Where Can I Charge My Electric Car?

By Author: Peter Clarck
Total Articles: 19
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Charging your electric car is easy if you have your own garage or an open space beside your house where you can park your car. You may need to install an exterior power outlet if the outside of your home is not already equipped with one, but that is a relatively simple endeavor. You just need to install a charging point to an exterior wall. Then, all you have to do is plug the car in to charge overnight, or whenever is convenient for you.

The challenge for some electric car owners comes when they do not have their own personal garage or parking space in which to charge their cars. This is the case for car owners who park their cars in a communal parking lot, making it difficult to charge the car overnight. You will need to speak to the person who is in charge of the lot space about parking your car near an electrical outlet – possibly reserving the spot. This agreement may entail paying an extra charge for the reserved space, along with paying the difference for the electricity that you will be using to charge your car. Most owners find that making an arrangement such as this is easy enough. If there is sufficient ...
... power supply, the cost should not be high.

If your home or parking garage does not have an outside outlet, you may need to install a free-standing charging post with underground cables running from the main power supply. The cost varies, but can be expensive, depending on how extensive the work is.

Some owners opt to use long cables that connect to an indoor outlet, which can then be plugged to the car from a short distance. If your parking space is out at the curbside, it may not be possible for you to charge your car from a power outlet in your house. This may be due to distance, but also because letting the cable trail over walkways can be a tripping hazard for people (and a possible lawsuit for you).

One clever method some people have found to make roadside charging possible is to run a cable from their house and up into a tree near the edge of the sidewalk. A charging socket can then be fitted inside the tree and made to look like a bird’s nest, with the cable threaded from the tree’s branch down to your car. This is a clever and artistic way of installing a charging socket for roadside charging.

Another option to consider, if you do not have a driveway but do have a yard space, is using your yard space to park your car for charging. While a small yard is typically not large enough to accommodate a conventional car, electric cars have the benefit of being more compact and easier to fit in small spaces, such as a yard space. You will very likely have to first make arrangements with your local council office or homeowners association to have a “drop curb” installed in the footpath near your house – to convert your small yard into a mini driveway. This would create a space in which you would have easy access to electricity from your home for the charging of your electric car.

Some countries have been able to make roadside charging easier to accomplish for electric car owners by setting up power bollards – thick, low posts that have electrical outlets built into them. You can speak with your local council officials about having a power bollard installed in your neighborhood, close to your home. Depending on the subsidies that are available for supporting community use of electric vehicles, your community council may be able to fund the installation of power bollards with help from earmarked green funds. The cost will vary from place to place and installation is never cheap, but the powers that be may be convinced of the long term investment value of pursuing this green technology.

There are also some car owners who make special arrangements with owners of local businesses to allow them to charge their cars from these business establishments. Making this kind of arrangement has many advantages:

• It helps local businesses foster goodwill in the community and builds a reputation for the business as an environment-friendly establishment.
• The presence of car owners charging their cars outside the establishment after business hours discourages burglars and vandals.

Even if your house is just a short distance from your office, it is still convenient to be able to charge from your office parking lot.

If your office has a private parking area for employees, you should make inquiries about whether you can charge your car from there. You can have an outside power outlet installed for regular charging from your office parking space, or you may trail a power cable from a window for occasional charging.

Many major cities and towns have installed public charging points, and more and more charging points are being installed as years go by and electric cars become more prevalent. It is important to know the location of the charging points in your area before you bring your new car home. Even if you do not need to use them on a regular basis, it still pays to know where they are for when you do need them.

The batteries made for electric cars are large and unwieldy. In fact, they are almost the same size as a large-sized combustion engine. They are much too heavy to move single handedly. In fact, you may need some equipment to lift the batter out of your car. Electric car batteries are made to be installed and removed at a service station, not in a home garage. A final option that may be considered attractive to some electric car drivers is battery swapping. While this is not yet widespread, there is a company known as Better Place that has created a business model based on battery swapping stations. They are currently working together with Renault to create electric cars with batteries that can be swapped out – uncharged for charged.

About Author:

Peter Clark is an energy and water management specialist guiding others to save energy and water. Check www.Solar365.com if you like to know more about electric cars.