Charging electric cars on Club sites.
With the government wanting all cars to be electric in years to come and some MHers have them as runarounds how do you think the club should address the issue, This is NOT a thread against electric cars.
Do you think the club should change the bollard to accommodate the second connection, have a designated charging area and should the charging bollard be metered so you pay as you use, or the cost added to pitch fee, or any other suggestion.
Comments
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A motorhome towing an EV has paid for its pitch inclusive of electric, therefore quite entitled to charge for leisure use. Similarly if a caravan and EV towcar paid for pitch plus EHU then also acceptable as its all inclusive.
Its no different to having EHU and a 2/3 kW heater running in the colder months and as EHU charges are the same most times summer or winter, it will just mean being careful what you have on at any one time.
Apparently there are two Club sites with dedicated charging bollards with a view to more, but there is a charge to use them and they are away from the pitches.
The Club will have to move with this trend but whether it will be acceptable, adequate or even safe to put the lead through a window on a pitch, as at present remains to be seen.
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Any electrical usage ultimately has to be paid for. At the moment the club provide a 16 amp supply, which the majority do not use to its full potential. The CAMC have a handle on usage and prices are fixed accordingly. Overall usage will almost certainly increase if folk are charging cars and prices would have to compensate for this.
Of couse there is also the question as to if the site infrastructure is up to it, and if not could it be increased and at what cost.
If two sockets were provided on a bollard, the second would have to be charged for separately, either flat rate or metered. This would perhaps be the best solution as then those without electric vehicles would not have to pay.
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Offering free charging to electric cars is as daft as offering me free diesel.
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I think the only fair way to go until "all" vehicles are needing to have charging facilities, is to have dedicated charging points made available on sites that are metered ,and no charging allowed from/via the standard site EHUs,
the cost of installation would not be much different from the amount being spent on new/upgraded Dedicated MVSPs
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I suppose if a EHU bollard delivers 16A then the hirer of that pitch and bollard is entitled to use that 16A in the way it suits him/her best. If a car is being charged it’s unlikely the electric heating or microwave or Foreman grill is being used so what's the difference?
Having said that, if the EV was mine, I’d rather charge it off pitch and have full 'normal' use of the EHU.
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The club have stated an EV car can be charged on site along with other safe EHU usage. I take this to be a tow or trailered car.
What hasn't been clarified is whether an extra car brought on site can also be charged up from the inclusive pitch fees. Are extra cars normally charged a £2 parking rate and could this cost be reviewed in future as a way forward? Just an idea.
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With so many different charging systems, I don't think installing charging points other than standard 13 amp slow ones would work. Might as well meter all pitches and be done with it.
Interestingly I have just been reading an article which points out public free to charge points are becoming less and less available with many now having to be paid for, some as much as 25p per Kw.
peedee
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The OP asks how do you think the club should address the issue. As brue states they have already done this and it is permissible. However, I don't see this as a long term solution as EV's become more common. Although the club provide a 16 amp supply, and as TW states the hirer is entitled to use that in the way that suits them best, currently for most of the year average consumption will fall well below the maximum possible. Rightly or wrongly the club has based their pricing structure around this. If a car is pulling say 10 amps for 12 to 15 hours overnight and that is replicated many times, electricity consumption in the warmer months is bound to rocket. Unless the club want to lower its margins, this means significantly increased prices for all. Perhaps putting the club at a disadvantage to other providers that charge separately.
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At the moment the club is happy to provide free electric to EV owners whilst not providing free diesel or petrol to other users of it's sites, see post by Rowena here...
I imagine this will change at some stage in the future when...
a) sufficient members complain about the very obvious discrimination, or...
b) EV's become more prevalent, site electric costs increase and it becomes worthwhile to do something about it......
But for now, crack on and get something at your neighbours expense...!
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Some sites allow members pitched, to allow visitors cars as long as they can park within the pitch boundary. As the member can do what he likes within the allocated 16a supply, I assume the visitors EV is allowed to 'top up' whilst on site?
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It's easy to solve, Have a couple of proper charging points in the LNA area of the site and levy a charge for their use. No charging allowed while on a pitch. That will please everybody and help the finances of the CMC retail business.
K
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The club doesn't supply free electricity to EV owners who charge their EVs on the pitch. They have paid for a 16amp unlimited supply so no discrimination to other diesel/ petrol owners. It's up to them to manage their supply.
It does make another case for metering though if EVs become more popular but I doubt that will be any time soon. If sockets for charging EVs are added to the bollards then these should be charged for separately.1 -
SteveL has hit the nail on the head, i,e, during the summer months when we are not using our heaters and BBqing on gas, and not sitting indoors watching telly, then consumption will be low, and the CAMHC will take this into consideration when doing the sums. Now bring on the EV that is for e.g. charging overnight and consumption will increase and in line with this so will pitch fees. As a fairly basic camper e.g. no telly I am a bit miffed at having to pay higher pitch fees to cater for those who literally bring everything including the kitchen sink to site. Bring on metering. If prices rise much more we will have an "exclusive" club that only those with money can afford to use.
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Slow chargers are about 3kW so there won’t be much left from your 16 amps to run anything else which is a problem particularly in the winter. I guess it only becomes an issue if, say, 5 to 10% of people plug in every night and despite my enthusiasm for all things electric it will be quite a while before that happens and plenty of time for the Club to reassess.
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Or the CAMC could be innovative and put in infrastructure to use the storage capacity of the EV batteries that the members have in their future vehicles that whilst stood unused are available to store electrickery when generation by solar and wind is plentiful, and feed back into the grid when the sun doesn't shine i.e. overnight.
My solar PV pays for the domestic electrickery, not beyond the wit of a commercial organisation like the CAMC to earn from it's future 'battery' capacity on it's sites. After all we are constantly told sites are fully occupied. All those batteries just sat wanting to tingle.
Think airport long term car park, joe blogs drives to the airport, dumps the EV car after plugging in, the airport rents his battery out for the annual 2 week holiday.
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"They have paid for a 16amp unlimited supply..." - I don't think so! The supply at Club EHUs is limited to 16 amps, but that's not the same as saying you are entitled to draw such a current at will. The site electrical installation will have been designed to cope with an expected average load, not everyone drawing 16 amps all at the same time. The cabling and switch gear required would be prohibitively expensive, not to mention unsightly.
220 × 165 - en.wikipedia.org2 -
Totally agree, the diversity factor, believe it’s called.
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no evidence in the past to show that the club will be proactive rather than reactive in any of this, they will just hike up the pitch fees to cover the costs. Lets hope the CL market continues to prosper and be competitive whilst providing some of the basics
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We haven't taken our EV to a site and neither of us are sure what effect a charge will have. Cost wise at home it is pence. However our home electrics are up to date and can take the charge without affecting anything. If we ever did take the EV we would probably look for an off site fast charge at present. Much depends on the EV battery size, a small battery without a range extender might need frequent charging ours is slightly different.
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I think the has stated you can do whatever you want with your electricity up to the limit and that includes charging your car. fair enough.
Do I think that the club should install a second connector in the bollard as asked by the OP? well my answer is no. mainly this would be quite expensive and until there are such cars that can tow an average caravan (and electric MH as well) the cost cannot be justified?
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The Club would have a problem applying a consistent policy.
It already has that!!
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