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What are your thoughts on friends/family charging at your house? You at theirs?

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No judgment here. :)

What are your thoughts on friends plugging in at your house? I've had a few friends ask to plug their hybrids in my normal outlet which I was okay with because I knew it wouldn't actually use that much power but now that I'll be installing a high voltage charger this changes. If friends come over now and plug in it could actually start to cost me decent change because they could basically "fill up" while they're here. I also would feel weird asking for a few bucks so I feel like I'm stuck in this weird position.

Also, there are a few people (mostly family) that we'll be visiting and it would be nice to plug it so we don't have to stop at a charger on the way home. How do you guys go about approaching this? Do you offer some money?
 
If it's just an occasional thing I wouldn't worry about it. If it's all the time such that's adding up to a lot of money I'd stick a "tip jar" next to your charger with a recommended donation printed on it based on your power rates. If I were using someone else's L2 charger I'd offer to compensate them.
 
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I don't know how many EV-owning friends and family members you have or how often they visit or stay but unless your place has traffic flow akin to a bed and breakfast I have trouble imagining that the total dollar amount is even on the radar, as compared to the cost of everyone's car and the normal things that friends and family do for one another.
 
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This can't be a big ticket item. If a friend is visiting daily, they probably aren't driving far. If they are pulling even 10-20 kWh daily, that is only $1-2 dollars of juice (more or less depending on your individual utility rate). Locally, if you are on an off-peak marginal cost is around $.05/kWh. On the other hand, if guests are driving longer distances, than I agree with mtndrew that is is only common courtesy to allow them to charge up before heading back.

And hopefully, your friends will return the favor when you visit them.
 
I pulled my house off of plugshare due to the majority of visitors not offering to pay for the power they were using. Apparently I was wrong in assuming that it meant share, as in share the plug and the expenses. I had one guy that started coming by twice every weekend to charge his Leaf. The last straw was when he started asking to stay overnight in our guest room.

Anyway, guests are welcome to charge. But if I were a guest I would at least offer to pay for the electricity I was using.
 
If I like the people, it's free. If I don't like them I will not offer to let them plug in :) If they push to plug in, would have no problem charging them $5-10.00

As time goes on, it will become normal to plug in almost everwhere you go, and paying for juice will be normal and accepted. Plugs will come with meters to show how much juice you pull.

In the 60's it was common to see a bumper sticker stating "ass, grass or cash...nobody rides for free"
 
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I guess it would depend on their circumstances like car/battery kWh and how far they lived away from me to get back home as to whether I'd care. Doubt I'd give it a second thought if it wasn't a routine thing.

If we're talking about local friends getting together at your house for lunch or dinner let's say, I would never want someone to come for a visit and then can't make it home but I would expect that their need for a charge wasn't due to planning to charge at my house instead of theirs when they started out that day if you know what I mean ;). Occasionally you can be running errands and not have time to recharge ahead of visiting so that's understandable. Same would go for us going to their house. And honestly so as not to take advantage of friends and family the charge should be limited to what you need to get home plus maybe a little extra for an emergency that could arise. If it's someone staying for an extended stay, well guess "free charge" would depend on how extended that stay is. Maybe then if they haven't offered to pay for their usage, and your starting to feel taken advantage of, you could always suggest driving them to a charger to drop off their car for a charge. I think that would get the overstayed your charging welcome message out. :rolleyes: Can't picture doing that but never say never I guess.

But yeah, I can see this being a sore spot or point of contention for some friends or family. Some people will pick up the dinner tab, some people will suggest splitting it equally, other will pay their share to the penny. I'm guessing it could be more of a family issue though with them feeling more entitled because of being family. I can't see us ever staying with someone however and not upfront offering to reimburse them for electricity if we really needed it. We all know it costs something. If they refused I know we would take them out to dine or pick up something for them like a bottle of wine. Always be a good guest and you'll get invited back. Charging just adds another wrinkle to proper ettiquette.

Living here in the bay area charging of most kinds is pretty common so not likely to be the case here so much but then you never know how people will look at things like this. Interesting subject and never gave it much thought before now.
 
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Common courtesy from your friends would be for them to offer to pay for the use of your electricity. They should be grateful. Then it would be up to you if you wanted to refuse their offer or not. When I have visited extended family in the past where I needed to charge to get to my next destination, and charged over night at their home, I would typically pay them $10 to $20 after I charged. I was grateful that I was able to charge at their location. I knew that I was burdening them more than a typical guest visit by consuming a material amount of electricity.

Your friends hopefully understand how much energy their vehicle is using when it is charging. It's not a cell phone. On a 240V 40 A plug, it's like an air conditioner running. Charging a cell phone = insignificant, don't worry about it. Charging a large EV battery to full is not insignificant, and will be noticeable in the host's pocketbook.
 
I pulled my house off of plugshare due to the majority of visitors not offering to pay for the power they were using. Apparently I was wrong in assuming that it meant share, as in share the plug and the expenses. I had one guy that started coming by twice every weekend to charge his Leaf. The last straw was when he started asking to stay overnight in our guest room.

Anyway, guests are welcome to charge. But if I were a guest I would at least offer to pay for the electricity I was using.

Now that is funny! I mean sorry, it sounds like someone that I know. If it isn't the same person, it is his twin. His first name starts with an A.
 
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I've only ever had one person ask to charge at my house. Actually, he asked if I knew anywhere he could charge. My answer was "You can charge here." It was a Model S and he lived far enough out of town that he could not make the round trip. It never for a minute would have occurred to me to ask for money. He did let me drive his car for a bit before we plugged it in. I had never before driven a Model S. Very nice car but way too big for me.

Once I visited a friend out in the country, in a different EV that lacked the range of the Teslas, and plugged in at his house. It never occurred to me to offer to pay for the electricity, but if he'd asked I would have.
 
Since I only have an HPWC, only Teslas would be compatible.
I'm with the majority. We're empty-nesters, an additional $10 or $20 on the utility bill doesn't strain the budget.

When a friend visits with a Tesla. Wouldn't ask for money if visits are rare. Would probably accept money if the friend insisted on paying - don't want them to feel like they exploited our hospitality. If somebody were to regularly recharge, would arrange some payment plan. Unless there were reciprocal benefits or financial hardship.

So far, this happened once during the 6 months we've had the HPWC. Last week a friend stopped off during his drive from Baltimore to Northern New Hampshire, He said a recharge wasn't necessary, I asked him to reconsider, he agreed. His S85 was nearly fully recharged by the time he left. Didn't ask him to pay, said he had done me a favor because his car's dual chargers pulled 80 Amps and verified the quality of the electrician's work. We can afford the handful of dollars. Also, Philadelphia is a Supercharger desert, didn't want my friend to be punished with range anxiety because he detoured to visit.

When visiting with a Tesla. I would offer to pay directly with money, a meaningful gift - bottle of wine, or take them out for a meal.

I'll drive my wife's S100D through New England soon. Will stay with a friend who's excited to see and host the Tesla. We'll install a 14-30 outlet near the breaker panel in his garage. I'll provide the outlet, box and 6-gauge cable. He bought the breaker. We'll do the installation when I arrive. I pointed out that it'll be useful if anyone in the family buys an EV. I'll also offer to compensate for the electricity.

The Northern New Hampshire friend has already offered to charge my car as much as necessary. I intend to offer compensation for the KWh.

During a discussion of prolonged power outages in our neighborhood, a friend of the extended family offered the use of his power, or his nearby in-laws' charger, if the need arose. I plan to offer compensation if we used their power. I assured him we would offer reciprocal access if the need arose.
 
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