Charging at work. Yay or Nay?

[smkettner]

I asked at work (small employer with our own building) and got a 'Sure! ...no wait - how much will this cost me?' I told him it was no worse than the girls that keep their heater on under their desk in the office all day, and he OK'd it. I used the same analogy for the others in our office when they appeared to start to think I was getting the equivalent of free gas. We just got a new keurig machine and I don't drink coffee, so that comparison came up last week.

Biggest problem I have is that there are no outside outlets so I have to run an extension cord under a door.

I love that Not just the heat under the desk but then the air conditioner to cool the heated space :roll:

keurig... no kidding a few cups of coffee is more than the electric.

 

[Valdemar]

Still no joy at my workplace. Big complex with 3-4 big corporate tenants. Building management refuses to do anything about it, and they also don't let me use regular outlets scattered around the parking structure. I begged, offered money, almost danced all to no avail. So fed up with these people.

 

[DTB]

Hey Valdemar, I see you are in West Hills too. What area is your employer in? I am in Warner Center and so far have got the same response you did. My employer offers free parking for carpools, pays for monthly bus passes, but won't do anything to support EV drivers.

 

[Valdemar]

Hey Valdemar, I see you are in West Hills too. What area is your employer in? I am in Warner Center and so far have got the same response you did. My employer offers free parking for carpools, pays for monthly bus passes, but won't do anything to support EV drivers.

I work in Burbank, it is the Yahoo complex next to the airport. Basically for like 6 months I was trying to get my employer to talk to building management to see if they can do something together about it. Finally building management refused after "evaluating several options". There is still tiny hope left that my employer may cough up some money do something about it, but I tend to remain pessimistic. Our facilities person who is in charge couldn't care less which doesn't help.

 

[CarZin]

Okay, we now have a ChargePoint at work, but my boss refuses to put an EV parking only in front of it....he calls it favoritism of having a designated parking spot. I've been ICE'd out all week. I've had to ask the same people to move their car so I can charge twice now, they refuse to park anywhere else. Tired of it. Going back to charging at 100% so I don't have to bother. Can't win for losing.

Better solution. Find out who gets in earlier that the people blocking the spot. Tell him/her to ICE that space every day when he comes in, then come move his car when you arrive. Then offer to buy him lunch once a week for his effort.

 

[thankyouOB]

we have L1 sockets in the lower basement.
when I get in, one of the two spots adjacent are usually available.
when they are not, I can usually ask someone who has just beaten me to move, and they are happy to do it.
these are not convenient spots for most, as they are in the 3rd basement level and you have to use stairs to go up.

the convenient blinks are also under that odd boss-wont-make-them-EV-only mentality, so they are blocked mostly.
I can walk 12 minutes to get a spot at the blinks that are far away from my building. I do it when I cant catch the L1s.

 

[Ready2plugin]

Okay, we now have a ChargePoint at work, but my boss refuses to put an EV parking only in front of it....he calls it favoritism of having a designated parking spot. I've been ICE'd out all week. I've had to ask the same people to move their car so I can charge twice now, they refuse to park anywhere else. Tired of it. Going back to charging at 100% so I don't have to bother. Can't win for losing.

Better solution. Find out who gets in earlier that the people blocking the spot. Tell him/her to ICE that space every day when he comes in, then come move his car when you arrive. Then offer to buy him lunch once a week for his effort.

Funny you should mention that, because my boss just volunteered to do that same thing. I'm still going to charge to 100% again and just "top off" when I need too. My other solution is asking them to put an "active charging only" sign up since their main concern was that it would not turn into my designated parking spot. Therefore it would only be used when someone was actually charging their car.

 

[kubel]

Biggest problem I have is that there are no outside outlets so I have to run an extension cord under a door.

Careful. I initially got approval from senior management to do this before a warehouse supervisor said the extension cord running outside can pose an OSHA hazard and might get us in trouble. Permission denied. Now they are looking into installing an outdoor outlet and "maybe eventually a charging station".

 

[KeiJidosha]

Hey Valdemar, I see you are in West Hills too. What area is your employer in? I am in Warner Center and so far have got the same response you did. My employer offers free parking for carpools, pays for monthly bus passes, but won't do anything to support EV drivers.

I work in Burbank, it is the Yahoo complex next to the airport. Basically for like 6 months I was trying to get my employer to talk to building management to see if they can do something together about it. Finally building management refused after "evaluating several options". There is still tiny hope left that my employer may cough up some money do something about it, but I tend to remain pessimistic. Our facilities person who is in charge couldn't care less which doesn't help.

A little competition from the competition? Google

 

[Valdemar]

A little competition from the competition? Google

I'm not employed by Yahoo, but yeah Yahoo is in trouble on many fronts

 

[EricH]

There are 10 ChargePoint L2 EVSE's at work. This morning, all 10 were in use: 4 Leafs, 3 Volts, 2 BMWs, and a new plug-in Prius!

(I was Leaf #4)

 

[mkjayakumar]

Wouldn't the PiP get to max charge in about 30 mins or so on an L2, due to its pretty small capacity?

Do they then move their car to another spot to keep the slot open for other EVs? Otherwise it is no different from being ICEd

 

[coolfilmaker]

Wouldn't the PiP get to max charge in about 30 mins or so on an L2, due to its pretty small capacity?

Do they then move their car to another spot to keep the slot open for other EVs? Otherwise it is no different from being ICEd

You'd think it would charge up quickly but they put in a small charger too so it takes 1.5 hours. I bet the connectors, wiring and charger cost more than the battery.

 

[davewill]

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=3290&start=40
Our facilities manager asked me to write something to forward to the building management concerning EV charging. They are apparently at least partially open to the idea. ...

Well, it took almost exactly one year, but the landlord has finally responded on charging. After my first missive, I've been forwarding invites to all of the EV charging "seminars" I've seen. Yesterday, they sent out a "Communique" saying, "We would like to conduct a survey on the number of employees that would drive an electric vehicle to work every day if the electrical charge stations were provided on the property." There are currently one LEAF and one Volt that park every day, and another LEAF that's here 2-3 times a week. Hopefully there will be others who voice an interest, although the phrasing of their "survey" could have been more precise. Glad to see it going forward.

 

[bamamarc77]

nay so far but the incessant annoying requests to administration is in full swing.

 

[ericsf]

As of last Thursday, 12 brand new ChargePoint L2 are online at my workplace. It was almost 3 years when I started harassing the Facilities manager about installing charging stations, but it eventually happened.

The most beautiful thing was to see 10 cars plugged in on the first day, the majority pure EVs: 3 LEAFs, 2 Focus EV, two Model S, one Roadster, one Volt and one C-Max Energy. For a site where about 500 people work, I find the adoption quite encouraging and it's just the beginning. As soon as the construction of the charging station started about a month ago, interest in EV grew exponentially. I know of at least 2 more LEAFs which will join the herd next week. It's happening.

It's obvious that people really want to be able to recharge at work. I am now totally convinced that providing L2 at work is the most efficient way to drive EV adoption up.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

As of last Thursday, 12 brand new ChargePoint L2 are online at my workplace. It was almost 3 years when I started harassing the Facilities manager about installing charging stations, but it eventually happened.

The most beautiful thing was to see 10 cars plugged in on the first day, the majority pure EVs: 3 LEAFs, 2 Focus EV, two Model S, one Roadster, one Volt and one C-Max Energy. For a site where about 500 people work, I find the adoption quite encouraging and it's just the beginning. As soon as the construction of the charging station started about a month ago, interest in EV grew exponentially. I know of at least 2 more LEAFs which will join the herd next week. It's happening.

It's obvious that people really want to be able to recharge at work. I am now totally convinced that providing L2 at work is the most efficient way to drive EV adoption up.

great to see that level of adoption although 3 long range Teslas will hopefully not be blocking any short range EVs from charging. sounds like plenty of room for now...

 

[GRA]

Riding my bike up Winton Ave. in Hayward the other day, I took the opportunity of a red light to take a side trip into the City of Hayward's lot (Police Dept., Law Library etc.), as there's a large solar array there and I've always been surprised that there weren't any EVSEs, Hayward being somewhat progressive (they used to have a couple of Gen1 RAV4EVs, and have at least one Leaf). Well, there are four brand new Chargepoints there now, still not in service (the cords are still coiled up and covered in plastic). My impression was that they were dual L1/L2 models. They're located in the SW corner of the lot along the fence rather than under the solar panels, with the EVSE posts located on the curb in between two spots so theoretically there are eight possible spots for charging. The spots are currently marked for Agricultural division vehicles, but presumably that will change. I don't know if these will be open to the public or just for employees. I will try and keep an eye on them.

 

[Metalman]

If you would like to read the saga of my wife trying to charge our electric bike at her place of work here's a link. It's only 2 pages long, much the same as some of the stories in this thread. There is electric car content in the thread.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/837536-Charging-at-work

 

[GRA]

If you would like to read the saga of my wife trying to charge our electric bike at her place of work here's a link. It's only 2 pages long, much the same as some of the stories in this thread. There is electric car content in the thread.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/837536-Charging-at-work

:roll: :lol: Gosh, isn't it fun to deal with government bureacracy?