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Getting EV charging at your place of business/commercial property

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Hi Model S owners and hopefuls,

I just wanted to see if folks who do not have EV chargers at their place of business or commercial property already, have had much success in convincing the business (for employees: convincing their employers) or property management (for business owners: convincing their commercial landlords) to install EV chargers or charging outlets (e.g., bare NEMA 14-50). What negotiation strategies worked or did not work? Did you end up paying a premium one way or another (such as higher rent) to get EV charging installed? Does it change your driving habits now that the charger is there, where it was not there before?
 
By good fortune, the space in the commercial lot where I park in downtown Baltimore, has a 120v outlet in a place that most people wouldn't even notice. Now and then I charge my Chevy Volt with it. But when my Model S arrives, with its range there will be no need.
 
I have ran into a brick wall trying to convince duke reality to install a charger for the building I work in. I even offered to pay for it, and donate it to them, and they still shot me down. As a result, my commute is 40% on gas every day, as the volt does not have long enough electric legs to make it round trip.
 
Rifleman,

I am grateful that my employer allows me to us a 120 v outlet when I need it (about 2-3 times per month). Situations like yours are extremely frustrating, with electricity on the premises, but not available for charging. We need a full court press for workplace charging. After the home, work is the second most important place to charge.

Also, longer range EVs, like artsci's Tesla, will be a big help. For these cars, installation of J1772 charging stations at hotels, and 90 kW superchargers on freeways, will be the biggest enablers of expanded use.

GSP
 
My employer was so excited about the car, he immediately called our maintenance department and asked the feasibility of installing a 240V outlet on the side of our building. As my luck would have it, one of the breaker panels is basically across the hall from where I park, and they said it would be about a four hour job to run the line.

It's being installed this week, and I don't even have my car yet! I offered to pay the company for the time/materials, but the owner has a Model X on order, so maintenance is probably going to be tying in a second line to the one they're putting in for me. Tragically, my daily commute is a whopping 12 miles round trip, so I doubt I'll ever have much use for the charger, but it'll be nice to know it's there in a pinch!
 
I work in a high rise building and had a conversation with the landlord rep a couple of weeks ago. He was quite positive about it. They are looking at several different options, aren't sure whether it would be free or not, the vendor, etc. I started by saying that I had noticed the owners putting in LED bulbs and taking other energy savings measures, and that a charging station would fit right in with those efforts. It might also help owners with LEED certification. Hopefully the LL isn't just yanking me around, but the rep seemed genuine about it.
 
Hey, free electricity is free electricity. And it's no tragedy to save energy, regardless of what form!

I should have been more specific, now realizing that this is in the Battery & Charging forum, but I was speaking to the tragedy that I only get to drive the car 12 miles to/from work instead of longer! Someone in another thread commented that when their wife sends them to the store down the street and it takes them 30 minutes to drive a few miles because of all the detouring they're doing. I think that'll be me!

My company is, as I type this, installing the 220v lines. Now I really am getting excited.
 
Here's a few snapshots of my install at work. The company put the outlet in a lockbox. The outlet is a NEMA 14-50 (sorry for the bad photo, it's really sunny here today). I'm more at ease now since the HPWC is still on back order. Of course, I ain't got no car yet, either...

Man, after looking at these photos, you'd think I'm located in some arid, hot environment, but I assure you, it's an unseasonably warm 42° here today!

2012-12-14 12.45.44.jpg

2012-12-14 12.46.38.jpg
 
The 2 level basement garage at my office has 120V outlets around the elevator bank "pit" access doors, building management has given me the ok to use them, which I do use for my current Plug in Prius (which only has an 11 mile EV range). When the Model S arrives, I won't need to charge most of the time, as I have a 16 mile one-way commute and a 265 mile range Model S :)
 
I asked our building manager just yesterday and was shot down with a quick "nope!!". And to think that with her driving a Prius I would have a descent chance. :confused:

With her driving a Prius, you probably triggered her innate jealousy. Studies have shown that Prius owners on average are quite different than normal human beings. Nicer car than her ugly stuffed rat with 4 wheels? No charger for you! :)
 
With her driving a Prius, you probably triggered her innate jealousy. Studies have shown that Prius owners on average are quite different than normal human beings. Nicer car than her ugly stuffed rat with 4 wheels? No charger for you! :)

Hey, as a Prius owner considering a Model S, I object. We didn't have a lot of options on the electric front 6 years ago when we bought our Prius. ;)

That said, it stinks that you got shot down, Eeyago.
 
That said, it stinks that you got shot down, Eeyago.

Yes, it stinks, but I suspect that is what will happen at the vast majority of workplaces.

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Nicer car than her ugly stuffed rat with 4 wheels? No charger for you! :)

I thought the Prius looks better than the Model S (a lot better). I'm getting the Model S for the tech and to get rid of the ICE and will put up with the 19th century styling.
 
No joy for my office building, but we're not exactly rolling in cash right now, so it's not a shock. I applied for the 'free' Chargepoint deal (now closed), but the installation was quoted at $4750, so that was enough to kill the proposal. As soon as our CEO gets an EV, it'll be installed in a heartbeat....I'm assuming he'll reserve after seeing mine a few times. One of the guys that works for me has a Volt, and he charges just from a 110v dangling out of the corner of one of our warehouses, but with the range I'll have, and the slow charging on 110, it's not worth the effort of sharing it. Shame though, our wholesale rate is a little under 4c per kwh, so it would have been a nice perk.
 
Building manager just told me they plan on installing two units in the garage from SemaConnect. I hadn't heard of them before, and a quick look at the specs on their web page shows a maximum power to vehicle of 30 amps. I'll just have a single charger on board, so 30 is pretty good, and beggars can't be choosers, but I would think they might want to go with something with higher capacity. Anyone heard of this company or know of their technology? It's at least pretty sleek looking.
 
I've got three charge-cards in my Model S: Chargepoint, Blink, and SemaConnect. SemaConnect has a lot of chargers in the NJ/Philly area, near my in-laws. I don't know anything about their reputation/reliability, though.

Thanks for the info. I went to the Sema sign up page and it seems they want $20, which will go as credit on the card. Guess I'll wait until the things are installed and management says what they're going to charge; it might not even be worth using them. The Blink and Charge Point cards didn't require putting any money down, so that's a bit of a disappointment. There are no other Sema chargers within a couple hundred miles, so there's no reason having a card otherwise.
 
I have a business in CA who wants to install a Tesla Model S charger. They know what they want and where they want to put it. They want help finding all the Fed & State incentives to help them defray some costs. I've searched the threads and keep seeing people saying it is posted elsewhere. Can someone help a Teslavangelist with a link? :confused:

I see PIA has some: http://www.pluginamerica.org/incentives where they write: "The EV infrastructure tax credit on an EV charge station is 30% up to $1000 for consumers and 30% up to $30,000 for businesses." I've seen on the PIA site an indirect link to this site: http://www.afdc.energy.gov/states/CA which helps as well. Maybe we should start a new thread which consolidates these business incentive links for easy access, or has it already been done?