AIBU charging electric car without asking at Air BnB

Zombie thread on Facebook

Whatever the rights and wrongs of EV cars and their safety, many insurance companies won’t insure a holiday let to allow charging from a domestic socket unless it’s a dedicated car charging point fitted and certified by a qualified electrician. This costs £££ and as (in France anyway) it is illegal to sell on electricity at a profit, you can’t add anything on to cover the installation cost.
If it’s a complex of several lets, then it may be worth it, but for a stand alone, it’s not.

Wehave had guests drape their charging lead out of a window, across a path and through a flower bed to reach their car. I directed them to the local charging stations. No offer was made to pay for the electric used…
Personally I think it’s the same as going into my shed and topping up their petrol from can for my mower.

You can put a separate meter on the property to limit their energy use, I've stayed in a few properties that have had them (usually ones with saunas and things so if you go crazy on the electric you can buy more). So I would state in the information pack that electric car charging is against the terms of the property, there is an electric meter on the property and it will be sufficient to cover their stay but should they run low to let you know and you'll top up. That way people will know they can't sneakily charge cars. I'd also say if people are found to be charging you reserve the right to cancel their stay immediately without refund.

Tbh they can't use much electric without a proper car charger ... a three pin plug puts in very little charge.

Electrification for trains is more efficient than H2, just not always practical due to infrastructure costs, terrain or climate.

You can use hydrogen to power a fuel cell but overall efficiency is relatively low, although still better than a diesel engine.

Makes sense for ships. It surprises me that electrification of trains isn't more efficient than H2.

Yeah, electrolysis is "green", but the fact that a combustion engine is so inefficient is problematic. Because you are losing so much energy as heat, even if you made the hydrogen with renewable energy, you are going to need so much more / space resources (for wind turbines etc) to power that car.

If you want to rent on Airbnb fine but don’t claim it’s due to planning - that is easily sorted

Most hydrogen is produced by steam methane reforming. That certainly isn’t a very green process.

Using electricity to produce hydrogen by electrolysis is green, as long as the electricity source is green to start with. As you say, it is inefficient and you might as well use the electricity to directly charge a battery.

It does have its place as a fuel for heavy vehicles like trains or ships.

Well he is wrong BUT you have every right not to allow this.
We have an electric car so i always try to book somewhere with a charger but quite a few places specifically state you can't and it CAN be dangerous if you aren't using the correct type of plug etc.
I think you should explicitly state in your T's and C's that its not allowed.

Electric isn't a fire risk the way ICE cars are (and hydrogen is just a variant of that - just better waste products)

Hydrogen isn't very green because it's so inefficient. You have to crack water to get it, and energy is wasted in this process. Like with petrol cars, there's a lot of energy wasted in the engine, and there's not much you can do about that.

It's bloody cheeky.

Yes it's inexpensive if you are on an EV tariff and charge off peak but I doubt the OP is unless it's an all electric property.

You'd be hard pressed to use 50kwh across a stay but a full car battery charge will take that.

😂

https://youtube.com/shorts/KYHe2KjDV20?si=OOcE8mwM_AVqOiq8

not Sure why I’m bothering responding as your scientific brain is far superior to mine…but patrol and diesel are also a ‘fire risk’ and so is electric… the most recent vehicle fire I saw was a fully electric bus. Hydrogen is a genuine green fuel (or not fuel, but kind of!) but there are many issues, hence it has not been picked up in the mainstream.

I don't mean to imply that there is no risk. It's just that risk of fire with EVs has always been vastly overstated.

Yeah, hydrogen, can't see any fire risk there 🤔

Locking connectors are high amperage chargers.

Appliances like clothes dryers and some heaters do pull high currents for long periods of time, unattended.

My lead pulls 10A

It's a combination of 1) fairly high load (like a kettle), 2) for many hours (not like a kettle), 3) awkward or stretched cable routing, 4) unattended operation.

i.e. you plug the car in, stretch the cable a little because it's out of a window, or you can't get the car close enough. Then walk away.

The tension causes the plug to come out of the socket slightly. The car charger can work fine for few minutes, arcing and spluttering and melting the plug before eventually tripping a breaker (ask me how I know!!)

You are not risking a lithium battery fire, there's way more safety at the car end.

Also - low-current charging is fine and good, will extend the life of your car battery. But a proper EV charger has locking connectors at each end, and extra safety protocols before the current is delivered. So no chance of scorched plugs.

Should amend to this, although the box on the cable does have a purpose, it's exclusively to communicate with the vehicle the maximum current and duty cycle the cable is rated for, as well as providing earth fault protection in some cases(like an RCD). If the socket catches fire the cable will have no idea.

The lead is simply a lead. No safety features whatsoever besides a standard fuse. The car is doing the charging, the cable and charger are dumb.

Yes. Do not use it without an EV rated power outlet. Although UK power sockets are rated for 13A, that is not a continuous rating. Anything over 10A for a sustained period can cause the socket to melt and catch fire.

That's for the older (or LR/P) Ni batteries. Not true for LFP.

The difference is the draw of a hairdryer and the draw of a granny charger (and potential fire risk) is quite different. Also if they go for a full charge, could get expensive!

Yes - especially using a granny charger. Potential fire risk if nothing else - you don’t know your AirBnB building’s electrical situation!