Hi all! I am getting my M3LR next Wednesday (YAY!!) and am trying to figure out my charging situation. I live in an apartment and have a garage and was planning to just use regular level 1 charging with the 110v charger included. I work from home and my office has free level 2 charging, so this should fit my needs just fine. I called my office management today just to make sure it's okay to charge on the regular outlet and they told me I'm not allowed to use it as it would cause a power outage in the whole building. They claimed that someone else with a Tesla previously caused a power outage this way. I asked if she could tell me what kind of breaker it was but she told me that she doesn't know anything about that and I'm not allowed to charge it on the property and wouldn't discuss it further. She told me there are "no amps" in the outlets but I run my space heater on high on the same outlet as my treadmill and have never had any issues (obviously I would not use either while charging) so I am not really understanding how charging the car would be an issue. I am going to try to hunt down the maintenance guy and see if he can tell me more about it before my car gets here but I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience and has any advice?
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Charging in Apartment Garage
- Thread starter melajzvn
- Start date
Is the garage dedicated to your unit, and is the 120V outlet there being billed to your unit? If both of those are true, I'm not sure the office management can tell you you can't charge on your own outlet.
If its a common outlet, that's a bigger problem, in that they could indeed have a policy not to allow it. As far as causing a whole-building outage, that's just not gonna happen. Its essentially the load of a single space heater, and the only way to kill the entire buildings power would be for that 1.5kw load to overwhelm the main breaker for the building(which is likely hundreds of kw), and that's assuming the entire building is on the same breaker which is unlikely. I imagine its broken up by floor or wing, and possibly even down to individual apartment(assuming you pay your own electricity bill)
I'm guessing that either the management doesn't want to be paying for your electricity, or doesn't want your charging to trip the breaker for the entire garage. The latter wouldn't happen just because of the tesla charging, but what if they want to use some of the power for maintenance purposes, like a sump pump or shop-vac.
If its a common outlet, that's a bigger problem, in that they could indeed have a policy not to allow it. As far as causing a whole-building outage, that's just not gonna happen. Its essentially the load of a single space heater, and the only way to kill the entire buildings power would be for that 1.5kw load to overwhelm the main breaker for the building(which is likely hundreds of kw), and that's assuming the entire building is on the same breaker which is unlikely. I imagine its broken up by floor or wing, and possibly even down to individual apartment(assuming you pay your own electricity bill)
I'm guessing that either the management doesn't want to be paying for your electricity, or doesn't want your charging to trip the breaker for the entire garage. The latter wouldn't happen just because of the tesla charging, but what if they want to use some of the power for maintenance purposes, like a sump pump or shop-vac.
You don't say the age of the building. If it is new you should be able to plug in without blowing the breaker for the building. If it is old, well you just don't know what you are dealing with. It could be a single circuit is lighting all the common areas, and used for other things too. That's how my house is, one old circuit goes all over the house, with others powering a single outlet where they were added later. When I plug my car in I use one of the newer circuits that I know isn't used anywhere else. It is 20amps but doesn't have a 20a outlet on it, plus my T adapter is the 15a one so I only get 12a to charge the car. Unless you know this to be the case where you plug in I wouldn't do it.
In my office before I retired, people would plug space heaters in and take out the entire floor.
If you can get the building to allow you to bring an electrician in, or use theirs, maybe you can work something out.
In my office before I retired, people would plug space heaters in and take out the entire floor.
If you can get the building to allow you to bring an electrician in, or use theirs, maybe you can work something out.
its probably a daisy chained outlet (very common) in a garage, so no you should not plug in as your car will monopolize the available energy on the circuit, causing the circuit to be overloaded.
That is what they are telling you, and yes thats "a real thing" on a shared outlet which is what you would likely find in an apartment complex parking structure / lot.
TL ; DR -- Believe them, and dont plug in, and dont worry about trying to hunt down the maintenance person as they are not going to give you any more information that will be different than "dont plug in". Your space heater and treadmill have nothing to do with car charging from an "energy usage" point of view so dont matter.
Thank you for the info! I definitely believe it could cause a power outage in the garages but they told me the power would go out in the whole building including the apartment units, which I asked them to clarify, and I just find that a little hard to believe. I don't know much about electrical myself and the office staff made it clear they don't either which is why I wanted to hunt down the maintenance guy. Appreciate your help!
Its unlikely that it would go out in the "whole building" (but we dont know how the building is wired). Its likely that whatever is on that circuit could be impacted, and that could be a room in one apartment, or an entire apartment, or a breaker flipping off that controls more than that.
They have likely told their employees to tell people " dont do it" because its easier to say "it impacts the building" vs "Apartments A / B and C will possibly go dark, if they are doing Z/ Y and Z while you attempt to charge.
In CA the term "apartment" describes a multi-family building where the units are rented. We dont "own" apartments in CA. In CA , "apartments you own" are called " Condominiums" (condos). I mention that because I am in CA, so the word "apartment" means to me that you are parking in a shared structure where its likely the electrical plug where you park is not tied in any way to your apartment, and you are renting, not buying.
If this is a condo, you might want to look into this further. If this is an apartment you are renting, my advice would be to give up on plugging in at home, charge at work, and look into moving when your current rental agreement is up.
Yeah, that part is almost certainly false and impossible.
I am pretty sure this is some combination of tall tales, FUD, coincidence, assumption, and speculation. Maybe there was some kind of building outage. And someone who was suspicious and doesn't like EVs found out that there was an electric car there. So they jumped to the conclusion that "Ah HAA! It must have been the car that caused it!!!!!!!" It's nonsense, but they have the power to decide, and you don't, so you have to live with the consequence of someone else's B.S. fantasy.
And if it is as I said above, maybe it took out the entire common area circuit, leaving the building dark even if the apartments were not. And as I said, even in my own house I make sure to plug into a circuit with a single outlet on it. 12a is a lot and it could push any other usage over the top with a small surge.
davewill
Active Member
What I find likely is that a number of garages are on a common circuit. Because garages are often rented separately from the apartments, there no way to put them on the same meter as the renter's apartment, so they are just put on a common circuit. It's likely sized to handle the lights and garage door openers and not a lot else. There was another thread on here where the person was in a similar situation. They investigated and the final conclusion was that the group of 5 garages he was in were all running off of one 20a breaker, lights, plugs and openers.
The upshot is that your car (and that heater for that matter) may work fine...until the day one of the other garage owners plugs something else power hungry in at the same time, then all the garages in the building may well go dark. That could qualify as "a power outage in the whole building." I agree with everyone else, the landlord says you can't, so you really can't...even if they don't have a particularly good reason for saying no.
The upshot is that your car (and that heater for that matter) may work fine...until the day one of the other garage owners plugs something else power hungry in at the same time, then all the garages in the building may well go dark. That could qualify as "a power outage in the whole building." I agree with everyone else, the landlord says you can't, so you really can't...even if they don't have a particularly good reason for saying no.
I would recommend contacting the apartment owner and see what provisions they would make for you. Sell them on the fact that the current administration is moving towards greener energy and it would be a good gesture to provide charging for tenants that own electric vehicles. Advise them that there may possibly be incentives on the install of chargers. Your M3 needs to be plugged in especially during any hot or cold climates. The BMS and sentry will use power. Hope you get this sorted out.
I went through the same thing as you. I live in Condominiums, CA. I can rely on the supercharge outside, it is very convenient.
Thats the absolute worst advise someone could be given in this specific situation. IF something happens, even if its easily fixable, the apartment owners / management would absolutely remember this conversation, and lay any and all blame for "anything" related to this on this OP.
They wouldnt even have any plausible deniability, because they already asked the question (vs just plugging in and having something happen and then shrugging their shoulders and saying "I didnt know").
davewill
Active Member
Also most of these apartment garages only have the one entrance, so if the breaker pops and the openers don't work, people could be stuck until maintenance resets the breaker. I'd be pissed if a neighbor made me late for work doing something he was told not to.
If you saw the fuel tank for the mower next to the maintenance shed would you pour some gasoline from it into your old car? Of course not. Then why is it so many people think it's perfectly okay to plug into a community outlet and charge their car at everyone else's expense? If it isn't listed as an amenity in the rent then you are stealing.
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