How often do you charge for free?

Discussion in 'Hyundai Kona Electric' started by FloridaSun, Aug 25, 2019.

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  1. victor_2019

    victor_2019 Active Member

    every day.

    my work has a dozen or so L2 chargers in the back and 2 fast chargers in the front. I guess being an electric engineering company (ABB), it makes sense.
     
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  3. We have around 10 L2 charger parking spots at my one my job sites, sadly only 1-2 get used the rest are iced for lack of EVs.
     
  4. You should make sure that you co-workers know not to ice those spots. There might not be enough cars around to use them right now but people get in the habit.

    Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
     
  5. Bugblndr

    Bugblndr Member

    I don't get my car until tomorrow but I plan on charging for free the majority of the time. The boss agreed to have a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed outside our office and I have my own 32A portable EVSE I'll use with it. On weekends I race RC cars about 60 kms from home at a mall that offers free 2 hour Level 2 Charging.

    I'll charge at home as needed, I just don't think I'll need to too often. Even if I had to pay 100% of the time, it'd be pretty cheap as I'd only be charging during offpeak rates.
     
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  6. DelRider

    DelRider Member

    If I wanted to, I could charge for free all the time at courtesy locations within walking distance from home. I do use them from time-to-time, but do not want to abuse the or hog the resource, so I try to limit it to one freebie "fill" per week. Like you, I'll take advantage of convenience chargers whenever I run across them while out an about. It's almost a little game I play to ferret out the stations, even if it means a longer walk in to my destination ;-)
     
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  8. Not enough to go around yet, maybe later when more long range models are available from mainstream rental agencies, there is this place however:
    https://ecomoto.ca/
    no problem for Hybrid rentals at most others.
     
    FloridaSun likes this.
  9. Brennan Raposo

    Brennan Raposo Well-Known Member

    Every day - my workplace has several L2 chargers and we have a WhatsApp group at work with everyone who drives an EV/PHEV.
    Love it! I use my home charger about once a month on long weekends or when I take days off.
     
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  10. Devhead

    Devhead Member

    There are lot of free chargers in San Diego. Just download the Volta app and drive to one near you. There are some free DC Fast chargers too but they are less common and not obvious. I discovered one last weekend that charged my Kona at a 59kwh rate, and when I got the final receipt it was for Zero dollars, nice that. For me so far, I've been charging my Kona about 90% of the time for free. I'm fortunate enough to be adding solar panels today and thus will likely stop using the free chargers in the future.

    Oh, and Tier 1 rate for electricity in San Diego averages $.21 a kwh. Between 4pm and 9pm it doubles. Tier 2 and 3 rates are even higher. You can however pay a $16 a month fee to go on a plan that allows you to get electricity at $.09 a kwh between midnight and 5 am.
     
  11. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    I’ll quit complaining about our BCHydro rates now. .42 kWh is rough, even tho you have one of the best climates in the world! You really need to manage your charge times
     
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  13. FloridaSun

    FloridaSun Well-Known Member

    Charged for free on a new DC fast charger at a Harley Davidson dealership less than 10 mins from my office during lunch. They had no issue with me charging there. It is only 24 kw, so, not very fast but still over 3 times faster than J1772..
    20190830_112936.jpg
     
  14. Why not, I have seen electric motorcycles charging at public access L2s for several years now
    [​IMG]
     
  15. FloridaSun

    FloridaSun Well-Known Member

    Some car dealerships only allow their customers to charge and not other brands.. Locally, most car dealers allow other brands to charge but I have seen cases where they didn't.
     
  16. I would think it depends. If you ask nicely and they don't need it, or you're in a pinch I'm sure they would be ok with it.

    Not like that one Tesla guy who just pulled up every night after business hours and charged his car which was in the media a couple weeks ago. Where they unplugged him.

    Sent from my moto x4 using Tapatalk
     
  17. KonaTom

    KonaTom Well-Known Member

    I would feel odd asking them. There are generally enough L2 charge stations around anyway. I don't even use my Hyundai dealer because I just don't want hang around long enough to get a decent charge. Most of the other L2 charge stations have shopping nearby, my dealer doesn't
     
  18. Canada Dan

    Canada Dan Member

    I was charging for free fairly often at the local BC Hydro fast charger for the first few months but haven't gone once since July. Charging at home is just more convenient. My primary reason to charge at the fast charger was to keep its usage rate up so they would maybe install more, as it was vacant 90% of the time I visited. This summer its usage has gone up dramatically, with someone actively charging most of the times I've driven by.
     
  19. Kitsilano

    Kitsilano Active Member

    Plugshare tipped me to a DCFC at a Harley-Davidson dealer in Seattle area. I was on my way back to Vancouver and expecting well over 40 kW energy flow, but, as Blue Kona says, the H-D riders with their smaller batteries only get 24kW. Actually, the friendly Harley-Davidson dealer was happy to see me. "Ive got the charger but no bikes yet; please go ahead," he said.
     
    FloridaSun likes this.
  20. The local Hyundai dealer does not have a charger but the nearby Toyota dealer does, despite selling (new) only "self-charging hybrids". I'm pretty sure they would tell me where to stick it if I asked for a charge.
     
  21. I use them more to keep track of which ones work, so when I really need them I know where to go. Using the RFID card(s), it doesn't always work at all of them - all the time.
     
    BC-Doc likes this.

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