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?

Airbnb owners should just charge electricity as an extra.
We do rent out a holiday home and it’s been a long time we’ve been charging tenants for electricity costs. This is a clause in the contract where we specify we do a meter check on arrival/departure. This decision was initially motivated by the heating of the pool in season but we’ve realised that some people do take the piss with things like heating. We’ve therefore had this clause all year long for some time now to make people more responsible for their own consumption. Initially it was more as a principle but it is now a necessity!

I have an Airbnb and wouldn't have a problem with you doing this.

The same as when a family with twin newborns stayed for a week and the washing machine, tumble dryer and heating were on 24 hours a day. They appeared to have brought all their dirty washing with them.

And the 4 friends who never seemed to leave and were on their laptops and teams calls all day.

I factor in general utilities usage and set my rental rates appropriately

My residential home has a small unit on the property.
We live in a tourist area, there are no hotels.
The unit has a covenant on it that we are not permitted to use it as long term accommodation so we can only use as short term accommodation for tourists. It was set as that so as not to bother the neighbours!
As it is we support the market in a small isolated location that is ENTIRELY reliant on tourist dollars. Also after income tax we make about $100 a weekend and it is extreme amounts of work for me and my DH who work full time ensuring our guests are comfortable and the place is clean and set up well.
Your view is very one sided.

i would charge it at the property. Using the three pin charger isn’t a fire risk. It isn’t really comparable to filling up a petrol car.

Just been away my friend charged her car didn't even think about asking given the weekend was £1600 I think a £7 charge is reasonable and not cheeky at all. If it stipulates no charging then that is fair enough don't charge.

Normally neighbours won’t even notice let alone care however in our holiday cottage last week we had to run the cable across the pavement- used a thing to flatten it so far less of a trip hazard but neighbours can def kick off about such things

Do it. It’s their lookout if they don’t stipulate no EVs. I expect most of the people saying they wouldn’t/they’d pay extra are lying anyway just to make themselves feel better.

If they're fool enough not to prohibit charging of electric vehicles then go for it, it's not your problem. As much as I'm anti-EV on principle (they shouldn't be rolled out until the technology is actually better for the environment through the whole lifecycle than a clean, efficient petrol car - it's a long way from that, we need biodegradable batteries etc first) the fire risk is overstated these days. In any case I'm sure your car is insured against fire, the host should have insurance in case a guest burns the place down, and they should have an alarm to alert you if there is a fire.

Ok, so in the case of an EV car, its not the time it takes to charge it that determines the cost, its the size of the battery so you work it out by the size of the batter, doesnt matter how many hours its plugged in?

We simply cant afford an EV at the moment, we dont need new cars at the moment anyway, usually have them running for around 10 years. Even my partner with a huge commute, we sat down and did the maths (which actually was with much much lower electric costs than are being quoted here, Im quite shocked at the costs ) it wouldnt have been cost effective to get one for him.

I wouldn't do it. I would ask the owners and then it's up to them if they wish to charge you extra. Essentially you'd be asking the owners to fund your travel whereas if you had a petrol car you'd be paying for the petrol yourself.

It's not, what a bizarre comment.

I'd charge at the air bnb. You are paying for it and it's only £7. As more people get EVs charging overnight on holidays will just be expected. If the owner doesn't like it then they'll have to put a surcharge or clause in for future users. Any info on the website?

^^wss

That's a problem with your house electrics and wiring not the car charging! I'd get someone else to check the lot.

When we moved into our new house we had the same happen to our dishwasher despite safely and happily running at our old house for years. Turns out the electrics at the new house were a dangerous mess and that particular plug had been wired in backwards!

We've actually got friends staying who charged their EV at the weekend. Compared to our normal electric bill it was £6.80 more than our usual daily bill.

It's the cost of a beer. It's the cost of us hiring 3 extra towels in our Airbnb. Compared to the hundred(s) a night you are paying it's nothing.

Sharing your home…. in return for a fee.

doesn’t sound so altruistic now huh!?

of course you’re making money, you’re at least covering costs and if not then you’re inflicting far greater wear and tear on your home than needed for nothing.

How do you feel about leaving a 'fridge or freezer running overnight?

Or even a central heating pump in the winter?

Environmental cost over the lifetime of a car is already far better for an ev than an ice. The batteries are reusable as house batteries. Fire risk is far less in an ev than an ice.

A bit of googling suggests that watching a TV for 8 hours would cost less than 20p - obviously variable depending on the size and type of tv and cost per unit of electric. So if ops calculations of seven pound to charge the car, its more than 30 x more.

Plus would most people watch 8 hours of tv anyway?

Just pop into a supermarket to grab food and charge it while you're there! The tescos by me offers free charging.

Yes I considered that too but didn’t want to penalise the decent people out there.

There is a risk to the holiday let owner if people try and use an ordinary socket. Some older installations are not rated for it. I had to have a dedicated spur from my consumer unit and update all my circuit breakers to an ultrafast one although the current one was perfectly ok. We also put in a metal consumer unit which again we didn’t actually have to just in case.

It’s cost me a lot of money to protect my property from freeloaders like the OP

The chargers in Supermarkets are crap though. They don’t give enough charge. Using them for an hour or so makes little difference.

To charge properly you need the super fast charges. The majority of which are usually broken. Charging cars in the U.K. is a nightmare.

Twaddle. The infrastructure has its issues but I've only ever found a small percentage of broken chargers in 4 years of ownership.

Horses for courses though. Last time I used a free 7kW charger I was at the cinema for 3 hours and my car was fully topped up. Same goes for the shopping mall.

Ok, so in the case of an EV car, its not the time it takes to charge it that determines the cost, its the size of the battery so you work it out by the size of the batter, doesnt matter how many hours its plugged in?

We simply cant afford an EV at the moment, we dont need new cars at the moment anyway, usually have them running for around 10 years. Even my partner with a huge commute, we sat down and did the maths (which actually was with much much lower electric costs than are being quoted here, Im quite shocked at the costs ) it wouldnt have been cost effective to get one for him.

The two are connected (time and battery capacity) but essentially yes. The larger the battery the higher the cost to charge.

I agree about the costs to some extent but prices will come down. And more used stock will be available in time. It worked out for me as I'm a business owner so received a lot of tax incentives, although for private customers, salary sacrifice schemes look pretty good.

Still, in the current climate we're all better off spending as little as possible!

@Elphame you think providing safe electrics for tenants is you going above and beyond 😳 wow just wow 😮

I'd contact the AirBnB host and ask them if it would be OK and say you'll pay the cost of the electricity (or offer a set amount based on what you know it costs you to charge it at home). If they say no, then at least you'll know to not take the car, or use a public charging point.

I wouldn't want to do it without their permission.

This is something that AirBnB hosts are going to have to get used to/amend their T's & C's to allow/not allow.

I had an EICR done the year before - we were absolutely fine. Passed with no issues so my electrics were perfectly safe. Having the upgrade took us to gold standard.

We have it done as a matter of routine every 5 years and have done since we started.

You are aware that it is not a legal requirement for holiday cottages to have any professional electrical safety checks? Bear that in mind the next time you choose your cheap AirBnb!

( BTW I don't have tenants. Holiday makers occupy under licence not tenancy)