Re: Electric Car usage in communities
From: Chuck Harrison (cfharrgmail.com)
Date: Tue, 27 Jul 2021 23:49:53 -0700 (PDT)
We are using products from this company: https://www.variablegrid.net/
(They are based in Canada.)

Chuck




On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 11:33 PM Henning Mortensen <hmortensen [at] gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hello Chuck,
> Thank you for your description of what you are doing. Can you tell me what
> smart charger you are using?
> I would be interested in the "smart" control system. If you can point me to
> the right charger I will do the research rather than asking you to teach
> me.
>
> Thanks
> Henning
>
> On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 11:13 PM Chuck Harrison <cfharr [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > At my community in Seattle, the first electric vehicle (a Leaf) arrived
> > almost 10 years ago. The owner paid all costs to install a level 2
> charger
> > at one of the common buildings adjacent to his assigned space in the
> > parking area. The installation included a commercial-quality usage meter
> > (kWh) and the owner pays an amount every month reimbursing the community
> > for the measured usage.
> >
> > When the second EV (mine) arrived about 5 years later, the community
> > realized that simply repeating the pattern of the first installation
> would
> > be unsustainable as we would quickly run out of electrical service
> capacity
> > for all the vehicles to charge simultaneously. Inasmuch as I have an
> > engineering background, I began to look for an "optimum" solution. It
> was a
> > long time coming.
> >
> > Fast forward to today. We have six electric vehicles now, mostly charging
> > on 120V (level 1) outlets, and the arrangements are rather ad hoc.
> However
> > we are building out a plan which will soon (next month!) provide four
> level
> > 2 stations and a "smart" control system which spreads out the charging
> > power over time so that our existing electrical service will not be
> > overloaded. Our plan has a long term vision of supporting about 25
> stations
> > in our parking lot at a loosely estimated total cost of $100,000. The
> build
> > out will be incremental as demand arises.
> >
> > The money is not coming from the community budget; we established an "EV
> > Collective" organization which is primarily funded by a one-time member
> > subscription fee. All charging stations are owned by the Collective (no
> > personal chargers permitted) and every EV owner is expected to join and
> pay
> > in. EV owners will reimburse the community for the amount of electricity
> > used (the new level 2 stations we are installing automatically measure
> > consumption and report it electronically).
> >
> > As I have shepherded this process for 5 years, I can probably answer
> almost
> > any question about our system. However I can't tell you how the "smart"
> > charging actually performs until we complete the installation next month
> > and get some experience with it.
> >
> > Chuck Harrison
> > Duwamish Cohousing
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 8:47 PM Henning Mortensen <hmortensen [at] 
> > gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > Thank you Muriel,
> > >
> > > We have all outlets in our parking garage charged to our common
> > electrical
> > > charge, so when I plugin I am upping the usage by charging and I
> offered
> > to
> > > pay for it. We are just very confused about how this should be handled.
> > > What happens when other larger battery cars (ie. tesla's and such) also
> > > join the community and demand more than a 110v plug.
> > >
> > > I applaud your community for thinking ahead and getting ahead of the
> > curve.
> > > We have a level 2 charger installed but then assigned parking so the
> > > charger is not available to me.
> > >
> > > btw we have been calculating KWH = battery size (24kwh) * (charge out -
> > > charge in) * .95 charger efficiency
> > > For my car this has resulted in calculations that correspond to a
> > > kill-o-watt meter and a charge monitoring program from our power
> company.
> > > I keep track of when I charge, the mileage on the car and the charge
> > level
> > > out and it)
> > >
> > > I am glad to hear that your community saw the future need and invested
> in
> > > charging infrastructure. I am going to assume that the investment is
> > being
> > > recouped through charging fees beyond just the electricity used.
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jul 27, 2021 at 9:01 PM Muriel Kranowski <murielk [at] vt.edu>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Why the consternation? Is it because your neighbors are all paying
> for
> > > your
> > > > car's electrical charging?
> > > >
> > > > My community made a large investment (being paid back over several
> > years)
> > > > to install high-level charging stations in several locations. The
> > initial
> > > > installation was completed just a few months ago and the project is
> > still
> > > > being rolled out. What I just wrote is all I know about this so don't
> > > > bother asking me for details, but it should be great for current and
> > > future
> > > > EV owners.
> > > >     Muriel at Shadowlake Village
> > > >
> > > >
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> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
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> >
> >
> >
> >
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