Lay My Hat

I have just had this enquiry

Can you help me we are thinking of booking but I have a electric car so need to plug into a 13 amp three pin socket is this possible, say from a extention lead from the accommodation

So they are going to want to charge up an electric car every night. The Park we are on sets the charges for gas and electricity. I will have to check that the system can take it and not blow. Also i do not charge for electricity and gas,


Should I pay for charging their car. What do you think?

There have been long discussions about guests charging their electric cars and who should pay for the electricity.
Here's the latest thread
viewtopic.php?t=28201&highlight=electric+car+automobile

My own feeling is that, unless you already pay for the diesel or petrol that guests put into their cars, why should you pay for the electricity used to run their car? In other words, unless you can direct your potential guest to a charging point nearby, they must expect to pay you some sort of surcharge to cover the electricity used to recharge their car.

More points to consider:
Once you have ascertained whether your electricity connection will stand this extra demand, and maybe checked with your insurance too, where exactly is the power outlet that they will be plugging that extension lead into?

Do you have an outside socket? If not, they will presumably be leaving either a door or window open and trailing the lead through that. If so, the house is not particularly secure, and unless they are ultra responsible, the lead may become pinched if door or window is closed on it, thus leading to risk of electrical fire. Don't think your insurers would be too happy with that scenario.

Plus, is the extension lead an ordinary one for general use, or should it be a special one specifically made for charging cars?

Will they be bringing their own lead or are you expected to supply? If their own, and if it's a general purpose one, how are you to know it has the correct fuse in it to protect your property?

And don't forget about the trip-risk to having trailing cables lying around on your property - how close to your house can they park their car? Would any neighbours have to cross the same area and avoid the extension lead?

Perhaps you had best sit down with a pen and paper and list all the things that MIGHT go wrong if you agreed to this request. (Think Basil Fawlty scenario!) Then list how each might be prevented from occurring, bearing in mind that guests very often leave their "Thinking Heads" at home when on holiday! Then see how you feel about it.

I know it's tempting to accept the booking, but sometimes it's better for your peace of mind to just say no. However, it's your business, and the choice is entirely yours, but preferably made from a position of knowledge

Good luck with whatever choice you make.

Perhaps it might be simpler to point them to your nearest public charging point - cars generally charge much quicker on these and you are not paying for their electricity

https://www.zap-map.com/charger-search/ ... aa201068e8

Sue Doyle wrote:I have just had this enquiry

Can you help me we are thinking of booking but I have a electric car so need to plug into a 13 amp three pin socket is this possible, say from a extention lead from the accommodation

So they are going to want to charge up an electric car every night. The Park we are on sets the charges for gas and electricity. I will have to check that the system can take it and not blow. Also i do not charge for electricity and gas,


Should I pay for charging their car. What do you think?

At least they have had the 'decency' to inform you with regard to charging their electric car from your properties electricity supply.
Because if holiday-home owners are not told by guests that they intend to charge up their electric cars from the holiday let, then for most of us we would not know it was happening.
PW in Polemi has come up with some important points and sensible suggestions, thus for the time being I would decline the booking.
Perhaps it is pertinent to amend your T&C's to include electric cars being charged from your property. (Mine also)

I agree, PW has come up with sensible points (risk assessment).

The request is for a 3 pin extension lead, therefore it will not be drawing more than the maximum 13amps and if it's a long lead slightly less through cable losses so no big hassle there. No different to any other appliance. As to whether it's practical only Sue Doyle can answer.

I would suggest you buy a watt hour electricity meter to keep an eye on and charge accordingly, they will work out the cost if you put your tariff into them. £14 ish and useful to see where you spend your electric anyway.

This is the UK? not the funny EU, thinking France, where you only get the allowance for electric you apply for (6kw, 9kw, 12kw) so in winter with heating on etc you may need to take care. In the UK they are far more sensible and the max is normally 100KW, some older property maybe less but sufficient to be able to run a charger.

There will be a vehicle charging adapter which can plug into a domestic 3 pin. There is often enough room under a door to get the lead in or a few moments with a drill for a 10mm slot or hole.

Electric cars are coming so might as well get used to it. Panasonic announced a couple of months back their new battery tech will allow charging of battery items 5x faster and 4x higher battery storage so it won't be long before these are main stream with the new factory in Europe to make them.

There is a paradigm shift happening with electric cars which will inevitably impact on rental home owners. The figures I've seen show that whilst EV's (electric vehicles) only make up 0.2% of cars on the road sales are running at 4.4% in the UK, which is lagging behind - sales in The Netherlands are running at 6.4%.
EV's clearly have a number of hurdles to overcome before they become anything like mainstream but manufacturers are throwing big money at the cars and (perhaps more importantly) battery technology - and from the other end cities are threatening to ban anything but EV's in years to come.
I think we have to accept that we will have an increasing number of guests using them - and they will want to charge them at their holiday home.
To be sure they will be able to access 'fast charging' at an increasing number of locations: car parks, supermarkets etc, but charging at these points gives (roughly) an 80% top up in about 30 minutes (there's a large variance depending on vehicle, charger type etc) so these points are used en route to a destination.
The EV drivers biggest fear is running out of juice, so by habit they get home, plug in the vehicle and forget it until they drive off again. Without doubt they will want to do this at their holiday home........and I think it is something holiday home owners will have to address at some point in the future. I guess the simplest solution is a weatherproof outdoor socket.
How much to charge? A Renault Zoe would cost about £2.20 to charge from empty on a domestic socket.
I don't have an EV, but took a peep at buying one a few weeks ago. For the moment I'll be sticking to the diesel: 4 minutes to fill up, but a damn sight more than £2.20!