I live in a condo multi-unit condo: 4 stories, 25 units, 16 garages, in an over 55 community located in Northern Virginia. My M3 reservation is projected to be filled mid-2018. I am doing research before approaching the condo HOA regarding an EV outlet in my garage.
There are condo solution vendors EverCharge and ChargePoint that provide a smart power network that will distribute available power to the connected EV users on their system. It is a path as it is scalable so as not to tax the building’s available power nor the limited conduit space for wiring. All good except the EV owner pays much higher EV charging rates/fees. Still, it may be a solution.
However, in an over 55 community, where very high power, quick charging, is less relevant, this might be a workable plan:
-1- Have each EV owner get a 120 VAC/20 AMP circuit, tied to their electric meter, installation cost paid for by the EV owner.
-2- have that outlet be available on a timed basis – Off Peak (11 PM – 7 AM ) via power control timer (like had been used for electric water heaters). This outlet, with a conservative continuous 16 amp draw would provide in the order of 50 miles of charge overnight. Also, depending on the power company, it could be at an off-peak rate. For the EV owner, it would be very low-cost electricity.
-3- To offset the hassle factor and sweeten the pot, the HOA could be paid a monthly fee circa $10/month from each EV outlet owner.
It seems like a win-win. The power demand would be low enough given off-peak use so as not to tax the local power distribution transformer (more research needed). The only question is will the available conduit space be sufficient for each garage owner (16) to get wired from their meter to their garage (seems possible with 20 AMP circuits?).
I would appreciate the benefit of your experience. There are surely a lot of unanswered questions.
There are condo solution vendors EverCharge and ChargePoint that provide a smart power network that will distribute available power to the connected EV users on their system. It is a path as it is scalable so as not to tax the building’s available power nor the limited conduit space for wiring. All good except the EV owner pays much higher EV charging rates/fees. Still, it may be a solution.
However, in an over 55 community, where very high power, quick charging, is less relevant, this might be a workable plan:
-1- Have each EV owner get a 120 VAC/20 AMP circuit, tied to their electric meter, installation cost paid for by the EV owner.
-2- have that outlet be available on a timed basis – Off Peak (11 PM – 7 AM ) via power control timer (like had been used for electric water heaters). This outlet, with a conservative continuous 16 amp draw would provide in the order of 50 miles of charge overnight. Also, depending on the power company, it could be at an off-peak rate. For the EV owner, it would be very low-cost electricity.
-3- To offset the hassle factor and sweeten the pot, the HOA could be paid a monthly fee circa $10/month from each EV outlet owner.
It seems like a win-win. The power demand would be low enough given off-peak use so as not to tax the local power distribution transformer (more research needed). The only question is will the available conduit space be sufficient for each garage owner (16) to get wired from their meter to their garage (seems possible with 20 AMP circuits?).
I would appreciate the benefit of your experience. There are surely a lot of unanswered questions.