Electric Vehicle charger for a hotel

DrEskimo

The Co charger app is really not a widely used app by the currently minority of EV owners. Zap map and plugshare are widely used, and it would not feature on there unless someone added it. That could happen regardless of whether you are on co-charger or not.

I think the risks of people knowing your hotel has a charger and purposely coming to your space to get free charging is very very small. Particularly if the hotel isn't in the centre of somewhere, where people would happily park up for hours and go visit some place else.

In any case, the cost to you if this unlikely scenario was to occur would be pretty negligible anyway...an hours charging at a standard rate would be just over £1....

For all your other points (i.e. ease of charging and tracking electricity for guests that book with the system), the app seems an ideal solution.

born_again

nickhampson said:

born_again said:

Seasonal or not. It should increase customers. Might even mean some off season bookings.

https://chargebase.co.uk/workplaces/hotels

We close 5 months of the year so arent available for off season bookings

Some good ideas here.

https://www.speakev.com/threads/thinking-of-putting-a-charging-point-on-our-b-b.136808

ElefantEd

Our (home) charger has a simple key on it, so it would be simple to turn it off and keep teh key at reception for use by guests or by EV owners who are paying  (and you could charge £5 for an hours charge or something like that).

I have to say that a hotel where I could charge my car would be a real incentive for me to stay there - so you might well recoup your costs in extra custom.

Keep_pedalling

ElefantEd said:

Our (home) charger has a simple key on it, so it would be simple to turn it off and keep teh key at reception for use by guests or by EV owners who are paying  (and you could charge £5 for an hours charge or something like that).

I have to say that a hotel where I could charge my car would be a real incentive for me to stay there - so you might well recoup your costs in extra custom.

£5 an hour would be seen by most EV drivers as excessive. On a single phase 7kW charge point the actual hourly cost for electricity would be just over a pound. With a 22kW 3 phase charger in the region of £3.30 (although the AC chargers in most EVs only allow charging at 11kW so in reality half that) 

Most hotels and B&Bs with destination charge points make them free to use for customers. For most it makes good business sense to attract customers who are happy to spend £30k upwards on a new car, and the cost to administer a fair charging system probably does not make it worthwhile.

if the hotel already has a 3 phase supply I would consider installing 2 or even 3 7kW charge points rather than a single 22kW.

nickhampson

We are next to a busy beach and people do struggle to park when they visit.

I think I will just put it on our website as a facility. We are over 96% occupied April, May, June and October and 99% July August and September anyway so not using or needed as a selling feature.

The idea of handing a key sounds good, @ElefantEd which charger do you have? May put a 7kW with a key and a three pin plug in a lockable box in separate spaces. Sure we could set up a simple booking system

The app sounds more agro than its worth, more a feature for year round sharing

ElefantEd

This is what our charger looks like - you can see the key is a simple bike-lock type thing; enough to prevent casual use. Apologies for the bird poo on it, we have several swallow families living in the same space! The label on the charger says ChargeMaster - it was installed about 7 years ago so I don't know if they are still available. Total cost was about £600 IIRC. It didn't cost us anything as half was paid by the UK govt and the rest by the Scottish govt.

Yes, £5 would be a lot for an hours charge, I was thinking of a longer, full-ish charge (3-4 hours maybe) depending on the car. It depends if you want to encourage or deter people. If you are near a busy beach you don't want to make it cheaper than ordinary parking!

nickhampson

So.....

Looking like a pod-point solo 7kW with a lock. Any guest that stays can get the key and any electricity used will show on the app and can be charged.

Any pitfalls anyone can see?

DrEskimo

nickhampson said:

So.....

Looking like a pod-point solo 7kW with a lock. Any guest that stays can get the key and any electricity used will show on the app and can be charged.

Any pitfalls anyone can see?

Nope, sounds like a simple and elegant solution!

Will you provide any markup on the cost to charge, or simply charge what ever your electricity provider charges you at?

Typically around £0.15/kWh, but I certainly wouldn't begrudge paying around £0.20/kWh for the privilege.

nickhampson

Will you provide any markup on the cost to charge, or simply charge what ever your electricity provider charges you at?

Typically around £0.15/kWh, but I certainly wouldn't begrudge paying around £0.20/kWh for the privilege.

Probably round it up to to the nearest 50p or £1 for ease but if its peanuts probably wont bother

mobileron

In the early days of wifi,sales reps would only stay in a hotel that had it.So more business for you.