Charging at work poll

[jonLV]

I'm investigating charging in the workplace and would love to get some opinions from fellow Tesla owners.

Would you charge at your workplace if you could?
Does a tethered / untethered charger make a difference?
What impediments do business owners see when considering charging for their staff, are they purely financial?
Please don't be shy with comments.
Looking forward to hearing from the experience here

 

[The Skeezer]

As a small business owner with 2 brand new Teslas (MY) parked in the office parking lot, charging at work is a definite. In our local Council area they're offering a cash rebate for a percentage (maybe 30%?) of the cost if you meet certain criteria. I did see a quote in an email for the actual wall unit and it was about $2k so at that price I couldn't really care less about the price / financial considerations. As long as I don't need to organise anything for it!

Need to go through a whole process though - Strata approval, electrical consultant, how do we pay for the power, where does it go, etc. The cost of charging at work would just be borne by the business. If more staff got an EV we'd just get more charging points installed. I wouldn't be holding back for a couple of grand.

 

[[Zombie]]

In our local Council area they're offering a cash rebate for a percentage (maybe 30%?) of the cost if you meet certain criteria

You might qualify for the WA govt grant too

Charge Up Workplace EV Charging Grants

The WA Government is driving a brighter energy future. We are providing $15 million of grants for business to co-fund the cost of electric vehicle (EV) recharging infrastructure.

www.wa.gov.au

 

[Nevyn72]

I did see a quote in an email for the actual wall unit and it was about $2k so at that price I couldn't really care less about the price / financial considerations.

A Tesla Gen3 wall unit is only $750, can charge any type of EV, or restricted to specific VINs.
It can also be configured to bill users for and charge supplied if you like.

Install cost and requirements would be identical to any other wall unit.

 

[cafz]

It's a pretty simple equation for me - I'd use it if it was less than the overnight TOU rate I pay at home.

With more DNSPs introducing "solar sponge" tariffs we should hopefully start to see lower retail rates during the day - and of course if the business has excess solar then the effective price to them is the feed-in tariff which generally isn't much.

 

[m3y3addict]

I'm investigating charging in the workplace and would love to get some opinions from fellow Tesla owners.

Would you charge at your workplace if you could?
Does a tethered / untethered charger make a difference?
What impediments do business owners see when considering charging for their staff, are they purely financial?
Please don't be shy with comments.
Looking forward to hearing from the experience here

 

[corndog]

I would only charge at work if it was significantly cheaper than charging at home.

 

[m3y3addict]

Fortunately my employer has provided 4 charge points (at its head office) . Only myself and one other use them. At my last worksite the client required that the contractor install 3 charge points including one for its own use ( except it did not have any electric vehicles). Charging at work is great as normally there is no cost (power from solar panels during the day).

 

[Mithgul]

Normally charge only at home. However, if work started to require a lot of driving and had a charger I would use it, at their expense. If they didn't have one and wouldn't install one/pay for supercharging I would have to make a decision.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

I already charge at work. There's a parking station a few blocks away, with a dozen load-controlled 7kW AC chargers. They'll run at low speed when there's low solar & often cut out completely when it's overcast. I get notifications when that happens. But meh, I'm fully charged by mid-afternoon regardless. On a typical day maybe 8 cars are plugged in. Add in the occasional EVhole. Sometimes we even see an ICEhole, but they're less common.

Wilson Parking doesn't charge any extra to use these chargers, just the standard $12/day for that parking station (One City Hill). I'm not sure what rate they pay for the electricity, but given it's load-managed, I imagine this almost qualifies as a network service.

 

[RichardV]

On a typical day maybe 8 cars are plugged in. Add in the occasional EVhole. Sometimes we even see an ICEhole, but they're less common.

What counts as an EVhole in this situation? Surely leaving a car pluged in until it gets to charge limit is expected here and not needing to move it on afterwards as it seems like all day parking situation. Are EV cars parking and not plugging in, or maybe are they forgetting that step?

 

[alliwantisaY]

What counts as an EVhole in this situation? Surely leaving a car pluged in until it gets to charge limit is expected here and not needing to move it on afterwards as it seems like all day parking situation. Are EV cars parking and not plugging in, or maybe are they forgetting that step?

They are parking and not charging so treating it like reserved parking for being an EV which is just terrible. Charging bays are for charging.

 

[PC__LoadLetter]

What counts as an EVhole in this situation? Surely leaving a car pluged in until it gets to charge limit is expected here and not needing to move it on afterwards as it seems like all day parking situation. Are EV cars parking and not plugging in, or maybe are they forgetting that step?

Parking there without plugging in. See the 2 photos I attached.

 

[Maximillan]

Parking there without plugging in. See the 2 photos I attached.

I found out based on personal experience that non-car people don't understand the concept that EV parking requires charging. At first I was surprised that it wasn't obvious (along with the signage), but based on the look of horror as I explained it they simply hadn't thought that much about it. I suspect that as EVs become more mainstream that more education of the early majority will be required.

I'm fortunate to be able to charge at work for free. Two 7kw chargers plus two 10A power outlets (which when you're there 8 hours make a dent) serve I'd say around 15 different EVs.

 

[jeremymc7]

My work installed free 30A charging. They state you need to unplug and move to regular spot after 4 hours. But the chargers or never full. It’s more a matter of which security guy checking the lot. Some of them love their “power”.

 

[Vostok]

I would only charge at work if it was significantly cheaper than charging at home.

I’ve worked for two employers who had EV charging in their carparks. Both provided it for free, so that makes it cheaper than charging at home. Even charging off excess solar at home (which I try to do as much as possible) is not free, since you lose the corresponding FIT, but at 5c/kWh it’s pretty cheap.