It's been a while since I searched so I thought I'd ask what condo charging options are available. I need something that's load balancing and takes care of billing and payment to the HOA. I'm aware of Evercharge and Chargepoint. Are there any newcomers? Does anyone have first hand reviews?
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GoCanes
Member
We installed Evercharge at our condo building (in Miami). It took over two years of meetings with the HOA board to get approval! But now we have four EVs using the two chargers they installed.
I liked evercharge because of the load balancing but I heard some people complain of the convoluted billing systems they use. Is there any truth to that? Are you happy with evercharge? Do they have a Tesla specific adaptor?
GoCanes
Member
While Evercharge does have a Tesla-specific charger, our building opted for the more generic J1772 charger (for the non-Tesla EVs). The billing is quite easy - $15/month plus a usage charge based on our building's electric cost per kWh. I get a statement each month showing each charging session & the amount billed, which is charged to my credit card. The HOA gets reimbursed for the power we used. The HOA had to bear the cost of installation, but the chargers themselves are paid for through our $15/mo fee.
Did you install these in a common area versus each parking spot like their website suggests? Seems like you might have given your comment that 4 EVs are using 2 chargers. I ask because our condo in Bonita would most likely not support installing them in the resident specific parking but rather in a more common parking area. I know ChargePoint is an option but wanted to see if there were other options.
Like GoCanes I have EverCharge in my condo in Miami. So far I am the only EV owner who has charging in the building. Although there are a Model S and Model X who are in the building they both charge elsewhere.
Not quite three years ago it took about four months to get my condo board to allow the installation and that was with active help from the management company. I had to pay all the installation cost plus the condo legal fees and had to formally indemnify the condo association of any legal liability, including providing for that with an umbrella insurance policy. The latter problem was because the Condo Assn legal advisor said EV charging was very dangerous. In the end my condo board dropped my insurance requirement.
I paid a small fortune for the process.
As for EverCharge, they were responsive but their charges cannot be reconciled directly to the payments they make to the condo association. In addition I pay monthly while the association has a quarterly payment. The cash discrepancy is due to the EverCharge practice of charging consumers an artificial non-disclosed formula based on a mathematical construct of 'time'. The $15 per month I also pay. I do have the Tesla connector on the EverCharge Bosch charging unit. EverCharge uses a 208/30 connection so one never can have faster charging than that, which is more than adequate for my needs but might be too little were they to have load sharing as is contemplated with their installation.
Now that I have been using EverCharge for more than two years there is some history. I have access to the Condo Assn receipts so I have calculated their payments vs my charges from EverCharge. Thus far they pay the Association about 11cents kWh and charge me about 13cents kWh. I ask every few months for EverCharge to release their formula which they have refused to do.
Despite the previous paragraph I probably would do it again. The system works and I have few problems. Some months ago the system failed while I was traveling and EverCharge did a reset within an hour or so of my report.
I would certainly look at ChargePoint also, and at a direct connection if your condo board would permit that.
In my condo they accepted only in deeded parking spots even though the insy=tallation required passing though common areas. Each parking spot is much easier. I am still trying to get our Condo to provide transient charging since we are mixed residential/commercial and there are quite a few BEV's who patronize some of our merchants. One of our merchants, Baptist Health provides BEV charging in many of their facilities so their support is useful.
GoCanes
Member
Our HOA board decided to set up the chargers in a common area, rather than at each spot. EverCharge recommends individual chargers for luxury condos because the individual owners in luxury condos (who tend to be affluent) would bear the installation costs, rather than have the HOA pay for the installation. So far, the 2 chargers are working out fine (our building has 147 apartments) - but I'm worried if there will be an avalanche of Model 3 owners moving in!
Thanks. So how does the billing work? Meaning if you have a shared charger approach is each person using it paying the $15 per month fee plus usage? I'm assuming that it's more than two owners using the 2 chargers, thus my question.
GoCanes
Member
Everyone wanting to use the chargers pays the $15/month plus the usage charge. Our usage charge is $0.93 per hour of charging at 220v, 30 amps. I'm not sure how that translates to a per kWh cost, but generally my X takes about 9 hours to charge overnight from 20% to 90% at a cost of $8 to $9 per charge. Right now, there's only four subscribers to our chargers and, as more are added, the monthly $15 fee to EverCharge will increase. When it gets to the point that we need more than the two chargers, I believe the HOA will have to fund the installation costs, but EverCharge will provide the additional chargers at no additional cost (other than the monthly $15 fee). It seems this monthly fee arrangement may become quite lucrative for EverCharge!
MrsSchmorgan
Member
I just started the process with my HOA to get approval to install a Tesla HPWC in my deeded parking space in our subterranean parking garage. We have to run about 85' of conduit across the ceiling, and although we would hire a (Tesla recommended) licenses contractor and take care of the city permits, I am concerned about the insurance policy requirements. An umbrella policy for $1M would significantly affect our homeowners insurance payments. Curious, @jbcarioca , how did you get them to drop that requirement?
Actually, I collected statistics on gasoline fires in MUD vs electrical fires in MUD and asked the Board if anyone could conceive of BEV charging being more dangerous than storing explosive liquid fuels. They eliminated the requirement. I just looked to see if I still had that data. I do not. In the Bay Area I'd be a trifle surprised if anyone would try to enforce such a rule, especially with the prevalence of BEV's there. When I did it more than half my condo board have never heard of a BEV. Rides in my P85D did help then, nearly three years ago.
Good luck!
Mrs S, read the California rules for condo EV charger wiring installation carefully. I believe you will find that the umbrella policy is only required if the unit owner does the wiring, i.e. Use an electrician, bonded one.
Regarding evercharge charging by the hour and not kwh, doesn't that pose a problem as more users join? I mean the charging rate would decrease causing it to take more hours to charge and if the rate stays the same it would cost more right? Am I missing something?
GoCanes
Member
While EverCharge does not charge the condo HOA for the chargers, the HOA did have to pay for the electrician to run the 220v service to the parking spaces chosen for the chargers. It cost approx. $14,000 because they had to run the electrical service through the garage slab, then the length of the garage to the spaces (which are pretty remote). If they had chosen more convenient spaces for the chargers, it would have been as little as $4,000 (but you can't inconvenience all the ICE vehicles with those charging stations, can you?)
Yes in New Jersey and east coast use Energy Partner Network. They're brand agnostic and the founders ran large energy efficiency companies, and have or had HOA board positions so they will talk to the board, help the board understand. etc. Much more hands on then the software companies out there. I recommend.
Also great was Energy Partner Network. They're brand agnostic and the founders ran large energy efficiency companies, and have or had HOA board positions so they will talk to the board, help the board understand. etc. Much more hands on then the software companies out there. I recommend. Did not take us two years, took us 3 meeting to get the Board to vote yes.
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