Question about Free charging at this hotel I am staying at

[Waterop]

I’m staying at a hotel/resort and they have it set up for the first 2 hrs free then $3/hr after that. I charge for 1 hr and 50 min the day I arrived then the next day I charged for 1 hr 40 min for free. Level 2
When they say first 2 hrs of charging is free. If you leave and come back in 1 hr will the first 2 hrs of that charge be free also.
Curiosity mostly. If my number are right it would be cheaper to top off at the SC a mile down the road.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Whether its cheaper at the SC is dependent on the speed of the charger at the resort and the cost of kwh at the SC.

I'd wager that the definition of a new time period is either (almost immediate) or (the next day), most likely the former. Heck, maybe even stopping and restarting charging from your waterproof phone while you float in the pool with a Mai Tai would count.

 

[Chisale]

The breakeven for $3/hr at the hotel vs the supercharger would be very roughly 7kW at the hotel. Above that it'd be cheaper to stay at the hotel. Lower than 7kW, go to the supercharger. You'd just have to ask about the disconnecting/reconnecting later policy. I'm guessing they are anticipating lots of traffic on the charger(s) and are encouraging people to not stay long. Not sure, every hotel I've stayed at, it's been no limit.

 

[Waterop]

Yes the rate is 7kw. I have charged a total of almost 4 hrs and over 100 miles. I’ll plug in tomorrow morning before we leave. They have a restaurant also and that may come into play. What can I say. It’s free and based on what the room cost I don’t think they are losing anything. Lol. Just sitting around having a glass of wine.

 

[Sophias_dad]

What brand/model of charger is it? Is it even smart enough to monitor/report your charging?

 

[Waterop]

Running the numbers again and it looks like it the same as the SC station at $.45/kw around here. Same as $3/hr@7kw. So you save $6 X 3 = $18. Not bad, do that a few times and it will add up.

 

[Chisale]

It's possible that the hotel just puts that $3/hr sign up in case there are folks waiting to charge. Or people abusing it and not unplugging. If you're the only EV there, they might not care and let you charge as long as you want. I love hotel charging. ICEing can be a problem at times, but it's a great way to save money and perhaps even stay at a more expensive place than you were budgeting due to the expense saved by not visiting the supercharger.

 

[Waterop]

What brand/model of charger is it? Is it even smart enough to monitor/report your charging?

Charge point

 

[Sophias_dad]

Charge point

That's clearly capable of starting to charge you after the two hours. I assume you had to use the RFID card or app to activate the charging.

The good news is that it sounds like you only need to disconnect for a moment in order to restart the timer window. I doubt that just stop/starting charge will reset it.

 

[davewill]

That's clearly capable of starting to charge you after the two hours. I assume you had to use the RFID card or app to activate the charging.

The good news is that it sounds like you only need to disconnect for a moment in order to restart the timer window. I doubt that just stop/starting charge will reset it.

The other good news is that the hotel staff is most unlikely to be monitoring or even care about how long you use it.

 

[804son]

Based on it being a chargepoint, you're probably going to have to disconnect charging, holster the charger back in the unit, then you should be able to initiate another 2 hr. free charging session if you want.

 

[Waterop]

You’re right. I plugged in last night and we are off and running