I am a rural host with a small old cottage on our property, ...
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I am a rural host with a small old cottage on our property, we wish to have guests stay that would like to see cows, sheep an...
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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!
You could ask the guest to pay for the damages to the socket.. or get AirBnB involved if they refuse. You are insured with AirBnB for guest damages, but they don't cover 'wear and tear'. They do make it quite a palaver to claim.. However they normally will pay out if you're persistent, you have the evidence, receipts etc. You could also take a damage deposit?
Personally, I don't think it would be very easy for a guest to prove that your house damaged their car. However if you have an EV charging station, then you could cover your back by having a qualified electrician test it to confirm it's working properly.
I think that's the future - EV charging stations at properties. In 5-10 years, most guests will probably be using electric cars, so the idea of restricting guests charging will be unsustainable in the longterm. I would suggest eventually getting an EV charger which charges guests for the electric they use.
How would it damage the electricity supply?
it’s a standard electrical device made to be plugged into a standard outlet. In fact because it’s new and expensive it’s far less likely to cause damage
Do they need your permission to plug in their phone or use the microwave too?
It is not the same thing. Do you leave money for them for gas to get back home?
a full charge for Tesla is 72kwhr. With a standard outlet that takes about 3 days. Even at 25c per kwhr (abiut the most expensive I can find in the USA) that’s $18 dollars total.
so even if plugged in 24hrs a day it’s a $6 a day expense.
Hi Martin. We can clearly see through our solar system app that our guest's Tessla is using 3kw/hr & we pay 30 cents per kW so that can really affect some people's profit margin. I'm not saying everyone should charge their guest's for this service but for those who don't charge a lot, this could be a difficult situation to be in.
25 cents? Not even close. Check out Southern California Edison tier 1, tier 2 and then tier 3 is double what you think is "about the most expensive" you could find in the US. Time to recalibrate. I'll admit, there are some utilities here in California, for example Imperial Irrigation that is about 12 cents kWh flat rate, if I'm not mistaken. But it certainly varies by utility company.
As an EV driver who uses Airbnb frequently and has hosted people also, I'd like to chime in on this.
1) Offering EV charging is a fantastic incentive to attract guests. During this period of time when national charging infrastructure is still in its infancy, EV drivers going on holiday will look at a handful of apps (Plugshare etc) to see where they can charge on route and at their destination. If you offer charging you will stand out on these maps, I can guarantee it. The piece of mind knowing that your accommodation has a charging option will definitely make the difference between one accommodation and another when choosing where to stay. I'm not suggesting to offer free charging, just some form of charging.
2) There is no danger plugging an electric vehicle into your house. The chargers provided with the cars are completely safe and only draw a very slow charge. For zero investment on your behalf, you can even just allow drivers to plug into a normal wall socket, just like an electric heater. Only the most off grid battery powered property would need to worry about the demand on their circuit. (Most people in those types of situations have a good understanding of their power generation anyway). If you want to offer a better service, you can have an EV charger installed to provide faster charging. These are getting cheaper and cheaper and have in built timers and even payment methods included.
3) The cost. Nobody is suggesting not to charge clients for the electricity they use for their cars, however this would be a great and fairly cheap bit of marketing for your property if you did. Most normal guests won't think twice about leaving heaters, AC, TVs on consuming your electricity. On the other hand, due to the nature of owning and electric vehicle, most owners are very conscious about their electricity consumption. The cars don't actually use that much in the grand scheme of things, but the owner will be able to tell you how many KWhs they use, and if you simply know your electricity cost per KWh (check your last bill) then it's a 10 second calculation to know how much they owe you. You can even put the $/KWh on your ad post to let people know in advance. Failing that, to keep in very simple, most people are happy to pay 15$AUD which will cover most full charges. Generally people don't ever need to fully charge anyway, and just want to top up a little.
Most EV owners are very honest and we want to spread a good image of the community, however you will always find people who are not considerate. I would therefore advise that you address the situation upfront in your Airbnb ads. State whether or not you allow charging, and start the conversation with people so that you avoid any possible tension.
It is a new technology that will soon be part of everybody's lives. I would advise to read up on it, get involve and embrace it with open arms, as it will undoubtedly lead you to interesting discussions with future guests.
I’m not intending to be difficult but how can you possibly state that most EV owners are honest? How could you possibly know? I’m sure they run the gamut just like everybody else.
If they were honest, they wouldn't be charging up without asking.
I just had my electric bill double with a monthly renter in our home. He has Ben charging his car every night and we didn’t know. I’ve emaile him asking if he’d be willing to split the bill. I’ll keep you all posted. I’ve also updated my home agreement.
So your bill went from 30 to 60?
Hi Brandon, Southern California Edison customers pay on average about 33 cents a kilowatt hour. One guy charging his EV for about 14 hours a day (type 1 charger) over a 7 night stay added up to about $60, though not necessarily breaking the bank, it nevertheless incurs costs most guests do not burden their hosts with. I certainly plan on billing my guests who charge their vehicles in my house.
Btw, I do plan on installing a type 2 charger to attract more business. After all, we're in hospitality, and good hospitality should earn more money.
Oh Brandon! Im the original creator of this thread. Honestly dude, everything you’ve contributed here reads as argumentative and defensive. No clue what phone you have, mate, but mine takes an hour or so to charge from dead to full. Show me an EV that charges that fast! If you’re going to attempt to make comparisons at least have them be somewhat realistic. 🙄 We pay, on average, 24 cents per KW here in Ireland which = 15 Euro or so to fully charge an electric car. Your numbers are are ludicrous!
I had a guest just check out and had their EV plugged in to our standard outlet from 7:45 am until 4:30 the next evening. I called the power company and they checked usage during that time and the usage was 65.55 KH which amounted to $7.05. They plugged it back in later that evening and left it charging until check out the next day, probably another $5 or so. My house rents for $92 per night. If I had a monthly renter that did this the bill could be several hundred dollars. I will be adding rules to my policy regarding charging of EV's going forward to protect myself from even more insane power bills than we already pay.