Low Cost Metered Charging for Condo?

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kmand

Active member
Joined
Dec 31, 2014
Messages
32
I have an older condo converted from apartments. The parking is a surface lot and there is no chance of individual chagers. There are 100 units but right now I'm the only one with an EV ( my 2017 Leaf) and I'm not a heavy user. Even so the HOA is looking to put in a community charger, expecting some future demand. The fact that I have the only EV is probably related to the fact there is no way to charge on site.

They reasonably want some way to control access and charge back for the power.

I know Chargepoint does this, but have no idea what the overhead is for the service. I certainly like Chargepoint and use it at work. Actually what does it cost?

Given how little usage there will be, I wonder if there is some less expensive way to ease into this.
The HOA is prepared to run the 220 lines, and I have to think that one or two personal chargers would suffice, if only there was a way to limit access and account for use. Is there anything like that?
 
Are there many EV's where you live? The trend seems to be that EV adoption is increasing in the US but I'm sure it varies a lot by region or even by town. Having a charge station in the parking area of your HOA may help someone on the fence to take the plunge into EV ownership but a lot depends on the local demographics.

As for ChargePoint, I can't answer the question of how much they charge but I have to assume it would be competitive with a 'roll your own' system using a key pad or house key or some other token to enable the EVSE's. There's the cost of the physical EVSE itself and then there is probably a monthly service fee to operate the ChargePoint system. Can you ask the admin of the ChargePoint you have at work? They may be able to answer the cost questions.

The other option would be to just make it unrestricted. ChargePoint would still log the users' info so you could determine how many people from outside the HOA used the equipment. A fee could be charged for use that would help mitigate the cost of the service and probably tend to keep non-HOA users from using the EVSE's.
 
kmand said:
I know Chargepoint does this, but have no idea what the overhead is for the service. I certainly like Chargepoint and use it at work. Actually what does it cost?
HOA should get a bid for their individual situation.
 
Financially, they're probably better off to install a few non-networked EVSE. Give away the energy if they can afford it, or charge some sort of fee to use the stations per month. Because the complex networked billing-capable EVSE are a lot more expensive to buy and operate...

Typically, though, the HOAs or Property Managers don't want to get involved financially, and they tend to prefer a solution where each driver pays to use the stations (which costs much more).

Probably best to get a custom quote for the site to see what the costs would be...
 
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