Has anybody purchased an EV but not had the luxury of a home charger? If so how do you manage. Getting a company car soon and been considering a PHEV as I don’t have the luxury of a wall charger where I live. The BIK tax breaks look more appealing with a full EV but is it possible to use public chargers when doing 300+ miles per week?
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I would say it depends on where you live as well. I live in the states. My city has plenty of fast chargers. I live in an apartment with no charging at my apartment. I also have a couple of fast chargers at grocery stores within a mile to a mile and a half from my apartment. So I combine shopping maybe grabbing some dinner out. Yesterday I grocery shopped and took a little walk, so it was nice day out
I do it living in an apartment building. However, my employer’s site has a couple hundred EV chargers, and it’s all for free. It makes “returning to the office” a lot more palatable. :)
idk what electricity prices are like in the UK,
but in the states (california, where electricity is $$), there are a loooot of guys who own older, pre-refresh model S’s that seem to predominantly supercharge at night instead of home charge
this is a supercharging lot near me - in a commercial complex’s parking garage structure, 2nd or 3rd floor
the guys only show up during “off-peak” (~22¢/kWh) charging after ~10-11pm-ish, and the app indicates its very busy between ~10pm-2am (busier than daytime)
at ~10pm+, every single stall is occupied, and there’s a line/“waiting” area. the supercharger caps you to ~80% SoC to manage the congestion.
this is when most of the office workers, retail workers, and retail customers at the complex have gone home for the evening (it’s not a “nightlife” area) - so the model S owners are only there to charge while waiting in the car & go
the math must be working out if the charging schedule & off-peak works out for you
the demographic looks like the folks who drove e46 bmws back in my school days, when f30 bmws were just coming out - its like they all received a memo to switch from bmw 3 to tesla S
We got a granny charger. It works better with solar for us as it means we don’t eat into the grid much. There is no need for us to get a 50 or100 Kw charger
In Oz, 240 volts is the normal household power. I have a 2021 Model 3 Long Range and we charged it for months on just the Tesla Mobile charger with no problem getting enough fizz for whenever we needed it. We have now upgraded to a Gen 3 wall charger, but it is more of a luxury.
Not sure about UK, in US it’s easy. Plenty of people on boats and apartments charge once or twice a week during shopping or dining.
I get 2 years free at an EA station. The cost to install in my current home isn’t worth it.
Considering most of our trips are short, going once a week or so to get charged up isn’t a big issue. We’ve had very few issues other than chargers being full, having to wait, and a certain group of people always causing problems when chargers free up because “they was waiting first”.
One of my friends lives in an apartment complex with no charging facilities. He drives the car 2 blocks away and charges for free at the local grocery store which has 2 level 2 chargers. Walks home and comes back 4-5 hours later to a fully charged car. He has a Tesla MY so only needs to charge every week or so.
I’m buying a Model 3 LR and will be doing exactly this.
I have an ev without home charging. So far, i managed but there a public and inexpensive charger mostly unoccupied 5 minutes from my home and a fast charger when i’m in a hurry. Its complicated and 30% more expensive. I dont recommend it but its doable. If i worried about charger availability, i would have kept my PHEV.