Possible New Tesla and Philadelphia Living

[tri335]

Hi. I'm new to Tesla and after a few test drives and exhaustingly learning everything I can about Tesla and the Model S from forums and blogs I'm at the point where I'm very close to pulling the trigger on a model s85D. Its very very exciting.

This question is more for the people who live in Philadelphia area OR those who have this same situation. I'm moving to Philly later this year for job related reasons and will be renting an apartment/condo/something for the foreseeable year or two. The place where I work may have a charging station but its unclear where its located and whether its for faculty or visitors only. Also, I'd like to be able to charge from home. I dont see myself on a daily basis driving more than 20-30 miles on weekdays so I don't think I'll have to charge daily but certainly every 2-3 days would make sense. What do people do in these situations? Is there an easy way to check if apartments/condos for rent in the city area (looking ideally in center city/rittenhouse area but open to others) would have charging stations in their garages?

Thanks everyone! this forum has been really eye opening and I love the fact that there is a community around these amazing vehicles.

 

[DFibRL8R]

Well first of all, congratulations on almost pulling the trigger! I'll take a stab at helping even though I don't live in Philly (or even a city for that matter!) and have my own garage with a charger...

I will say that you are going to want a charger that you can reliably use when you want to. I would not recommend relying on equipment that you have to share with the public at large such as a public charger in a large work garage that anyone can occupy. Too often these spots are blocked by ICE vehicles or a plug-in hybrid for an extended period. I think you can be fine only charging every 2-3 days in general, it would be much better to have a spot at home or at work that you can use at your convenience. Also, although a simple 110 wall outlet can get you by, it would be better to have a 50amp outlet (or less ideal a 30 amp J-1772) so if you need to charge up in a few hours you can. This is after all a car and there will be times when you need/want to go further.

That said, I looked on plug share at the area you are talking about. There are a few public garages with chargers. Sometimes a garage would let you lease a space and if they already have some chargers that's probably a good sign they would be more willing to work with you than others. I found one spot on plug share that looks like an apartment building with a gated outdoor lot. On google maps street view you can see what looks like a single charger with a Chevy Volt plugged in.

Google Maps

You could call this place and see what the deal is, if that is for a resident or a staff person etc. Again, if they have already installed some EV infrastructure, that's a good sign they might be willing to work with you on adding additional capacity.
After that, it's a matter of cold-calling apartments to ask which will probably be low yield. Typically you'll get a person answering the phone who has no idea what you are talking about and will have to let you talk to the maintenance guy or just say "no" because it's easier.

Lastly, I found a very interesting site about a law in Philly allowing residents to apply for their own reserved on-street parking space with an EV charger along the curb-side of their property.
Electric Vehicle (EV) gets you free curbside parking! Licensed Electrician Robert Monk

 

[tri335]

Hi. Wow great thanks for the great detailed reply! I appreciate it. Yes i'm very excited at the prospects of moving from my current ICE to a tesla. Trying to figure out the details of which one and seeing if I can perhaps get a great deal on a relatively slightly used one since there are a few (not many) on the market. I would say that its helpful that we have a good community of people that love tesla and living with teslas that make things like this much easier (ie the transition). Thanks for the tips on charging. I do think I am trying very hard to get an apartment complex that will have electric charging within a "private" garage that is shared with tenants but not the public. I am ok with that. There is the chance to charge at work but I agree its not completely reliable for many reasons. I think from here I'll google around but basically the information isn't clearly out there for apartment/condo dwellers and it seems like cold calling is the way I have to go. Thank you again for your help. Trying to make this transition work. The place I live in DC currently has a charger in the apartment complex which is awesome so I'm ok to transition to the tesla now but I'm also thinking about the next step.

 

[PokerBroker]

I was able to get a property modification approval at the last two places I rented. The conditions for my approval were that I had to pay for the charging station install and I had to leave it behind when I left. In both cases I just opted to install a 14-50 outlet and it worked perfectly.

I negotiated at both places before signing the lease.

 

[tri335]

PokerBroker...thanks for the info...how did that work out? did you also search for installers, etc or did they just do it and send you a bill? can I ask about how much it cost?

 

[gavine]

Recently I have looked at newer apartment complexes in Center City Philadelphia and, so far, the five I have looked at all have charging stations. One complex that is still under construction told me that they will have 20 stations in their garage.

None of these are on Plugshare, presumably because they are private lots.

 

[skidme]

Recently I have looked at newer apartment complexes in Center City Philadelphia and, so far, the five I have looked at all have charging stations. One complex that is still under construction told me that they will have 20 stations in their garage.

None of these are on Plugshare, presumably because they are private lots.

20 chargers?? Could this be the urban supercharger system we've been waiting for?

 

[jaguar36]

20 chargers?? Could this be the urban supercharger system we've been waiting for?

I think he's just talking about regular chargers (J1772 or the like) for residents of the complex.

 

[gavine]

20 chargers?? Could this be the urban supercharger system we've been waiting for?

I guess it's possible, but it's an apartment complex and the garage is attached. It could still be a public garage, but my intuition tells me that it is private and they will be J1772's. Hopefully we'll get the location for the Philly superchargers soon. I'd love to know where they are going to be.