Paying friends & family for charging your EV at their house (is there an app for that?)

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Paying friends & family for charging your EV at their house (is there an app for that?)

Edwood

189 posts

Master Geek

# 254418 11-Aug-2019 14:21

I would feel bad about driving (150km) to my inlaws place and plugging in my car to fill up the tank on their dime.

(...and no, I wouldn't think twice about charging my phone/laptop/etc).

I figure there's a place for an app that knows roughly what power costs, and roughly how much charge I'm putting in, and then facilitates a payment. <-- Does this exist!? Should I make it exist?

In an ideal world, of course, the app would be integrated with various systems, and would know all these things exactly... but 1 step at a time people!

...and whats with people on PlugShare publishing the charger in their garage!?! Do i just rock up to Gavins house, knock on the door and ask him to plug me in? Surely plugshare, or someone is facilitating payments there already!?

NB: I don't own an EV, but I will be renting them, and I've been contemplating this one for a while.

wellygary

4092 posts

Uber Geek

# 2294166 11-Aug-2019 14:45

4 people support this post

<-- Does this exist!? Should I make it exist?

It probably doesn't exist because the monetary amounts are tiny, ,

A Standard 10A 230V outlet is going to cost you ~50c/hour, so if you stay for 4 hours its $2 and you will put ~8Kwh into an EV.

If you are going round to a mate's place and charging there, take them a bottle of wine or some beers,

RunningMan

5574 posts

Uber Geek

# 2294167 11-Aug-2019 14:46

3 people support this post

There's a pretty simple conversion to use.

1 x EV charge = 1 x bottle of wine / 6 pack beer.

EDIT: beaten to it by @wellygary

Edwood

189 posts

Master Geek

# 2294175 11-Aug-2019 15:11

$2 or a bottle of wine... You guys drink the really cheap stuff!
I'm amazed is so cheap to fill up!

I'm reading Sigurd Magnussons electric car guide right now. He suggests similar numbers but also says you will only get around 100kms from an overnight charge on a 230v socket.
Golly.

morrisk

177 posts

Master Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2294228 11-Aug-2019 16:09

I have had a similar and related issue - how to keep track of the power I use in my apartment parking garage where I plug in and therefore I am accessing power paid by the body corporate.

I have been doing this for nearly 2 years now and the solution that has worked well has been to use one of these units

https://www.apple.com/nz/search/Eve+Energy?src=globalnav

together with the app on my phone. The app allows you to plug in the rate for the electricity and then gives total consumption and cost. The amount I use is not great and so I only pay the body corporate once a year and I provide the download from the app which is a spreadsheet detailing when and how much I used.

Although I have my charger and this unit permanently plugged in in the garage there is no reason why you could not be moving it from plug to plug as you travel.

Out of interest a common sort of reading for me relating to an overnight charge when needing a full charge from say 15% is 20 - 25 kWh. I have a Hyundai Ioniq EV

So if I arrived at friends/relatives house to plug in with a relatively empty "tank" I guess I could offer to pay for whatever 25 kWh costs - in practice I have never done that but usually pay in kind with some other offering like a bottle of wine

Edwood

189 posts

Master Geek

# 2294251 11-Aug-2019 16:57

Much respect for the Lifetime Member tag 👍

I guess it logs everything on the device and then syncs to your phone when you are around. It says it needs a dedicated Apple device or connection to hub to work properly, but I think that's just for managing timers etc.

That device could be an interesting way for me to collect some data on all sorts of things!

In the guide I referred to above, he talks about a night time rate of 11c per Kw, so your at something like $2.50 -$3 for an overnight fill. Is it twice that for day time peak power rates?
It's blowing my mind how cheap it is!

... it just feels weird and arkward mooching other people's power. But I think it would feel fine at another EV owners place. it will become culturally normal eventually.

kiwifidget

1758 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2294259 11-Aug-2019 17:17

4 people support this post

My uncle has no issues with driving 50km to see me, plugging in while he drinks my wine and coffee and eats my biscuits, while I fix his computer, and then driving home again. He's lucky he is family :)

Life is too short to remove USB safely.

mattwnz

15161 posts

Uber Geek

# 2294260 11-Aug-2019 17:18

Guessing power will get more expensive as demand grows with EVs.

Geektastic

13317 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

# 2294356 11-Aug-2019 19:28

One person supports this post

At $2 I'd probably just stop visiting anyone tight enough to moan to me!