Where can I charge my Electric Car?
Charging your electric car is easy if you have your own garage or an open space beside your house where you can park your car. You may need to install an exterior power outlet if the outside of your home is not already equipped with one, but that is a relatively simple endeavor. You just need to install a charging point to an exterior wall. Then, all you have to do is plug the car in to charge overnight, or whenever is convenient for you.
The challenge for some electric car owners comes when they do not have their own personal garage or parking space in which to charge their cars. This is the case for car owners who park their cars in a communal parking lot, making it difficult to charge the car overnight. You will need to speak to the person who is in charge of the lot space about parking your car near an electrical outlet – possibly reserving the spot. This agreement may entail paying an extra charge for the reserved space, along with paying the difference for the electricity that you will be using to charge your car. Most owners find that making an arrangement such as this is easy enough. If there is sufficient power supply, the cost should not be high.
If your home or parking garage does not have an outside outlet, you may need to install a free-standing charging post with underground cables running from the main power supply. The cost varies, but can be expensive, depending on how extensive the work is.
Some owners opt to use long cables that connect to an indoor outlet, which can then be plugged to the car from a short distance. If your parking space is out at the curbside, it may not be possible for you to charge your car from a power outlet in your house. This may be due to distance, but also because letting the cable trail over walkways can be a tripping hazard for people (and a possible lawsuit for you).
One clever method some people have found to make roadside charging possible is to run a cable from their house and up into a tree near the edge of the sidewalk. A charging socket can then be fitted inside the tree and made to look like a bird’s nest, with the cable threaded from the tree’s branch down to your car. This is a clever and artistic way of installing a charging socket for roadside charging.
Another option to consider, if you do not have a driveway but do have a yard space, is using your yard space to park your car for charging. While a small yard is typically not large enough to accommodate a conventional car, electric cars have the benefit of being more compact and easier to fit in small spaces, such as a yard space. You will very likely have to first make arrangements with your local council office or homeowners association to have a “drop curb” installed in