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I'd love to go EV, but I rented apartments before finally buying a condo. Where am I supposed to charge? The greenest option I can realistically go for is a h

I'd love to go EV, but I rented apartments before finally buying a condo. Where am I supposed to charge? The greenest option I can realistically go for is a hybrid, but I'll probably wind up going for a regular ICE car, as they typically have much better acceleration than hybrids, esp at highway passing speeds.

yurishimo 6y ago
Not sure why you're getting downvoted, but most apartments in the US are awful for EV owners. There are 3 in my building and they all share a single 120v outlet in the parking garage. They rotate who gets to park in the spot close to it every day. I would be surprised if they get enough range overnight to cover their commute. I imagine most of them supplement with chargers elsewhere around the city, but that's much more expensive than having somewhere to hook it up at home, even if it is slower.
- wing-_-nuts 6y ago
  Yeah the HOA at my condo complex is ran by ... some older folks who aren't really all that tech savvy. I asked one of the folks on the board if I could put in a charging station on my parking spot, on my own dime. He laughed and said the HOA wrote him up for running a charging cable out to a battery charger to jump start his car. He said he highly doubted they'd be willing to allow folks have chargers installed any time soon. Bummer. I like the idea of owning an EV but that will have to wait until I own a SFH years down the line.
- GloriousKoji 6y ago
  I guess they're all downvoting OP for not choosing living in a house, routing another 240V line in the garage and adding on solar panels and taking electric car ownership seriously. /s But seriously, it's a problem. If you're not lucky enough to have free charging at work it's something like $1 to $2 per kWh at charging stations, which results in costing as much or more per mile than an ICE.
  - wing-_-nuts 6y ago
    They're probably downvoting the fact that I'm choosing ICE over hybrid. For example, I'd rather buy a honda civic hatch than an insight hybrid because the hatch has better acceleration, and cargo capacity while still getting decent fuel economy.
partlysean 6y ago
I'm right there with you. Our condo building is just over 100 years old and has 2 parking spots for 6 units (we're not one of the lucky ones). We'd love to own an EV, but it's just not practical. This gets to my big complaint with companies like Tesla. They designed an impressive, game changing EV, but their solution ecosystem works best if you have a home with a garage in the suburbs. I don't have a garage to install a Tesla Powerwall that's charged by a Tesla Solar Roof for me to park a Model S. If Tesla wanted to truly address climate change and get more electric transportation to more people, they'd solve city charging and start designing commuter transit.
eps 6y ago
In a garage? Typically there will be provisions for installing a charger in your parking stall and have it billed to you.
- itsoktocry 6y ago
  >Typically Typically there is no garage.
- notJim 6y ago
  "Typically"? I think 90% of apartment complexes in the US would tell you to pound sand.
parliament32 6y ago
Exactly. Not a chance until 1) street parking has charging sockets built into the meters, and 2) apartments/condos/parkades catch up and provide power at stalls.

yurishimo 6y ago

Not sure why you're getting downvoted, but most apartments in the US are awful for EV owners. There are 3 in my building and they all share a single 120v outlet in the parking garage. They rotate who gets to park in the spot close to it every day. I would be surprised if they get enough range overnight to cover their commute. I imagine most of them supplement with chargers elsewhere around the city, but that's much more expensive than having somewhere to hook it up at home, even if it is slower.

wing-_-nuts 6y ago
Yeah the HOA at my condo complex is ran by ... some older folks who aren't really all that tech savvy. I asked one of the folks on the board if I could put in a charging station on my parking spot, on my own dime. He laughed and said the HOA wrote him up for running a charging cable out to a battery charger to jump start his car. He said he highly doubted they'd be willing to allow folks have chargers installed any time soon. Bummer. I like the idea of owning an EV but that will have to wait until I own a SFH years down the line.
GloriousKoji 6y ago
I guess they're all downvoting OP for not choosing living in a house, routing another 240V line in the garage and adding on solar panels and taking electric car ownership seriously. /s But seriously, it's a problem. If you're not lucky enough to have free charging at work it's something like $1 to $2 per kWh at charging stations, which results in costing as much or more per mile than an ICE.
- wing-_-nuts 6y ago
  They're probably downvoting the fact that I'm choosing ICE over hybrid. For example, I'd rather buy a honda civic hatch than an insight hybrid because the hatch has better acceleration, and cargo capacity while still getting decent fuel economy.

partlysean 6y ago

I'm right there with you. Our condo building is just over 100 years old and has 2 parking spots for 6 units (we're not one of the lucky ones). We'd love to own an EV, but it's just not practical. This gets to my big complaint with companies like Tesla. They designed an impressive, game changing EV, but their solution ecosystem works best if you have a home with a garage in the suburbs. I don't have a garage to install a Tesla Powerwall that's charged by a Tesla Solar Roof for me to park a Model S. If Tesla wanted to truly address climate change and get more electric transportation to more people, they'd solve city charging and start designing commuter transit.

eps 6y ago

In a garage? Typically there will be provisions for installing a charger in your parking stall and have it billed to you.

itsoktocry 6y ago
>Typically Typically there is no garage.
notJim 6y ago
"Typically"? I think 90% of apartment complexes in the US would tell you to pound sand.

parliament32 6y ago

Exactly. Not a chance until 1) street parking has charging sockets built into the meters, and 2) apartments/condos/parkades catch up and provide power at stalls.