You can get 13A from a normal outlet in a house, if nothing else is on that group of outlets. It's only around 3000W, so you don't really need anything but a normal socket, possibly with a lock and a meter on it (unless you want to sponsor other people plugging in). Installing a charger is not just the plug, but the wiring leading to it. Hence, 13A shouldn't be an issue for the estate, as long as you are paying for the plug. 3000W is the same as 50 light bulbs of 60W each, OR three toasters, OR two vacuum cleaners. So it's not like you are trying to install a steel works plant forge.
We were in a serviced apartment in Hyatt Shatin previously, this was 2012 when I asked about having a bug standard normal plug available. There was no budging or any looking into it, they weren't interested in any sort of EV charging in their lot, despite me paying for a dedicated spot, and willing to pay installation charges.
With all the lighting, and other equipment in the parking lot, I consider it a bad excuse that there "wasn't any possibility to install any plugs at all". We had already paid for the Tesla model S reservation, but moved out shortly after. Bye Hyatt!
13A being about 3kw, you can top up 30 kW in 10 hours, and with our requirements, that won't be an issue, as this would be more than 150 km. here will be days where we aren't going to use the car at all, though it will be hard to fight the temptation to find an excuse to go - anywhere
Thanks a lot for your insight, DITB. I'm probably in a kind of similar situation as you are. If they don't allow me to install a proper permanent charger, then I, like you, have to just go with the basic 13A. However, I'm not even confident that they'll allow me to install a separate meter (they might just don't want me to do anything at all). If that's the case, I may have to find one of those CHAdeMO DC 50kW chargers once a week or something.
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That's what I had in mind and thought that should be easy... but that's not the case.
Technically I have no problem to even get 80A on my parking spot, CLP, EMSD and EVPower all confirmed. The chairman of the owner's assoc also supports "green" idea, but I've been wrestling to get a green light since I ordered my car in summer 2012.
There are a few hurdles if you want to get a plug installed in your parking spot: (That's my case, may or may not apply to all)
1. The owner have to agree (I own it so no problem.)
2. Technical viable (CLP, EMSD and Contractor confirmed.)
3. Power meter - Electric supply in parking lot is public so it is from the MAIN meter. By law no one can "resell" electricity to you, even not for profit. You have to have either a separate meter before it reach main meter, which means a hefty installation charge. You can ask CLP or HKE for consent to install separate meter in parking lot, which they won't. Final solution is to install a Commercial charger and ask the management company run it for you. You pay every time you plug in.
4. Insurance - You need insurance to cover all equipment installed in the public area, including wires and chargers. (During installation and ongoing)
5. Owner association consent - Depends where your estate is, the association may only be a handful of owners or thousands. Usually you'll get a few haters saying why bother to get wiring all over the place just for a bloody car? What if everyone switched to EV then the parking lot will be full of wires? What if your EV and charger meltdown like BYD? etc..... I have got voted down 3 times already and still fighting!
6. If you move out and no one takes on the maintenance of the charging equipment, you need to reinstate the installation. Which means uninstall all wirings and repaint the track. (Reinstatement sounds expansive to me...)
7. You need to submit all technical details and operating procedures, with agreement from the estate management, to the owner's association for approval. However 9 out of 10 are non-technical person so I wonder how they can judge that.
8. The government EMSD is supportive, but unable to do anything to help. They'll only tell the estate management and owner assoc about the policy, but how to push things forward is _____ blank. Typical HK nowadays :biggrin:
Just share my experience. Hope that's just me having these troubles.. Maybe I should move to a house
Thanks a lot for sharing your experience and concerns, ekwng. I now understand why the HK EV market just struggles to move forward quickly enough. Unless the government takes concrete actions and pushes some bills to pass the LegCo to become laws, no matter how supportive the EMSD is, or how many times John Tsang or Wong Kam-sing calls for public support, the estates out there just don't have the incentives and pressure to do it.
