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

Thrugelmir

Why not take your washing round as well. Or if they’ve a tumble drier your wet washing for drying. There’s endless moral dilemmas that one can dream up. All amount to the same thing. A free lunch at somebody else’s expense.  Such is the world we live in. Money comes first. Everything else becomes secondary.

MalMonroe

The ideal solution would be for you to just charge your car at your own home before you visited. Then park outside in the normal way without charging at friends and relatives' houses. Or, as someone else has suggested, have a reciprocal arrangement and then nobody will worry. Hopefully. I'd be annoyed if someone just rolled up at my home and plugged their car in. Especially in these times, as you say, of rising energy prices. Especially since electricity is by far the most expensive fuel right now. Where I live, anyway.

tastyfish

TripleH said:

But would you ask before you charge your mobile phone?

What about using their WiFi?

A phone typically uses 2-3W, a fast car charger uses 7000W. A mobile phone costs about 0.0625p, a car about £1.80, to charge per hour. Ridiculous to even compare the two. As someone else said, would you expect your hosts to fill your car up?

As for the person who suggested that costs for any meal provided by the hosts could be covered, well, the host invited you round for a meal, they didn't invite you round to charge or fill up your car.

crmism

I can’t believe you are asking this question. You are using someone else’s electricity without paying for it and wondering if that’s right? Ask yourself - how would you feel if a total stranger did the same to you?

Freecall

crmism said:

how would you feel if a total stranger did the same to you?

To be fair the OP did say going round to friends rather than to visit 'a total stranger'.

Having said that, why would you go round with an empty car in the first place?  I have never turned up at a friends house asking for petrol diesel or electricity for my car.

Presumably they have invited you because they want to see you and have little interest in your transport arrangements.  Surely the politest thing to do is to ensure that you have sufficient fuel in the first place and not to turn up with an empty tank.

Herzlos

If they already have an EV charger then they'd probably rather you charged whilst there instead of stopping at a rapid charger en route.