no home charger

[David99]

After some back and forth the apartment building I'm in doesn't want to install a 15-50 plug. They claimed it's an old building that wouldn't have enough power. Of course it's just an excuse for not wanting to deal with it. The building has plenty of power and the city of Glendale is actually very supportive with EVs. The building owner just doesn't want to be bothered as he didn't even want to have an electrician come out to have a look. Anyways...

Until I find and move to a new place I will depend 100% on public chargers. I have one L2 in a parking structure within walking distance. Closest Super Charger is 21 miles away (the one at Space X). Overall the areas in Los Angeles and OC I drive around for work have a decent amount of L2 chargers. It's going to be a challenge but since the max distance I drive in a day is 100 miles, I'm confident it's doable. If anyone has a similar situation, I'd love to hear what your experiences are. I will post an update of how it goes once I get my car in 3 weeks.

 

[GSP]

Are there any 120 V outlets on your building or within walking distance that you could use?

GSP

 

[TurboFroggy]

Time to move dude. It is all about priorities on where you live at. I pre-qualified my house before I bought it for high-speed internet back in 1999. I would be pre-qualifying any new apartment/condo to have some kind of charging available or no deal.

 

[David99]

There isn't really anything in the parking structure of the condo. One 110 outlet way on the other side so it would take a very long extension and they don't want me to use it. It would give me only 30 miles over night anyways. I have a mall within a 2 min walk that has several L2 chargers so I will probably use that mainly.

 

[hyperpretension]

Depending on what sort of pain in the butt tenant you want to be, you might want to refer your building manager to California Civil Code Section 4745 (http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV&sectionNum=4745). The Civil Code was amended to prohibit apartment managers and homeowner associations from denying requests for electric vehicle charge stations. The flip side of it is you are responsible for the installation costs.

I had an easy time with my homeowner's association in my condo building. I made the request, referred them to the CA Civil Code and assured them I would be responsible for all the installation and on-going electrical costs. I ended up working with a company called EverCharge which monitors my electrical usage, bills me and reimburses the HOA. Everything is working so far.

 

[David99]

That's interesting! I just emailed the building manager the link and suggested to have an experienced electrician check out the power panel and see what the limits really are. Honestly I highly doubt there will be a problem.

 

[dsm363]

I would at least try and get a 110V outlet installed. Likely much cheaper and can hopefully cover most of your daily driving and minimize your trips to a level 2 station.

Of course if the cost difference to your between that and 14-50 is minimal go for 14-50 of course.

 

[islandbayy]

I would at least try and get a 110V outlet installed. Likely much cheaper and can hopefully cover most of your daily driving and minimize your trips to a level 2 station.

Of course if the cost difference to your between that and 14-50 is minimal go for 14-50 of course.

Agreed. The cost difference will be about $10 for a breaker, and $100 for the wire (depending on length of run).

 

[hyperpretension]

Looks like I might have steered you in the wrong direction. I thought that the CA Civil Code section applied to apartment buildings, but it looks like that section only applies to condos and I couldn't find another section or legislative intent that applied to apartment buildings. Hopefully, your apartment manager won't figure that out. The company I mentioned above would probably be willing to talk to your complex manager to explain how it all would work and the benefits the owner would have if they could advertise that they have EV charging capabilities.

Sorry, and good luck.

 

[jkirkebo]

If they won't install a 14-50 because it "need to much power", maybe you could suggest a 14-30? That should give you 150 miles or so in 10 hours, which should be mostly sufficient I think?

 

[David99]

So far so good. I found several nearby J1772, two of them are even free. One of them conveniently located in a place with lots of stores so I do most of my shopping there now. Gives me more than enough for my idle days. When I drive around more for work I can make a little detour and fill up at the SC in Hawthorne on the way.
But mostly there are so many charging stations around Los Angeles that I almost always find one where I need to go. The massive range makes it possible not having to worry about charging all the time as with any other EV on the market right now.

 

[tiblot]

So far so good. I found several nearby J1772, two of them are even free. One of them conveniently located in a place with lots of stores so I do most of my shopping there now. Gives me more than enough for my idle days. When I drive around more for work I can make a little detour and fill up at the SC in Hawthorne on the way.
But mostly there are so many charging stations around Los Angeles that I almost always find one where I need to go. The massive range makes it possible not having to worry about charging all the time as with any other EV on the market right now.

Good to hear! I'm in the same situation as you.

My car doesn't arrive till late May but I'll end up with a similar routine I think.

 

[tezco]

I charge at 30 amps (from a J1772) due to wiring constraints and it works fine for my needs. With a 30 amp receptacle, you will only get 24 amps into the car due to the continuous duty limit imposed by the National Electric Code, but according to the charging calculator at Tesla, you can recover 140 miles with an 8 hr overnight charge.