AIBU charging electric car without asking at Air BnB

[Needanadultgapyear]

We have an annex, it must remain part of the main property for planning purposes and therefore can not be on long term let as a separate home. We offer it on Air BnB it is near a major tourist attraction and a main road connect several UK ports to central and North England.
Our insurance excludes specifically charging electric cars, we put this in our listing and we are 5 minutes from a super fast charging point. If people ask I politely explain that we do not allow electric car charging and point them to the super fast charger.
We had guests a few days ago and DH noticed a wire from a bedroom to the car. So he went round and asked if they were charging. They claimed they were only charging mobile phones, but the wire did disappear.

I feel like this is CFery, but in RL people have said oh well it’s only a few pence.

We were in an air BnB needed to charge as it has a small battery so were just putting on for a couple of hours around lunchtime every day (wouldn't show up on a smart meter as less than cooker). No fast charger close enough so trickle charging just enough to get us back to motorway

That’s theft. Pure and simple.

We told the owners and they were okay with it

He's in the motor industry and is anti electric cars ..mmm...

Yup involved in the biofuel engine projection in motor racing. He’s been there done batteries etc - not impressed.

That's more fir charging speed - charging is faster when the battery isn't really full or empty

You can't make an engine - which basically needs a lot of heat, pressure, and a lot more moving parts - anywhere near as efficient and reliable as a battery and motor. It's simple physics.

We have in our t&cs that EV charging is expressly prohibited by our insurers and there is a penalty of £200 plus usage for anyone found to be in breach. We haven’t needed to enforce it yet.

I think it is really cheeky of them to charge their car without asking.

Not true. Tesla says to keep between 20-80% for optimum battery health in daily driving but even on long journeys, the guide says you shouldn’t be keeping the battery at 100% if you’re not going to be driving it shortly (keeping it sitting at fully charged regularly reduces long-term capacity, switches off regen braking, etc.).

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

My lead pulls 10A

Locking connectors are high amperage chargers.

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

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

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.

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.

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

😂

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.

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.