at their condo? Either private charging for themselves or a charger that can be shared with other owners.
Thanks in advance!
 
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I don't live in your state, but will try to help you. Much of the below information was from a ChargePoint conference. You may want to reformat the most important points into a letter.

1. As more EVs are purchased, more charging infrastructure is needed.


2. EVs can be charged at home, eliminating the time and cost of trips to gas stations.


3. There are wireless charging options such as Plugless Power that make charging an EV virtually effortless.


4. People can now get an EV as their only car and travel across the country by relying on fast charging infrastructure.


5. Automakers are also embracing EVs, which are better cars because they are more reliable and have fewer parts to break down (e.g. no spark plugs, complex transmissions or fuel lines that are associated with gasoline engines).


6. There are more than 25 EVs available on the market today.


7. EVs offer environmental benefits since they do not have emissions.


8. Certifications are available for new and existing buildings. US Green Building Council LEED certification is one possibility.


9. Level 1 charging uses 120 V and can add approximately 40 miles of EV range overnight (4 miles per hour additional).


10. Level 2 charging runs at 240 V and the additional range can be from 10 – 60 miles per hour.


11. Level 3 charging generally uses 480 V, and requires a 3-phase power supply. This method currently offers 100 - 300 miles of additional range per hour.


12. Organizations may be able to get credits for installing EV charging stations. Certain conditions might apply, such as having a minimum 2% of spaces set up for EV charging with Level 2 or above.


13. There may be other incentives available for installing Level 2 chargers.


14. Case study:

a. A commercial manager in Atlanta was looking to attract new business tenants.

b. The buildings were constructed prior to most EVs being available.

c. A Department of Energy $1,000 grant was offered for the installation, paying for the cost of the ChargePoint stations.

d. Initially, four Level 2 chargers were installed at the first property and another four stations were added at another property.

e. Since the stations were installed, several tenants decided to purchase EVs since charging them would be significantly easier with the new stations in place.

f. A minimum of 35 EVs are now in these Atlanta commercial properties, all supported by Level 2 ChargePoint stations.

g. As a result of the program, tenant customer satisfaction is high.

h. They continue to add to the EV charging infrastructure today.
 
Thanks, but what the board told me they are worrying about are topics such as "private" use of common property (my meter, conduit, and charger would be on common property adjacent to my space), and associated insurance and legal issues. Hence my desire to get info specifically about Mass. condos.
If I were asking the board to install a charger for shared or public use, the arguments above could be helpful. But for me personally, those issues are more or less irrelevant.
Thanks again. Those are good talking points for other purposes.
 
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If I were asking the board to install a charger for shared or public use, the arguments above could be helpful.
Have you taken that approach? Ie, propose a shared/public charger, with electricity paid for pay the association, but reimbursed by user fees. Chargepoint should make this pretty much turn-key and revenue-neutral to the association.

Multi-Family EV Charging Station - ChargePoint
 
Have you taken that approach? Ie, propose a shared/public charger, with electricity paid for pay the association, but reimbursed by user fees. Chargepoint should make this pretty much turn-key and revenue-neutral to the association.

Multi-Family EV Charging Station - ChargePoint

Yes, I did. Before I had my Tesla, I put together a report for the condo board with some recommendations for how and where they could install a charger that could be used initially by me but later by any other EV. The board's objections at that time were based upon economic considerations as well as a lack of available guest spaces that could be converted for use as a charging station. (Our facility is already tight on guest spaces, leaving guests to park on the street in many case.) So after that, I focused on solutions that were specifically for me and that I would pay for, but I left open an offer to help pay for a semi-public charging facility. The board is supposedly going to continue to look into the public charging.
 
I'm fortunate. I live in a townhouse w/a 1 car garage, and thanks to the home's design, my power panel is less than 10 ft from my desired outlet location.

So once it's time to be wired in preps for my Model 3...I should be all set with no complaints from anyone.
 
No one else? I was hoping that there would be at least a few Mass. condo residents using this forum....
The cold weather last night and tonight are certainly convincing arguments for keeping a car plugged in....
 
When I moved into Woodland Station, I negotiated an install of a 14-50 (dedicated to my parking spot). Their dime. But I had to extend my lease from 12-18 months. I left after 18 months :)
It took a fair amount of time and back-n-forth but ultimately me being versed with the electrical requirements and getting them to let me speak directly to facilities and their electrician proved important.
 
Thanks but that is an apartment building, not a condo, so there is no condo association to deal with. What I am looking for is a situation more similar to mine so that I can refer my board to that board. But maybe there simply is no one else in the club living in a MA condo...
 
I also negotiated a 14-50 in a condo with a board -- albeit it was a new 6-unit condo so the board was the seller at the time and then the board was formed by the owners. That was South Boston. There, I paid for all the work but had to tie it into the common electric so I opted to pay a flat $50/mo fee since there was no good way to meter my connection in the garage.
 
I also negotiated a 14-50 in a condo with a board -- albeit it was a new 6-unit condo so the board was the seller at the time and then the board was formed by the owners. That was South Boston. There, I paid for all the work but had to tie it into the common electric so I opted to pay a flat $50/mo fee since there was no good way to meter my connection in the garage.

Thanks! That is the closest to what I am looking for. It is a bit different because the builder/developer made the arrangement but there still might be some relevance. Did you have to agree to any liability statement or do anything special about insurance?
And if you don't mind, would you tell me the name of the condo association? It looks as if you do not live there now, right? You could PM me if you prefer.
Thanks!
 
I'll PM the address to you. You're right, I don't live there now. I didn't have to agree to any special provisions. I was even allowed to pick the electrician. My experience has been that you have to find the right people to talk to in order to get past the nervous/uninformed folks that often tend to just say no because it's easier. Maintenance folks, owners/builders, electricians, etc. are the ones I've found get me past all that.
 
I live in an 8 unit condo. Long story short, I paid for an outlet to my parking space wired to my unit's electric meter. There was a short discussion about wiring to the common power, with a separate meter, but the association didn't want the extra billing hassle and didn't think that it was likely that anyone else would ever have an electric car. The good news for me is that my deeded parking spot was the closest to the bank of meters.
 
Everything was pretty straight forward. I talked to the insurance company that holds the master policy and they said that there would be no change to the insurance policy. I needed to get a copy of the city electrical inspection paper for the condo files. While the condo association did not see it as a benefit for the condo, they did actually see it as a positive resale value for me. The parking spots are deeded so when I sell the condo the new wall outlet goes with the parking spot. I think that folks pretty much understand that it is really nothing more than an electric dryer outlet equivalent at my parking spot. The only problem was that I was limited to 30 amps 240 volts rather than 50 amps. My unit electrical service wouldn't legally allow for the 50 amps.
 
I also negotiated a 14-50 in a condo with a board -- albeit it was a new 6-unit condo so the board was the seller at the time and then the board was formed by the owners. That was South Boston. There, I paid for all the work but had to tie it into the common electric so I opted to pay a flat $50/mo fee since there was no good way to meter my connection in the garage.

That's a steal given electric prices.
 
That was suggested. But since the outlet is connected to my unit's meter, any use by someone other than me would be my loss and not a condo problem. I'm not gong to do anything unless I notice a problem with my monthly bill. Since access to our 16 car garage is controlled by a door opener, I'm pretty sure that only my neighbors have access.