Charging extra for electric car charging

[Sam6220]

Hi we are in Victoria Australia and have been asked by a future guest if they can “trickle charge” their Tesla overnight via a standard power point. 
can I request extra money for this and does anyone know how much it costs to charge Teslas this way in electricity? 
thanks

[Paula]

Hi @Sam6220 This is a very interesting topic that has been discussed by some of our hosts before.

I'm tagging @Rachel1744 @Kimberly419, who have experience in providing charging facilities for electric cars to their guests. Let's see if they would like to share their experiences with you.

Good look,

[Kimberly419 · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sam6220 , 

In general (here in Canada), Tesla owners probably wouldn't blink at a $15-$20 fee to trickle charge overnight, especially if there were no other options. We typically pay $13-$15 to fill up at a Tesla Supercharger. As well, there are some rural places we can't stay unless we can plug in, so if we like the place enough, we'd be happy to pay a reasonable fee. 

Your actual cost will vary depending on the model of the Tesla and your utility rates. A standard Model 3 has a 53 Kw battery. Multiply that by your utility rate and you'll see what it will cost you to fully charge the car one time. In reality, they won't arrive on empty and they won't get a complete (empty to full) charge in a single overnight. That could take more like 16-20 hours. If they're staying a week, driving around, and charging every night, you'd have to take that into account. 

To put it in perspective, here in Ontario, Canada, our residential off-peak electric rate is about .08/Kwh, so a full charge costs about $5. In the US, the average is about .13/Kwh, so a full charge would be about $7. 

Whether you charge a fee is up to you. I don't charge guests to use our Tesla charger, but I'm hosting an entire house at a fairly expensive rate (for our area) with a 3-night minimum. For that, I don't mind giving away $5-$10 in electricity.  (It's no different than if they cooked a turkey in the oven all day)  But if your utility rates are high and/or a guest is only paying a few hundred dollars for a night, then that cost might eat into your profits so you probably should charge people. 

Hope that helps, 

-Kim 

[El50]

That is criminal. A trickle off a 120v outlet will get a tesla about 40% charge in 12 hrs. Most people do not sit in their vacay house more than 12 hours. It costs less than $2 to charge 40%. I do it every day and have low electric bills in central Oregon.

[Jill1072]

hi Sam

We have two Airbnb’s on our property in country NSW.  We have more and more guests turning up in EV’s and plugging their cars in to an outside power point without asking permission.

we are getting tired of this cheeky behaviour and with the ridiculous price of power now, charging our guests for this service has to be done.

How or have you started charging a fee and if so how much?

cheers Jill

[Sophia]

Hi @Jill1072, I came across your comment on an inactive old thread. I’d highly recommend that you create a new discussion with your question, this way more hosts can see your post and share their thoughts 😊

Feel free to start a conversation here

[Debra300]

@Sam6220,

Electricity rates on the island are three times what we pay in the US.  We installed smart electrical sockets that have energy monitoring capabilities for the air conditioners because we charge our long-term guests actual costs (based upon the power company's published per kw rate) for their electricity usage because these types of guests tend to stay inside the rental longer and use much utilities than short-term guests.  The guests pay an extra services deposit via the Resolution Center, and at checkout we issue a refund of any remaining amounts.

This available on Amazon: 

https://www.amazon.ca/Square-Schneider-Electric-Monitoring-SQR441U1WHW/dp/B0BTCLCNL6

[Billy375]

A standard 10A socket gives roughly 2.4kW, overnight (say 8 hrs) that's 19kWh. In Victoria, you're probably paying 30–35¢/kWh, so cost to you is **$6–7 per night**.

Yes, you can absolutely charge for it, just agree it upfront. A simple $10–15 per night add-on via Resolution Center before check-in is fair and guests rarely push back when it's transparent.

Worth noting: trickle charging a Tesla from near-empty to full can take a while, so for longer stays the cost adds up. Good habit to ask the guest roughly how much charging they expect to do.

The EV trend is only going upwards, you may consider installing a proper charger and then integrating with a billing platform like ** to recoup this cost (+ profit) + provide proper amenity.

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