Do you have a charging location?

[SnoValleyRob]

How many of you have a garage/location right now to charge your car overnight? I've been glued to this page for the last month or so and haven't seen this question brought up yet, but maybe I missed a post about it.

As much as I would love to have my Model 3 right now, I own a home in a development that doesn't have a garage, and will never be able to have one. My plan is that in 2 years I will own a home with a garage where I will add a charger, but if that doesn't happen I will be relying on the superchargers and other charging stations that are close to my work. Is anyone else in the same boat as me, or am I the only crazy one here?

 

[Bimbels]

Do you park on the street? We don't have a garage but I have a parking space next to my house. We ran a wire from our panel outside and mounted a plug on the side of our shed, which is at the top of our parking spot. Works just fine. You don't have to have a garage - see if you can have a NEMA 14-50 installed outside/on the side of your house, near where you park - if you park next to your house.

 

[Steepler2k]

I have a garage that my wife and I keep barely organized enough to park our two cars in there. We'll put a NEMA 14-50 outlet in where I park probably end of 2017 if it looks like things are on track for me to get car in 2018 (east coast reservation, lined up before store opening). We're fortunate that it's all attic from where the panel is in the middle of the house to the garage. Plus we currently have an unused 40amp breaker that we can take out and put in a 50 amp breaker.

 

[CarlitoDoc]

Hi there! let's see, my friend who owns a Model S lives in Bellevue, he said that there are "charging stations" out there, but to assume that they would be available just when you need them is pushing your luck. The new supercharger station should be up an running (from what I hear) next year (??). Still, owning a car that needs to be charged and having no place to charge is indeed a gamble.

 

[SnoValleyRob]

Do you park on the street? We don't have a garage but I have a parking space next to my house. We ran a wire from our panel outside and mounted a plug on the side of our shed, which is at the top of our parking spot. Works just fine. You don't have to have a garage - see if you can have a NEMA 14-50 installed outside/on the side of your house, near where you park - if you park next to your house.

My home is parking on the street or parking in a shared parking lot down the street from my house. If I were to charge from my house it would be through a standard outdoor wall receptacle with an extension cord crossing the sidewalk. I am not sure how the homeowners association would feel about this, with the number of hours it would have to be plugged in and likely overnight in the dark.

 

[SnoValleyRob]

Hi there! let's see, my friend who owns a Model S lives in Bellevue, he said that there are "charging stations" out there, but to assume that they would be available just when you need them is pushing your luck. The new supercharger station should be up an running (from what I hear) next year (??). Still, owning a car that needs to be charged and having no place to charge is indeed a gamble.

I work in Medina (home of the Tesla in Washington I swear) which is just outside of Bellevue. I am hopeful that with the number of owners of Tesla's in Bellevue that they will be focusing on more charing locations around the area, but yes, it could be problematic trying to find an open charger when I need it. I think a 20-30 minute (super)charge would be the perfect amount of time to do the routine car clean up while waiting though.

I am guessing supercharging stations will be spaced out, instead of a ton in one area, so people can do their long road trips with them spaced out, so maybe Bellevue will still be hard to find an open charger.

 

[Bimbels]

My home is parking on the street or parking in a shared parking lot down the street from my house. If I were to charge from my house it would be through a standard outdoor wall receptacle with an extension cord crossing the sidewalk. I am not sure how the homeowners association would feel about this, with the number of hours it would have to be plugged in and likely overnight in the dark.

Yeah probably not the best solution. You could approach your assn about installing a plug in the shared lot - but that might not work.

Plenty of owners rely on public chargers, chargers at work, or superchargers. And don't let the anti-local-supercharging crowd make you feel guilty about using them. If you have no option to charge at home, it is totally fine.

That said, if you plan on moving, then fine. You could also approach your employer about installing a charger so you can charge at work. Many employers are doing that these days.

 

[Az_Rael]

Luckily, I have a garage with a Level 2 charger already wired up and installed for my Volt. However, when the 3 arrives, it's possible I will be in transit relocating to TX, so I might be stuck relying on the public charging network for a few months during the transition.

As a Volt driver I have checked out the public charging network a few times, just to see what it's like. I can say it will be very difficult to use as your sole means of charging. Many locations get blocked by other cars, or have very high charging rates, or are turned off at night, or are broken. The ones that aren't are often in use by another EV.

 

[Paradigm Shift]

I will be using my apartments public charging location in addition to one nearby my work. Though if access becomes more limited once EV's catch on I will opt for the private garages that my apartment offers, which can include level 2 chargers. Currently the public charger, which is free to residents, is nearly always vacant.

 

[Cyclone]

Plenty of owners rely on public chargers, chargers at work, or superchargers.

The first 5 months of having my S, that was me. Even now with a 14-50 at home, I still charge 80% of the time at work. I could plug into 120v in a pinch, but overnight would only get me 30 miles of rated range. Still, that was enough to get to work comfortable and plug in there (or go to the Supercharger another mile from there). Still, I did once stop by my local Tesla store for 30 minutes when I was under 10 miles of range left.

 

[RayK]

My plan is to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage next to the door and hope the 20' charger cord can reach the M3 in my driveway. Currently my 2-car garage is full of junk and there's no room for any car. Assuming that I'm still working in the same place in a couple of years and the garage is still a storage facility (excellent chance as it's been this way for 16+ years), the company I work at has several J1772 chargers in the multi-story parking garage. A recent email went out saying that they are planning to add more chargers due to more employees driving EVs. It also stated that they will start to enforce a maximum of 4 hours per charge then you'll have to move your car. I guess that's progress...

 

[Thomas Edison]

I'm just going to charge when I do my laundry at the laundromat. Takes about 4 hours and they have plenty of nema 14-50s.

 

[Justmurr]

My new pic is my (future) charging location....

I am so looking forward to using my 220 that I specifically had them install (upside down?) 2 and a half years ago when I built my house. My gas station....right there in my garage.....love it.
I have no idea where I heard to install it upside down and I will likely need to flip it over....no big deal.

 

[Karynt]

Do you park on the street? We don't have a garage but I have a parking space next to my house. We ran a wire from our panel outside and mounted a plug on the side of our shed, which is at the top of our parking spot. Works just fine. You don't have to have a garage - see if you can have a NEMA 14-50 installed outside/on the side of your house, near where you park - if you park next to your house.

Can I ask how much the installation cost for that set up? Also,does it fully charge overnight?

 

[azred]

How many of you have a garage/location right now to charge your car overnight? I've been glued to this page for the last month or so and haven't seen this question brought up yet, but maybe I missed a post about it.

As much as I would love to have my Model 3 right now, I own a home in a development that doesn't have a garage, and will never be able to have one. My plan is that in 2 years I will own a home with a garage where I will add a charger, but if that doesn't happen I will be relying on the superchargers and other charging stations that are close to my work. Is anyone else in the same boat as me, or am I the only crazy one here?

There are dozens of great cars and you picked the one that makes no sense for your lifestyle? I am as excited as anyone about owning a Model 3 but wouldn't even think about it if home charging wasn't realistic.

 

[jerry33]

How many of you have a garage/location right now to charge your car overnight? I've been glued to this page for the last month or so and haven't seen this question brought up yet, but maybe I missed a post about it.

As much as I would love to have my Model 3 right now, I own a home in a development that doesn't have a garage, and will never be able to have one. My plan is that in 2 years I will own a home with a garage where I will add a charger, but if that doesn't happen I will be relying on the superchargers and other charging stations that are close to my work. Is anyone else in the same boat as me, or am I the only crazy one here?

My car always charges outside. You don't need a garage, just an electrical connection. Here are some examples, but I expect yours will be simpler than these:

Example 1
Example 2

 

[Chuq]

Garage. One of the benefits of living in a smaller city is there are very few inner city apartments and almost all residences are separate dwellings.

 

[KJD]

My new pic is my (future) charging location....

I am so looking forward to using my 220 that I specifically had them install (upside down?) 2 and a half years ago when I built my house. My gas station....right there in my garage.....love it.
I have no idea where I heard to install it upside down and I will likely need to flip it over....no big deal.

I would leave it as is. That is how most people install a 14-50 with the ground pin on top.

 

[eloder]

Two years ago, I moved for the specific purpose of having charging capabilities. My old apartment refused to allow me to pay for a full installation and charging costs, so I found a condo with my own garage.

 

[doublejj]

My Model 3 will share a plug with my clothes dryer. I will move the dryer a foot to the side so I can access the plug & the dryer will be un-plugged most of the time & only plugged in as needed for laundry day. The plug will belong to The Tesla 90% of the time.