Trying to have ev chargers at my worksite.

[bennett_461]

Just a random question guys, and there is a bit to it.
I work for a small country sute in a large company that is currently pushing its green footprint. I will.be the first owner of a ev at our site with 60 employees. I spoke to my company operations manager at an event a couple of weeks ago (I already knew she has her own tesla) and asked if she would approve capital for ev chargers been installed on my site. She of course said absolutely.
Here is my issue, been a country town and me been the first (and currently only) with an ev, I will have the rest of the worksite annoyed at me that I am just spending the companies money to install them and then get free charging when i infact want to also push the move to ev's (and get free charging, i cannot lie)
Holding the production management role on site I really don't want to get everyone there off side, so how do I approach the situation of getting the chargers installed while not looking like I'm doing it purely for myself

 

[21miDay]

If your company has guidelines for moving your car once it is charged and notifying the next owner that the station is available, at the time that the station is installed remind people of those guidelines and let people know that the company is planning ahead for future EV owners by installing these stations now.

 

[RayK]

I think that if your company installs several EVSE stations at your worksite, then you can probably avoid being seen as someone who is personally taking advantage of the system. 4 to 6 Level 2 stations that have J1772 handles will service all EVs equally. In other words, don't install Tesla destination chargers. 6 stations represents 10% of your workforce which is probably a good start. Have the company establish firm rules as to the length of charging time and policy for going over the allotted time. For example, the company I was at when I got my Model 3 (Samsung), installed ChargePoint L2 stations and had employees request RFID tags and setup ChargePoint accounts. We had 4 hours of free charging and there was an idle fee after that time to incentivize moving your car. If possible, have the company install the stations in a partially out-of-the-way location, again to avoid looking like the best (closest) parking slots are being given to EV drivers.

 

[jjrandorin]

Just a random question guys, and there is a bit to it.
I work for a small country sute in a large company that is currently pushing its green footprint. I will.be the first owner of a ev at our site with 60 employees. I spoke to my company operations manager at an event a couple of weeks ago (I already knew she has her own tesla) and asked if she would approve capital for ev chargers been installed on my site. She of course said absolutely.
Here is my issue, been a country town and me been the first (and currently only) with an ev, I will have the rest of the worksite annoyed at me that I am just spending the companies money to install them and then get free charging when i infact want to also push the move to ev's (and get free charging, i cannot lie)
Holding the production management role on site I really don't want to get everyone there off side, so how do I approach the situation of getting the chargers installed while not looking like I'm doing it purely for myself

You ask fort several charging stations, not one, and you do not bring up or suggest they be free at all.

 

[bennett_461]

So I know one of our other small sites have installed a tesla charger and a ccs charger on site. I was thinking of going down the same route.
Having simple courtesy rules in place when there is more than one ev owner on site is a given, not sure I want to go down the RFID and ChargePoint accounts for such a small site. (Should also mention that the site is run 24 hours so Max 30 people on site at once).
Putting the chargers further away is not a bad idea, but will probably add to the cost of the project.

 

[RayK]

RFID tags would limit EV charging usage to those that apply for an account specifically set up for employees and not the general public. Your company would probably want to this unless the charging stations are behind a gated access OR they don't mind offering free charging to the public.

 

[bennett_461]

RFID tags would limit EV charging usage to those that apply for an account specifically set up for employees and not the general public. Your company would probably want to this unless the charging stations are behind a gated access OR they don't mind offering free charging to the public.

Our site is out of the main town and behind gates on a dead end road, so I'm not to worried about that.

 

[STS-134]

So I know one of our other small sites have installed a tesla charger and a ccs charger on site. I was thinking of going down the same route.
Having simple courtesy rules in place when there is more than one ev owner on site is a given, not sure I want to go down the RFID and ChargePoint accounts for such a small site. (Should also mention that the site is run 24 hours so Max 30 people on site at once).
Putting the chargers further away is not a bad idea, but will probably add to the cost of the project.

CCS is not necessary at a work location. People should be working long enough to get enough charge from level 2 chargers. CCS is also very expensive to install compared to level 2.

 

[XPsionic]

See if you could get the chargers installed at the far end of the parking lot too. Nothing riles up non EV drivers to see that you get FREE juice and you get to park as close as the handicap spots!

 

[Don.Church]

Ask for multiple level 1 chargers or even a few outlets. And I agree they should be located wherever the electrical service is most convenient, which may be further out from the building. Don’t mention “free”.

With a normal eight to ten hours of the vehicle at your workplace, level 1 charging will work great.

 

[Floydsox]

You already stick out like a sore thumb if you are the only ev owner lol. Maybe they can install a Nema 14-50 outlet and you can bring your own charger.

 

[RayK]

Ask for multiple level 1 chargers or even a few outlets. And I agree they should be located wherever the electrical service is most convenient, which may be further out from the building. Don’t mention “free”.

With a normal eight to ten hours of the vehicle at your workplace, level 1 charging will work great.

Level 2 would be a better choice over Level 1, especially if OP is in a cold area. At best, L1 (120V 15A) gets you 5-6 MPH in a Tesla Model 3. However there's a certain percentage of the power which goes "wasted" when you consider what really ends up in the main battery. L2 negates most of this loss. A 240V 30A EVSE should deliver about 22 MPH. A four hour charging session yields about 90 miles of range, which should be enough in almost all cases (yes, there are some who drive 100+ miles to their job but I'd think that they are in the minority).

As far as keeping a secret about the "free" aspect of EV charging... I'm of the opinion that if the company decides to offer free charging to EV owners, it should be widely mentioned to everyone. Attempting to keep that fact hidden will do no good since it will eventually come out that EVs are getting free juice. Yes it might make ICE owners wonder why they don't get a gasoline/diesel fuel stipend but trying to hide this perk will make ICE drivers even more mad once the truth is revealed. That's not good PR for the company.

 

[STS-134]

Ask for multiple level 1 chargers or even a few outlets. And I agree they should be located wherever the electrical service is most convenient, which may be further out from the building. Don’t mention “free”.

With a normal eight to ten hours of the vehicle at your workplace, level 1 charging will work great.

Not everyone carries an EVSE around, and level 1 has the issue that you have to lock the EVSE to the car. Not all cars lock the charging handles in the charging ports.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Seems like the common thing with workplace charging is the installation of ChargePoint chargers where employee users can have their ChargePoint accounts allowed to use them (sometimes free or subsidized).

Agree with others that some type of rules regarding how long anyone can charge or idle fee if not moved once finished charging would be helpful to set now.

If Tesla destination chargers are the most cost effective option, note that there is a J1772 version of the wall connector to make it easier to support all EVs: J1772 Wall Connector . Otherwise, with a Tesla-plug Tesla wall connector, a Tesla -> J1772 adapter would need to be cabled to site to allow J1772 EVs to charge.

 

[jjrandorin]

As far as keeping a secret about the "free" aspect of EV charging... I'm of the opinion that if the company decides to offer free charging to EV owners, it should be widely mentioned to everyone. Attempting to keep that fact hidden will do no good since it will eventually come out that EVs are getting free juice. Yes it might make ICE owners wonder why they don't get a gasoline/diesel fuel stipend but trying to hide this perk will make ICE drivers even more mad once the truth is revealed. That's not good PR for the company.

At least from my point of view, I was not suggesting "hide the fact that charging is free". I was suggesting it NOT be free, and that if charging is installed it be paid for by the employee who is charging. Much less chance of drama that way, about "why are you not buying my gas too, then?"

 

[STS-134]

At least from my point of view, I was not suggesting "hide the fact that charging is free". I was suggesting it NOT be free, and that if charging is installed it be paid for by the employee who is charging.

I think that makes things too complicated. If I paid for charging to be installed, I expect it to be available for me 24/7. Also, I should be able to collect money from the owner of the parking garage or rip out the EVSE if I ever stop working there.

 

[jjrandorin]

I think that makes things too complicated. If I paid for charging to be installed, I expect it to be available for me 24/7. Also, I should be able to collect money from the owner of the parking garage or rip out the EVSE if I ever stop working there.

That isnt what I said, either. I said that the charging stations should not be free for the person charging. They are not free at my job, for example, they are chargpoint chargers, and its a private station (actually 10 private stations) but we pay, its not free.

I am suggesting that anyone trying to bring charging to a company stop with the idea that its going to be "no cost" to them to charge. if companies want to do that because of green initiatives or something, let them, but no one should be pushing for "free to me" charging at their job, it causes too much strife / issues (and frankly isnt sustainable at scale).

EDIT: Re reading what I wrote, it really does sound like I ment " the charging station should be paid for by the employee" but thats not what I ment. I ment that the charging costs should be paid for by the employee, not the charging station itself.

@STS-134 sorry for not being more clear, and thanks for pointing out the discrepancy.

 

[SageBrush]

I would shoot for 10 - 20 L1 receptacles. And pre-plan so that another 10 - 20 can be easily and inexpensively added later

8 hours of parking would consume about 12 kWh

 

[Skiwaterdog]

Another option, would be to install several paid chargers from Blink, Chargepoint, etc. Company can still set the rate to be as low as they want, but it removes the perception that you are getting something for free not available to your co-workers/direct reports. Enable an idling time fee also, so there is an incentive to move from the EVSE once charging is finished. As a senior manager in the company, perception matters.

 

[DayTrippin]

If you are in the US, don't forget to mention the 30% tax credit for providing the charging infrastructure.

https://www.chargepoint.com/incentives/federal-charging-incentives