Anyone manage to convince their employer to install a charging station?

Discussion in 'Clarity' started by HChannel, Feb 26, 2019.

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  1. HChannel

    HChannel New Member

    Approaching 6 months with my Clarity, and while I love charging at home, it would be really sweet if I could charge at work for my commute home as well. Since my purchase, I've seen a few charging stations pop up in the office parks near me in Central Jersey (with restricted/employee-only access), but alas, my workplace still doesn't offer it the last time I checked.

    Curious to see if anyone has been in the same boat before, and was successful in convincing their employer to set up charging stations? Thanks in advance
     
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  3. KClark

    KClark Active Member

    I'm hoping to convince my employer, a large multinational with a stated commitment to environmental causes. Several years ago we converted the electricity at my location of about 2000 employees to natural gas fuel cells and recently they retrofitted all lights to LED so I'm hoping to be successful...for the good of the planet of course.
     
  4. 4sallypat

    4sallypat Active Member

    My employer is a state government agency and they just ran a survey on who drives a BEV or PHEV car to work.
    Looks like either the power company or solar installation project contractor may be getting ready to put in the infrastructure and charging my car soon...
     
  5. Dante

    Dante Member

    I work for a large multinational in their 3yo campus - thousand of new parking spaces built with only 4 (YES 4) charging spaces (2 charges with 2 spaces each). Chargers managed by Blink - curious how finances work in such cases and who gets what.
    There are at least 10 known users and many more who haven't bothered to even sign on the EV group. If you're just visiting for the day or have some quick business might as well forget it. No talk of doing anything right now - I wish they put a 1-2 regular 110v outlets on some the light poles scattered all over the parking sprawl... :D
     
  6. KClark

    KClark Active Member

    I agree about the 110 outlets, it would be a cheap and easy solution for companies and for PHEV drivers. In one work day I could get more than enough charge for half of my commute.
     
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  8. currypotter

    currypotter New Member

    No. Even thought the company I work for has a division that makes EV chargers.
     
  9. su_A_ve

    su_A_ve Active Member

    Well, at our work we have 5 L2 chargers installed. 3 for employee use, the other 2 originally slated for near-future Facilities EV vehicles to be charged at night, but available for employees during the day.

    Something got lost in translation. We now have about 15 folks with PHEV and BEV vehicles and can only use the 3 employee stations. The other two are ICED by Ford Econoline vans. They claim they are for exclusive use by Facilities. Further, the EV vehicles they bought are golf card type utility vehicles that are charged with 110 dedicated chargers.

    They want to install more chargers but no funding available...
     
  10. Geor99

    Geor99 Active Member

    It's a very cheap way to keep employees happy. I get a ton more satisfaction from the 2 bucks per day in free power that I get at work than I would from a $2 (after tax) raise:)

    On the other hand, I would be furious if they removed or didn't repair it or if it didn't expand if it got clogged with users.

    It definitely has become an entitlement for me , as it's 1 huge reason thst I bought the car.
     
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  11. HChannel

    HChannel New Member

    For anyone in NJ, here's a website that honors businesses in the state that offer EV charging for their employees: http://www.evawards.org/

    Just sent an email to HR about this, so hopefully they'll consider greener initiatives. Hopefully it'll work for you as well.
     
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  13. The Gadgeteer

    The Gadgeteer Active Member

    I agree it would be awesome. Where I work I am consultant and before I got my Clarity I was unofficially told by several people I could charge at the level 2 spots there but after I got the car I went to sign up (could not charge, was coded as a private charger) I was told it was for employees only. Bummer and my bad for not doing my homework.
    I don’t even know that property owners could lock people out even though one joins the network that is operated by the charger company.

    Back to the 110 volt outlets added to the light poles. On the surface seems elegant but when you think it through there is more to it. How much headroom for the circuit that handles the bank of light poles is there? Not nearly enough if the continuous simultaneous draw of several high amp loads wasn’t factored in the design. Compared to a light bulb a car charging is a big delta in load.
     
  14. 4sallypat

    4sallypat Active Member

    Not really, 120V outlets providing 10-15A of power is nothing when it comes to commercial lights in city lighting that are powered usually on 480V 3 phase or 277V single phase with over 200amps of service available. Using one leg (hot - neutral) will only load one of 3 phases available.

    It's not like your home with 240/120 single phase....
     
  15. Mowcowbell

    Mowcowbell Well-Known Member

    We currently have 8 level II charging stations at the government office complex where I work. They were installed for a 1 year free pilot program and paid for by the local electric company. They have them shut off for now while they work out a way to make the users pay for the power they use. I'm waiting to see if the price will be better than the .11 cents per kwh that I pay for home charging. I have a feeling I'll be sticking with home charging.
     
  16. Walt R

    Walt R Active Member

    Federal gov't or a state?

    We have the same silly no-free-benefit rule which means we'll never have work chargers. IMO we need to lobby to get rid of that rule. The US gov't will give each DC-area employee $275/mo for transit or vanpool fees as an incentive. We should ask Congress to give us up to $50/mo of free electricity as a similar benefit to drive electric.
     
  17. Mowcowbell

    Mowcowbell Well-Known Member

    It's the FAA training academy in Okla City. The reply I received from the site maintenance manager is that they can't give away electricity without providing funding for other employees driving ICE vehicles. While I can appreciate that viewpoint, I hate to see those charging stations covered up and unusable by the employees. They are low-power (16amp) Level II stations, which would easily fill my Clarity batteries in only a few hours.
     
  18. Viking79

    Viking79 Well-Known Member

    Find who is responsible for facilities and talk with them about benefits of EV charging stations, talk to local utility and get any rebate information to help with costs, if costs are a concern point out non networked units that are about 1/10th the price (like clipper creek, juice box pro, etc), if you have annual employee satisfaction surveys you can point to items on it and how it might help, etc.

    Offer to pay a small monthly fee, but these should be offered for free in most cases. Someone will complain constantly about how they aren't getting free gas. Ignore them, or suggest that they buy a plugin.
     
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  19. David in TN

    David in TN Well-Known Member

    Where I work for my 2nd job (2 to 10 days a month) they have 5 dedicated EV, 20-amp 120v outlets available, 1 for each parking spot. However, scattered around the same parking garage, are a couple more outlets on each level. I've tried several and they all work fine.

    For full-time workers, they charge them $20/month to use the dedicated EV spots. I asked them about a part-time thing, and they told me not to worry about it...no charge to plug in anywhere I want there.

    Leafs, Volts, Tesla, and my Clarity are what I have seen parked in the EV spots.

    Sent from my SM-N960U using Inside EVs mobile app
     
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  20. Geor99

    Geor99 Active Member

    People do complain about not getting free gas. Even though they would be no better off, they would prefer others not charge for free .

    I don't understand this logic . They are miserable people for sure.
     
  21. Lynn-W

    Lynn-W New Member

     
  22. 4sallypat

    4sallypat Active Member

    My work place just announced EV chargers to be installed for both public and in house.

    Infrastructure is being paid for by the utility provider (SCE).
    EVSE and installation stations being paid for by Federal grants.

    Helps that they are ordering new electric school buses and EV work vehicles where I work.....
     
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  23. rockstone

    rockstone New Member

    I put in a request at my work place to enable access to atleast a 110V outlet to offset a little bit of the 170 mi roundtrip to work everyday. Looking at all the 1/2,3/4 and 1 ton trucks in my lot(mainly to ferry the IT/Admin guys back and forth from home :rolleyes:) , i doubt the request is going any where..
     
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