A question about Electric Cars

Agencies and other headaches, keys and cleaners, running costs and contracts...in short, all the things we spend so much of our time doing behind the scenes.<br>
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Some valid points Richard. Maybe you should write the same when others complain about portal prices, portal rules, guests breaking the owner's regulations, leaving the place like a tip and the other irritations that are brought to this forum. In the end, our opinion remains that owners should not have to have to fill up the car for a days trip or return home journey.

Have those who want to attract the few that have electric/hybrid vehicles upped their game? Have you installed extra insulation to the property, are you using only LED house hold lamps, obtaining power from so-called renewable energy suppliers, fitting solar panels and only recycling the waste etc etc.
We cannot think of anyone on LMH that has done all of this (or more).

Hopefully, Richard you will find a way of allowing electric/hybrid vehicles to recharge on your properties soon.
Us? We cannot. As stated in other threads the power supplies in Spain are iffy, to say the least. If we were to allow this here we could not run the rest of the house. :( Upgrading, we have been told by the supplier is not possible.
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Post by Tivoli »

Joanna wrote:We're off site so we wouldn't know if anyone brought an electric or hybrid car. I now have a disturbing image of guests running an extension lead through an open downstairs window to an indoors socket! Maybe a fire issue but also a security one. Does anyone know if that's what people are likely to do?
I am curious to know why running an extension cable through an open window is deemed to be a security risk. Are guests likely to be away from the property while they are charging their car? Is the neighbourhood so dodgy that any open window is an invitation to a burglary? Why do you have openable windows?
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Post by Sam V »

Tivoli wrote:
Joanna wrote:We're off site so we wouldn't know if anyone brought an electric or hybrid car. I now have a disturbing image of guests running an extension lead through an open downstairs window to an indoors socket! Maybe a fire issue but also a security one. Does anyone know if that's what people are likely to do?
I am curious to know why running an extension cable through an open window is deemed to be a security risk. Are guests likely to be away from the property while they are charging their car? Is the neighbourhood so dodgy that any open window is an invitation to a burglary? Why do you have openable windows?
It's happened on more than one occasion in our area. The villas on our complex have no opening windows, other than the tilt variety in the bathrooms, otherwise the patio doors can be left open.
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Post by Nuthatch »

Have those who want to attract the few that have electric/hybrid vehicles upped their game? Have you installed extra insulation to the property, are you using only LED house hold lamps, obtaining power from so-called renewable energy suppliers, fitting solar panels and only recycling the waste etc etc.
We cannot think of anyone on LMH that has done all of this (or more).
Yes to all. Our holiday cottage is suoer-insulated, with electricity from solar PV (we also have a wind turbine but it doesn't supply the cottage directly) and all grid electricity is renewable, all lights are LED, all waste is recycled (5 different bins, all labelled). There's also a ground-source heat pump with underfloor heating and a heat recovering ventilation system. Plus the electric car charging point.

The vast majority of our local cafes and restaurants source their food locally (this is where Incredible Edible was launched after all) and the local pub/restaurant grazes his cows on our land (stay here for more than 2 weeks and you can pretty much choose which cow you want to eat next!)

We've done all this because it's better for the environment and hopefully guests who come and stay will see not only how beneficial it is, but also how good it looks. It's definitely the future!
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Post by CSE »

Well done Nuthatch. Very Impressive.
Anymore with such care to the environment?
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Post by joddle »

I get a bit wary about all this environmental stuff. First we had those florescent folded tube bulbs which were supposed to last ages and be energy efficient - in fact they took far more energy to produce than the old bubs then used non friendly materials such as mercury with no proper means of recovery - they fail with alarming regularity and most people just throw them out with the rubbish - not at all environmentally friendly!

Then we had halogen - again much higher production costs and because most domestic units were in fact a mini bulb re-encapsulated in a more normal bulb shape they were prone to overheating and were pretty delicate and failed easily. A high price for very little actual gain!

Now we have LED - which on the face of it is almost perfect - ie high light output with very low power consumption - but many of these also use non environmentally friendly materials such a plastics and can be stroboscopic and put out potentially harmful levels of high energy light. Light sources resulting in high energy light - 6000k - can be harmful to the eyes, its a bit like looking at the sun!

As each new technology is introduced we pay a higher and higher price and now we are being charged very high prices for LED lamps when in fact semiconductor production is some of the cheapest in the world when done in bulk - albeit having a high start up price. As a result, LED lamps should be amongst the cheapest form of lighting in the world (just look at the floods of cheap LED torches now available!) but for domestic bulbs someone thinks otherwise and is making a lot of money charging us £6 or more for the equivalent of something a few years or so ago we only paid 60p or 80p for!

Yes let's be environmentally friendly but also let's be aware of what it's really costing as well!
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Post by Tivoli »

Nuthatch wrote:Yes to all. Our holiday cottage is suoer-insulated, with electricity from solar PV (we also have a wind turbine but it doesn't supply the cottage directly) and all grid electricity is renewable, all lights are LED, all waste is recycled (5 different bins, all labelled). There's also a ground-source heat pump with underfloor heating and a heat recovering ventilation system. Plus the electric car charging point.

The vast majority of our local cafes and restaurants source their food locally (this is where Incredible Edible was launched after all) and the local pub/restaurant grazes his cows on our land (stay here for more than 2 weeks and you can pretty much choose which cow you want to eat next!)

We've done all this because it's better for the environment and hopefully guests who come and stay will see not only how beneficial it is, but also how good it looks. It's definitely the future!
Seriously impressed! Your place looks great! It also looks familiar. Have you parted company with Coolstays? Just wanted to ask about water supply and sewerage - mains or alternative?
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Re: Electric Cars

Post by russellt »

greenbarn wrote: it may also be the case that your wiring has an appropriate safety cut out
I was at a local car dealership at the w/e and got chatting to the electric car salesman. He took me for a spin around the block and happened to mention that their sales team would expect to at least have a photo of your property's consumer unit, and may need to visit the property in order to determine if the property's power source could handle the load required to charge the car. He noted in particular older properties which had not been re-wired, and implied a potential for over-heating of the property's wiring leading to disaster.

Kinda worrying that this was part of the sales pitch!

Of course, all rental properties should have wiring up-to-scratch, and be regularly tested. However, if you don't wish to have wires hanging out of open windows at your FHL, these concerns now provide you with a great excuse. Similarly, if you do wish to attract electric car owners, make sure your electrics are truly up-to-scratch.
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Post by CSE »

Kinda worrying that this was part of the sales pitch!
and kind of satisfying too.
electric car salesman
The mind is working overtime on just how this guy looks and sounds.
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Post by russellt »

casasantoestevo wrote:just how this guy looks and sounds.
I was tempted to unplug him half-way through his pitch. :wink:
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Post by Annew »

Forgive me for coming back to this late. I was rather peeved by the arsey email *you know who you are*

It costs between £1.00 - £2.50 at the moment in the UK to charge a car from empty to full - not a huge amount and if you are bothered by this, then you can up your rental charge to cover it.

All I was asking was for advice about how people treat this in their fire risk assessment - given that I have had a fire on my property in the last 12 months caused by guest negligence as a result of a risk I had not previously recognised in my FRA.

FWIW I've spoken to my insurer (and fire people) and will be installing a protected outdoor plug for guests with a separate circuit on the fuse box (electrics not my strong point so don't quiz me about this) Guests can then use their dedicated charger (without an untested extension cable) to plug in and re-charge as they probably do at home, so getting rid of the fire risk from untested extension cables and the perceived security risk (as far as insurers are concerned) from easily accessible windows left open at night or when guests are absent.

(Joddle, have you calculated the running cost of your £6.00 LED bulb? You may be surprised at how much you will save over a few years)
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Post by Norfolk Canary »

I have a Mitsubishi PHEV and had a proper charging point installed at my house when I got the car a couple of years ago. These use a C form plug due to the current involved for the faster charging rate. When I researched it I seem to recall reading something saying that if you use a normal 240v socket to charge the car with the lightweight lead that came with the car you should only use sockets that go directly back to the fuse board i.e. Not one that is on a circuit with other sockets.
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Post by anya752000 »

Annew wrote:Forgive me for coming back to this late. I was rather peeved by the arsey email *you know who you are*
I'm saddened that you have had an arsey email from one of our number. We should be supporting each other on here and I hope it was down to a misunderstanding.

Kind regards
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Post by akwe-xavante »

This interests me for a different reason to most as my cottage is 80mtrs away from the nearest possible parking place and guests often park even further away! An extension would have run along one public footpath and cross two others along the way.

It will be interesting to see what happens when someone turns up with a vehicle that requires a battery charging.

I think if It was possible to safely get a vehicle close enough to my property to charge its battery I would get a dedicated protected charging point fitted outside with an isolation switch indoors. I would consider a meter box too but monitor costs for a while first to see just how much it was costing before considering charging for it if at all.

My feeling would be that I have provided a professionally fitted, dedicated, safe charging point. Therefore the property, my property is protected and secure. The guests are responsible for there own safety thereafter.
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Post by Norfolk Canary »

akwe-xavante wrote:This interests me for a different reason to most as my cottage is 80mtrs away from the nearest possible parking place and guests often park even further away! An extension would have run along one public footpath and cross two others along the way.

It will be interesting to see what happens when someone turns up with a vehicle that requires a battery charging.

I think if It was possible to safely get a vehicle close enough to my property to charge its battery I would get a dedicated protected charging point fitted outside with an isolation switch indoors. I would consider a meter box too but monitor costs for a while first to see just how much it was costing before considering charging for it if at all.

My feeling would be that I have provided a professionally fitted, dedicated, safe charging point. Therefore the property, my property is protected and secure. The guests are responsible for there own safety thereafter.
I very much doubt that anybody with a purely electric vehicle would book somewhere without making 100% sure they can charge it up.
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