Monthly subscription plan for home charging

[mattse]

Saw an ad in a Chinese forum about a company called "Smart Charge"

No full details in their website but it appears they will take care of everything (negotiation with car park management, installation etc) and you only need to pay $1800 per month with a contract for 36 months for unlimited use of up to 32A current.

$1,800 x 32 = $57,600. $57,600 for installation plus 3 years of electric bill sounds attractive. Unfortunately I don't have a fixed slot in my home car park.....

 

[mattse]

Wrong calculation in previous post.

It should be $1,800 x 36 = $64,800

 

[NikeWings]

Sort of like this in SFO and NYC for $500/month & $900/month respectively. On-Demand Parking & Valet Services - Luxe

 

[markwj]

This is the company: http://www.smartcharge.com.hk/

It is a joint venture between CLP and HKT.

HK$1,280 for up to 30 hours a month, or HK$1,800 for unlimited. Both 'up to' 32A.

 

[wombat]

I had problems with my estate on the charger installation so i registered with smartcharge. Got a call from them yesterday to get details on my carpark space and estate and smartcharge said they will contact estate directly. I should receive a reply in about 8-12 weeks.

 

[Optic]

Pretty cool, they have a $1280 plan for 30hours per month. That's plenty for me, I only need to charge 5 hours per week at 32A. I would definitely consider this if my car park was owned instead of rented.

 

[markwj]

At the moment, they are trying to collect information on who needs charging where. I would encourage anyone who needs EV charging at home/workplace to contact them and register your interest. With both CLP and HKT involved, they certainly have a lot of experience dealing with BM/IOC and access through shared areas.

 

[jsiu]

Pretty cool, they have a $1280 plan for 30hours per month. That's plenty for me, I only need to charge 5 hours per week at 32A. I would definitely consider this if my car park was owned instead of rented.

If charging at 32A for 30 hours , this implies around 1000km per month. $1280 for 1000km is more or less the same fuel cost for running a small ICE. Not much saving in f\uel costs in using EV but you enjoy other goodies of driving EV,

 

[jsiu]

Wrong calculation in previous post.

It should be $1,800 x 36 = $64,800

If you are a heavy mileage user, then $1800 per month is not that bad. Assuming you can charge 8 hrs per day, all you get will be:

32A x 8 hr x 30 days = 7680km

Whether this plan is cheap or not, this will depend on how you can fully utilize the charging time.

 

[mattse]

Whether this plan is cheap or not, this will depend on how you can fully utilize the charging time.

For the first 3 years, it's a real bargain as you don't have to go through the painful process of getting approval from various parties yourself. (You will have to spend similar amount of money on installation anyway)

But the drawbacks I can imagine are,
1) the charger may not be Tesla specific. As they own the charger, they will want it do business with others in case you move away in future, so a Wall Connector may not be the best choice for them. An IEC 62196 or even combo will be in their best interest. For us, that means a little more trouble plugging in, having to get the blue IEC 62196 cable in and out every time. (Let's hope this company will install a brand specific charger for everyone)

2) the cost of using this charger will go up after the 3rd years compared to owner-installed chargers, assuming they will keep the price at $1800 / month (unlimited) or $1280 / month (30 hours)

$1800 / month plan
= around 1500 kWh of electricity at current residential tariff and that's around 7500 km
7500 km per month is 250 km / day.... I bet only uber drivers can do that much in one day

$1280 / month plan
People who charge for 211.2 kWh (32A for 30 hours) per month only need to pay around $190 each month for electricity (at current residential tariff)

For me, the decision is a no-brainer for the first 3 years. Then one will have to decide how much he/she wants to pay for the convenience of having a home charger after the first 3 years (when we will have model 3 and even longer queue at superchargers.....)