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Charger for condo. Need lots of guidance
- Thread starter Portland Blue
- Start date
One other point about the ownership aspect, which proved to be somewhat important in my case: Ownership and rights are a function of the governing documents of the condo association. In my case, the relevant document was the document creating the trust that acts as the owner of the common property. My parking space is not "mine," it is common property assigned to my unit. That restricts what I can do without board approval. You might need an attorney to review the condo docs on your behalf and advise what rights and privileges you have, and what power the condo association governing body (board) has. E.g., the board may or may not have the authority to grant permission for you to modify common property without a vote of the members of the association.
In my case, Mass. law also came into play.
I could go into more detail, but my specific condo rules and state laws could be (and most likely are) entirely different from yours, so you need to find out.
Your lawyer will want to be sure that whatever you do is not only permitted, but also that it is documented correctly for the next owner of your property.
Four years ago after we purchased a Volt, I approached the HOA to get public charging installed. I did all the footwork, getting quotes, researching chargers that were on a network, etc. ChargePoint even had an offer for businesses at the time where they offered a free charger, but you had to pay for installation. The HOA didn't get back to me in a timely manner and we missed the offer deadline. After they surveyed the other residents, it was determined there wasn't enough interest and my plan was denied. We charged our Volt with an extension cord.
Unhappy with the HOAs decision and after they spent thousands to install two benches, I joined the board. A year later I was the President of the HOA...the coup was in place. This year I wanted to move forward with the plan, but I didn't just want a public charger, I wanted a personal charger at my parking spot and was willing to pay for it. Some people have personal garages, but my building only has a carport. Thankfully I'm on the end against a green area.
We got a few quotes and it was quickly determined that the breaker box in my unit could not handle adding a 40A breaker. However, the building's breaker box could. The building's breaker box is about 150ft away, and below grade. It would be an interesting route. The company I used is called Puget Sound Solar which has an EV division. They were great, and handled the permits and inspection process. I had wanted the charger to be installed on the carport post, but the inspector said no, so we ended up mounting it to a fence post a foot away. I made a little roof to keep the weather off it, and it works great.
The other issue was how should we pay the HOA for the electricity we use? The answer was the ChargePoint Home charger with WiFi. Our parking spot is close enough to our unit that we can connect to the charger and keep track of usage. Puget Sound Solar had never heard of it and didn't carry it, so I purchased it myself off Amazon. If you are a ChargePoint Member already, you can easily add the charger to your account and access it online or through the phone app. You actually use your smart phone to set up the charger as it can connect with Bluetooth as well. Every month I print out a usage charge and send a check to the management company. We've had it for several months now without any issue. Our Tesla should be delivered in a couple weeks so I'm anxious to test it out with a much faster charge rate.
Because of the long conduit run, installation was $3200. The charger was $650, so all told, a little under $4000. The best part is, the conduit runs right past two unassigned parking spaces. I convinced the other HOA members that this would be a good opportunity for planning ahead. In addition to the cable run to my charger, we also ran a separate set of cables and added a 2nd 40A breaker to the box. In a year or two, we will budget for a community charger. Since the 2nd set of wires benefits the HOA, they agreed to pay $1000 of my installation costs. When we do get a community charger, installation will be 1/3rd the cost if they had done it separately.
Unhappy with the HOAs decision and after they spent thousands to install two benches, I joined the board. A year later I was the President of the HOA...the coup was in place. This year I wanted to move forward with the plan, but I didn't just want a public charger, I wanted a personal charger at my parking spot and was willing to pay for it. Some people have personal garages, but my building only has a carport. Thankfully I'm on the end against a green area.
We got a few quotes and it was quickly determined that the breaker box in my unit could not handle adding a 40A breaker. However, the building's breaker box could. The building's breaker box is about 150ft away, and below grade. It would be an interesting route. The company I used is called Puget Sound Solar which has an EV division. They were great, and handled the permits and inspection process. I had wanted the charger to be installed on the carport post, but the inspector said no, so we ended up mounting it to a fence post a foot away. I made a little roof to keep the weather off it, and it works great.
The other issue was how should we pay the HOA for the electricity we use? The answer was the ChargePoint Home charger with WiFi. Our parking spot is close enough to our unit that we can connect to the charger and keep track of usage. Puget Sound Solar had never heard of it and didn't carry it, so I purchased it myself off Amazon. If you are a ChargePoint Member already, you can easily add the charger to your account and access it online or through the phone app. You actually use your smart phone to set up the charger as it can connect with Bluetooth as well. Every month I print out a usage charge and send a check to the management company. We've had it for several months now without any issue. Our Tesla should be delivered in a couple weeks so I'm anxious to test it out with a much faster charge rate.
Because of the long conduit run, installation was $3200. The charger was $650, so all told, a little under $4000. The best part is, the conduit runs right past two unassigned parking spaces. I convinced the other HOA members that this would be a good opportunity for planning ahead. In addition to the cable run to my charger, we also ran a separate set of cables and added a 2nd 40A breaker to the box. In a year or two, we will budget for a community charger. Since the 2nd set of wires benefits the HOA, they agreed to pay $1000 of my installation costs. When we do get a community charger, installation will be 1/3rd the cost if they had done it separately.
Yeah, it worked out pretty well! But now I'm stuck on the board...oops 
I forget to mention we saved money on the install by doing the needed trenching ourselves. We had to trench about 12 feet and 2 ft down for the last bit of conduit. Took the better part of a day but we saved a few hundred.
I forget to mention we saved money on the install by doing the needed trenching ourselves. We had to trench about 12 feet and 2 ft down for the last bit of conduit. Took the better part of a day but we saved a few hundred.
x43x, what material is the post on which the charger is mounted? And how deep is it set in the ground? Did you use concrete?
ferdboyce
Member
For what it's worth, a while back the WSCAI Journal printed this article on charging electric vehicles in condos. The article is on page 16.
November 2015
November 2015
Interesting read! Although I am glad to see an article like this, which provided a fair amount of good technical information about charging options, I think it is unfortunate that the article takes the position that a 110 VAC outlet is enough for condos to provide for routine overnight charging for most daily uses. It also seems to assume that the need for condo charging should decline as more public charging stations are developed. No one knows for sure how this will evolve, of course, but my own guess is that there will be a growing expectation for most owners to have the ability to charge at home (even if home is a condo) because eventually society will grow tired of providing free electricity to us "early adopters." Certainly home charging remains the philosophy of Tesla Motors.
ferdboyce
Member
I agree that one might arrive at that conclusion, however the article was written to inform non-EV owners (or deniers) who might well be upset at having to support BEVs that need gobs of electricity they'd have to pay for. It's intent was to take away some of the mystery and mis-information about our needs for power for our cars.
I've been parking an MS in our garage since Nov. 13, 2016 (37K miles on the first, and now 13K on our S85D). Adding 60 - 80 miles or more overnight from the 20A 110V outlet we installed has been more than sufficient (the nearest S-charger is 81 mi. distant in Centralia WA). Knowing that there are a great many other chargers available (plugshare) if I ever need them is plenty of reassurance.
I've been parking an MS in our garage since Nov. 13, 2016 (37K miles on the first, and now 13K on our S85D). Adding 60 - 80 miles or more overnight from the 20A 110V outlet we installed has been more than sufficient (the nearest S-charger is 81 mi. distant in Centralia WA). Knowing that there are a great many other chargers available (plugshare) if I ever need them is plenty of reassurance.
As someone who uses a 110v@12A to charge in a condo right now, I can say emphatically that it is not a long-term solution for formal charging infrastructure. It just takes too long to get any meaningful amount of range back into the vehicle. Even if it works out most days, it leaves you way to vulnerable to not having enough electrons for the day. A dedicated 110V@20A circuit would be better, but better enough???
I've been doing a lot of research to help my Board and currently believe EverCharge's solution (EverCharge - Smart EV Charging for Apartments and Condominiums) is one of the best options. It pools all the chargers and allocates limited capacity to vehicles as they need it. I haven't had a chance yet to talk with any associations that have EverCharge installed, so some skepticism is warranted.
As I struggle to move from PHEV to BEV, viable charging at my residence is the primary concern. It affects every other calculation. I do have a number of eVGO fast chargers within five miles, but the thought of having to go sit at one of those every day or every other day is a deal killer for me. No matter how prevalent fast charging becomes "out and about," I do not see it supplanting the need for charging at your place of residence.
I've been doing a lot of research to help my Board and currently believe EverCharge's solution (EverCharge - Smart EV Charging for Apartments and Condominiums) is one of the best options. It pools all the chargers and allocates limited capacity to vehicles as they need it. I haven't had a chance yet to talk with any associations that have EverCharge installed, so some skepticism is warranted.
As I struggle to move from PHEV to BEV, viable charging at my residence is the primary concern. It affects every other calculation. I do have a number of eVGO fast chargers within five miles, but the thought of having to go sit at one of those every day or every other day is a deal killer for me. No matter how prevalent fast charging becomes "out and about," I do not see it supplanting the need for charging at your place of residence.
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