Money Moral Dilemma: Should we pay for charging our electric car at other people's homes?

blanik

Herzlos said:

It's probably only a couple of quid worth of electricity at most, but it'd certainly be polite to offer to cover it, or buy some choccies or something as a trade.

Very roughly £2 per hour at daytime rates to gain 25 miles range.

Lets say the car had 150 mile range.
If the friends were 10 miles away then just drive there and back - no need to charge. And probably cheaper to charge at my home overnight on an off-peak tariff.
If the friends were 70 miles away, then I would want to charge while we had lunch and if my friends were EV owners they would also expect me to charge so that I could get home without any range anxiety.

Credz4

You wouldn't visit a petrol station and expect to refuel free of charge.  There should be scope on at home EV chargers to key in a pin number and be charged back to your own, so if borrowing a friends you still pay but not necessarily to your friend????

TGH

It's a no-brainer I would have thought.  Of course, you should or, better still ..... take the bus to visit them 

grandmafromnorth

This isn’t a moral dilemma at all. Of course you should pay for what you use. 

Unless your family and friends state categorically that they don’t wish to take any money, which in the current climate, I doubt will happen. 

Cant believe you even have to ask.

tomswimalott

How would you like your guest to arrive and say, 'I see you've got some petrol in cans in your garage, mind if I take some?' It wouldn't happen in ICE days, and nor should it happen in EV days. Plugging in any electric car is like boiling water in a powerful kettle for hour after hour - not cheap, and not guest-like.

primrose_penguin

Why don't you talk about this to the friends you visit? If it is a mutual arrangement when you visit each other and your visits are more or less equal then it evens out. Surely they have allowed you to do so and you don't just take it upon yourself to plug in, and you allow the same when they come to you. I would have thought this was a conversation you would have already had with them. If they don't visit you then yes you should offer to contribute.

onotimagen

Most guests wouldn't expect their host to pay for their trip home. It would certainly be impolite to effectively expect your host to contribute to your transport costs for the visit unless there's a reciprocal arrangement when you visit each other. The exception might be in very close relationship, child and parent, for example

ripongrammargirl

It would be reasonable and polite to ask if they would require payment as you don’t fill up at the petrol station and drive away without paying because it’s near your house (at least I hope not😁), but what would you say to yourself if these friends/relatives visited you and plugged in their car without asking? Would you be horrified/angry/OK? (Delete as applicable, but I’m sure you would feel a bit miffed at the cheek, as it’s still very new nonsense tech and few use it or ever will). Just common sense really-
ASK: communication is everything!

JayD

Clearly you should at the very least offer to pay - and maybe say that it would be less awkward if you both agreed to always pay for the electricity used when charging your cars in each other's homes, now that it has become so expensive.

ChristieJayne

I drive an electric car but my family and friends don’t - so I would offer to pay (I plug it in at the mains at their homes). But, seeing as you and your family and friends all have electric vehicles, no, I wouldn’t pay for the charging as they can charge their car at yours.