to charge an EV at AirBnB?

[1805]

We have booked an air BnB which does not stipulate it has a car charging point.
I said we should use our electric car to get there, then use the 3 pin plug cable (through a window probably) to give the car a trickle charge overnight.
DH says we should pay to use a public charger. I reckon it would cost around £7 to charge it up overnight. £15 on a public charger.
WWYD? Charge or not charge?

Thank you, I do find this really hard to work out

Ive just checked our bill and its definitely 29p per thing

I dont know how to know whether I have a peak or off peak? Its Eon Flex

I dont really understand when you say you have a 33kw battery but then also a 7kw battery, what does this mean

I keep an eye on the EV option from time to time, we wouldnt mind one, one day but I dont understand all the numbers and I have zero patience for waiting for a car to charge, I want it to be as quick as petrol (and I cant even stand the time spent filling up either!)

@1805 that will be terribly poor form from
you. They have a charger, but have chosen to NOT mention this in the listing? For the sake of £8, why are you prepared to get a bad Airbnb review? do the right thing and charge it at a public point.

i despair sometimes

I think it's absolutely taking the piss and poor manners to do this and not ask. It's clearly outside the realms of normal use. I'd ask and offer payment.

It might affect their insurance in some way too if it's not a suitable connection and something happens. Don't put anyone in that position.

After googling, I've worked out that a Tesla model 3 battery holds ten thousand times as much charge as a phone battery.

@Yabbadubba
I am assuming the property does not have an installed EV charger. Hence this whole discussion.

THIS.
It's completely unreasonable to steal their power like this.

It shouldn't be a fire risk, if there's nothing wrong with the wiring in the house. I suppose it's unlikely that any socket you use will ever have experienced this level of demand, so I guess plugging in a car charging cable is a good way of finding out if the socket wiring and associated breaker are up to scratch.

Next time someone asks I think it would be totally reasonable to say that’s fine but I would charge x per kw/h

some areas are real black spots for EVs and we really appreciate being able to use rentals ‘ electricity in this way, but woudl
never assume

Charge it but OBVIOUSLY pay for it, you know perfectly well electricity is crazy prices and they won’t be expecting this.

Don’t be a dick and don’t pretend you don’t know you’re being a dick in the Hope a load of strangers will give you permission to be a dick.

@ReviewingTheSituation .. we also had this conversation when camping last week - the campsite we were at had signs up, saying that EV charging was not permitted. We also had the - 'we only use the electricity to charge our phones, while one of our friends who we call the queen of glamping, has many many electrical appliances.' Some win, some loose and hopefully the campsite owners do OK out of it.. I suspect that a surcharge will be introduced where campsites can off EV charging.

We recently stayed in an Airbnb with no charger and no local chargers and they stipulated we were NOT to charge EVs at the property.
Luckily we took both the EV and my diesel (which we used for pottering around day to day) but we had to go into Holyhead to charge the EV which was a massive ballache.
i don’t remember it specifying that in the original Airbnb listing but when we got the full rules through near the time of our stay it was in there, so might be worth double checking the full rules.

They may say no as the wire may have to trial across and that is a trip risk to other guests potentially
Don't assume you can just plug in

@Sumlove funny how so many others are saying no risk etc , who obviously don't read the finer details

A few things to add into this conversation.

1. If the property is a separate building then it should be on business rates and it will be paying business prices for electric (much higher than domestic).
2. Most places insurance will either stipulate no EV charging or an additional cost. So if the advert says no it really means no. You might be taking on the responsibility for paying if the property is burgled or suffers any damage.
3. A domestic power supply doesn’t necessarily have the right fuses, circuits etc to charge a car safely again, no means no. This could be a fire while you are sleeping.
4. There are loads of safety checks and assessments that have to be done done and filled in for rentals. This could all be made invalid by someone dangling a lead out of a window and tripping the postie who then sues.

Over time most places will have dedicated chargers but until then check first.

if it’s that important to you tick the box that says EV charging available.

I own a short let with an external parking space, and wouldn't think it's an unreasonable use of the facilities (though I'm an EV driver most days).

Electrical safety: it will draw about 2½kW, a bit more than most kettles, but for hours rather than minutes. So if the electrics look a bit vintage, I wouldn't. Find the breakers and make sure you can see which one to reset if it trips. You already know not to use an extension cord, but the closer to the breaker the better really.

Cost: About 70-100p per hour you're plugged in (these days), and most owners wouldn't expect that kind of usage. So you need to offer to pay.

Security: Obviously you don't want to leave the house unlocked overnight, but maybe the location is such that an open window won't be a problem, or can be latched or something.

So absolutely ask the owner, but on the assumption that it's a perfectly reasonable use. Make sure you address those angles and offer to pay £1/hr to more than cover their cost. I'm interested to know how it works out!

We were introduced to EV cars when I was loaned one as a replacement car for 2 months. As we didn't have a wall charger, we had to use the 3KW trickle charger through our window as the only way to charge at home.

no postman tripped over the cable, no one climbed in through the open window, and we did not have a fire.

The property does not mention EV charging at all.
I'm going to consult ZapMap to decide which car to take anyway.

@bellac11 33kw is how much their battery can hold when it is full. 7kwh is how many kw the charger can put into the battery each hour.

So we have a 77kw battery and a 7kwh charger so it would take 11 hours to charge our battery from completely empty to completely full (77/7 = 11).

A plug in charger like the OP wants to use has a lower kWh charge rate so it would take longer to fill the battery but if left plugged in till the battery is filled it would still cost the same amount as it would take the same number of kw to fill it. Just takes longer.

Im getting awful flashbacks from school

If 2 men, fill 3 buckets over 19 hours, to fill a bath of 40 litres, yada yada yada......

So to use your price @bellac11 it would cost £22.33 to completely fill my car (77 x £0.29] no matter whether I filled it with a proper EV charger or with a plug in cable.

Can you not contact the owner/host and ask???

You are very cheeky to consider this. Plug your car in at a proper charging station.

There's an Airbnb in our cul de sac. I often see cables running into the house guests charging their cars at night. It's not a good area for public chargers

Thats quite a lot

What is it at public chargers, more or less?

How many miles can you get out of that?

So you would be saving £15 by using the accommodation electricity… and your saving of £15 gives them an extra expense of £7 .

Give them the money. You’re still £8 ahead.

Why? Surely you can either factor this into your charges, or stipulate that it's not allowed.