No need for home charger...we only have street parking!

[CapHillDC]

There probably aren't many owners/future owners who only have street parking in their neighborhood. The part of Capitol Hill where we live in DC has mostly street parking, so I will have to find some reasonably-priced charging stations since any EA free charging is minimum 25 minutes drive from here. A couple supermarkets nearby have Volta, but not all are working. I work from home, so I never need to drive to my office where were only two chargers in the parking garage for the whole building complex.
We installed a solar system last June that works great, but it won't help with any EV charging needs. I have seen a few owners (including a Model X owner) use a long extension cord from their house to trickle cargo but that won't do much and I don't like the idea of a cord going across the sidewalk or have the charge door open all night. Of course with street parking, we don't get to park in front of our rowhouse anyway.

 

[LucidNC]

Unfortunately, you are describing the reality of current EV technology limitations (and one of the reasons that wider adoption will take a little while). These days it seems that immediate gratification is a requirement, but the reality is that not only is the cost of lithium-batteries high and the infrastructure needed for widespread adoption faulty/lacking, but the time required to charge a vehicle is currently too long.

Public chargers are often not the "Supercharger" type (250-350KWh) which results in longer charging times. But even if you are fortunate enough to be near a bank of chargers, the issue of waiting for a charger is further amplified by the fact that often times several chargers (in a lot) are not working. [btw, you can say what you will about Elon Musk, but the genius of Tesla .. and why we began widespread EV adoption in general .. was the establishment (from the beginning) of the Supercharger network]

That said, "need is the mother of all inventions" and the solution to shorter charging times (which would provide a solution for more densely populated areas) is "in the works" and may come in various forms (e.g. solid-state battery packs) as soon as mid to late 2025. Simultaneously, different metals and technologies are being tested to decrease the cost of batteries.

So, though it is not impossible to own an EV in the type of situation you are in (i.e. city/apartment living) where street parking is the only option, it is difficult. On the bright side, come 2025 or so, charging should be more readily available and quicker (at least that's what I'm betting on w/ several stocks ) ... Another benefit is that (once better/quicker charging is available) it'll be easier to deploy chargers than it is gas stations in current densely populated cities.

Good luck!

 

[Ksa23]

For what it's worth, we are also street parking for the next 6 months or so and I also work from home. The Lucid is a pure pleasure vehicle, and I find errands to do when there's downtime . Thankfully our grocery store has EA chargers, and the 350kwh ones in the area have been great. The Lucid's charging capabilities are very valuable even when using 150 chargers because it can maintain that charge rate longer than any other EV.

If you can manage to find a reliable Volta charger, I imagine charging will become a non-issue for you, as it is for us. Charging while grocery shopping quickly has become second nature. I also appreciate parking the car in a isolated area.

One funny side effect is the charging station is beyond the store parking lot limits, so the cart wheels automatically lock up each we go beyond the barrier. Kind of annoying, but worth it!

 

[Spin Doctor]

The most consistently available free options I've found on the Hilll are at Wholefoods, both the H St NE and H St SE have 6kW chargers. I avoid trying to charge at Trader Joe's because I find the entry ramp to the parking too tight for comfort. I'm also fortunate enough to have 80A on hand at home.

Your best bet might be the EvGO stations in the parking lot at Union Station? And if they ever figure out how to make Tesla superchargers more widely available, there's one being built (it might even be online now) at the NoMa Harris Teeter - there's a couple of J1772 connectors there too, I believe.

 

[CapHillDC]

Thanks for your replies...and the reminder that better charging days are ahead...sometime!
I actually downloaded all the charging apps like EZ, Vota, PlugShare, etc. just to see what info each provides, and how reliable. Sometime next year I hope to actually be using some of them.
@LucidNC, I completely agree about the ever-growing Tesla charging network. That was one of the factors which gave my mother-in-law the peace of mind to by her Model 3. Surprisingly, there are not many Tesla chargers close to me. A year or two ago they finally put a bank of 10 chargers near the only Costco in DC. Sometimes it is hard to find one available, which is not surprising. It's interesting that there aren't as many Tesla chargers as I thought there would be when we took the Model 3 to Cleveland recently. There are places along the PA Turnpike and Ohio Turnpike that I consider a charger No man's land. Even in Cleveland, I had to drive 20 minutes to a Sheetz station where there were some chargers.
@Spin Doctor, since most places on Capitol Hill are within walking distance, I often walk or ride my bike to these supermarkets. Because I have the Volta App, I like to go to the Giant on H Street and see if the app is really showing the most current info. The current info is that 1 has been broken forever, but the other works is available most of the time. I haven't been to the Union Station garage in a while, so maybe I'll check out the EvGO charger sometime.
Since we are talking about street parking, a concern is that a car will back into my (future) EV and somehow mess up one or more of the sensors. I plan to get something like a Bumper Bully for the back and a Bumpshox for the front. The Bumpshox will look weird on the front of a Lucid, but that's a small price to pay. Fortunately, none of my neighbors with EVs have had issues with getting hit from the front or back when someone is parking their car.

 

[Shuasha]

Europe has infrastructure for this, they put 240v chargers on the street like parking meters in certain areas. It will take time, but we’ll get there.

 

[KySerenity]

There probably aren't many owners/future owners who only have street parking in their neighborhood. The part of Capitol Hill where we live in DC has mostly street parking, so I will have to find some reasonably-priced charging stations since any EA free charging is minimum 25 minutes drive from here. A couple supermarkets nearby have Volta, but not all are working. I work from home, so I never need to drive to my office where were only two chargers in the parking garage for the whole building complex.
We installed a solar system last June that works great, but it won't help with any EV charging needs. I have seen a few owners (including a Model X owner) use a long extension cord from their house to trickle cargo but that won't do much and I don't like the idea of a cord going across the sidewalk or have the charge door open all night. Of course with street parking, we don't get to park in front of our rowhouse anyway.

Long-term, this is not a good plan after free EA charging is gone. Currently, the cost for supercharging is roughly 4X local electric rates. As an example, my local electric rate is .12/kw; while the local supercharger fee is .43/kw. A home charger will quickly pay for itself.

 

[borski]

Long-term, this is not a good plan after free EA charging is gone. Currently, the cost for supercharging is roughly 4X local electric rates. As an example, my local electric rate is .12/kw; while the local supercharger fee is .43/kw. A home charger will quickly pay for itself.

Ha, here in CA with PG&E the electricity costs are quite a bit higher. Anywhere from .28-.49 depending on which rate plan you’re on, and whether or not you’re above your baseline, and whether it’s peak/off peak, and whether it’s summer or winter.

If you’re on the EV plan it’s .25 off peak, but .45-.56 during peak times.

Sometimes, EA is actually cheaper.

 

[joec]

Ha, here in CA with PG&E the electricity costs are quite a bit higher. Anywhere from .28-.49 depending on which rate plan you’re on, and whether or not you’re above your baseline, and whether it’s peak/off peak, and whether it’s summer or winter.

If you’re on the EV plan it’s .25 off peak, but .45-.56 during peak times.

Sometimes, EA is actually cheaper.

Wow. Have to admit, that makes me miss CA a little less. Here in CO, I get .12 24/7 at home.

Having said that, even though DC fast charging is more expensive, it's still cheaper than gas, so I never mind when I need to charge up on a trip.

 

[borski]

Wow. Have to admit, that makes me miss CA a little less. Here in CO, I get .12 24/7 at home.

Having said that, even though DC fast charging is more expensive, it's still cheaper than gas, so I never mind when I need to charge up on a trip.

Meh, it’s the reason I put in solar and batteries. I’ve basically stopped paying attention as a result.

 

[LucidNC]

Meh, it’s the reason I put in solar and batteries. I’ve basically stopped paying attention as a result.

In SC, the utility company charges me a monthly fee (based on the rated Kwh of the solar panels) just for the privilege of having solar panels (used mostly for standby/emergency use) .. I should've gone w/ a generator, then I wouldn't pay anything (except the gas when I needed it).

 

[Sandvinsd]

In SD, home of the most expensive electricity in the country, we can actually get it for as low as 9.6 cents per kW with the super off-peak (12-6a) EV-TOU5 rate plan During the winter. HOWERVER, it goes up to almost 64 cents for on-peak summer. And the cheapest electricity any other time of the day is 36.5 cents. So, if you can charge overnight (or weekend mornings to get the cheap rate) it is actually cheaper to charge at a public charging station.

 

[Spin Doctor]

@CapHillDC, not sure if you've already seen but the District now has guidelines for "Charging Cord Crossing the Public Right-of-Way" - linked from here.

 

[CapHillDC]

Thanks for this info @Spin Doctor .
I should probably start a conversation with our ANC rep about getting some neighborhood charging stations in our area. I think I read an article about one somewhere on the Hill, but it has not been very useable or reliable.
There is a newly-renovated school not far from us that put in a ChargePoint charger. When they finish setting it up, I may check with principal of the school about using it after hours. It seems like the DC government would encourage use of it since getting a neighborhood charger is a long way off.

 

[CapHillDC]

@Spin Doctor
I was walking to a friend's house this evening and saw this Hyundai plug in hybrid being trickle charged from the owner's home. When I walked past it on the way back, the yellow cord guard was stored on his porch.

 

[Steveinarizona]

@Spin Doctor
I was walking to a friend's house this evening and saw this Hyundai plug in hybrid being trickle charged from the owner's home. When I walked past it on the way back, the yellow cord guard was stored on his porch.

No need to store it if that were a Hummer.

 

[Tesla2.0]

I bought this J1772 extension from Amazon and Nema 14-50 EVSE for backup when I have to go long trip on AirBnB can use on host’s Dryer 220V outlet as source. It is also good to use charging other EV that park on my street but quite a distance from garage home charger to the street. This is weather proof and is good for level-2 capability. Very good for your situation.

Lectron 40 ft / 12m J1772 Extension Cable Compatible with All J1772 EV Chargers - Flexible Charging for Your Electric Vehicle https://a.co/d/7AMPAQI

 

[hmp10]

I think one of the policy failures confronting wider EV adoption is too much focus on highway charging infrastructure at the expense of attention to residential Level 2 charging. In dense population areas where EVs can bring the most environmental benefit, large percentages of potential owners do not have access to home charging.

In my view, building codes should become a core element for expanding charging infrastructure. No building permits should be issued for new residential construction, whether single or multiple occupancy, that doesn't include electrical service capacity for immediate or later installation of Level 2 chargers. Nor should permits be issued for major renovations that don't include such provisions.

The population is exploding in southwest Florida, and Florida has the second-highest adoption rate of EVs in the country (behind California). Huge apartment and condo complexes and gated single-home communities are springing up on every available patch of green space extending miles out from city centers. The few that provide any Level 2 charging capability at all are limited to a couple of charging posts in the garage of a huge complex.

Nextdoor.com has a couple of EV communities to which I subscribe. There is endless discussion about putting more chargers at retail venues and gas stations. But when I bring up the subject of using building codes to encourage expansion of home charging access, I get accused of everything from not understanding what EV drivers need (and I've owned EVs since 2015 and have two now with a third on order) to claims that I'm actually retarding progress by not prioritizing DCFC expansion at public venues over home charging.

If EV fans/owners don't get it, how can we possibly expect our public officials to get it?

 

[joec]

I think one of the policy failures confronting wider EV adoption is too much focus on highway charging infrastructure at the expense of attention to residential Level 2 charging. In dense population areas where EVs can bring the most environmental benefit, large percentages of potential owners do not have access to home charging.

In my view, building codes should become a core element for expanding charging infrastructure. No building permits should be issued for new residential construction, whether single or multiple occupancy, that doesn't include electrical service capacity for immediate or later installation of Level 2 chargers. Nor should permits be issued for major renovations that don't include such provisions.

The population is exploding in southwest Florida, and Florida has the second-highest adoption rate of EVs in the country (behind California). Huge apartment and condo complexes and gated single-home communities are springing up on every available patch of green space extending miles our from city centers. The few that provide any Level 2 charging capability at all are limited to a couple of charging posts in the garage of a huge complex.

Nextdoor.com has a couple of EV communities to which I subscribe. There is endless discussion about putting more chargers at retail venues and gas stations. But when I bring up the subject of using building codes to encourage expansion of home charging access, I get accused of everything from not understanding what EV drivers need (and I've owned EVs since 2015 and have two now with a third on order) to claims that I'm actually retarding progress by not prioritizing DCFC expansion at public venues over home charging.

If EV fans/owners don't get it, how can we possibly expect our public officials to get it?

Completely agree with this. Most new apartment complexes here in Boulder are providing at least parking spots with chargers. I have no idea if that’s mandated or the builders here are just smart, but it’s a good step in the right direction.

The vast majority of EV owners should only ever have to use public charging for occasional road trips.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

No problem here. Economic pressure will fix this. Imagine you have a choice of Motels, but the one you picked doesn't have cable TV ...or air conditioning... How you going to rent your apartments and town houses if you don't have charging as a perk? Even without a mandate, we should see widespread chargers in new construction because capitalism.