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Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

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Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#11

When I first bought a Tesla in Tennessee we had the same problem with our condo's HOA board. We were lucky to live in a newer building but it still only had a single third party charger that would milk you dry if you used it (still not sure why it was so expensive). We just ended up charging at a supercharger when we got groceries. Would've been a nightmare if we had a Leaf or another electric car without that option…

>We were lucky to live in a newer building but it still only had a single third party charger that would milk you dry if you used it (still not sure why it was so expensive).

Totally unrelated, but does anyone know if stealing power to charge your car has the same repercussions as stealing gas?

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#12
post #10

Buying a Tesla has caused us to bump up our timeline for purchasing a house. We are very lucky to have two charging stations at our apartment complex, but a few things make it a less than perfect scenario. 1) They charge a 40% markup on electricity. This is fair, given the upfront costs of installation and ongoing maintenance costs, but still a downside. 2) Since installing it, the number of EVs living here have trip…

> 3) Their breaker apparently can't support 2 Teslas charging at once. This doesn't seem to be a problem with two non-Telsa EVs, or one Tesla and one non-Tesla, but if two Teslas plug in at the same time the breaker blows and both chargers are out of commission for 24-72 hours until maintenance gets around to fixing it.

https://www.tesla.com/support/gen-3-wall-connector-power-sha... ?

Or chargers are non-tesla ?

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#13
This is one of the main reasons I have not gone electric yet. I currently live in an Apartment Complex and getting power to an EV there would be impossible.

One of two solutions will fix this problem, either more chargers or better energy density in the batteries. The first solution is the simpler one, just add the chargers, not actually that simple but simpler than the latter option which is develop batteries with higher energy densities. If we could get to a place where your average EV could go 500mi easy on a charge, or we somehow figured out hyperfast charging so even though your car may only do 200mi on a charge, it doesn't matter because you can charge your car about as fast as you can pump gas.

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#14
post #8

Multi-family housing has lots of issues like this. How can rooftop solar be managed for a multi-family building (especially a rental building)? For a smaller apartment building with a shared garage, even if you go through the expense of running electric lines to the garage tied to individual units’s meters, what’s to keep an unscrupulous neighbor from using someone else’s charger? I’ve been contemplating buying a ren…

One way would be having charger have an app and charger itself be managed by utility company, then just add the charging costs to the electric bill

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#15

Since this article was published, Washington State finally has a right-to-charge law, too, with the passing of HB 1793 - 2021-22, hopefully making things mildly better in Seattle. While the article claims there is no money to be made in EV charging to incentivize and align with building owners, there's plenty of similar "amenities" that easily can help differentiate a "luxury" apartment building, hopefully they becom…

There’s tons of money for apartment complexes in having chargers. For one EVs are definitely more expensive right now (outside of the older stalwarts like used Leafs). For two, my place charges an absolute arm and leg to charge and they have Solar on-site. $3 for the first two hours, $2 per hour for parking after the first eight, etc.

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#16
post #6
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole paragraph is self explanatory and makes sense in this article because it prohibits huge swaths of people from adopting EVs. Some people tend to freak out when race is mentioned, I suppose, so they can't even read a few more lines of context.

I would think being low income is itself prohibitive to adopting electric.

If your needs fit its range, off lease Leafs were pretty low cost when I was last looking; you could get an older gas car for much less and not everyone can afford a $10,000 car. Electric $/mile operating cost is very often less than gas $/mile, especially if you have significant access to free charging.

Of course, if you move, you might need to get a different car.

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#17
This is what is kind of keeping me back from going electric. My current condo building (in Toronto) does have chargers on the first parking level, but each time I drive past them, they are taken. Dealing with that sounds annoying.

Across the pond, in Belgium, there is now a push for companies to offer electric cars as part of the compensation package, some friends have placed their first EV "order". Because of this, companies are installing chargers around the office. I'd instantly opt-in for that. (Although in Belgium I think it's mandatory now, so wouldn't even have a choice. But someone still living/working there can correct me on that).

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#18
At one time, hotels didn't offer free (or any) Wi-Fi, and now it's basically standard even at the bargain basement cheapo motels. As the market demands a feature, it will eventually come. I think time will ultimately solve the EV charging issue in many apartment complexes, multi-family homes, townhouses, and other types of residential areas as that feature gets more demanded. Property management companies are particularly cheap and unintelligent bastards, so the change might be slow, but it will eventually get there if the demand exists. For local driving needs, slow overnight charging should be a workable solution for many.

What I don't think is easily workable with mass-adoption of EVs is the following.

> Long Distance travel. EVs sort of almost work for a handful of people doing long drives even when it's slower than just filling a gas tank. But when the number of cars on the road exceeds charger throughput, the delays are going to compound. The proverbial family roadtrip is going to suck a lot when you show up at a charging place and there's a line of EVs waiting for the charger and your kids are crying.

> Dense cities. It's hard to see how EVs can work in denser cities where they theoretically could do the most good. In places like NYC, many buildings don't offer any parking spaces whatsoever to install chargers at. Instead, people park on the street wherever they can find a semi-legal parking spot. Are cities going to dig up all roads/sidewalks and put EV chargers literally everywhere? That's the the only thing that would make EVs theoretically feasible for an average family in a city.

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#19

This is what is kind of keeping me back from going electric. My current condo building (in Toronto) does have chargers on the first parking level, but each time I drive past them, they are taken. Dealing with that sounds annoying. Across the pond, in Belgium, there is now a push for companies to offer electric cars as part of the compensation package, some friends have placed their first EV "order". Because of this,…

Non-California resident.

I have a hunch that this is what is going to slow EV adoption. I could be wrong, but I don't see this changing since the incentives aren't directly linked. Apartments can easily find other residents. Condo associations have to subsidize a few residents.

I can't fathom having an EV currently. Charging at home is a must.

Re: Think apartment-hunting is frustrating? Try doing it with an electric car

#20

At one time, hotels didn't offer free (or any) Wi-Fi, and now it's basically standard even at the bargain basement cheapo motels. As the market demands a feature, it will eventually come. I think time will ultimately solve the EV charging issue in many apartment complexes, multi-family homes, townhouses, and other types of residential areas as that feature gets more demanded. Property management companies are particu…

>At one time, hotels didn't offer free (or any) Wi-Fi, and now it's basically standard even at the bargain basement cheapo motels.

Somewhat off-topic but WiFi tended to be free initially at chains most frequented by individual travelers and families, rather than business travelers--who could just expense a WiFi change. Free WiFi then tended to become a carrot for signing up with a hotel chain's loyalty plan before becoming mostly free in general.

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