Run a model S without a home charger?

[TheRealNick]

Hi Folks,

New to forum, considering the above and wanted to get some real world opinions before engaging with Tesla.

Currently in London but considering a move to Brighton and renting for a while initially.

Will likely be impossible for me to install a charger in a rented property, especially if it's a flat and I wouldn't really want to invest the money even if I could for 6-12 month tenure. So I'd be dependant on organising my life around leaving it places to charge.

From what I can see (on Tesla website) there are no super-chargers or destination chargers anywhere near Brighton or on route to London. However, there are a few 3/7kw charge points from other operators in the town, and some at both Hove & Brighton train stations.

My mileage around town won't be huge but will need to travel around home counties around London and occasionally longer trips when I can plan charging points ahead. Or in sure I have full charge before.

I will need to travel to London regularly, mostly that will be by train but occasionally by car, so my thinking was I could leave it to charge whilst I commute to London and I'll most likely be able to survive on a full charge for a week most of the time.

If I decide to drive to London, in theory I could easily get there and back with charge to spare and obviously there are various charge points in town to give a top up.

My question to the forum is, has anyone run a Tesla without being able to charge at home. Is it viable or a huge ball-ache?

And one other newbie question, can you leave a car parked at a charge point all day, like at the train station whilst I disappear up to London and back or are there time limits?

Thank you in advance for reading.

All the best,

Nick

 

[Jebus]

Hi Nick,

I do have a charge point at home but hopefully can offer some insight. Others are likely to help with the rest.

In regards to leaving a car at a charge point all day, it's mostly unacceptable. However, at a train station, on a slow (7kw) charger it can take 8-9 hours. As people know it's a station, generally park in the morning for the day, you're unlikely to annoy too many. Also if you are there first and get a space charging all day I can't see a problem.

With regards to the rental property, I completely understand you wouldn't want to pay out for a £300 or more charge point. At home I have a commando socket and use the UMC that came with the car. Gives me 22 miles per hour of charge which is fine for overnight. A commando socket is easy for a competent person to install, £90 for me and shouldn't be too much of an issue for a landlord. It may even be a plus for them if you say you'll remove it when leaving, which means you can use it again.

Hope this helps!

 

[WannabeOwner]

You can plug into a 13AMP socket - charging speed is slow, but if you are not driving 200 miles every day!! that wouldn't be a problem, although I guess it would be preferable to be in a property with a driveway, rather than on-street parking.

"Destination Charging" is mostly intended to be park-and-stay - hotels and restaurants, for example. A station car park will only work if you can bag a spare bay, and the charger is working. It seems to be that reliability of the chargers (other than Tesla's own Super Chargers) is not great. Probably: government has subsidised the rollout, the companies that did that have got their grant money, "service" is not high on their agenda. So your experience might be that "finding" a charger that is available, working, and you can park at "all day" is not great. On the flip side many that are available are, for the moment at least, free to use (but you might need to register for a card, in order to use them - e.g. Ecotricity).

You might be able to persuade your council to provide you with an on-street parking space & charging point - e.g. if you are living in a flat. I'm doubting that would be worth the aggro for a short-tenure rent.

 

[TheRealNick]

Thanks for the response guys.

 

[minderbinder]

My question to the forum is, has anyone run a Tesla without being able to charge at home. Is it viable or a huge ball-ache?

Nick

My opinion, as an owner: if you can't charge at home, don't buy a Tesla. Why? This is a car you're going to LOVE to drive! Without home charging, your mind will be filled with "Where can I charge?" and "Will I be able to charge?" instead of "What new excuse can I think of to drive this awesome car!". Others will disagree, no doubt, and it is possible to use the car this way, but I'll guarantee that you'll be at least somewhat disappointed.

The infrastructure is coming and soon this will no longer be an issue, but for now that's what I tell people who ask that question. But are you sure you can't find a parking spot where you could charge? As others have said - you don't need charging equipment - that comes with the car. You just need access to an outlet. Let that guide your rental search. It's worth it!

 

[bryand]

Is there any possibility you could charge at your workplace? This is often an acceptable way of keeping the car fully charged, at least during the week. The car would be static for long enough to get a decent charge from a low-capacity charger.

 

[TC56]

If I'm not mistaken, there is a chademo charger at Pease Pottage services in the A23/M23. It's a Wintricity one. Also I don't know if there are charging facilities available to the public at the Tesla service centre in Crawley(Gatwick). You could always ask them.

 

[nexsuperne101]

Ecotricity will start charging £5 for 20 minutes starting from Monday 11th July, rolling out across the UK by the 5th August. You will need an app on your iphone or android device to use the service. You need to register a credit/debit card, as it asks for the last 3 digits to start the charging process. It has changed the game for me, as I charge my Leaf on a rapid every single day, as I work beyond the range of the 24kwh battery most of the time. The extra £5 a day (or £140 a month/£1680 a year) is the difference between waiting for the Model 3, or just saying sod it and buying a 60D Model S now. At least the SC's are free, but more importantly, I can easily charge up enough at home to not need an SC anyway.

 

[tfboy]

I live in Reading, and don't have the ability to charge. I did approach the council and asked about installing / part funding the installation of some public chargers in the communal residential car park, but they've ignored my requests, and when also prompted by Pod Point who approached them, they also ignored him and when he chased, he was quickly dismissed along the lines of "not interested, will consider next year". So council support might be quite disappointing in your case too!

I was able to charge at work, which gave my sufficient charge through the day - my commute is 80 miles return, so whilst that's OK as far as the battery is concerned, a 16A charger is a bit on the limit. 32A was better whilst it lasted...

Since then, I've resorted to using other public chargers where I'm going, and top up at the Reading Supercharger for which I'm very grateful as it's close to my home. But it is an inconvenience to stop there. Sure, it charges quickly, but there's nothing to do there while I wait and it's time I'd much prefer to use in otherways. If I could charge at home overnight, it's a no-brainer.

However, despite this inconvenience, I absolutely love the car and, for me, the hindrance is worth it.