Charging at work. Yay or Nay?

[EricBayArea]

At my place of work they are in the process of doing a major remodel of the building. I sugested a L2 charger and the message was well received. They will charge so as to be fair to ICE drivers. But as long as they don't overcharge I'll be sure to take advantage once its done.

I've read a lot on here about companies that do not allow EVs to charge for similar reasons - not fair to ICE drivers, free gas, etc. I feel that using L1 charging for an EV has very little difference to using a plug at your desk to charge your personal laptop, tablet, phone, ebook reader, etc. I doubt anyone would give a second thought to seeing me charge my B&N Nook and my iPhone at the office instead of charging it overnight at home... But then again, the Leaf is much bigger than my iPhone

 

[Ready2plugin]

Yes, my employer finally decided to get an L2 put in for the two of us that have a LEAF (so far)!! That's the good news....bad news I hear they want to charge us $4 per plug-in. Just happy to have the option.

 

[curtegg]

I retired just recently, but I'd wished that were I worked would have installed an L2 for $4 (considering my commute was 110 miles) charging.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Yes, my employer finally decided to get an L2 put in for the two of us that have a LEAF (so far)!! That's the good news....bad news I hear they want to charge us $4 per plug-in. Just happy to have the option.

show up with less than 10% charge. $4 to cover 70-80 miles would be about 5 cents a mile. better than a Prius

 

[Pipemajor]

Yay! Federal employee @ a large GSA-managed building. Building manager said they will be installing 20-30 EV charging stations :mrgreen: as part of their extensive federally-mandated greening of existing facilities. Total number of employees at the building = 2500. Number of LEAFs currently available in my state = 0.

Via ARRA funding, our 40 year old building is getting new energy efficient windows, beefed up insulation, new lighting and the largest geothermal HVAC retrofit in the midwest.

No data on type of charging station or location. Parking space can get to be a bit of a premium at times but I normally commute via public transit.

Building manager confirmed these 20-30 EV charging stations will all be L2 and will be available to EV employees for no cost. We do pay for our own sundries such as coffee and water supplies. No problem charging a personal cellphone though...

Federal employees do get a generous transit benefit which effectively reimburses you for the full cost of commuting by bus/rail. I don't use that since Minnesota grants a free-lifetime transit pass to veterans with a service-connected disability.

I have a 26 mile round trip to the office so could feasibly dispense with charging at home. I figured, however, I may want to use the car on the weekends so will also install an L2 home charging station.

Sure, I expect some "budget-minded" politicians to question why taxpayers should pay for my vehicle energy needs. I remind them that they'll also be paying a significant portion of the vehicle purchase.

Bad news is the LEAF won't be available in my state for at least another 12 months and the office EV charging stations not until 2013 or so.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Yay! Federal employee @ a large GSA-managed building. Building manager said they will be installing 20-30 EV charging stations :mrgreen: as part of their extensive federally-mandated greening of existing facilities. Total number of employees at the building = 2500. Number of LEAFs currently available in my state = 0.

glad to hear that. hopefully more support is coming.

just a side note; as much as it is great to be offered free charging, i would not mind paying to plug in. either a monthly charge or based on either days i park there or how much charge i use. i know several people who work in Downtown Olympia (some for the state) who have to pay for parking while working. "some" have free alternate parking options which can be as much as 4-5 blocks away.

right now, the waiting time for paid covered parking is running about a year. there is plenty of paid parking about 1-2 blocks that is uncovered available.

 

[nlagnew]

My company opened a new building last spring that has "wiring in the parking lot" that will accommodate L2 stations and a couple are planned there before year's end (I think). No news on costs (or not) to charge, but we are one of those companies that gets free coffee/tea/soft drinks/snacks/gym -- I could see them either making it free or using an honor system (as they do at the cafeterias for breakfast - we use barcode readers). They could do the same for plugging in if they decide to charge us - make a little barcode tag that we swipe X times for X hours. They don't report any (though there could be some) theft on the breakfast items. [lest you wonder, lunch is NOT on the honor system ]

That new building got Platinum LEEDS certification - it is really pretty cool. It is also a mile from the one where I work. Not a problem usually, but on a rainy, very cold, or very hot day, not appealing. Fortunately I can do my drive on a single charge as long as I don't have more than a few miles of errands.

There is a luxury hotel at the edge of our campus as well - it has or will have L1 stations for guests, and employees of my company are allowed to use those. I suspect those will be no charge. If I need something at my building before they retrofit our parking lots with something, I'll ask about an outside outlet near the loading dock, if there are any...

So far I believe I'm the only Leaf on campus. With 4500 of us on campus, I'm sure there'll be more. Especially since a local non-profit got state money to give an extra $7500 of 40 Leaf purchases --kitted out with "special tracking software from Nissan". I know a couple of people who have applied for those. I was ineligible because I'd already bought mine before I heard of the program... and my Leaf is not "special".

 

[Drivesolo]

How sad is this... I work for the largest employer in Washington State, in all their facilities in the Puget Sound area, they have over 80,000 parking spots. Not a single one allows for legitimate charging. However my company does have some spots where company EVs can plug-in. Some employees have attempted to use near by outlets but have been meet w/ disciplinary actions. To my knowledge, no one has permission to charge their own personal vehicle. My employer has no plans to install charging anytime soon nor allow plugging into an available outlets.

 

[Ready2plugin]

Yes, my employer finally decided to get an L2 put in for the two of us that have a LEAF (so far)!! That's the good news....bad news I hear they want to charge us $4 per plug-in. Just happy to have the option.

show up with less than 10% charge. $4 to cover 70-80 miles would be about 5 cents a mile. better than a Prius

That is what I'll probably do...especially if/when PG&E changes our E9 rates.

 

[fooljoe]

show up with less than 10% charge. $4 to cover 70-80 miles would be about 5 cents a mile. better than a Prius

Even if you use 20kwh, which would mean you're probably cutting it pretty close getting in to work, $4 is still 20c/kwh. I'm not familiar with PG&E, but it seems you should be able to do better than that with time-of-use metering at home, assuming you don't *need* the charge at work.

 

[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.

 

[lpickup]

Okay, we now have a ChargePoint at work, but my boss refuses to put an EV parking only in front of it

Oh man that sucks! Maybe logistically it had to be put where it did, but too bad it was put in such a favorable spot. I guess it's just a really expensive decoration if it can't actually be used for its intended purpose.

My employer has 4 120V outlets in a very out of the way parking lot with a reserved for electric vehicle charging sign in front of the spots and will tow cars that are not displaying a special hang tag on their mirror. BTW, they also have special spots for carpoolers (that ARE located preferentially, and yes, it IS favoritism in that it's encouraging environmental stewardship, much like your driving an EV by the way!), special permits for people that are in and out of the building several times a day, not to mention handicapped spots. All are strictly enforced.

 

[coqui]

No go here. They don't even want to talk about it.

 

[coolfilmaker]

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.

The solution is to have them install the charger in an area of the parking lot that is not technically a space.

 

[davewill]

Okay, we now have a ChargePoint at work, but my boss refuses to put an EV parking only in front of it....

Sneaky way to work on this: Get some local LEAF owners to complain to ChargePoint that the space is ICEd. If Chargepoint gets a few complaints, they might be prompted to request a sign, or they might place one themselves.

 

[Ready2plugin]

Okay, we now have a ChargePoint at work, but my boss refuses to put an EV parking only in front of it....

Sneaky way to work on this: Get some local LEAF owners to complain to ChargePoint that the space is ICEd. If Chargepoint gets a few complaints, they might be prompted to request a sign, or they might place one themselves.

Good idea, but unfortunately we purchased and paid for the installation of the unit (not part of any government program) so it's not public.

 

[TNleaf]

Okay, we now have a ChargePoint at work, but my boss refuses to put an EV parking only in front of it....

Sneaky way to work on this: Get some local LEAF owners to complain to ChargePoint that the space is ICEd. If Chargepoint gets a few complaints, they might be prompted to request a sign, or they might place one themselves.

Good idea, but unfortunately we purchased and paid for the installation of the unit (not part of any government program) so it's not public.

Hardcore green-washing there, it sounds like.

Company purchased the EVSEs and paid for the installation of the units, yet will not enforce EV parking so the units actually get used? That's a bummer. We have signs AND a big green box painted in the spot (hard to miss) that says Electric Vehicles Only (something along those lines), yet I see at least one of the spots ICEd several times a week. So signage doesn't always do much. I get to work earlier than most anyways, so I always have my spot to charge :mrgreen:

 

[davewill]

Good idea, but unfortunately we purchased and paid for the installation of the unit (not part of any government program) so it's not public.

Who said anything about a government program? It still says "Chargepoint" on the front, and it still "bills" through their network. If I were a visitor to your company, and found it ICEd, I'd call Chargepoint.

 

[tmonkey]

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.

 

[smkettner]

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.

The solution is to have them install the charger in an area of the parking lot that is not technically a space.

At least in a less desirable area. Too bad this was not discussed beforehand :roll: