Charging at hotels, caravans, guesthouses, cabins etc with 3 pin plug

[plisken]

I’m curious whether you charge at the above locations, whether holidays, overnight trips or whatever and not whether it’s technically possibly or the lengths of extensions and so on (many other threads about that), I’m more interested in the etiquette.

If it doesn’t explicitly say you can or can not, have you, have you ever had a right good talking to from the madam of the house for doing so or been billed additionally etc etc.

Do you perhaps wait until it’s dark and then hook up? Or simply not bother and find a 55p/kWh charger nearby instead?

 

[Gatsojon]

Haha it’s a good question!

At a little self-catering place we stay at in Edinburgh, the owner offered that I could plug in to a very conveniently located external 3 pin which I did one night but I didn’t abuse their offer.

At a generic corporate hotel chain last year, I found an external socket at one corner of the car park and plugged in without asking and each night we were there. That’s probably not right really but there’s your answer.

 

[Rirawin]

It's polite to at least ask whether you can or cannot, especially if it's an Airbnb or similar. In my past experience no one has never said no if there was an accessible 3 pin socket available. I've never had the cost passed onto me, but most likely because 1) it wasn't during a time when energy bills were rocketing 2) they probably didn't receive that many requests so didn't really know the "true cost" to allow someone to charge their car. The only time I've had to pay is when the Airbnb owner has had a dedicated EV charger installed, of which I would expect the cost to charge would be passed to me.

 

[doats1]

If I’m staying at a hotel I tend to look for places with charge points. Which to be fair is not hard to find anymore.

If I’m staying at an Airbnb type property, then I ask. I’ve never been told no. Worst case they asked me to send £5 over to cover electricity.

Careful at caravan parks. They will obviously have electric hook ups, but they might mistake that as an EV compatible charge point and advertising is as such (it happened to me).

But yes, it’s good to ask.

 

[rincewind]

It's always worth asking. I stayed at a small hotel last year in Great Yarmouth, just off the seafront. It was only in conversation at checking out that the owner said I could have charged from an external wall socket - I hadn't noticed it.

It may also be good practice to knock the charge rate back to about 10 amps, so as not to put too much long term load on the circuit.

 

[debrooker]

I've just come back from a campsite, where I wasn't allowed to use an electric hookup but they allowed me to use a commando or 13 pin socket in their work shop. Had an interesting chat with the owner about the future in which they are going to see more and more customers turning up in EVs and that it may add some competitive advantage if they had some provision for EVs above some socket in a shed which they seemed to take on board.

They did charge me for the electricity used (naturally) and it was a tad expensive but seeing as there was very little in the way of chargers in the vacinity it was a price worth paying.

Also I would recommend getting a commando connector, it does make 'slow' charging a little less sucky

 

[WllXM]

Up until last year, my calculation for that was : on a 3-pin you're charging at 2kW for c.10 hours overnight, at last year cost of 15p/kWh or less, that's £3.
I never ask if it's an AirBnB or a hotel : it might be rude of me not to, but I would find it much worse and petty to be asked for the chump change... to me it's included in the price I'm already paying
(obviously if I'm an invited guest at a friend's house I do ask for permission beforehand, but would not expect a refusal, or would buy them a pint otherwise)

 

[Fursty Ferret]

I've plugged in to 3-pin sockets in hotel car parks and just checked at reception whether it's OK Never had anyone say no.

I usually suggest that they add car chargers on the post-checkout survey they send.

My dad runs a glamping site where he added a car charger in the remote Devon moors. It's a big competitive advantage (not necessarily for Tesla owners as we have no range issues), but a constant stream of other brands using it. Not sure what he charges, I think 30p/kWh? Obviously he's never tried billing me!

 

[Mrklaw]

even before EVs, caravan/tent/camper pitches seem to get more and more demand from people bringing induction hobs and all sorts using the electric. So they need to upgrade their infrastructure to support anyway.

May not need much more to support EV charging. Perhaps a middle ground is just to say you have eg 16A supply so if you want to charge your EV, recommend to drop the amps and don't charge it while you're running your inflatable hot tub and Induction hob..

 

[andyf1140]

I only take the granny charger to use in an emergency, if possible I charge at a fast charger. On our trip to the lakes it proved to be relatively easy and stress free.

 

[Beady3647]

I used the same mobile home park in the north west over a period of about five years, so probably around 12-15 times, each time for a week. In my ignorance I simply plugged my 3 pin charger into an extension reel that was, in turn, plugged into a socket inside the mobile home. In the early days, I had free supercharging so usually topped up at the nearest SC before arrival and used overnight each night to ensure I had plenty for the following day. I had no issue with the proprietors and (since reading subsequent posts) no problem with the electricity supply network. The booking in desk were totally aware that I was driving an EV and their staff passed frequently each day and evening. Maybe I was lucky. Maybe, although I doubt it, as a regular returning customer they were mor understanding. Maybe they just weren't aware. Having read many posts on this subject, if and when I return, I will broach the subject with them as a matter of common courtesy.

 

[DrJFoster]

Etiquette is to never charge anywhere unless you know you're allowed to. If you don't know for sure then you can't possibly know its ok. Many apply the "seek forgiveness rather than ask for permission" argument but its a poor one.

If you ask, then you'll always know what you can do, how fast etc.

If you don't know, you could trip electrics, or cause no end of other issues. The whole 13A socket network assumes a fairly high degree of diversity, imagine trying to pull 10A from every single socket in your house. Even 3 cars charging is likely to cause the thing to trip.

And finally, if you don't ask because you think you might be told "No", then surely that's a good indication you shouldn't be doing it.

Others apply their own rules.

 

[Jason71]

I only take the granny charger to use in an emergency, if possible I charge at a fast charger. On our trip to the lakes it proved to be relatively easy and stress free.

Next time you are traveling between Hampshire and the lakes take a detour to Wales and let me know how that strategy works out for you.....

 

[Jason71]

My Parents stayed somewhere and they wanted £1.20 per hour to hook up to a 13amp plug. That works out about 60p per KW. Sounds outrageous but what are uncapped businesses paying these days? Maybe it's not...

 

[Billbrown1982]

Its certainly an interesting conversation. I've only had one situation where its come up, we booked a week at a holiday camp down Plymouth way, although the actual static caravan was rented by a private firm that had a bunch on the site.

The site itself was advertised as having 2 Tesla destination chargers, which heavily motivated my decision.

On arrival and after check in I went on a exploration. The first charger next to reception was charging at 1amp and was darn near useless. The second one, although blocked in, I did manage to do a quick test charge to find it was working at 3.7kwh. But I couldn't have charged without blocking loads of cars in and didn't fancy sitting with it for hours, so I returned to the caravan, unfurled my extension lead and charged it off a 3 pin for the next 3 days.

Honestly, didn't even consider being told I was not allowed to. I think my justification at the time was that UK breaks are sooo expensive, I could have had a week or 2 in Turkey for the same price they charged me for this, but you know, Covid.

 

[Adopado]

I’m curious whether you charge at the above locations, whether holidays, overnight trips or whatever and not whether it’s technically possibly or the lengths of extensions and so on (many other threads about that), I’m more interested in the etiquette.

If it doesn’t explicitly say you can or can not, have you, have you ever had a right good talking to from the madam of the house for doing so or been billed additionally etc etc.

Do you perhaps wait until it’s dark and then hook up? Or simply not bother and find a 55p/kWh charger nearby instead?

I would ask first and offer to pay increased cost of electricity.

We did stay somewhere where it wasn’t easy communication and I considered plugging in and notifying afterwards … but then I discovered that I didn’t have physical access to the consumer unit and didn’t want to risk tripping the breaker and then not being able to reset.

 

[debrooker]

Next time you are traveling between Hampshire and the lakes take a detour to Wales and let me know how that strategy works out for you.....

This, we stayed at Ross on Wye and the charging infrastructure was pretty thin on the ground, so the opportunity to charge on the campsite despite being expensive and slow was something I was happy to pay.

 

[GlynG]

Well funnily enough I've just returned from a week at the sea side, stayed in a house like an Air B&B - rented for the week. I did charge my car every day - topped up maybe just 10% as we were just outside the resort so was driving in each day - took the grandkids. I didn't ask for permission and i draped the charger cable out of the kitchen window to the driveway. The way I saw it regarding energy consumption - We could have been cooking meals every day but we didn't - every single meal was out, didn't use any of the electrical appliances apart from the kettle and the fridge. It wasn't cheap to rent, so in the absence of not being told not to I considered it permissible.
EVs are not something unusual so owners maybe need to include a line in the house rules. The only rules I received were - No Pets, No parties , No smoking.

 

[phoenixcat]

I spent a week In the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago and found the charging infrastructure to be wanting. Only 1x50kw working on the whole island!

I draped a cable through the conservatory window of the Airbnb. I didn’t ask permission as they had a smart meter on quite a good rate, plus if they had said no we would have been screwed! We only used £20 of electricity in the end which was not a lot compared to the cost of the rental.

The only issue I had was the extension lead tripped out a few times due to the heat. I’m going to invest in a better quality extension lead with thicker cable.

 

[Cardo]

All but one of the campsites we’ve visited this year have said no to charging our M3. Even offering to pay extra for it. Only one agreed for us to plug in, and even then they wavered.

If they’re concerned about the infrastructure, they should just chuck in some destination chargers. There’ll be more and more EVs towing and needing to charge on arrival, so it’s definitely going to be a competitive advantage to have them fitted.