Cost and process for EV charging for street parking?

[Anonymous]

We live in Montgomery County, are about to purchase a plug-in hybrid, and park on the street (no driveway or garage), about 35-40 feet from the side of our house (our electrical panel is right up against that front wall.) Any sense of what our options are for charging, what the process and requirements with the county are (including if/when trenching is required), and what the costs might be?

Can folks share how much you paid for an EV charging setup for street parking, where you live, what you were required to do for permitting purposes, etc?

Thanks so much!

[Anonymous]

This is a really dumb idea.

[Anonymous]

Can you build a driveway or parking pad that would be closer to the panel?

[Anonymous]

You put the charger at your house and you run the cable to your car

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You put the charger at your house and you run the cable to your car

Charging cables are typically only 25 ft long, and I think there are electrical codes that preclude longer cables.

[Anonymous]

"n Maryland, EV charging regulations for street charging vary from county to county. Montgomery County allows residents to install curbside charging at the owner's expense. This is only allowed when on-site opportunities do not exist or cannot be created, and they require obtaining a right-of-way permit. "

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/DPS/Process/combuild/commercial-ev-charging.html#:~:text=What%20are%20the%20requirements%20for,sealed%20by%20a%20Maryland%20PE.&text=If%20a%20new%20service%20is,stating%20the%20variable%20fault%20current

[Anonymous]

Several of my neighbors have had car chargers installed near the street. This work all needs to be permitted and inspected; dedicated circuit breaker added to the electrical panel, underground conduit to the charger, concrete base for mounting the car charger, etc.

The cost was several thousand dollars although I think they got some money from the car dealer and the federal tax credit.

[Anonymous]

What if the spot is taken when you need to charge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if the spot is taken when you need to charge?

You're out of luck, and will either run on the ICE engine or will charge elsewhere. If the charging point isn't secured, someone else could also steal your electricity.

If you build charging infrastructre outside your home's perimeter, make sure you have liability and damage insurance coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you build a driveway or parking pad that would be closer to the panel?

I assume that would be way more expensive than installing a charger, unless driveway installation is cheaper than I think it is?

(And we're not worried about people trying to park in our spot, it's not an issue in our neighborhood.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if the spot is taken when you need to charge?

This is exactly the problem my neighbor ran into.

She got the permitting and had a cable installed under the sidewalk and more often than not, someone parks in that spot while she’s away.

One time she came home and found another car sitting there, plugged in and charging, lol!!! She didn’t realize she needed to turn off the breaker when she wasn’t using it - so who knows how many times people were charging while she was away, haha. She then put up “resident parking only” signs she got on Amazon - and they disappeared within days. Dunno if the county took them down or a neighbor did it.

Anyway, she spent about $11,000 on a street charger that she gets to use maybe 1-2 days a week.

The whole EV thing is stupid if you don’t have a driveway.

She’s pretty bitter about it.

[Anonymous]

We live in DC and people literally run a very long cable across the sidewalk from their house to charge their EVs. Almost all of them have little flat ramps to protect the cable so no one trips on the cable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We live in DC and people literally run a very long cable across the sidewalk from their house to charge their EVs. Almost all of them have little flat ramps to protect the cable so no one trips on the cable.

Op, just do this. Don’t try to install a new charger. Just run a 15 amp extension cable from the front of your home to the steer. Make sure the outlet has a GFCI(likely already is with the red black reset buttons). When you want to charge, plug in your charger to that outlet. Maybe nail it to a tree of tie to some other post to keep it off the ground.

You could also plug the cable into a smart plug or some other timer. That way you can control the electricity. The only worry is someone taking your charger if you are using one. I’m not sure about the best way to handle that.

Overall you are not a good situation for EV or PHEV charging.

[Anonymous]

What about just getting a non plug-in hybrid? I drive a plug-in EV and feel like this is not a good situation for plug-in charging.

You are a great candidate for at-work or municipal charging, and I hope we build more infrastructure for that. It makes so much more sense than multiple individual sidewalk-side chargers.

[Anonymous]

We have an EV and no charger at home. We charge once per week at the grocery store when we shop - it’s a non issue.