Moving for work with no home charging - thoughts, advice?

[GeekyDoc]

Howdy. Wanted to get some input from all the folks here. Have had the MYLR since May 21 with a home L2 (240V) charger. Daily commute was around 72 miles and I would charge every night to 80% (90% in the winters). Fast forward to present and I will be moving to Boston for work. Don’t have a home charging setup there and basically car will be parked outside. Good news is work will be 10 miles from my apartment. Am being told work has a few L2 spots but can only charge for 4 hrs before needing to move or pay something like $6/hr. I’m still a little anxious about not being able to have a full charge overnight but am curious to hear how other folks have managed without a home charging setup? Surprised to see that there aren’t too many 150/250 superchargers within metro Boston (my current location, I now have 5 superchargers within a 20 miles radius!)

I am also hoping this is a temp situation and I’m able to eventually find a home charging setup but in the meantime I would deeply appreciate any tips, tricks and advice on how best to make this work. TIA!

 

[bo3bdar]

Does your new home location have access to an outside 120V outlet? Off 120V, you can still add about 5 miles/hour of charging. So with that new short commute, it'd only be a few hours to charge. You can use an extension cord as long as it's rated for 12 amps.

If that is not feasible, I'd suggest treating it like an ICE car, and not charge all the time, just hit a SuperCharger when you are below say 30%. Especially if you are not driving much, and no SentryMode drain, the car can sit for weeks without losing much at all.

 

[Watts_Up]

Good news is work will be 10 miles from my apartment.
Am being told work has a few L2 spots but can only charge for 4 hrs before needing to move or pay something like $6/hr.

It seems that you ill only need to charge once a week, so having a home charging would be nice but not critcal.

 

[shyboy]

Keep in mind that it will be very expensive to use superchargers. almost 3 times more than home charging cost.

 

[afinchmustang]

Keep in mind that it will be very expensive to use superchargers. almost 3 times more than home charging cost.

Depends on the time and charger. There are superchargers near me that are nearly the same as home charging during off-peak hours

 

[kpanda17]

Usually you can find an outlet somewhere
Use the MCU and hang ext cord out the window
Desperate times desperate measures

 

[Nemy]

4 hours of L2 at work is plenty for your commute - especially if it's free. Just move it during a break/lunch. You'll probably only need to charge it once a week anyways. Then charge it up on Friday so it's ready for the weekend. Not ideal if you're doing a lot of non-commuter driving but it'll work until you have a home setup. I have a similar work setup but I only go into the office once a week so I end up charging at home too.

 

[LBM4]

If you have doubts and are to the point of asking on this forum, then you already know the answer. Regret is a cruel mistress.

And just because there is L2 chargers at your work, doesn’t mean you’ll have access when you need them. Break downs also mean they’ll likely never be fixed. How far is the closest Supercharger? Is 45 min of your time waiting to charge worth it?

In cases like yours, I’d heavily weigh the cons against the pro’s. What other cars do you have in mind?

 

[GeekyDoc]

If you have doubts and are to the point of asking on this forum, then you already know the answer. Regret is a cruel mistress.

And just because there is L2 chargers at your work, doesn’t mean you’ll have access when you need them. Break downs also mean they’ll likely never be fixed. How far is the closest Supercharger? Is 45 min of your time waiting to charge worth it?

In cases like yours, I’d heavily weigh the cons against the pro’s. What other cars do you have in mind?

I have some doubts and hence wanted to see if others have been able to make it work. After driving a tesla, going back to an ICE car honestly feels like 2 steps back but I also need to be realistic. Am going to watch the first month and see how much it costs and how much of a true world hassle it really is; then decide if I should keep or give to the wife/daughter and get maybe a used Toyota 4Runner or a RX350. Don’t think I can do hybrid because I would still have the issue with not being able to charge atleast while I’m staying in this apartment.

 

[kpanda17]

Research free charging
Might be available albeit a slow kwh

 

[LBM4]

I have some doubts and hence wanted to see if others have been able to make it work. After driving a tesla, going back to an ICE car honestly feels like 2 steps back but I also need to be realistic. Am going to watch the first month and see how much it costs and how much of a true world hassle it really is; then decide if I should keep or give to the wife/daughter and get maybe a used Toyota 4Runner or a RX350. Don’t think I can do hybrid because I would still have the issue with not being able to charge atleast while I’m staying in this apartment.

Sounds like a well thought out plan. Good luck to you sir.

 

[EdJack]

Am being told work has a few L2 spots but can only charge for 4 hrs before needing to move or pay something like $6/hr.

Wonder if you could ask them what is the kWh of the Work Chargers?

Reason being, is I have six free L2 Chargers at work (Chargepoint). But they are unbelievable slow. They have them set at 16 amp max, basically a trickle charge. And you are lucky to get them to pull more than about 8-10 amp. So car sits there half the day and percentage barely goes up more than a few percentage points. And unless you get there early, all the spots are taken up. And every day, more and more people are driving electric cars into work.

So your work L2 Charger might be ridiculously slower than your L2 Charger at home.

It's so bad I've even started scouting out the parking lot looking for 20-amp receptacles to plug in my mobile charger with 20-amp NEMA plug. Even that charges faster than there L2 Chargers, because at least that way I can pull the full 16 amp (80% of 20 amp).

 

[Iron]

Don’t think I can do hybrid because I would still have the issue with not being able to charge atleast while I’m staying in this apartment.

You don't plug in a hybrid. Plain hybrids charge from the motor. Unless you're talking PHEV which technically you don't have plug in, but you would lose the benefit of having a hybrid.

 

[GeekyDoc]

You don't plug in a hybrid. Plain hybrids charge from the motor. Unless you're talking PHEV which technically you don't have plug in, but you would lose the benefit of having a hybrid.

Yes sorry, thanks for the correction; meant a PHEV but I would lean towards a hybrid then.

 

[GeekyDoc]

An update on my situation: I have been driving it like a gas vehicle and only charging when it gets down to 20%. I was able to find some free L2 chargers (Volta) at the Cambridge side mall the other day and was able to get a nice 10% bump while in the area. The only concern at the moment is my travel time between PA and MA. Actual travel time is 2 hrs more in the Tesla. I might be charging more at the supercharger stops than needed but not by that much (like to arrive anywhere with 20% left); perplexing that its adding that much additional time to travel.

 

[bo3bdar]

An update on my situation: I have been driving it like a gas vehicle and only charging when it gets down to 20%. I was able to find some free L2 chargers (Volta) at the Cambridge side mall the other day and was able to get a nice 10% bump while in the area. The only concern at the moment is my travel time between PA and MA. Actual travel time is 2 hrs more in the Tesla. I might be charging more at the supercharger stops than needed but not by that much (like to arrive anywhere with 20% left); perplexing that its adding that much additional time to travel.

When you charge at a Supercharger, try to plan it so that you don't need to go past 80% charge. That next 10%, and the last 10% take dramatically longer times to finish the charge. The sweet spot for charging speed itself is having a low battery, so starting at 10% or even 5% will cut the time needed to get enough charge.

5% is probably pushing it as a new owner and being unfamiliar with the experience, but after you've done the same trip multiple times you'll get a feel for how reasonable that can be.

Use the internal estimates that the car provides, the Tesla prediction software is very good, and you'll find it routes you to the optimal Superchargers. Be sure to set the destination for the Supercharger- that will allow the car to know you are planning to charge and it will precondition the battery to make the charge faster. If you hit a Supercharger with a cold battery it's a lot slower. On screen you'll see a notice that it is 'preconditioning battery'.

 

[Amanfromconn]

So you only need 20 miles a day to commute and 4 hrs of Level 2 charging. I would start off by using super charge and charge it up to 80% and just plug in at work every other days. That should take you less than 4 hours to charge it up to where it was.

 

[Amanfromconn]

It seems that you ill only need to charge once a week, so having a home charging would be nice but not critcal.

Boston can get really cold in the winter. But then again he's lucky that he has Level 2 at work. Might have to do that daily.

 

[GeekyDoc]

Thanks, yes, it seems to be working out. I have been charging at work every other day, and ramping up to 95% on the days when I have to head out to PA. Probably will have to switch to every day in Winter depending on how the battery holds up overnight parked outside vs being in the garage as it used to be.

 

[GeekyDoc]

When you charge at a Supercharger, try to plan it so that you don't need to go past 80% charge. That next 10%, and the last 10% take dramatically longer times to finish the charge. The sweet spot for charging speed itself is having a low battery, so starting at 10% or even 5% will cut the time needed to get enough charge.

5% is probably pushing it as a new owner and being unfamiliar with the experience, but after you've done the same trip multiple times you'll get a feel for how reasonable that can be.

Use the internal estimates that the car provides, the Tesla prediction software is very good, and you'll find it routes you to the optimal Superchargers. Be sure to set the destination for the Supercharger- that will allow the car to know you are planning to charge and it will precondition the battery to make the charge faster. If you hit a Supercharger with a cold battery it's a lot slower. On screen you'll see a notice that it is 'preconditioning battery'.

This was great advice, thanks; the internal nav does a superb job but sometimes I find it to be even more conservative and careful than I am lol. It seems to want to arrive with atleast 20% SOC. I am still trying to nail it to where I start with 95%-100% and only need to stop once in the middle. This past week it wanted me to stop at a supercharger for 5 minutes. No clue why. I also think the last update was buggy; just got the new one (which was also a learning experience since I had to use a hotspot to get the car to download the update) and will see how it fares on my trip this evening.