Charging for charging

[jefrank]

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.

Big Brother is watching... hope they at least told you in the listing that was going on. That was just an example, but even after that text they couldn't actually tell if you had the windows open

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[mr.Magoo]

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.

While I agree with the 1min charge time (you can do this on a Chargepoint as well) I think the whole nickel-and-diming of deposits and billing etc. is just a pain in the...
A lot of (most ?) hotels let you charge for free.

Limit the charge rate to 6-9kw, charge a flat fee of 15-20$ / day to use it (or whatever makes sense for you) You win some you lose some. IF you try and charge for actual use it's extra work and you'll end up debating "my car only went from 45% to 75% and that equals 12.5kW and you say I used 14kW.... bla bla bla and it'll cost you more in time and negative reviews than it would cost just to eat the potential loss of someone "over charging" based on your average daily rate.


There's also things like this (no affiliation, just a quick google)
https://evmatch.com/solutions/vacation-rentals/

 

[TaxmanHog]

How would you know if someone was using a mobile charger or some other high-consumption device

The Emporia Vue2 with a sufficient number of current monitoring accessories in the load center for every outlet near the parking area / garage can be monitored.

 

[columbiaskier]

Thanks for the replies.

The location is 15 minutes from the nearest town, and although that town has fast chargers, it is 100 miles from the next closest fast charger and 160 miles from a major city with an airport.


So in my mind Level 2 charging is a huge convenience (I have to charge my lightning of course). People frequently do 2-3 day stays and would want to charge up before the drive back.

I thought that the FCSP could charge a Tesla with the right adapter? Either way that’s a consideration.

I’m looking for something fairly easy to manage and so I may just go flat rate per night.

Don’t remember my electricity rate there but it’s BC Hydro so probably atrocious.

 

[Maquis]

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

Too bad, I would have expected this:

 

[TaxmanHog]

The FCSP in of itself has NO time controllers, if the OP wants advanced controls and metric, then other more capable EVSE's or related energy control / measuring devices are available.

 

[jefrank]

The Emporia Vue2 with a sufficient number of current monitoring accessories in the load center for every outlet near the parking area / garage can be monitored.

Neat device. Also seems like a hassle to monitor everything but I have a full-time job and maybe the OP doesn't or doesn't value his free time the same way I do.

 

[RickLightning]

Big Brother is watching... hope they at least told you in the listing that was going on. That was just an example, but even after that text they couldn't actually tell if you had the windows open

Yes, it did say in the listing that the thermostat's were controlled remotely, and there was an exterior camera. They had an Alexa device sitting in a room, we unplugged it and plugged it in when we left.

Me - I'd never rent a place I owned period, so no issues.

 

[jefrank]

Me - I'd never rent a place I owned period, so no issues.

Ditto

 

[djwildstar]

A lot depends on the electricity cost and rental situation in your area. Two solutions come to mind based on the modeling below:

1. Raise your rents by $10 a day if the local market will accept it. Advertise "free" EV charging as a feature of the rental, and just leave the charger available all the time. The rent increase brings in more money than you lose in electricity costs. The only way that you don't at least break even is if tenants with "huge" EVs (bigger batteries than an ER Lightning) check in twice a month or more.
2. Apply a surcharge to turn on the EV charger if the local market doesn't support an across-the-board rent increase. This will probably need to be higher than the across-the-board increase, but not by a lot: $10 per day for weeklong stays, and $20 per day for shorter stays.

The US average electricity rate is about $0.25/kWh. For all of the scenarios below, we assume that the tenant arrives with a 10% state of charge and leaves with a 100% state of charge, and drives the national average of 35 miles a day for each day of their stay. The scenarios vary the vehicle the tenant is driving.

• Worst-Case: The tenant arrives in a "huge" EV (Hummer EV or similar).
  • Costs are $53 for the initial charge-up, and $6 per day,
  • $89 over a week, or an average of $13 per day for a weeklong stay.
• Middle Case 1: The tenant arrives in a "large" EV (ER Lightning, Rivian, or similar).
  • Costs are $33 for the initial charge-up, and $5 per day,
  • $63 over a week, or an average of $9 per day for a weeklong stay.
• Middle Case 2: The tenant arrives in "normal" EV (Tesla Model 3 or any number of largely similar EVs)
  • Costs are $15 for the initial charge-up, and $3 per day,
  • $33 over a week, or an average of $5 per day for a weeklong stay.
• Best-Case: The tenant arrives in a plug-in hybrid (anything from a Jeep 4xe on down).
  • Costs are $4 for the initial charge-up, and $4 per day,
  • $28 over a week, or an average of $4 a day for a weeklong stay.

Finally, the total number of "huge" EVs are pretty small (under 1% of EVs on the road). The only ones that are shipping now are the Hummer EV and Max-battery Rivians. When they do ship, the Silverado EV and Ram EV will also be in the "huge" category.

 

[G-Zeus]

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.

This is an excellent idea, I'd buy into that. This way, if I'm staying at a place but not having to drive very far around the area, I could just use the complementary offering to keep the SoC "topped up" -- but if I arrive on a low charge, I could purchase some extra hours to get into a more comfortable SoC. Or maybe get it all ready to roll fo the trip home.

 

[EdRudy]

I recently visited the Outer Banks, 250 miles each way. Stopped at 1 level 3 charger on the way just to be sure I had enough juice. There is very limited charging options on the island. I also had several ICE vehicles with me so I had alternate transportation. I used level 1 charging during my 7 day stay but would have gladly paid $10.00 - $20.00 per day extra for the convenience of level 2.

 

[invertedspear]

Just set the amps low and offer it free as a competitive advantage. The extra business it gets you would likely make up for the costs.

 

[Roy2001]

I thought that the FCSP could charge a Tesla with the right adapter? Either way that’s a consideration.

It won't work unless you provded a custom cut/moded adapter.
FCSP to Tesla adapter.

 

[columbiaskier]

Great answers but just wanted to clarify a previously unanswered question. Can the FCSP charge a Tesla using a J-1772 to Tesla adapter?

Edit: I see this has just been answered. Thanks. Reading that thread…

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