Do you have a Charge station at work ?
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My commute is pretty much my gen1 EV range (plus about 4 miles in the dead of winter).
I charge at home to go to work and I charge at work to come home
Happily work charging is free to me as a perk, so it's like 50% of my commute is being subsidized by our Solar Farm.
Thanks work!
I charge at home to go to work and I charge at work to come home
Happily work charging is free to me as a perk, so it's like 50% of my commute is being subsidized by our Solar Farm.
Thanks work!
My work has two SemaConnect level 2 chargers that cost $0.12/kWh. The utility company that services my home is slightly cheaper $0.09/kWh) and the gen2 gets me to/from work on a single charge without any issues, so I only use the work charger if I have some extra stops to make before going home.
My work has 2 level 2, plus two 120 V outlets, plus a 208 outlet. We use to have about 11 people sharing these, so it was kind of tight. All of a sudden we are down to just 3 regular users and a couple of occasional users, so it is no problem plugging in. I think a bunch of Leaf owners hit the end of their leases and they didn't get another EV.
It works out great for me. I can usually make it home on half a charge, so charging at work leaves me enough range to run my kids' soccer car pool in the evening. I would be burning gas daily without it. I charge in full every night, so I get about 1/3 of my electricity free at work.
It works out great for me. I can usually make it home on half a charge, so charging at work leaves me enough range to run my kids' soccer car pool in the evening. I would be burning gas daily without it. I charge in full every night, so I get about 1/3 of my electricity free at work.
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79 Posts
In the city we dont have
We're getting Solar installed at work and I was thinking of suggesting to the owner to look into having a couple charging stations installed. Public charging really doesn't exist here except at some of the dealerships and a hotel, university and I believe a medical complex. Being that this is a restaurant, and right off the freeway, I believe it would be a great place for EV travelers to stop, get a bite and put a little juice in the car while they have something to eat.
No -- but I'm trying to change that. I work for walgreens corporate, and I put in the forms as an "idea" - I mistakenly assumed we owned the large solar array on our property and the response I got was 'that's not our array, we can't do anything".
Not even needing L2 charging, if they would just run a regular ass 120V outlet to a spot and paint some special parking colors in a spot or two I'd be a happy camper. Doesn't even have to be close parking, I'm fine walking a bit of distance. my commute is 35+ miles each way in my gen2... right now I'm doing 75% of my 70 mile trip on electric, but would be awesome to get 8 hours of free juice (even at 120V) and come winter time make it less painful to pre-condition the car. If I can convince them and get them to spend some money, have them run a L2 charger that would be good for 2 spaces at least, that's the jackpot.
Walgreens has (pay) charging at most of their stores... trying to spin the situation such that I can get them to do it under the "hey we love being green" initiative.
Not even needing L2 charging, if they would just run a regular ass 120V outlet to a spot and paint some special parking colors in a spot or two I'd be a happy camper. Doesn't even have to be close parking, I'm fine walking a bit of distance. my commute is 35+ miles each way in my gen2... right now I'm doing 75% of my 70 mile trip on electric, but would be awesome to get 8 hours of free juice (even at 120V) and come winter time make it less painful to pre-condition the car. If I can convince them and get them to spend some money, have them run a L2 charger that would be good for 2 spaces at least, that's the jackpot.
Walgreens has (pay) charging at most of their stores... trying to spin the situation such that I can get them to do it under the "hey we love being green" initiative.
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I'm a grad student, and the town the college is in has some Chargepoint L2 setups in a parking garage, so you have to pay for the garage and for the power, so it would be more expensive than buying gasoline. The college I attend has no charging points. I would love if they'd put a few 110V points out in the commuter lot (a suggestion I have made).
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Thanks to one of our main board directors and his (early adoption of a) Tesla Model S, we currently have 4 indoor L2 spots and the company may add more outside. 2 are kept for execs and you routinely see any combination of a Tesla Model S, Porsche Cayenne and recently a Tesla model X using those spots ... the other two chargers are kept for us mere mortals and so far it seems to be mostly Volts - currently stands at 3 Gen 2s and 2 Gen 1s ... The smart car electric driver just upgraded to a 2017 Volt too ....
There are also a few 110v sockets in the underground parking we are free to use if the L2 spots are occupied ... they are not dedicated for EVs so most times there may already be an ICE vehicle in them in which case you are SOL. Its not usually a problem though as the Volt drivers just email to an internal group we setup and if anyone needs a charge we just move our vehicles around. All very civilised !
There are also a few 110v sockets in the underground parking we are free to use if the L2 spots are occupied ... they are not dedicated for EVs so most times there may already be an ICE vehicle in them in which case you are SOL. Its not usually a problem though as the Volt drivers just email to an internal group we setup and if anyone needs a charge we just move our vehicles around. All very civilised !
Whether time-based, or fixed rate per kWh, in the parts of Los Angeles that I frequent, it's pretty rare to find a pay-to-charge station that isn't more costly per mile to use than gasoline.
The Volt's slow 3kWh charging circuit kills it's ability to use the time-based chargers cost effectively. Faster charging cars might break even or come ahead on them.
The beauty of the 2016+ Volt had been the battery's almost as big as most of the affordable BEVs you'd consider in the pricee range, but without the range anxiety. It's been argued here that Volts are designed with a large enough battery to not need to worry about charging other than at home, so a faster charging circuit not needed. Since after 10 weeks, my pretty much normal routine hasn't used up the whole battery in a given day, I can't argue with that much... But I still wish this thing had a faster charging rate. LOL
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4 out of 7 days, my home EVSE IS my work EVSE. 
My commute is at the limit of ELR's range, so, I use maybe a tank of gas monthly. I probably wouldn't use an EVSE at work since I like to park well away from all the beat up cars that park there.
With ELR, it would be too much of a hassle to plug in at work. IOW, I wouldn't save enough in gas to make the effort worth while. I got better things to do with that time like post on this forum.
Even though the CFO drives a Model S, there is no incentive for the company to install charging equipment. There are no other plug in vehicles here. Most are pickups and SUVs here in Texas.
My commute is at the limit of ELR's range, so, I use maybe a tank of gas monthly. I probably wouldn't use an EVSE at work since I like to park well away from all the beat up cars that park there. With ELR, it would be too much of a hassle to plug in at work. IOW, I wouldn't save enough in gas to make the effort worth while. I got better things to do with that time like post on this forum.
Even though the CFO drives a Model S, there is no incentive for the company to install charging equipment. There are no other plug in vehicles here. Most are pickups and SUVs here in Texas.
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242 Posts
Our building installed two dedicated outdoor 120V circuits (meaning: 12a charging is not a problem). However, currently, there is only a single parking space (with clear signage: Green Vehicle Charging Only). At the time of install, there were two EV owners (a Gen1 Volt and a Nissan Leaf), and it was awkward, because L1 charging takes all day to replenish a battery for a long-ish commute.
The Volt owner has since moved onto another company, and I am the sole EV owner. So either my Leaf (or Gen2 Volt, depending on which vehicle I have that day) lives in that spot for the entirety of the 'day shift'.
Currently, Management doesn't want to dedicate a second parking spot, even though there are 2 outlets, but I'm fine with that, because they have not decided to bill me for electricity (which is a drop in the bucket for a research lab and semi-manufacturing plant) that I take each day to top up my car.
The Volt owner has since moved onto another company, and I am the sole EV owner. So either my Leaf (or Gen2 Volt, depending on which vehicle I have that day) lives in that spot for the entirety of the 'day shift'.
Currently, Management doesn't want to dedicate a second parking spot, even though there are 2 outlets, but I'm fine with that, because they have not decided to bill me for electricity (which is a drop in the bucket for a research lab and semi-manufacturing plant) that I take each day to top up my car.
I replied "yes, and it's free", however it's a ChargePoint charger in the Chili's parking lot next to my office. For the first four months or so of ownership, I almost exclusively used it for charging. Then I noticed a lot of employees ICE'ing the spots. Then I got an email from ChargePoint saying I can only charge for three hours at a time. Then I went out to move my car after a few hours of charging and someone who looked like the manager rushed over to the station to read the screen to see how long I had charged for. So, I got the hint that they didn't want me charging there on a regular basis and use it once every couple weeks now.
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