Guests Charging Electric Car Without Permission

[Nicola-and-Donal0]

Hello lovely community!

My first time on here.  We have a family staying in our apartment and as soon as they arrived yesterday they started charging their car.  it was plugged in for hours and possibly over night.  They are with us for 3 nights so I'm sure they'll be charging it every day.  We have nothing written down pertaining to charges for this so I guess i'll just let this one go, even though I feel it's super cheeky not to even ask!  My question is, can i build it into our rules that it's disallowed for future guests?  It's impossible to monitor if we allow it but charge for it.  They could be charging over night and we might not be aware or charging when we're not home.  How do other people manage this?  Thanks in advance!

[Debra300]

@Nicola-and-Donal0,

Yes, you should put include in your house rules that charging electric vehicles is not allowed.  Also, I would inform the current guest that they cannot charge their vehicle at your apartment.  Are there designated charging stations in your area?  If they balk, I would request to cancel the reservation. 

[Nicola-and-Donal0]

Thanks for your reply. Yes there are plenty of public chargers in town. 

[Linda108]

I think this issue of electric car charging has been increasing in terms of the posting.  Two ways to address, both of which requires a way to control the access to charging.  Do you have that?  No use having either a rule or a amenity unless you can control access.  One form of access is a timer that would limit access to one hour at a time.  Pretty hard to charge if only an hour at a time is available.  Another way to look at this, is to make it an amenity that requires access provided by you with a fee attached to the access. The fee would have to be structured in a way that you can charge prior to the guest arriving as often it is difficult to collect the fee after the fact. As to what to charge, it is definitely area specific as some areas electricty is much more expensive.  I have seen other discussions in which those hosts with experience posted the cost is not that much. 

[Bai314]

The rate here in the Bay Area has been steadily increasing.

I've heard that there are cost-effective commercial chargers available in the market. Their pricing is comparable to that of a Tesla Wall Charger. Hosts have the option to decide whether to charge guests or not.

This could be a favorable alternative.

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Nicola-and-Donal0 Charging a car at £.13/kWh costs about £3-4 per charge. I don't know what you charge for your listing but perhaps this is a small amount to keep a guest happy?

[Nanxing0]

@Mike-And-Jane0 £3-4 can only charge for about 20-30 kWh based on your rate and that's not even enough for a 100 miles range charge for most EVs. A full charge for an EV will cost anywhere around £ 5-30 for today's EVs if you take those long range versions of Tesla into the consideration. There certainly needs regulation on this.

[Wendy329]

It isn’t that small a charge if guests are using it every day though is it, and our hol let only sleeps two and profit margins are low already.

I think we should say no but hubby doesn’t agree!

[Nancy1786]

Where I live electricity is extremely expensive. I don’t understand the argument that lodging establishments should subsidize guests’ travel costs. It is presumptuous for anyone to assume this.

[Ann72]

@Nicola-and-Donal0  Agree it's cheeky that they didn't ask!  

I'm considering adding a charger for electric vehicles so I've been looking into it lately.  (My place is in a rural area and the closest charging station is 45 minutes away.)  One thing to consider:  some utilities charge less during off-peak hours, so if you do put anything about it in your rules, you could ask that they charge overnight but not during the day.

If you don't want guests charging at your place (I don't blame you for that, btw), another option is to look on Plugshare and add the closest charging stations to your house manual and/or guidebook.

[Derek350]

Thanks for raising the issue, and thanks to Mike-And-Jane0 for giving charging costs; this puts it into context.

I had to visit our chalet whilst the guests were in residence. I was there to deal with a potential wasp situation and was surprised that the car had a cable connecting it to the house. No mention was made before this.

It is difficult to raise the issue with the client for the following reasons; 1. my French is not sufficiently fluent to change from wasps to "how much is this costing me and is my electric circuit capable of handling the current for your car"; 2. the whole family is there - I need to speak to the driver alone.

The car looks like it could eat a good mealsworth of electricity, but how many other gadgets are charged at the proprietor's expense. When I go on holiday I have one mobile phone, and it takes/gives calls and texts so doesn't need charged for about 5 days.

I shall be reviewing the listing in order that future clients forewarns us.

best wishes

Derek

[Martin4197]

Full charge costs around 17aud.  Electricity in Europe is about the same as in Australia.  

you’re talking about  $5 per day 

it’s isn’t much,

The charger is a standard electrical device designed for standard outlets and won’t hurt your house.

[Michelle2475]

Well, this was not something I had even thought of!  The guest(s) never mentioned they had an electric vehicle. We’re in Vermont where electricity is very expensive and there is an additional charge based on use (overusing) and will permanently increase rates for the following year. I not only have no idea of the cost but also whether my fuse box can even handle that. It’s an older home and if too many plugs are used in the kitchen it’ll trip the breaker so I can’t even imagine the risk of plugging in a car. As others have mentioned I also have no way if they’re running a cord through an open window- it’s 18 degrees out right now and they set the heat to 72 with the fireplace cranking so....

Has anyone figured out the true cost and are you charging extra?  We all know they do things without asking and things that cost a lot - do I just increase my price (probably fewer bookings then)?  If I can’t get them to shut the front door regardless of signs, in the manual, and discussion in advance, I don’t have much confidence they won’t keep a window open outside of the view of the camera at the front door. 

[Martin4197]

A full charge for a Tesla is 17kwhr.

with a standard electrical outlet charger that would take about 3 days to charge 

in Australia it’s about $17 for a full charge.

you’re talking abiut $5 per day 

[Debbie210]

The daily $ , really depends on the city, state or country you are in- and  how large the car is  etc… 

I agree with the person who said “If somebody takes an Uber, should we pay for that fee?”   I feel a charging station set up is for a homeowner,  not the guest. If you want to entice someone to come in and you’re highlighting a charging station, I would have a daily charge that you feel is fair. I have noticed guests, leave on many lights as well as ceiling fans, etc. I get it - their  on vacation and they paid a lot of money . when we have  had guests, before we put in our EV charging station, the electricity bill was almost double the amount that we used, when we were just staying at our rental home for the month.