I am a new S85 owner living in a townhouse community. I have run into a completely unexpected issue where my homeowners association won’t let me install a charging stand in my parking spot even when the underground installation would be connected to my townhouse. I’m now starting down the legal path to remedy this, but apart from heading to the supercharger station 2x per week, does anyone have a better suggestion? Is there an effective portable solution?
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Charging suggestions where home charging not an option
- Thread starter KimW
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- charging issues
f205v
Member
run a long extension cord from your apartment! 
Only joking, it's a sad situation but the only alternative could be to have a charging spot installed at your work place instead than home. Otherwise SC 2 times per week.
Only joking, it's a sad situation but the only alternative could be to have a charging spot installed at your work place instead than home. Otherwise SC 2 times per week.
dark cloud
Active Member
I have not Investigated whether there are extension cords for the mobile connector, but is there a way to connect a long cord into your dryer outlet. Or install a new dryer outlet (14/30) on the outside of your unit, or if they have an issue with that as well just inside your unit where your connector will reach.
I decided the Tesla HPWC was not necessary in my situation and decided to save a whole lot of money and just installed the Nema 14/30 outlet in my garage which at 240 volts/24 amps provides 6kW of energy which is plenty enough for my purposes. That is 336 km/209 miles of range overnight (12 hrs) If you would only need to supercharge twice a week I would guess 24 amps would be enough.
edit: in re-reading your post I am not sure whether "underground" means parking in an underground parking, or if that just meant running the electrical "underground" in front of your unit. Not clear how far from your unit you park your car.
I decided the Tesla HPWC was not necessary in my situation and decided to save a whole lot of money and just installed the Nema 14/30 outlet in my garage which at 240 volts/24 amps provides 6kW of energy which is plenty enough for my purposes. That is 336 km/209 miles of range overnight (12 hrs) If you would only need to supercharge twice a week I would guess 24 amps would be enough.
edit: in re-reading your post I am not sure whether "underground" means parking in an underground parking, or if that just meant running the electrical "underground" in front of your unit. Not clear how far from your unit you park your car.
Remind the HOA that their duty is to protect home values. Disallowing EV charging will be like disallowing washer dryer hookups.
What is the reasoning for not allowing you to charge with your own power in your space?
If you are willing to pay for the installation and the electricity, why on earth would anyone else care ?
You should get some new people to run for the homeowners association board. Might be more cost effective than legal fees.
LOL! Believe me I have thought about that. It really makes no sense when I’m willing to pay for the installation and the electricity!
The space is about 30 yards from an electric outlet on the outside of my house. We have to bury the cords underground because of a tripping hazard for having a cord connected to the house. I’ve thought about just plugging an extension cord into my outdoor outlet and letting the HOA come after me for that, but I don’t think that enough power would generate to give me the miles I need to drive each day.
If that outlet is on a single circuit and you don't need it for anything else you can probably have a electrician convert that to a 15 amp 240 outlet which 6-15 outlet, or if there are other outlets connected you would have to have the electrician remove the other outlets connected.
This would give you 7 miles a hour charging, not the best but better than 120/15....
You can get the 6-15 plug adapter at shop.tesla.com
rfmurphy81
Member
@KimW,
I'm not sure whether your state has laws to prevent HOAs from denying you reasonable access to setting up EV charging like we have in California, but I'd recommend checking out EV Charging for Condos: Get Your HOA to Say “Yes” | ChargePoint and their eBook. There may be some helpful tips in there to get you on your way.
I'm not sure whether your state has laws to prevent HOAs from denying you reasonable access to setting up EV charging like we have in California, but I'd recommend checking out EV Charging for Condos: Get Your HOA to Say “Yes” | ChargePoint and their eBook. There may be some helpful tips in there to get you on your way.
My last house was a townhouse, and there was 1.78 parking spots per house. Parking was not reserved, it was a free for all. If the OP has this situation, it could be seen as trying to get his own reserved spot, and might not sit well with neighbors. Or the neighbors might not care and park in his spot to tick him off.
Sorry if I am not following this, but the closest you can get your vehicle to your unit is 30 yards? When I think "townhouse," I think units with a small driveway and usually a 1 car garage. Is this more like an apartment/condo style with a community parking lot? Just trying to come up with solutions, but I can't picture the scenario exactly. Thanks.
Yeah, these are older townhouses so there is no garage or driveway. Each house is assigned 2 parking spaces that are specifically reserved for our house. The parking assignments don’t ever change.
The outside plug is seldom on its own circuit in a condo, and you can't pick up much power there. Usually it is GFI protected from a circuit in your condo, most likely a bathroom, or possibly 2 bathrooms. To do what Tony is talking about, you would lose power to these other plugs, and as he said you still don't get much power. To get the kind of power most of use use to charge our Teslas, you need a new circuit from your main panel. It's usually difficult to run a new circuit to the outside in a condo. You need an electrician to look at it and see how difficult it would be to run a new 240v circuit, and if your panel could even accommodate it. If you can't run a new circuit then you need to turn off the breaker to that outside plug and see what you would be giving up inside to convert it, and whether it would be worth the cost and the loss of plugs, for what power you would get. Depending on how old the condos are you would need to check all the plugs to find out what you would loose, because very old condos might not even be wired thru the bathrooms, but thru another circuit. Good luck.
dark cloud
Active Member
I understand now. Strata does not want you to rip up 100 feet of ground to install the HPWC. If that is asphalt that would be costly too. Good luck.
