Anyone with experience sharing a charger at work? Rules/Etiquette

[Neil]

The company I work for is installing two dual cord Chargepoint Level two chargers in the parking garage and reserving eight spaces around the chargers for EVs.  That news really made my day (yea, maybe I should get a hobby!).  The plan is to have 4 cars charging at a time, with 8 spaces in reach of the charging cord.    I have not been able to find out who is in charge of the project, so I don't know if they have worked out the details.

 

For those who have this situation at work already, what rules to you use to manage the use.  For example, is it ok for someone to unplug someone else's car when they see it has completed charging so they can plug theirs in?  What about the length of time you can charge your car.  I'd hate to sit there waiting for for a Tesla to charge when all I need is 2.5 hours to charge my Energi.  

 

I have been using an unattended 120v outlet in the garage for about 1.5 years and it works out pretty well, and I usually have a full charge when I go home.  If I go out for lunch, I sometimes won't have time to fully charge it again before going home.  The only problem is occasionally a regular car will park next to the outlet and I can't plug in.  Having dedicated spaces will be nice.  

 

 

 

 

[stevedebi]

The company I work for is installing two dual cord Chargepoint Level two chargers in the parking garage and reserving eight spaces around the chargers for EVs.  That news really made my day (yea, maybe I should get a hobby!).  The plan is to have 4 cars charging at a time, with 8 spaces in reach of the charging cord.    I have not been able to find out who is in charge of the project, so I don't know if they have worked out the details.

 

For those who have this situation at work already, what rules to you use to manage the use.  For example, is it ok for someone to unplug someone else's car when they see it has completed charging so they can plug theirs in?  What about the length of time you can charge your car.  I'd hate to sit there waiting for for a Tesla to charge when all I need is 2.5 hours to charge my Energi.  

 

I have been using an unattended 120v outlet in the garage for about 1.5 years and it works out pretty well, and I usually have a full charge when I go home.  If I go out for lunch, I sometimes won't have time to fully charge it again before going home.  The only problem is occasionally a regular car will park next to the outlet and I can't plug in.  Having dedicated spaces will be nice.  

Your company should establish guidelines. I would suggest a piece of paper with your phone number so folks can call to see if they can unplug. But also, you should use the MyFord site to set up text messages when the car is charged - and go out to move the vehicle when it is done.

 

Are those free Chargepoint? Or will they cost?

[jeff_h]

When I looked into getting Chargepoint chargers at my company (was turned down), I talked with a sales rep at Chargepoint and here are a few points, hopefully I remember them correctly:

 

There will be an administrator in charge of those stations, and he/she will set the policies for their use, so that is the person to track down.  Once you do, config options can be made on the stations such as:

 

1 - Allowing only certain RFID tags to charge there (whitelist), or blocking certain RFID tags from charging there (blacklist).

2 - Setting up groups that are allowed to use the charger, and setting separate pricing for those groups (so free for employees, pay for others)

3 - Enabling the stations for reservations, so that if you have a set one from 9am-11:30am each day, if another car is there at 8:15 they will have 45 minutes and then the charging will stop and it's then reserved for the RFID tag/account holder that made the reservation.

 

Again, these are a few rules as I recall them from looking into it in January 2014, so some of the above could be outdated.  The key is to find the administrator and work with him/her on the rules -- or maybe they can mix and match where one of the dual-cord chargers is open to all, and the other is blocked off for reservations, etc?

 

Good luck!

[Doug0716]

You could also ask them (whe you find out who "they" are) to reserve 1 or 2 of the spots that have access to 110V for electric vehicles only, no installation cost for them and you get a couple extra spaces if you bring your own charger.

[stevedebi]

You could also ask them (whe you find out who "they" are) to reserve 1 or 2 of the spots that have access to 110V for electric vehicles only, no installation cost for them and you get a couple extra spaces if you bring your own charger.

Good idea!

[Energitic]

We have a similar setup at work. We have a total of 6 Chargepoint chargers. The general rule is that each car has 2 hours max to charge, then the car has to be moved. To "encourage" people to stay within that limit, the first 2 hours of charging are free, and after that the fee is very high (something like $15/hour).

 

Since we now have quite a few plugin vehicles competing for the spots, we also had to introduce a reservation system. The spots are visible as "rooms" in our corporate Outlook calendar and have to be reserved in advance.

Edited April 25, 2015 at 02:23 PM by Energitic

[Hybridbear]

The spots are visible as "rooms" in our corporate Outlook calendar and have to be reserved in advance.

This is a great way to do it!

[murphy]

 

 

The spots are visible as "rooms" in our corporate Outlook calendar and have to be reserved in advance.

What's the penalty for reserving a spot and then not using the reservation?

Edited April 26, 2015 at 03:19 PM by murphy

[Energitic]

What's the penalty for reseving a spot and then not using the reservation?

There isn't any. I guess we could have a "use it or lose it" rule of some kind, but it seems to happen rarely enough that it wasn't necessary so far. A bigger problem is that even with the fee, people sometimes still go over time (e.g. because they are in a meeting and forget), which is obviously very annoying for the person that has reserved the next slot. I think these kind of things will be a general problem in the future as more and more plugin vehicles are sharing the public chargers ...

Edited April 26, 2015 at 01:57 PM by Energitic

[meyersnole]

I saw this today and thought of this thread.

 

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1098003_electric-car-do-not-unplug-notices-public-education-at-its-best?fbfanpage

[rbort]

OMG this is getting too technical in the work place, reserving it as a "room" in outlook.  So far around here its been OK and not overloaded for me to find a charger.  I figure I got in on the early stages and don't have big issues yet as many people still don't have EV cars.  In a couple of years things can change, but hopefully more chargers will be in to support the additional load.

 

In a work place in Wellesley, they installed 20 free chargers.  I go there now when I head that way, park in the office park area and walk to my errands.  I'm gone about 2 hours and by the time I'm back, I got a full charge and some good exercise to boot!

 

-=>Raja.

[shaggy314]

At my workplace the 'regulars' know each other and we have the dance down. When an 'interloper' comes in, we just watch the web site and rotate through it using email. So far no Model S or Leaf comes and sits all day so we all get what we need to get home on Electric.

 

There is talk of changing to a double header, now we just have the L1 and L2. I used to plug in the L1, but it's too much hassle so I wait for the L2, charge and then move my car. The Volts don't mind as I'm in and out fairly quick.