this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2026
369 points (95.3% liked)
Technology
88622 readers
2860 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The apartment complex and workplace chargers I've seen all limit how long you're allowed to leave your car parked at them. I suppose speed doesn't matter in the sense that having to move your car 20 minutes later isn't much less annoying than having to move it 4 hours later. Still, I wouldn't want an EV without my own garage even if I never went on road trips. It seems like a pain.
Considering how inexpensive it is to put in a 30A, 50A, or 60A circuit, and how modern L2 chargers can both downrate dynamically and be activated with simple apps or cards, this is not a difficult problem to solve.
Then you have where my apt had another company put in and manage the charges but they charge 15 cents more a kw then the fast charger around the corner.
I don't mind sitting every so often in the morning drinking some tea while charging but it would be nice if it's faster
Ugh, greedy landlords.
I have a 50A circuit that i just installed. And previously installed a 30A circuit at my last house. It's not inexpensive. A 50A breaker and 30 feet of 6/2 Romex with ground costs $240. Then add in a 40A capable Grizzl-E Classic for another $299 and you're on your way to $600.
If you're like me, you also buy conduit for the wiring in the garage to keep it dry/protected and a receptacle rather than hardwiring to allow for a little more flexibility.
Easy, yes. Cheap, no.
Only $600??? That's cheap as hell! I thought you were going to say $2k at the absolute lowest
You do not want 50A 240V circuit built cheap, because of the circuits arcs, the house will burn down. The proper way to do it is a pony box for the charger circuit only, and special plug hardware designed for 100% duty cycles, not clothes dryers. States haven't even updated codes for EV charge circuits.
That’s only $10/mo over a 5 year period.
Great which contractor offers those terms?
I have a 50a charger installed but holy hell this comment is silly.
You still have to pay up front for the charger+wiring. That can be a deal breaker for many, and the point is apartments are much harder as most don't offer any electricity for even l1 charging
Think like a business and it makes sense.
Again most people can't afford the up front cost.
Its expensive to be poor, and most people are poor
They are already in debt paying huge amount of interest monthly.
I like being able to charge at home and it's a luxury I know not everyone gets.
For the numbers:
Paying off a $600 charge at $10/month like you suggested would take almost 13 years and cost over $900 in interest at a 18% apr
So you are spending almost 50% more on interest than the original charge. So 150% more expensive at 1500 vs 600.
For a 5 year payoff you have to spend just over $15/month but still are paying over $300 in interest. That's now over $900 total or 50% more expensive because you can't afford the up front cost.
Apartments would pay for it, not individuals. Having EV chargers would be a selling point, allowing higher rent.
Poor people are generally not driving EVs yet.
That's the thing, they should be. They are much cheaper especially taking into account less maintenance.
Yeah, that'd be nice if people could take on debt and adjust cash flows like a business, but a lot of people don't have the financial flexibility to spend $600 in a lump payment. That's why people keep bringing up 60+ percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. I'm fortunate enough to be able to make those types of purchases a couple times a year, but I know my privilege is not the norm.
The best someone may be able to do is 12mo financing on a new credit card with 0% apr, but miss a payment and its 25% interest. If they even get approved.
I’m talking about apartments and workplaces.
That’s a matter of location I guess. Here you sometimes have to pay a small extra fee to keep it there the whole day. But that may be also because there are plenty of public chargers around