$13k for EV Charger @ Condo - Should I do it?

[K-MTG]

A garage is nice:


That explains cost. Numbered spaces I assume? Any worries on others using it?


Nice location for us . If your commute allows, you could only charge when there are multiple free spots, plus you will be there if it get busy. Can you get a charge point at work?


That adds to install (and monthly) cost.

For 13k, I'd use the supercharger, install one at work, or patronize businesses with chargers (or donate to Tesla to add an addition station)

Others could potentially use the space so I would probably have to put a lock on it if a better solution doesn’t exist.
I can charge at work if I arrive early enough

IF you are going to splurge on the 14-50, I'd go all the way and get the wiring installed which would support 48 amp or 72 amp charging...assuming it doesn't cost $$$$ more.

I think $13k is way too expensive for that though. Yikes! I'd just use public charging. Plus, won't you be able to walk to work?

After getting my 3, I don’t walk/bike anymore
The car is way too much fun.
And they won’t let me change anything (I.e 100 amps instead) since it’s all set by the design team

My thoughts are they are trying to rip you off. Ask for some detail on why it cost so much money. Where it is new construction it should be much easier to run the conduit and wire ahead of time and it should cost less than that.

Exactly - when I asked them to explain the other upgrades (i.e better carpet). The carpet I wanted costs an extra $0.10 per square foot compared to the standard included. So I figured they would only charge me the difference in material cost which is $100 but they wanted $8k!!
When I asked for an explanation - they said the material is cheap but the labor is expensive. And I responded exactly...you have to do the same labor whether you are installing the cheap or expensive carpet.
So I didn’t opt for any upgrades - they said all of the prices are from the design team.

 

[TeeEmCee]

This is what I am considering on doing but not sure what the cost would be

If the cable’s path crosses a driveway or road, then that’s added incentive to do it now.

On the other hand, what kind of builder is this? I would have thought by now all of them would go out of their way to get your green by offering “green” features such as EV charging. It’s even mandated in the likes of Fremont.

 

[K-MTG]

Not charging at home is 100% nuts, i.m.o. It can be done, if you want to have your life revolve around it, but it’s nonetheless nuts.

If you absolutely must live there and if you absolutely must purchase that condo and if the route from your panel to the parking spot (no garage?) is very long/cumbersome and can’t be done after the fact, then pay the 13K.

While you’re at it, skip the upgraded carpet and have new top-of-the-line carpet installed afterwards and have someone install a natural stone backsplash (as opposed to the presumably bullion brick one for 21k). The difference in cost will probably fully cover your 13k outlet.

For comparison, my 50 amp outlet’s cost was under $100 in materials (add up to a few hundred for a very long cable run) and about 4 hours of my time (slow and very meticulous work + HD run + call to the city/utility).

I am not opting for any upgrades - just selected the standard options. Would rather perform upgrades myself.

If the cable’s path crosses a driveway or road, then that’s added incentive to do it now.

On the other hand, what kind of builder is this? I would have thought by now all of them would go out of their way to get your green by offering “green” features such as EV charging. It’s even mandated in the likes of Fremont.

It’s a parking structure. The builder is Toll Brothers

 

[CUBldr97]

I would definitely want to know the "numbers" behind that $13k upgrade and as someone else said, get another electrician to look at it, and see what they "after construction" cost would be. How big is your service to the condo? will your panel have room for the 50amp after the service, or do they have to upgrade the panel and service now? how far is the run for electrical to your parking spot? will it have to cross the parking lot, sidewalk etc? IE digging up concrete after the fact? since we don't know any of those kinds of pieces, the face value of $13k is absurd, but there could be a lot more to the story.
Now having a charger at home is an absolute must, for piece of mind, and having never to worry about the SC dance in California.

 

[K-MTG]

I would definitely want to know the "numbers" behind that $13k upgrade and as someone else said, get another electrician to look at it, and see what they "after construction" cost would be. How big is your service to the condo? will your panel have room for the 50amp after the service, or do they have to upgrade the panel and service now? how far is the run for electrical to your parking spot? will it have to cross the parking lot, sidewalk etc? IE digging up concrete after the fact? since we don't know any of those kids of pieces, the face value of $13k is absurd, but there could be a lot more to the story.
Now havinga charger at home is an absolute must, for peice of mind, and having never to worry about the SC dance in California.

They will be installing a seperate meter. I will ask but I highly doubt they will allow a 3rd party electrician look at the designs or even enter the construction site (I still haven’t seen it).

It’s a parking structure so the wires would be in conduit on the walls/ceiling.

 

[TeeEmCee]

I am not opting for any upgrades - just selected the standard options. Would rather perform upgrades myself.



It’s a parking structure. The builder is Toll Brothers

If that will be YOUR parking space, i.e. you have sole/guaranteed use of it, then having the ability to charge there will be a very-good-to-have feature at resale time (aside from the convenience to you). If you hope to have an outlet installed later, in a shared parking structure, expect the builder-controlled HOA to be a massive PITA, at least up until there are enough EV-owning dwellers in the hood.

Will this be an outlet wited into your own panel or will it draw power from a separate parking building circuit?

 

[SD_Engnr]

Exactly - when I asked them to explain the other upgrades (i.e better carpet). The carpet I wanted costs an extra $0.10 per square foot compared to the standard included. So I figured they would only charge me the difference in material cost which is $100 but they wanted $8k!!
When I asked for an explanation - they said the material is cheap but the labor is expensive. And I responded exactly...you have to do the same labor whether you are installing the cheap or expensive carpet.
So I didn’t opt for any upgrades - they said all of the prices are from the design team.

This is something that I've never understood. Labor is the same no matter what. I can understand when a particular material is trickier to work with, but carpet is carpet. Sheesh!

My vote is the same as others - decline the $13k, and see if you can a quote from an electrician.

 

[TeeEmCee]

They will be installing a seperate meter. I will ask but I highly doubt they will allow a 3rd party electrician look at the designs or even enter the construction site (I still haven’t seen it).

It’s a parking structure so the wires would be in conduit on the walls/ceiling.

I think having a separate meter is good for PG&E billing (it used to be that you can get a lower EV rate with a dual-meter setup).

 

[mongo]

I think having a separate meter is good for PG&E billing (it used to be that you can get a lower EV rate with a dual-meter setup).

But then you likely get an extra month meter charge.

@K-MTG, what's your commute/ energy usage?

 

[KJD]

I think you should ask for your money back and find somewhere else to live that is more EV friendly.

 

[rhumbliner]

Ask for some detail on why it cost so much money.

Regardless of whether it’s a condo, townhouse, or single family home, all builder upgrades are negotiable. Your first step should be to ask for an extremely detailed estimate of their costs so you can discuss the upgrade intelligently and begin the negotiations. But that ship has probably sailed since you’ve already put down the deposit.

I almost put a deposit down on a new Toll Bros. home here in Las Vegas, but walked away when they refused to negotiate on some upgrades I wanted. A few days later the salesman called me saying he had the breakdown I asked for and was willing to discuss the price. Even in a seller’s market, salespeople hate to see a customer walk away.

 

[Ludalicious]

Honestly you are probably spending 500-900k on it. To have a proper wiring pulled from the main panel ect. is well worth 13k. Everything else back splash, flooring ect. are all easy upgrades after the fact. 13K is F-All in the overall scheme of things IMO. Sure its way more than what it actually costs but will look 1000 times better than a conduit ran half way through the building. Thats if they allow it and also if it's even possible. I would assume it probably comes with an upgraded bigger stall or closer to the corridor too.

 

[Rockster]

$21k for a backsplash?!?!? OMG! That's criminally expensive. We have a large kitchen and my wife and I recently spent less than $1000 for tile, mastic, grout, and a nice tile saw and installed a ceramic tile backsplash in our kitchen in a single weekend.

 

[ninpb]

Wondering how much they charge for a second parking spot?

It might be worth it if you see it getting old quick having to look around town for chargers or even the super charger right next door and the extra planning that comes with it.

Who knows, maybe you'll end up even or up when you sell in a few years.

It does suck though that they can't up it to at least 60amp so you can maximize your charge rate with the 3 and wall charger.

 

[kavyboy]

The price of the condo is not only irrelevant, it's a sunk cost at this point. Now your max expense for EVSE is $13k.
$13k buys a lot of options. Can you get an EVSE installed very close by anywhere? Maybe where you work or very near there? Many people find "I will give you X thousand dollars if you let me..." to be a pretty good argument.

 

[SageBrush]

Can you choose a parking space next to the electric panel ?

If not, join a group buy of a Supercharger ;-)

 

[KJD]

Other people have done Condo installations for less money than that. Paging @RubberToe

Condo Charging - Minimal cost installation and some questions

 

[K-MTG]

Regardless of whether it’s a condo, townhouse, or single family home, all builder upgrades are negotiable. Your first step should be to ask for an extremely detailed estimate of their costs so you can discuss the upgrade intelligently and begin the negotiations. But that ship has probably sailed since you’ve already put down the deposit.

I almost put a deposit down on a new Toll Bros. home here in Las Vegas, but walked away when they refused to negotiate on some upgrades I wanted. A few days later the salesman called me saying he had the breakdown I asked for and was willing to discuss the price. Even in a seller’s market, salespeople hate to see a customer walk away.

I would consider cancelling and looking elsewhere but then I would lose the $50k deposit.

 

[SageBrush]

I would consider cancelling and looking elsewhere but then I would lose the $50k deposit.

Bad spot to be in. Did you know about the options pricing when you placed the deposit ?
And by the way, how much is the parking spot ?

 

[SMAlset]

If that will be YOUR parking space, i.e. you have sole/guaranteed use of it, then having the ability to charge there will be a very-good-to-have feature at resale time (aside from the convenience to you). If you hope to have an outlet installed later, in a shared parking structure, expect the builder-controlled HOA to be a massive PITA, at least up until there are enough EV-owning dwellers in the hood.
....

As much as developer "upgrades" are a rip off generally and cost you a lot more than you could do otherwise on your own, in OPs case of an assigned parking space in what I understand is an underground parking structure beneath a several story-high condo complex with an association guaranteed here, I think if OP wants the convenience to charge at home (which I totally love being able to do at our house) he doesn't really have much choice but to pay the piper if he wants EV charging there. It's good that the space will be separately billed to him (and yes given how honest people are, definitely want to have a set up where you can lock the outlet/charger to prevent theft of your electricity there).

In the condo we had on the Peninsula there were units with under-unit garages with electricity (120v outlet), so usage was billed to your PG&E account and what you did with it your concern only. However there were also rows of separate parking garages and there were also some units who had their second dedicated parking space underneath someone else's unit and electricity to those were not individually billed to the owner of the space but association billed (not sure about those under other's units--might even be billed to that owner above?) but you can see the issues Associations have being equitable to all homeowners. Not a problem years ago when people used the outlet to run a vacuum to clean their car but now with EV usage, associations are not wanting to foot that bill and it's not always an easy way to resolve this. So as expensive as adding a dedicated power source for that parking spot is, if it were me and given it's the Bay Area, I would do so and forego other upgrades for the time being.

I do agree trying to add dedicated electrical to a structure like this especially where the assigned space can be anywhere in the gargage below will probably be a nightmare afterwards.

And from our experience in the Bay Area when we were looking for a condo and later for a house and working with developers, a lot of things aren't negotiable. We wanted to have structured wiring back in the early 90s added to our to-be-built home and they just wouldn't do it. Not even to have the same electrical contractor who did structured wiring projects do it. They are cranking out homes on a schedule and any major work beyond what they have planned is a no-go. We were lucky to end up having a developer allow us to add as many outlets as we did (expensive additions nonetheless but what we felt was super important to do before drywall went up) but it came to a point where they said "that's it, no more". Same with our Cat 5 wiring we did. We didn't upgrade our kitchen countertop with the developer due to the prices they were asking, so did that a few years later along with a total remodel there and honestly never want to go through another remodel project again. Replacing carpeting or such, sure no big deal and save the money if you are willing to have the work done later, things inside your walls however I would look at differently.