Etiquette for charging cars from plug sockets at AIRBNB

[Bimblebombles]

I help manage an AIRBNB. We've had a few guests bring cables / adaptors to charge electric cars from the house plugs, leaving the cables trailing out through the open windows. We don't have a formal outdoor charging point. None of them have asked if they can do it, I just see it on the CCTV of the front garden. We don't have any policy written about this in the house rules.

I have no idea how much energy is used charging electric cars from a normal plug point in your home as I don't own one.

Do you think its fair enough that a guest would want and expect to be able to charge their car from the plug points of a holiday cottage in this day and age? Is it something you do?

Bit concerned about the security issue of them leaving windows open if they go out in the other car etc...but how to word it. Should I include it as an additional "service" that we offer if they want to pay for the electricity used to charge the car, or is it not worth it?

Insight appreciated.

Hopefully you tell your guests about the camera in the front garden? You are supposed to. I think charging your car without paying a bit extra is a bloody cheek personally, but you could do an honesty payment if the financial cost is not worth the hassle of trying to police it.

It's going to be an increasing problem . We're facing this from the other side I've booked an Airbnb and we'll need to charge our new electric car. We've asked about charging at the house and we've been told there's an outside socket . We still don't know how it going to work /be paid for in practice . Or is if part of the hire charge which is £280 a night.

We are currently in an Airbnb and the rules say no charging EVs.

Yes of course - there are signs alerting people to the camera. Mainly had to install it as we would get bookings for "2 guests" when actually 5 would appear!

According to this site, it's about £10/per charge at home. www.bppulse.com/en-gb/going-electric/how-much-does-it-cost-to-charge-an-ev

I think the easiest thing to do would be to have a blanket 'no charging EVs' rule.

However, this would only work if there are local EV chargers you can point your guest towards instead. If you are rural, that might put people off booking though, so you could consider adding an extra charge (e.g. £5/day) for those wishing to charge their EV.

I think it depends how rural you are. If there is fast charging nearby then reasonable to say no charging but if you are 30mins from the nearest fast charge (not normal charge) then less reasonable. Could install a pay as you go charge point?

Sounds like a bit of a cheek, would you offer to pay their fuel to get home? I don't think it's a very efficient way to do it, very slow and I'm not sure how safe it is either, potential over heating of the wiring in the house. I would say there is no electric car charger available and the house electric must not be used for that purpose.

It costs me £7.50 to fully charge my EV using my EV charger, no special tariff. Not sure how it would differ using a normal socket and adaptor but if its not much different i cant say I'd be bothered!

Maybe look at getting a proper one installed, put a lock on it, and charge £10 per charge? You would have to unlock for the residents car on the app.

I have an EV. Charging from a normal household plug takes bloody ages - about 20 hours for a full charge. It's really not ideal to have guests regularly doing this from a safety perspective either. I agree with PP that it's better to make it clear that EV's are not to be charged in this way.

Every rental I've stayed in has said no EV charging in the Ts and Cs. Unless you are more than a couple of hours drive from the nearest charging point, of any speed, I would say that was quite reasonable. You wouldn't provide petrol or diesel, after all.

The agent I usually use charges the security deposit if people are caught charging and don't accept bookings from them again.

There's the electricity cost, but also check your house insurance for this - some exclude the use of home chargers on 240v sockets from their coverage.

I would advice against charging from an indoor socket. They are not built for it and they can quite easily overheat and start a fire. It's doubtful insurance company would pay out if there was a fire caused by this as it's not its indended use.

I would have a a 'no charging EVs' rule. Safety.

Thank you for the opinions, its helped clarify my thoughts. Especially the parts about overheating / insurance implications.

There are three EV charging stations in the village that the house is in walking distance from, so I think its fair enough that I can direct people to those and say no EV charging from the house.

People do it because it's free. And you haven't stated it as a no go.

I’d state no charging
I’d point out the fire hazard and that they will be liable if anything happens
I’d ask for a deposit
I’d take money off the deposit well in excess of using the public chargers if they ignore the rules

If you can I’d move their parking space well away from the property

Yes I guess people will just do what they can get away with.

Yes fire hazards the big one isn't it.

Unfortunately I can't as the parking spaces are right outside of the house windows.

We have an an EV and I wouldn't want to charge from an ordinary socket as it takes so long and when we are on holiday we want to be out and about, not sitting in the holiday home waiting for electrons to crawl down a wire. Public charging is expensive of course, but if, like most EV owners you do the majority of your charging at home where it is dirt cheap, the occasional pricey charge is not really a big issue. If we're away from home somewhere without a charger we'd always use a public one. It's taking a liberty to charge off a normal plug without the owner's permission and without paying for it.
In your shoes I would do one of two things. Either ban EV charging completely and direct people to the public chargers or install a proper charger and charge for its use. (Don't include it in your overall price as that's not fair to those who won't use it - we'd never expect to charge anywhere without paying directly for the electricity used.)
Obviously whether it is worth it depends on how many EV drivers you get as it costs around £1000 to install a charger. But it might be a good investment for the future. We certainly favour accomodation that has a charger and I expect that will become more common with time.

We have a holiday booked and enquired about EV charging.
Yes they have a charging point, they will calculate the cost of electricity used and deduct it from the refunded damage deposit.
Appears to be a simple solution.

The cottage sometimes has 3 guest changeovers a week (minimum 2 night stay). It could be a huge admin headache - getting meter readings before and after each stay, doing the maths with the bill.

It is probably easier if you have a proper charging point and an app linked to it to work out the cost more easily, but trying to break down a monthly bill from British Gas across multiple guests would be too much!

Unless there is a dedicated socket outlet for the EV charging I would say a blanket 'no' OP. Plugging an EV into a ring main doesn't comply with the wiring regulations, if you are going to charge this way it should be a dedicated circuit, and your earthing arrangement may not comply either.

Agree with you about the insurance implications.

People paying large amounts of money to stay in a place that should be a year round home for someone would normally expect to be able to plug in any electrical appliance, so no surprise you need to make it clear.

Install a prosper charging point and charge for its use? It will soon be a selling point (if it isn't already) - in the same way that no WiFi or no washing machine might put me off booking a place, more and more people look for an EV socket.

My parents own a holiday cottage and have an EV. The were worried about this.. it happened a few times and they were also worried about insurance etc. They got a charger fitted which obviously they use when they go but has a payment app so they don't have to do anything for people to charge when it's in ( you just scan a qr code) they did pay for it to be fitted but I think not full price as some is taken back from the app.