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Third party supplied workplace charging (not free)

1K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  Gt6k 
#1 ·
The company that I work for, is building a new dedicated operating site to open in 2021 with an employee car park for 300 vehicles. The plans show that there will be workplace charging posts in the employee car park. When quizzed by one of my co-workers about the cost to users, we were told by the management that these would be provided by an [unspecified] third party operator and access would be enabled via a subscription and RFID.

I am assuming that these will be 7kW type 2 un-tethered similar to those used at supermarkets.

Does anyone have experience of such an arrangement, and if so, what the energy cost is and if their employer provides a subsidy for employees and if there are any time of day or duration of connection limits

I would not expect that cost per kWh would be competitive with off-peak overnight charging at home, but it would be good to know that this facility was available if needed.
 
#2 ·
Much depends on the contract terms with the hardware supplier. Some companies are lured into a deal where they are installed free and rent is paid for carpark space. Then the points generate income to the provider. Some companies share income instead of rent. Others buy the hardware and run them as a free perk for staff as this has now been judged by HMRC as a trivial benefit and outside BIK rules. Maintenance under such schemes can become a problem over time.

Then there is the issue of the number of EVs seeking access to a limited number of posts. And then the problem of them being hogged for 8 hours despite the car being full before lunch. Many large companies in that situation encourage the formation of an EV owners facebook group where staff swap parking spaces by arrangement two or three times a day to share the facility.

Personally, I would much prefer the installation of 50 x 13 amp outside granny sockets at the same cost of 6 x 7kW posts. All day parking problems solved and maintenance covered by an in-house facility sparky. And all 'messy' concerns over dealing with an outside contractor and any future problems overcome before they even start.
 
#3 ·
My employer provides standard chargers on the Polar network at standard rates, its the same arrangement as if they were in a pub or hotel car park. It suits me as I have car via Onto who includes a Polar card in the subscription so for me they are free.
 
#5 ·
Does it work in practice? I suppose it largely depends on the motivation and reasonableness of the drivers involved. 5 sharing 2 sounds like it should be workable; 4 sharing 2 would be even more workable, especially if there were 4 parking spaces and you didn't have to move.

Tend to agree with @Hitstirrer - plentiful granny sockets would be more useful than a couple of 7kW. Although not everybody has a granny cable, you might be willing to invest in one if it meant you could park at charge at work whenever you want.
 
#8 ·
I would not expect that cost per kWh would be competitive with off-peak overnight charging at home, but it would be good to know that this facility was available if needed.
Then there is the issue of the number of EVs seeking access to a limited number of posts. And then the problem of them being hogged for 8 hours despite the car being full before lunch.
No SpeakEV member would condone that! 😇
I charge my 64KwHr EV at work from a three phase Zappi that will give 11Kw. Normally, as the car is parked up for the working day it will "fully charge" in around 6 hours. But I often just need about 50% (say 30 to 80%) and can set the Zappi (via the App) to "Eco" and the charge is controlled to around 4Kw which may or may not be better for the battery, but does mean that I can leave the car plugged in until it is time to leave work and preheat using the mains power.
o_O
 
#12 ·
We have 26 PodPoint Type 2 at work 2x 22kW and the rest 7kW, we have no costs for this, however we have to sign up for PodPoint with our company e-mail address otherwise they do not show up on the app and you cannot confirm a charge, which then stops after 15 minutes.

There is no charge to us for this, as the process of running billing just made them shrug and say not worth the effort. But it is all easily trackable, or would be if anyone was using them at the moment.

For high volume of installations then 13A is generally the way to go, if you wander around Oslo then the vast majority of the charging provided on street is via granny charging.

We have a new site being set up for 2024, I will be speaking to the facilities guys and suggesting many many more lower rate chargers may provide better utility. With the long dwell times of a car sitting in the car park for 8 or so hours. Along with a some 22kW chargers for visitors might be well received, they may see more benefit in a short visit and charge than someone travelling 20 miles to work to sit on a 22kW charger for 8 hours... like me.

Also worth noting that company pays more vat on their electricity than we do at home so there will be a cost hike regardless if they are charging for charging. I have no issue with paying for a charge if I need one and was always clear with the facilities team about this.
 
#13 · (Edited)
Usually unreliable crap. Poor tech built by fly by night installers who then hand the chargers over to clueless building management, so everyone can shrug off responsibility once the things are switched on.

Luckily, most of them are WiFi enabled so it’s possible to uh, “comandeer” them if necessary.

Edit: if you have any say in unit choice, lobby for a Rolec token unit. You can buy those tokens in bulk, 100 for £30 or so, and bypass whatever silly cost the provider places on it.
 
#14 ·
The old school ICE way of doing things was to run down to 1/4 tank then fill up, if you want to do that style then 7.5 kW chargers will do that in a day. But a more EV approach would be to use a 3.5 kW chargers to put in 100 miles in a day which is a part fill for a longer range car or most of fill for the smaller batteries. Then you just need a few 22 kW+ ones for the road warriors. I am on large site and not close to the car parks and at 7.5 kW the car is usually full by lunch and I then feel guilty if I don't move it.
 
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