Sharing your chargingpoint? or not?

Hello to you all!

I am Sem, a student in the Netherland and studying innovationmanagement in the transportation and energy section. I love cars, and therefore came on this forum and noticed an important question, regularly asked here. Is a charge point coming here? We need to charge on the roads for longer trips and we need to increase range. This question got into my head and as i am now writing a thesis, i am going to try to help/solve this issue!

One small remark: I need you!

As some of you might have their charge infrastructure on Plugshare, or share it in a different way, I am questioning what motives you guys have to share. And if you ever thought about it, why didn't you decide to share your chargingpoint with other members?

I would appreciate every cooperation and looking forward to your motives for sharing and of course why you are not sharing!

Many thanks in advance!

Hello Sem.

My home EVSE is listed on PlugShare, but in three years, has only had one driver ask to use it, and that was a special case. He had a very old EV with lead/acid batteries and was traveling from a direction where there were no other L2s, so mine was the first available and in a perfect spot for him. Otherwise, there are plenty of L2 and one L3 near me, so no one really needs to use mine. I keep it listed just in case some one ever does need it. I know I would appreciate the same in an emergency, like a blizzard.

I once got an email late at night from someone who seemed very drunk, and considered taking down my listing, but I ignored it, nothing bad came of it, and it was never repeated, so I'm happy to leave it up for now.

And why did you decide to offer it on Plugshare if i may ask?

Is it about the money or some good feelings for yourself? Maybe status for some people? Really interested in that thx for your reply!

SemBoersma said:

And why did you decide to offer it on Plugshare if i may ask?

Is it about the money or some good feelings for yourself? Maybe status for some people? Really interested in that thx for your reply!

Click to expand...

I did it out of a sense of camaraderie.
We early adopters are a group of people with a common interest and common goals creating an ad-hoc infrastructure to support the collective.

It made me an unofficial member of an unofficial club.

I considered listing my home on plugshare. I certainly wouldn't mind sharing it with other EV early adopters. However, I don't see a use case where it really would be needed by someone - we have two L2's and one DCQC in town (small town) - I live on top of a hill and can make it to either of these with less than 500wh of power (mostly downhill from here). I just can't see a case where it would be more useful to someone to stop at my house (especially as I'd have to open the garage etc).

IF I thought it really could be useful to someone I'd list it, otherwise it is just too much trouble for nothing.

Also note - my attitude toward other home listings is that if I really HAD to I would consider asking folks - there are some in areas where there just isn't anything else nearby so I could see this happening in theory, but in that case I"m not sure why I'd choose to go somewhere that I needed to sit at a strangers home for a few hours en-route rather than just take an ICE vehicle.

Pretty much all of the PlugShare Residential Chargers near me are from those who have solar panels installed.

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I did it out of a sense of camaraderie.
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Same here.

And good will.

Mine has been listed for 1.5 years, I've only had one call. And this was during EAA, a huge aviation show in my home town. That man had a Tesla, I wish he would have charged here.

I used one just a week ago to get my new Leaf to my home from the south side of Milwaukee. That owner told me, I was the 1st to use his, he's had his listed for a year. His is in a perfect location between Milwaukee and Oshkosh, on a two lane road that runs parallel to the main 4 lane highway.

Hope that helps.

KillaWhat said:

SemBoersma said:

And why did you decide to offer it on Plugshare if i may ask?

Is it about the money or some good feelings for yourself? Maybe status for some people? Really interested in that thx for your reply!

Click to expand...

I did it out of a sense of camaraderie.
We early adopters are a group of people with a common interest and common goals creating an ad-hoc infrastructure to support the collective.

It made me an unofficial member of an unofficial club.

Click to expand...

+1

No money involved. Listed it because I could. There were less L2s at the time, but here, there were also very few EVs. Figured it would be cool to meet other EV enthusiasts. Also, I like the golden rule. As you put it, some good feelings. Hospitality.

When plugshare was new, I had my home listed. At the time, public charging stations were very sparse. I did it to show potential buyers that there already was infrastructure to support EVs. I never had anyone call or email about it. I eventually took it down because mine is a 15A Voltec unit, and there is a Nissan dealer 2 miles away which now has a 30A Aerovironment unit listed.

I posted my home charger on plugshare to feel more a part of the community. There is a walgreens nearby with one but they are expensive at ~4x the local electricity rate. I am one of the most Eastern spots to charge outside Denver so I suppose if someone is going back and forth to the airport maybe my house would be a good stop. I have had it up for about six months with no requests to charge. I wouldn't charge someone to use it as the electricity usage would be minimal.

Yes, mine is shared. If I am going to use someone else's, then I should be willing to share mine.

NeilBlanchard said:

Yes, mine is shared. If I am going to use someone else's, then I should be willing to share mine.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. So now I'm curious to know how many folks here have ever used a private charging station (home based that is)....

Slow1 said:

NeilBlanchard said:

Yes, mine is shared. If I am going to use someone else's, then I should be willing to share mine.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. So now I'm curious to know how many folks here have ever used a private charging station (home based that is)....

Click to expand...

I have not. I thought about asking to use an outlet to plug in my 14-50 EVSE at a Tesla owners house but it would have been imposing too much as I would have needed to use it the way there and back for two days. So I just took the ICE one time and the motorcycle when it wasn't snowing.

MikeinDenver said:

Slow1 said:

NeilBlanchard said:

Yes, mine is shared. If I am going to use someone else's, then I should be willing to share mine.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. So now I'm curious to know how many folks here have ever used a private charging station (home based that is)....

Click to expand...

I have not. I thought about asking to use an outlet to plug in my 14-50 EVSE at a Tesla owners house but it would have been imposing too much as I would have needed to use it the way there and back for two days. So I just took the ICE one time and the motorcycle when it wasn't snowing.

Click to expand...

I've thought along the same lines here - I looked at options when planning a trip but then decided it wasn't worth bothering some random person at home (I'd have to hang out there for a couple hours to boot). As an "emergency I can't get home" situation I may try to use a home station, but then I can't call ahead very well. When I do plugshare searches I uncheck the "home" category now by default (whatever it is called).

I first listed on PlugShare two years ago when charging was more of a problem. I also put in a 14-50 outlet at my son's place in Eastern Oregon (Pendleton) where charging is still a problem.

I have had only one emergency use of my home charger. The user parked his car and had his friend take him to a restaurant while charging.

My son has had a number of mostly TESLA drivers drop in for charging. There are activities and restaurants close by and his family is very gracious towards visitors and my grandchildren especially love the EV's. In turn the drivers have been generous and have made the whole operation fun and informative. My hope and guess is that Pendleton businesses will get on board and there will be public chargers available soon.

I have a charging location listed even though I am not an EV owner. I have NEMA 14-50 in my garage that would be useful to a Tesla driver or someone with a portable EVSE and proper adapter.

I listed my outlet because I want EVs to catch on. The network on Plugshare provides owners and potential owners with a safety net, so to speak. Knowing there are plenty of places to charge, even if not needed, helps alleviate range anxiety. I would also enjoy having an EV owner stop in and chat a while about EV stuff. I am a few miles off of an interstate, but close enough to the next major city (Louisville) that there are other charging options with stuff to do within easy range of a Tesla. I've had it up for something like 6 months, no interest. Too bad. I'd have liked to see it get used.

One other thing, while we're on the topic of plugshare. I am not an EV driver now because I'm paying off all my student loans before driving anything cheaper than my current beater car. I am in the process of converting a motorcycle to electric drive (nearly done), and that motorcycle will charge off of a normal 110v outlet. There are lots of people on Plugshare with nothing listed but the standard outlet, and many may think that's useless. For the majority of EV drivers, yes- but for my situation, it'd be quite useful to have listed. So keep those listings up!

Slow1 said:

NeilBlanchard said:

Yes, mine is shared. If I am going to use someone else's, then I should be willing to share mine.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. So now I'm curious to know how many folks here have ever used a private charging station (home based that is)....

Click to expand...

I have only every charged at houses of people I already know. However, on two occassions, I used PlugShare to get in touch with them. These were people whom I had met through events like National Drive Electric Week, and didn't have phone numbers for.

Slow1 said:

NeilBlanchard said:

Yes, mine is shared. If I am going to use someone else's, then I should be willing to share mine.

Click to expand...

Excellent point. So now I'm curious to know how many folks here have ever used a private charging station (home based that is)....

Click to expand...

I never have either. It would be a last resort, and haven't needed it, but glad to know some are there if I really did need it. Wouldn't want to bother anyone on a whim, try to plan trips as best I can. Except for one time, I was lower than I'd like, and there was nothing nearby, at a festival in the Brookfields, not even a home charger. Ended up giving $5 to a couple having a yard sale to use an outside plug.

It seems like a lot of people are really hesitant to stop off at shared home chargers. I don't understand why. If someone has listed their home charger, it's because they are okay with people using it. It's not like a person with a shared charger is going to be shocked and appalled that someone would dare ask. Most Plugsharers, I think, would be happy to have someone stop in and charge, and not just for an emergency. Daily use wouldn't be welcome, sure- but I think most would be happy to be a stop On someone's trip. The fact that the location is listed on a sharing site means it's not an imposition. The one time I stopped at a shared home charger (with a rented Leaf) I received a very warm welcome and the owner was pleased to spend some time chatting with another EV enthusiast.

Does anyone else feel this way?

I recently purchased a used charge point and looked into getting it listed on their website. No Go. I would have to buy a software token for the privilege of giving away free charging (and its $200 a year!)

I settled for listing on Plugshare. With a number of free options nearby (including Kohls) I don't expect too many takers.