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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Etiquette about electric cars- views??

134 replies

AWanderingMinstrel · 28/12/2023 20:53

First thread, long term user. Just interested in views.
Given that more people are buying electric cars , what do you think will become the correct etiquette for charging when visitors come to your house?
Given that if someone comes to visit me in a petrol car, I don’t pay for their petrol to visit me ( should they need to fill up) what do you think is the right approach if someone arrives in an electric car to your home ( possibly staying overnight) has no more charge , and then charges their car enough to get home using your electricity??
AIBU- to not allow people to charge, you are not responsible for their costs to visit you
AINBU- visitors are coming to see you, their car needs charging, it’s convenient for them to charge during their visit to you, you bear the cost of their travel

OP posts:
DIYandEatCake · 28/12/2023 22:14

This is an interesting one - we’ve had an electric car for 6 years now and dh and I have different opinions still on this. He has no problem asking relatives/friends if he can plug it in at their house - he offers to pay, so sees no problem. I feel awkward about this as it feels like people will decline the offer to pay to be polite, but then be out of pocket. A few hours’ slow charging used to be cheap but electricity costs have gone up so much. I prefer to find a charger on the way so we don’t have to put anyone in an awkward position.

ThingsgetbetterwithalittlebitofRazzmatazz · 28/12/2023 22:21

I've never needed to charge when visiting someone's house and would be much more convenient to use fast chargers on the journey generally. I would probably ask at my parents' house if i needed to, but i can get there and back on one charge so never had any need.
At my house I'd be happy to let visitors use our charger, but it would take a bit of car juggling to make that work and there are public chargers on my road anyway so in reality any guests would probably just use those.

CormorantStrikesBack · 28/12/2023 22:23

Iquitelikedthatone · 28/12/2023 21:30

Because they'd have to wait for their car to charge

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Which I assume they knew when they bought an EV!

Gusti · 28/12/2023 22:32

We have a an electric car and always offer people the charger when they come to stay. It's a tenner and if that threw me over the edge financially I suppose I'd say and ask them. Otherwise I wouldn't dream of asking. It's like charging them to flush the loo.

Qwerty556 · 28/12/2023 22:37

I think it will produce agonisingly British conversations.

Can I charge my car up? I'll pay.
Oh no don't be silly. Just plug it in.
Are you sure?
Of course I'm sure.
Are you sure?
Of course I'm sure.
OK then. If you're sure.
Of course I'm sure.

Quietly to DP 'Don't invite them again. The bastards didn't pay!'

Simpledimples · 28/12/2023 22:38

I have an EV. I'd never expect to charge at someone's house, I have never used the home plug chargers as they're not advised to use regularly, plus they're super slow! So many more fast chargers roundabout now. I always plan a charge for long journeys, but I have 300 mile range so that is rare. I have a home charger and would let a visitor use it as it's cheaper overnight.

GoodlifeGlow · 28/12/2023 22:48

We have an ev, we plug it in at our parents as we travel a long way to get there.

i think it’s polite to offer to pay and always would. Our app shows us how much electricity we’ve used so it’s easy to work out the cost. Plus home charging even on a trickle charger is so much cheaper than using a charging station at 80p kWh. At home we pay 30p peak and 7.5p off peak, even at our most expensive rate it’s over half the price of public chargers.

AliceMcK · 28/12/2023 22:50

I think it’s an interesting and difficult question. My first thought is that it would be difficult for us as we are surrounded by double yellow lines, parking close to our house is hit and miss as it’s parking roulette around here. We do have a commercial charger about 2 mins drive from our house so I’d probably direct people there.

When thinking about my family, I can’t see how they would cope as most are on prepay meters, their rates are ridiculous, they are the sort of people to give a house guest their last piece of bread, but coping with house guests charging cars I don’t think they could.

pizzaHeart · 28/12/2023 23:02

We don’t have EV or charger but in principle in the current situation I would be ok with visitors charging their cars as no one visits us for overnight (no space) and all day visitors are very close friends coming for a short visit.
However I can see how in different circumstances it might be an issue.

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 28/12/2023 23:08

Our nearest public charger is 7 miles away. I'd let them charge! But if people are coming from such a distance that they use a whole charge, then maybe they could stop en route for a break and charge, once or twice. Assuming fast chargers are available and working.

BrimfulOfMash · 28/12/2023 23:08

I suspect that the technology and infrastructure will catch up with this, with the ability to use a code to PAYG at domestic chargers.

TooDyed · 28/12/2023 23:09

Waitingfordoggo · 28/12/2023 21:39

Personally if I’ve invited someone to visit, it’s because I want to spend time with them so I’d rather they charge their car here so we can spend that time together rather than insisting they waste hours standing around at a charging point en route. Seems petty.

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Not so petty when you discover you paid £30 for the privilege of their visit though ?
( if they are using your electricity)

Jeannie88 · 28/12/2023 23:20

Oh such a new world dilemma! I would let any guests charge up I think if they travelled to come and see me, local visits would get a quick charge xx

RiverCartwright · 28/12/2023 23:27

For me it’s pointless really unless the people I’m visiting have a dedicated charger, a ‘granny’ charge on a 3 pin plug would take far too long.
I do a regular, long trip to visit DD. I could spend all day charging on her drive or just use the fast charger at the shop up the road and be done with in half an hour. Suspect a lot of people would do the same.

visitors here could happily hook up to my dedicated charger, it’s about £2.70 a full charge on the tariff I’m on.

Faz469 · 28/12/2023 23:30

We own a leaf. We have the British gas ev tariff. If we charge overnight, it costs roughly £6 for a full charge.

I'd never ask to charge the car at someone else's house. As for others charging at ours, we don't have any friends with evs, so it's moot point, lol.

Alittlenonsensenowandthen · 28/12/2023 23:45

Hmmm... interesting. As a non EV owner, my first thought was £60 is a lot to offer for guests because my simple brain translated full charge with a full fuel tank i.e around £60 for me.
Obviously with electric being much cheaper, £10-£12 wouldn't be so bad but it could rack up if you had loads of visitors over the year....

So my jury is out but Feels cheeky to plug into my elec tbh.

Lemoncurd · 28/12/2023 23:45

We've not felt comfortable to ask when staying overnight somewhere, neither has charging been offered. This week we stayed somewhere a 90 mile drive each way, not far enough to need a charge , easily got there and back. When we got home the battery was down to about 25% remaining and cost £2.25 to charge back up to 80% on our EV tariff overnight. The day rate or non EV tariff would have been more like £9.60.

Even though we have a charger, and would do what we could to accommodate, it might be a hassle to charge a guest car due to moving cars around and setting it up to work with their car.

PeloMom · 28/12/2023 23:48

Hmm so far have only let family travelling to us charge. We use our charger all the time; 2 streets down from our place there are charging stations so I’d imagine I’d direct people there?

countrybump · 28/12/2023 23:56

I’m at my mum’s house at the moment. I’ve travelled across the country to get here and my EV is on charge in her garage - on a very slow charge plugged into a normal electric point and it will take 20 odd hours to charge to full. I don’t pay her for this, but she’s my mum so it’s a bit different I suppose. However, if I’ve travelled a long way to stay with friends or family I’ve always charged my car, and I’ve never been asked to pay - although I have offered. But, if someone with an EV is visiting me I would also be happy for them to charge up and I wouldn’t want anything for it. I know I can cover it though, and maybe I’d feel differently if that wasn’t the case. I have several friends and colleagues who have electric cars and it’s pretty common for us to offer charging to each other - if it’s reciprocal it’s less of an issue - so maybe as more people get EVs this is what will happen?
Although- to add I rarely need to charge at someone else’s house. If I do it’s because I’ve done a huge journey to get there, or because I already know I can charge there and have planned that with them because I’m working there for the day etc.

kitsuneghost · 29/12/2023 00:01

Depends how tight you are. I would offer money but wouldn't take it.

TimeFlysWhenYoureHavingRum · 29/12/2023 00:02

If the government invests properly in renewable energy it won't be an issue. There is no reason why energy needs to be expensive. The current situation is a choice.

Anyotherdude · 29/12/2023 00:03

@Tiggles you are adorably naive if you think that cheaper electricity will still be available once everyone (or even most) are driving EV’s: the Gov’t will be losing billions of revenue on tax from fossil fuels - where do you think they’ll recoup that loss from?

kitsuneghost · 29/12/2023 00:04

Is it really £20-30 for a full charge though
I thought it was cheaper than petrol

RiverCartwright · 29/12/2023 00:14

kitsuneghost · 29/12/2023 00:04

Is it really £20-30 for a full charge though
I thought it was cheaper than petrol

Most people have dedicated EV Tariffs which bring it down to a few pounds for home charging. If you need to charge on the go it’s more expensive.
Really depends on the car and personal circumstances though. You wouldn’t really buy a lower range EV if you travelled long distances and needed to charge away from home on a regular basis you’d buy something with greater range so you had less on the go charging.
Mine is quite a low range but 95% of my journeys are very local so almost all of my charging is done at home and is much much cheaper than the diesel 4x4 I ran before.

MigGirl · 29/12/2023 00:44

Doublerainbow23 · 28/12/2023 21:16

Isn't it about the fire risk too? I thought that simply plugging into a normal plug was a fire risk compared to a properly installed charger.

This isn't a problem, cars only trickle charge with a standard plug. The whole point of having a charging point fitted is so you can charge the car at a faster rate. You can trickle charge a Nissan leaf overnight, but you wouldn't be able to fully charge a Tesla or such overnight on a plug as they have a much larger range.