Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Electric vehicle chargers - random thoughts

[vicky wason (vlwason]

Hi Alan and all,

I agree with Alan. And I just ordered your book. We have a 6-year-old Nisson 
Leaf. We have carports at Wasatch Commons<https://www.wasatchcommons.com/> in 
Salt Lake City. Some of us have installed the 220 outlets to plug our cars 
into. I agree it gives more flexibility to plug in the charger. We just plug in 
at night and it is ready to go the next day. Seldom do we go more than 50 miles 
in a day. Keep it simple!

And remember, in cohousing you are looking for opportunities to interact with 
your neighbors. I have found that I communicate more often with the people who 
I share things with. I like Alan's example: "Oh, you need to charge? I'm at the 
ballpark. I'll be back in three hours. Is that soon enough?"

Best,
Vicky Wason (25 years at Wasatch Commons)
Find us on Instagram<https://www.instagram.com/wasatchcommonscohousing/> and 
Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/wasatchcommonscohousing>


________________________________
From: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l-bounces+vlwason=hotmail.com [at] cohousing.org> 
on behalf of Alan O'Hashi via Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 7:24 AM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Cc: Alan O'Hashi <adoecos [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Electric vehicle chargers - random thoughts

Cohousers: I have a VW ID.4 that charges in my garage. I use a Level 1 110v 
15amp portable charger that came with the car. My car range is 300 miles, so I 
don't have to charge very often. I drive around town and occasionally have to 
travel 75 to 200 miles round trip. If I need to top off the battery, there are 
usually Level 3 chargers around.
BTW, I wrote a book, "On the Trail: Electric Vehicle Anxiety and Advice" if 
you're interested.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B8BPJV89


Based on experience, getting 220 installed in the garage wasn't worth the brain 
damage. 1) The car is in the garage probably 15 hours a day, and most of those 
are during the night. Level 1 will get me 75 miles of range. Level 2 will 
double that, but 75 miles gets me where I want to go most times.
Shared chargers in parking lots also have challenges. How do you schedule them: 
"Oh, you need to charge? I'm at the ballpark. I'll be back in three hours. Is 
that soon enough?"

Then there's the vandalism, as has been reported.

At my place, we have two EVs and two hybrids. Our EV adoption rate is very low. 
If you're going to make the commitment and you're a new development, wire all 
the garages with 220. If a home sells, maybe the new owner doesn't have an EV 
and a clunky Level 2 charger will be wasted. The 220 outlet gives more 
flexibility to plug in the charger.


At my place, another limitation is there are 10 garages, and several owners 
have chosen to park in the lot. We haven't figured out how to wire them.


Check with your power company. Xcel has grants available to defray hardware 
costs - they want to sell more electricity! If your community is an HOA, it 
also means another level of headache. Xcel has a special HOA program for 
multifamilies.

Thx,
Alan O.

Alan O'Hashi
Views from Beyond My BedpanLiving seven decades through the Americanhealthcare 
industrial complex https://bouldercomedia.com/buy-books-films/
..307-316-2113..


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