The “charger” is inside the vehicle. It regulates and flattens (AC->DC) the current to the battery. One reason for this is to support regenerative braking. Most buyers will receive an “EVSE”, which plugs into the power source and to the car. While my car does lock the plug into the charge port to prevent theft/mischief, my EVSE has a small box with a socket at the other end into which I can attach the 3-prong 110V end cable for trickle charging or the 4-prong 240V NEMA-14 end cable for level-2 charging. A nasty person could easily remove the cable from the EVSE box, creating a major nuisance for me, not to mention, once disconnected, they could saw off the long cable/EVSE box.
Well, it does explain my pessimism about charging for apartment dwellers. And possibly the pessimism of others. I am happy to know that the situation is better elsewhere.
We don’t have that at my building, either.
Weirdly, one of the local public parks does have a charging station…
Yes, politics are involved. My county is one of the bluest in Indiana but it’s purplish compared to the one next door in Illinois. Two counties over are people so red/MAGA they’re scary.
Maybe now that MAGA is in love with Elon they’ll relax about EVs? Or at least Teslas. Except most of the folks over that way haven’t the money for a Tesla. Well, the Amish over there aren’t going to buy them, of course. They’ll keep their horses.
I don’t know where people get the idea that a Nazi carmaker’s product is entitled to a free and fair objective trial. It’s OK not to buy cars from Nazis. It’s perfectly OK to avoid buying or riding Nazi cars simply because you don’t support Nazis or want to be associated with them. Musk is a bad guy doing bad things. If you’re not a Nazi then you should trash him and his product, and lie about them if you find it amusing to do so. Free speech and all. Musk deserves no respect or presumption of innocence. No quarter to Nazis or their simps.
On the other hand, people who bought the “Nazi car” before it was apparent that Musk was a wannabe Nazi should not be penalized.
I’m all for demonstrations at Tesla dealerships.
I don’t approve of vandalizing the cars already owned by private people.
I don’t know exactly what it costs to set up a level 2 charger, but it is the same plug as a clothes dryer if you use the cable that plugs in. I actually use an adapter to step mine down to 110 so I can plug it into a regular wall outlet. Which in my case is actually a ceiling outlet, and was a PITA to plug into, but turned out to be a better spot than the wall, because I have it strung with hooks (pack of 10 cost $5.99), and can’t accidentally run over it.
I used to own a house in which I installed a dryer hook-up. It is very easy, for anyone who knows how to wire a wall switch or make a lamp. It’s possible you may not even have to install a breaker, because there may already be one in anticipation of a dryer.
The cost of the actual outlet is about $20.
The landlord, however, will insist on hiring an electrician, unless someone on maintenance is certified, which will be $50-100/hr. I’m not sure what the wire will cost per foot, nor what it will take to lay it. But that’s where the actual cost will be if someone has to break up sidewalk with a jackhammer, then replace it. If there’s a place to put chargers where there’s mostly digging, and very little jackhammering, it will be cheaper.
What could happen is that the landlord could install the external hardware up to the outlet, then, if you want to plug in, you have to buy the ($20) outlet, and pay some kind of fee for installation, which like I said is stupid easy, and for just that bit, on-site maintenance can do it, unless there is a law otherwise in your state or county. So you will pay around $50.
When you move, the landlord shuts off power to that outlet, and charges the next tenant a turn-on fee. Maybe you even get a $10 refund if the outlet is in good shape.
And the plugs can be metered, or the landlord can charge a flat monthly rental rate.
Really, the hardest parts are laying wires, and deciding how to keep other people from regarding the stations as parking spaces. Continued policing and towing are going to be more expensive than installation.
I agree with that. I could’ve easily been one of those regretful Tesla buyers. Don’t vandalize Teslas. Not only is it wrong to damage personal and private property, but the owner is probably trying to unload it, and vandalism makes it harder to sell.
Tesla dealerships, however, I am entirely neutral. I have no opinion whatsoever, pro or con, on whether it’s OK to burn them to the ground.
Are dealerships privately owned, or are they all owned by Teslas, with employed managers?
Generally, car dealerships are privately owned, and may be affiliated with a make, but still belong to the owner. That’s why it’s RAY SKILMAN’S Honda, and Ray also has a Nissan, Ford, and Subaru, and they take trade-in of anything, so you can by a used Chevy from Ray’s Honda dealership.
For all I know, Tesla’s do use a different model, though, because the one Tesla place I can think of off-hand says TESLA really big, but there’s no dealer’s name on it.
My point, and I do have one, is that vandalizing some guy’s business, which he in all likelihood bought before the Nazi years, and may even be a big environmentalist who really believes in EVs, isn’t nice, and doesn’t hurt Elon Musk in the slightest, or even really Tesla as an entity.
On the other hand, if they are free-standing, and everyone there is an employee, the worst thing to whom will happen is a couple of lost days of pay, and some of the people are salaried anyway-- well, it still doesn’t really effect Elon Musk, and unless there’s a coordinated effort to bring down all the Tesla store in a large area at once (like, the whole state of California), probably doesn’t even hurt Tesla.
They’re all corporate owned, I believe. There’s no Tesla dealerships in Wisconsin because state law requires car dealerships to be owned by a third party rather than the manufacturer.
(Don’t ask me the logic or why, I just saw a story the other day about Musk fighting the WI law so he could open showrooms).
Yup. That’s why I have absolutely no opinion on it, pro or con.
I will note that I make a distinction that I hold private property (i.e. a car dealership that I own) as less sacred and inviolate than personal property, i.e. your car that you depend on for your personal needs such as going to work, grocery, doctor, and picking up kids. That’s why I oppose vandalizing the latter, and hold no opinion at all on vandalizing the former.
Is that why Elon is trying to buy the Wisconsin supreme court judge election?
I realize that’s usually the way it works, but any idea why Wisc. chose to codify it?
According to some Fortune article (which seems to be a real article, not one of those Fortune blogs)…
The case could eventually make its way to the state Supreme Court.
Wisconsin is one of nearly 20 states requiring dealerships to be owned by third parties. The thinking behind those laws is excluding manufacturers would prevent independent dealerships from being undercut on pricing.
Tesla only sells cars directly to consumers. Because of the Wisconsin law, however, anyone who buys one in that state needs to travel to a neighboring state to pick it up. Tesla has been trying to find a way around the law since 2017, but bills in the state legislature that would have granted it never made it out of committee.
First line included for @Broomstick
Wow. Went to the article. While I would never accuse Musk of being something like attractive, that is an awful picture of him. It should be sitting up in the attic while he remains youthful.
The public argument for these laws is usually some ooey-gooey crap about how car dealers are good old-fashioned local hometown small businesses and it would just be so terrible if they were steamrolled by Big Corporations from out of state that don’t care about the community.
In other words, it’s rent-seeking by car dealers, who are quite wealthy and influential (and, unlike the manufacturers, they’re present in every state, every legislative district, and so forth).
They tried to ban internet sales of cars 25 years ago because reasons. Fuck them. He’s doing it for the self serving reasons but I agree with Musk on this
Wow .
It can get pricey because charging an EV is for hours on end – more than a clothes dryer, even. This means you want your capacity to be 80% of your expected draw.
As an example, my Bolt would draw 48 amps when starting to charge a low battery which would require 60 amp breakers at the box and 6 gauge wire for the 50-foot run run to a NEMA 14-60 receptacle. I’ve not talked to any contractors yet for an estimate but I could see that coming to a couple grand.
In case it’s not obvious, owning a new car dealership is a Big Deal. That is, it’s a business that requires a big investment, has many employees, often millions of dollars in inventory, and big cash flow. The service department alone is a pretty big enterprise. The owners of car dealerships are not exactly paupers struggling to feed their families!
Certainly true today. Less so back in the 1950s when all the dealer-protective legislation was enacted.
But even back in e.g. 1955 small town America generally the car dealership owner was one of the richest dudes in town. Whether they started small and hard-scrabbled their way up or brought in outside capital to build the biz varied. But in either case they lived in the nice house.