Tesla charging equipment does not provide any access control. It is plug and go. If you do not have physical access control to the charging station and anyone can drive up and use it, the easiest way is to use a lockable power disconnect. These are very common and inexpensive, but require a padlock. Anything with a keypad or access card is significantly more expensive. If you had a home automation system, you could easily add a remotely controllable electrical disconnect as well.
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As I don't have access to install a charger at the moment anyway, it is mainly out of curiosity. I was thinking that since the car is handshaking with the charger anyway, it shouldn't take too much extra effort for TM to build in an optional control for it. Just like you can set your WiFi router to accept only a certain list of MAC addresses. Even better, if it had a meter in it, each different car put onto different accounts, so you could have these chargers in a shared parking and only those registered could charge (and, would be billed only for each their usage)
Yes, I know, Mark. There are times, though, where a private parking spot isn't physically inaccessible - even if you have a driveway, someone might still be able to drive in and sneak some juice, although it would be stealing and trespassing. Of course, the locking can be installed in the power supply, or you could even have a box with a locale door, encapsulating the whole unit (just check it can still get enough air for cooling).
Tesla came to test my wall connector today. It worked fine, except as posted here previously, it's currently 32A only. According to the charging team, the restriction lies in the cable from the wall connector to the car. They confirmed they will change the cable to 40A when the cable is ready.
Mark -- since you're getting your car next week, has your wall connector been upgraded to 40A yet?
Others, especially those who already have their cars -- were your wall connectors delivered 40A-ready? Or are they like mine, awaiting an upgrade? (The charging team seemed to imply that some "newer" 40A ones have already been delivered but mine just happened to be in an earlier 32A batch.)
Mark -- since you're getting your car next week, has your wall connector been upgraded to 40A yet?
Others, especially those who already have their cars -- were your wall connectors delivered 40A-ready? Or are they like mine, awaiting an upgrade? (The charging team seemed to imply that some "newer" 40A ones have already been delivered but mine just happened to be in an earlier 32A batch.)
How do you know if your wall connector is 32A or 40A? There is a dip switch inside the wall connector where you can choose the current. I thought it is the car that has been limited to 32A.
Like I said, according to the charging team, it's the cable that's restricted to 32A. My understanding is that if the cable is 32A, then even if the DIP switches are set at 40A, only 32A will be delivered to the car until they "upgrade" (ie change) the cable.
As for how to tell, I have no idea. You probably need the car itself and look at the current on the charging screen.
As for how to tell, I have no idea. You probably need the car itself and look at the current on the charging screen.
I understand it's the cable for the reason for it to be restricted to 32A but the cable and plug is just a connector, and it has no electronics inside to make the restriction. It is the car that is restricting the charge rate. The wall connector body itself can be switched to provide a 40A signal to the cars internal charger, but the car won't take 40 whilst the software is restricted to 32A.
Perhaps the firmware in the wall connector only advertises 32A, even if you set it to 40A? That would be the way I would do it. I think these units were originally designed to be 32A, and late on the design decision was changed to 40A to match the single charger in the cars.
No. Not reasonable.
The electric fee for a full charge 85 KWH, assuming 80-90% efficiency may be less than HK$ 150.
Also, according to HK Law, re-selling electricity is not legal.
I've thought about either
1) the carpark management can instal a "public" charger for everyone in the building / estate, lets say from HKEV power, so everyone can charge their cars if they have, and charge accordingly.
2) allow you to instal a separate electric meter for your own private charger , so you can pay the Power company directly. ( They may like to charge you higher management fee ).
Installation fee of HK$ 4K is not expensive but the monthly charge is too high.
Yes, I do think it's a bit expensive. I've discussed the 2 ideas you mentioned with them but they just allow me to use my own charger rather than install a public one. Yes, selling electricity is illegal so they estimate how much electricity I will use every month and include it into the monthly parking fee. This is the proposal they gave me, so what I can do is accept, or not.
You drive 50km per day = 1500km pm
Assume average City driving = 270Wh/km = 3.7km / kWh
ie You need 1500/3.7 = 405 kWh per month
Depends on HK island or Kowloon side, roughly domestic electricity is HK$1.1 per kWh
ie the Actual cost is approx. HK$450 pm
If you refer to earlier posts of this thread, they need to charge admin cost and "rent" of public area and equipment. Technically they are not re-selling electricity, they "rent" you the charging equipment with electric supply.
All in all, they are charging you extra HK$550 pm for admin and rent. I would say a bit over but not totally unreasonable.
I agree with Ekwng's maths, except to say that charging efficiency is not 100% and cooling losses may be as much as 50% at 13A.
HK$1,000 is one tank of gas.
I would take the deal. Having an ability to charge at home makes it worth it.
yes Mark, I am going to take the deal too, though it's expensive, in terms of the actual electricity I used. Afterall business is business, it's normal for them to make profit whenever there is a chance.
I'm just waiting Tesla reply whether I can still use my HPWC even though the power supply is just 13A. I don't want to use a mobile connector which can be easily plugged off by some nasty people
Hi Shanghai knight: yes the car end of the cable is locked, I just worried the plug end of the cable. It's just a normal BS1363 plug and can be dislodged easily by anyone.
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Oh really? I've contacted Tesla and I got no reply for more than a week. I thought there's some technical problem they can't fix
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