Charging for charging

[columbiaskier]

I installed my charge station pro in a vacation home I rent on Airbnb. I’ve switched off power to it for now as I don’t want renters charging up without paying for the juice. However I’d like to offer it as an option.

I’m just curious if anyone on this forum rents and makes their charger available.

If so, how you price and manage it?

Any after market solutions for locking up the charger and providing code access?

Or any other ideas for solutions?

My current thought is to make some assumptions on usage and add an extra price/day for having access to the charger. I’d somehow lock up the charger or lock the breaker and provide a code to open the lock.

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[TaxmanHog]

Because of the location of my FCSP not being line sight view of the primary breaker in the load center, I also added (by code) a local disconnect, next to the FCSP, it has a lockable cover, you could add a combo-padlock, giving the renter the code to unlock and turn the disconnect on.

Charge them a flat rate prorated to the number of days stay, guesstimate potential load over a 8 or 10 hour session per day, assuming they go out on road trips daily will staying at your place.

Use an Emporia VUE2 or latest version to specifically measure the kWh being consumed by the FCSP and bill them at the close of the lease, debit against a security deposit.

 

[RickLightning]

No idea on that charger, but any charger that allows you to set the charge rate would allow you to set it to 0. And track usage.

Take a large deposit, refund unused.

Renter could do factory reset, connect, and charge though, on some.

Bad charger for a rental since no Tesla can charge with it.

 

[Joneii]

I think this is very situation dependent. How competitive is the short term rental market in your area? What are the other charging options in the area? As a renter I look for a place that makes charging available as it is a great convenience. I would choose a place with charging over a similar offering. I would pay a few dollars more for the option if there were few other chargers in the area. However, I have also just plugged my mobile charger into a wall outlet and been fine for day tripping around, so the price and hassle of getting charged for an EVSE would have to be balanced against my other charging and lodging options. It is nice when places offer it as a perk. I may choose that place over the others just because they have the option (of course the place must also have comparable value). That’s just my perspective as someone who uses AirBnB— take it for what it’s worth (I won’t even charge the 2 cents).

 

[Maquis]

I stayed at an AirBnB that had a heated pool. It was supposed to be an extra $10 per day if you wanted the pool heated. That’s probably your best / easiest solution. I haven’t completed the installation of my FCSP yet, but can’t it be locked/unlocked in the app? My Ford Connected Charge Station has that capability.

PS - we had a couple niggling issues at that house, so the owner turned on the pool heater (remotely) no-charge to compensate for the problems.

 

[TaxmanHog]

I haven’t completed the installation of my FCSP yet, but can’t it be locked/unlocked in the app? My Ford Connected Charge Station has that capability.

NO, The FP alludes to a SETTINGS feature but it does not exist on that screen.

 

[TaxmanHog]

No idea on that charger, but any charger that allows you to set the charge rate would allow you to set it to 0. And track usage.

6 amps is the lowest I can set the FCSP, slow enough to make it a negligible cost even at California rates. In my electric market 25.8c/kWh, it comes to $8.92 a day

 

[jefrank]

As a potential renter I struggle a bit here. I want the convenience and would pay a bit more for that, but if it becomes a hassle I'll just charge at a public charger while I'm out and about and possibly use the 120v juice (which I wouldn't get charged extra for) to add a few miles when we're at the unit.

What's your per kwH cost? Could this be a competitive advantage to secure more rentals? Just raise the per night rate $5-10 to cover the costs of when it is used?

Edit: See you added your rate while I was typing... at $.25+ a kwh I can see your concerns. A flat rate would be the easiest for everyone. Maybe include the 6a charge rate as part of the rental and boost it to 80a (assuming the wiring is in place) for an extra $20/day? You might lose on some days, but gain on others.

 

[RickLightning]

6 amps is the lowest I can set the FCSP, slow enough to make it a negligible cost even at California rates. In my electric market 25.8c/kWh, it comes to $8.92 a day

Haven't played around with our JuiceBoxes, but I can set the time of charging (as I have) and make it one minute long. That alone would prevent charging.

I also get an alert when something is plugged in but not charging. Call guest and say "what's up?". I also know exactly how much power it is pulling at any time, and can bill exactly.

If I had a rental, I would set the charging time to 1 minute, and if someone wanted to charge I'd get a deposit equal to the max charge in a 24 hour period of time x the days they'd be there, plus some. Then, I'd send them a bill for the charging they used, plus a refund of excess.

 

[RickLightning]

As a potential renter I struggle a bit here. I want the convenience and would pay a bit more for that, but if it becomes a hassle I'll just charge at a public charger while I'm out and about and possibly use the 120v juice (which I wouldn't get charged extra for) to add a few miles when we're at the unit.

What's your per kwH cost? Could this be a competitive advantage to secure more rentals? Just raise the per night rate $5-10 to cover the costs of when it is used?

Edit: See you added your rate while I was typing... at $.25+ a kwh I can see your concerns. A flat rate would be the easiest for everyone. Maybe include the 6a charge rate as part of the rental and boost it to 80a (assuming the wiring is in place) for an extra $20/day? You might lose on some days, but gain on others.

Keep in mind that at 110v you're adding 1.1 kW per hour. Near useless if you're using the vehicle, or if you arrive empty, unless you're plugged in for a week.

As to being charged for that, as an owner I'd put in the contract that you cannot charge any vehicle without using the charger, and prohibit 110v charging.

 

[Zprime29]

Rick's idea of the time settings, combined with amp is probably your best bet. If it where me, I'd set it to 4 hours at 30A and offer that complimentary to draw attention. Then offer to bump it up to X number of hours and full amps for some extra fee.

 

[RickLightning]

Also, make sure they have no way to do a factory reset, or to take it offline yet be able to charge. As chargers become more prevalent, and more EVs hit the road, people will be, well, people.

 

[Zprime29]

Keep in mind that at 110v you're adding 1.1 kW per hour. Near useless if you're using the vehicle, or if you arrive empty, unless you're plugged in for a week.

As to being charged for that, as an owner I'd put in the contract that you cannot charge any vehicle without using the charger, and prohibit 110v charging.

Would be hard to prove that someone was charging at level 1 unless he is able to track daily usage. I think it would be better to offer complimentary charging and encourage bumping up. Too many restrictions is a bit of a red flag that I'll have a poor experience.

EDIT: Also wanted to add that I would put something in the agreement that the renter is solely liable for any damages related to EV charging. Obviously you don't want a renter trying to jerry rig extensions and try to use the dryer outlet in an unsafe manner. The more I think about it, the more I agree on the energy monitoring. Highly recommend installing Emporia Vue or something similar.

 

[jefrank]

Keep in mind that at 110v you're adding 1.1 kW per hour. Near useless if you're using the vehicle, or if you arrive empty, unless you're plugged in for a week.

As to being charged for that, as an owner I'd put in the contract that you cannot charge any vehicle without using the charger, and prohibit 110v charging.

Think I was pretty clear that I would only be adding a few miles using 120v. <shrug>

Even at 1.1 kw charging, I'm getting ~2 miles per hour over night in the Lightning, which might be enough to get me to another charger, but I don't know where the OP is located. Arriving empty would just be silly unless you didn't expect to leave the unit all week anyway.

How would you know if someone was using a mobile charger or some other high-consumption device (like setting the AC to 65 and leaving doors open) unless you live nearby or had neighbors spying on your renters? If I was the OP I'd want to minimize my cost/risk and maximize my convenience (time = money, too) so a flat rate makes sense to me... or just put the charger in a locked area and don't allow renters to use it.

 

[RickLightning]

Think I was pretty clear that I would only be adding a few miles using 120v. <shrug>

Even at 1.1 kw charging, I'm getting ~2 miles per hour over night in the Lightning, which might be enough to get me to another charger, but I don't know where the OP is located. Arriving empty would just be silly unless you didn't expect to leave the unit all week anyway.

How would you know if someone was using a mobile charger or some other high-consumption device (like setting the AC to 65 and leaving doors open) unless you live nearby or had neighbors spying on your renters? If I was the OP I'd want to minimize my cost/risk and maximize my convenience (time = money, too) so a flat rate makes sense to me... or just put the charger in a locked area and don't allow renters to use it.

Anyone with a rental unit should equip it with smart thermostats, they can monitor, and lock if necessary remotely. We had an AirBNB 2 summers ago, and when we lowered the temp they sent us a text asking us to make sure we had windows closed if we were running the AC. My utility lets me (if I wanted to) pay a tiny monthly fee for instant readout on electricity usage.

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