Business Charger for Employees

[mizelly41]

My employer is looking into installing a couple chargers in the parking lot as an incentive to get an EV car. As of right now, I am the only owner of one.

I told them that Tesla will cover the cost of installation and parts, but they want to install chargers that will work with other cars.

Does anybody else’s employer have any non-Tesla chargers or any other recommendations?

 

[MrMassTransit]

Clipper Creek chargers have a reputation as being well built and reliable. I’d have them strongly consider some units from them. Tesla has used Clipper Creek units in the past when they have provided equipment for locations that want to be able to serve all EVs. I’m not sure if Tesla is still doing that, but if your employer isn’t concerned about eating the cost for the units, its probably best to just install all J1772 EVSEs as that provides maximum flexibility for all involved.

 

[ewoodrick]

For companies, I'd only recommend J-1772 connections. That allows all EV owners access.

 

[Sophias_dad]

I'd agree, J1772 is the way to go, but try to get them to go 40 or even 48 amps delivered. Many other EV's won't use more than 32, but the Tesla(except SR/SR+) will take 48.

Another rather significant concern in a commercial environment is voltage.... J1772 won't work at 277 volts, which is a typical voltage available from one leg of a 480V three phase supply. The Tesla HPWC will work fine at that voltage, although its officially been removed from the HPWC install manual. We have a J1772 that puts out 32 amps at 183V, which is just plain dismal. I think it was intended to have 208, but is apparently an extremely long run. Even 208 would be mediocre. Try to get the installation reasonably close to 240V, whether via a direct connect to 'official' 240 volts, or via buck transformer(~$300) off the 277V line.

 

[KJD]

In view of the fact that Tesla sells more EV's than anyone else, my first choice would be Tesla Wall Connector.

If your employer is set on J1772, then take a look at WattZilla. They come in single, dual and quad units. See the dual head unit here.

https://wattzilla.com/products/duo.htm

They are rated at 80 amps, so the 48 amp chargers in all the new cars will work fine.

 

[dmurphy]

Tesla will provide J1772 Wall Connectors for destination chargers.

 

[swaltner]

As mentioned, Tesla’s Workplace Charging program Charging Partners | Tesla can include both Tesla-specific and standard J1772 charging stations.

ClipperCreek makes high-quality and robust equipment that will last for many years.

PowerFlex has some systems that can do coordination across many units to reduce the total demand charge of your site. You can install dozens or hundreds of stations and not need to risk getting a huge demand charge on your monthly electric bill (and issue on commercial electric bills) or exceed the capacity of an upstream panel/transformer.

Some employers don’t want to give out the electricity for free. Mine doesn’t because they don’t want ICE drivers to get jealous and complain, even though they give out free coffee to others (and I refuse to drink that “poison”) and they subsidize soda pop down to 25 cents a can in the vending machines. Each of those are more of a subsidy than free charging would actually be. Well, I do get 2 cents per day of electricity to recharge my Rad Power Bikes fat tire eBike on a dedicated outlet. For charging stations that can process payments:

The previously mentioned WattZilla units have an optional credit card reader option. They integrate a credit card system from a vending machine. There are some limitations with this, so be sure to contact them to discuss before purchase. This will be 2x to 3x the cost of a ClippedCreek unit.

In addition, there’s obviously ChargePoint. These stations are even more expensive and will be 2x the cost of the WattZilla stations and also include a monthly service fee for the payment processing and on-line repotting/monitoring. These have the ability to lock out non-employees from charging. We use these at work and before charging, you need to register your ChargePoint account to gain access.

It kind of depends upon what your goals are and how many stations you want to install.

 

[yuhong]

I'd agree, J1772 is the way to go, but try to get them to go 40 or even 48 amps delivered. Many other EV's won't use more than 32, but the Tesla(except SR/SR+) will take 48.

Another rather significant concern in a commercial environment is voltage.... J1772 won't work at 277 volts, which is a typical voltage available from one leg of a 480V three phase supply. The Tesla HPWC will work fine at that voltage, although its officially been removed from the HPWC install manual. We have a J1772 that puts out 32 amps at 183V, which is just plain dismal. I think it was intended to have 208, but is apparently an extremely long run. Even 208 would be mediocre. Try to get the installation reasonably close to 240V, whether via a direct connect to 'official' 240 volts, or via buck transformer(~$300) off the 277V line.

On the other hand, if a large number of EVSEs are being installed, it might make the installation more expensive.

 

[Rocky_H]

Another rather significant concern in a commercial environment is voltage.... J1772 won't work at 277 volts, which is a typical voltage available from one leg of a 480V three phase supply. The Tesla HPWC will work fine at that voltage, although its officially been removed from the HPWC install manual. We have a J1772 that puts out 32 amps at 183V, which is just plain dismal. I think it was intended to have 208, but is apparently an extremely long run. Even 208 would be mediocre. Try to get the installation reasonably close to 240V, whether via a direct connect to 'official' 240 volts, or via buck transformer(~$300) off the 277V line.

That's not really going to be a concern. A place will not hook up 277V to anything on purpose unless it's a very unique piece of equipment that they know is intended for that. For any kind of regular consumer equipment, they will use either the 120V or the 208V commercial connections that they commonly have.

 

[Sophias_dad]

That's not really going to be a concern. A place will not hook up 277V to anything on purpose unless it's a very unique piece of equipment that they know is intended for that. For any kind of regular consumer equipment, they will use either the 120V or the 208V commercial connections that they commonly have.

Sure.....I was just trying to convey the potential for unnecessarily slow charging. My 3 (on the rare occasion when I connect it to the J1772 at work) will waver between 6 and 4kw, I presume it drops to 4kw because its not a fan of 183V. If its only one charger being installed, I'd still recommend whatever (buck/boost) transformer is needed to get the voltage to reasonably close to 240. I even offered my own cash to get a transformer installed for our J1772, just to get it to a reliable ~8kw. Depending on where you live, the increased energy flow might be worth it. If you are running out of capacity in a ~10 hour work day because its giving you 4kw and you have four or more EV's trying to use it, it could be significant.

 

[Kevy Baby]

When I had my M3 on order (just picked up a month ago), I asked for my company to install some place for me to charge. A previous employee with a Volt had put in the Volt's version of a Wall charger. When he left (he went to a competitor), he stiffed the company for the removal of the charger (he wanted it back). Rather than installing a Wall Charger, I thought I was taking a "neutral" approach of having a NEMA 14-50 installed so that others could use the plug (a coworker has a Prius - poor guy) and nothing would need to be removed should I move on. I am wondering if I gave bad advice.

 

[swaltner]

There's nothing wrong with the NEMA 14-50 route. It's a little extra hassle to unwrap your charging cord from the trunk "every" day and potentially store it back in the trunk wet if it's been raining/snowing, but the 14-50 will work just fine.

 

[MrMassTransit]

Only downside to the 14-50 route is many EVs don’t come with a 14-50 compatible EVSE. So either the company will need to purchase a plug in EVSE or each individual owner will need to if they don’t already have one. 14-50 is fine but for maximum convenience a J1772 based station is best.

 

[davewill]

... Rather than installing a Wall Charger, I thought I was taking a "neutral" approach of having a NEMA 14-50 installed so that others could use the plug (a coworker has a Prius - poor guy) and nothing would need to be removed should I move on. I am wondering if I gave bad advice.

They can always install a hard wired EVSE on that circuit at a later time if they want to, so no harm done.

 

[Tigerkc]

My company has ChargePoint chargers. Dual chargers at 30A each.

 

[NickFie]

My employer has had about a dozen EV chargers in a parking garage at another site. Original deployment was employees paid, as one would at ChargePoint or similar. Turned out the vendor’s system was unreliable, too many people couldn’t get their card processed with consequent low battery blues.

When I worked there for a few days last year, it was no-cost. J1772, 30 or 40 Amps. First come, first serve. People are expected to move their car when charge completes so others can take advantage. I usually went out at lunchtime to grab an open slot.

The chargers were in a not-too-convenient section of the garage. This reduced ICEing. Didn’t find out if security team tagged ICE cars.

No chargers at the campus where I work. Not even accessible outlets in the parking garage. This is tough on visiting Tesla drivers since the campus is in the Philadelphia region “SuperCharger desert”.

 

[Kamban]

There's nothing wrong with the NEMA 14-50 route. It's a little extra hassle to unwrap your charging cord from the trunk "every" day and potentially store it back in the trunk wet if it's been raining/snowing, but the 14-50 will work just fine.

This is what I was planning to do. It is mainly for many clients who visit Mon-Thu and stay for a few hours. If they have a compatible cord they can use the 50A receptacle and charge for the time they are here. The additional electricity costs should be not excessive. It removes the hassle of worrying about maintenance of a J1772 or destination charger. Or avoids instances like the employee trying to uproot his charger when he is leaving.

We also have 8 superchargers 5 miles away if people want fast juice.

 

[Rocky_H]

Sure.....I was just trying to convey the potential for unnecessarily slow charging. My 3 (on the rare occasion when I connect it to the J1772 at work) will waver between 6 and 4kw, I presume it drops to 4kw because its not a fan of 183V. If its only one charger being installed, I'd still recommend whatever (buck/boost) transformer is needed to get the voltage to reasonably close to 240. I even offered my own cash to get a transformer installed for our J1772, just to get it to a reliable ~8kw. Depending on where you live, the increased energy flow might be worth it. If you are running out of capacity in a ~10 hour work day because its giving you 4kw and you have four or more EV's trying to use it, it could be significant.

Ha! That's not how a transformer works, though. It trades off voltage for current. So if they have a line providing 30A that is at 208V, that is 6.24 kW of total power. You want to buck that voltage up to 240V? Then you get only 26A, but the power is still 6.24 kW, so you get exactly the same charging speed. Except that would be only if a theoretical transformer is perfectly 100% efficient, which it can't be, so you would actually lose a little bit of power and therefore charging speed, just from trying to manipulate the voltage.

Maybe you're saying back at their source with 200A or 300A main supplies, they could boost it, and then split off a 40A or 30A line from there? But then that gets into much bigger and way more expensive equipment that the company definitely won't want to foot the bill for just because some people are whining that the charging being provided for them isn't as fast as they want.

 

[Rocky_H]

Whoops, I just realized I used "buck" when I should have used "boost".

 

[kingkong5]

Our company uses the Clipper Creek units, and they work well enough. We work in a shared leased building, so there are other companies using the same parking lot. We have signage that says the chargers are only for our employees, and they are secured with combination locks - only employees who identify as electric vehicles owners and wish to charge in the employee spots are given the lock combination. So far this has worked well. It's a pain I have to use the J1772 adapter each time I need to charge at work, but then again it makes it so that the employees driving Bolts, Volts, Sparks, Fusions and others can also use the charger.