- Vandalism: How real should be the concern? How to protect against it?
- Wear and tear: Can NEMA 5-15/5-20 receptacles hold up to the daily outdoor insertions? ...
- J1772: which is preferred in an apartment complex with assigned parking: J1772 or NEMA receptacle?
1) Maybe. There are copper thieves which sometimes will cut cables, leaving only a stump. (e.g.
Copper wire thieves - My Nissan Leaf Forum)
2) No. They'll need to be changed periodically as the outlets will get loose and then heat up, possibly melting. Many L1 EVSEs have a temp sensor in the NEMA plug so that would get tripped, unless someone uses an extension cord which wouldn't have such a sensor.
3) J1772 for sure. The problem with installing any sort of outlets (e.g. NEMA 5-15, 5-20, 14-50, etc.) is that now people will be leaving their expensive (several hundred $) EVSE vulnerable to being stolen or vandalized. Virtually all EVs/PHEVs in the US ship with a NEMA 5-15 compatible EVSE but I don't know of any ship ship with NEMA 5-20. For anything beyond that (e.g. 14-50, etc.) it's YMMV. Tesla stopped even including the NEMA 14-50 adapter w/their vehicles.
I had arguments/discussions with others here about NEMA 14-50 at
Adding a charger into an AirBnB and
Why ChargePoint is Terrible. Some people (not surprisingly) have a very Tesla-centric POV esp since Tesla used to include the NEMA 14-50 adapter (back then) and haven't had a ton of (or any useful) experience w/public or workplace J1772 charging. I've been using the latter since end of July 2013. Pre-COVID when I was working from my office, I would use ChargePoint CT-4000 J1772 EVSEs almost every working day.
Now, I'm mostly charging my Bolt (which I didn't have when I wrote those replies) via mostly free or discounted or cheap public DC FCing as I'd rather not pay Pacific Gouge & Extort's high rates.
I've been driving BEVs since the end of July 2013 and stopped having any ICEV in the household at end of Jan 2019. To this day, I still have no NEMA 14-50 or 6-50 outlet anywhere nor do I have anything that can plug into that nor have I ever plugged anything into one of those outlets.
I skimmed my old replies and will add some amendments. Many of our CT-4000 stations eventually developed some problems and required repairs. My employer took care of that.
One problem w/installing any sort of charging be it outlets, J1772 EVSEs or whatever is tracking and billing. If you want to do that, you'll need to install EVSEs that have that capability (ChargePoint isn't the only game in town). If you don't and the garage isn't one with secured access, it can be a free-for-all of random EV/PHEV drivers coming into charge, blocking residents' charging spaces, leeching free juice, etc.
For your sharing question, I can only speak from experience w/free work and public L1 and L2 charging. It would be great to have a centrally located EVSE, say a dual handle one located within reach of 4 to 6 parking spaces (2 or 3 on each side). However, I think you'd need to have the building establish a registry of plates, vehicles and contact info so that people move when requested or can be reached if they don't. We have that at my work.
Some public and workplace charging set it so that the 1st 2-4 hours are a regular price or free and then there are huge fees that begin at the 2nd or 4th hour. That encourages people to move but there can be jerks that just unplug and leave their car in place, blocking the spot.