I wondered at the time what would happen when people living in their cars got an EV. In many ways, it would be a vastly improved experience. Not only would there be abundant electric power available for a resident to use, but there would also be nearly unlimited heat and air conditioning for basically free as long as you could find a free Level 2 charging station (something that was more abundant in those days). I thought that Level 2 spaces would also have the added benefit of giving you a place to park at night while charging without having to pay for an RV park space or get harassed by cops.
What I didn’t predict was that people living in combustion vehicles would figure some of this out.
In the video, Dre of the Dre’s Van Life YouTube channel explains how he makes use of Level 2 charging spots that go largely unused at night in business and industrial areas. He doesn’t drive an EV or even an EV conversion, but he does use a J-1772 to 240V plug adapter to draw power from an EV charging station when his solar power isn’t working out (cloudy weather for several days).
He charges a bank of house batteries, powers heat or air conditioning, cooks food, cools his refrigerator, heats hot water for a shower, and many other things. When he leaves, he has a full battery for days of roaming as a van dweller.
“It kind of validates my presence,” he says in the video. As a paying customer, he isn’t trespassing. He’s also arguably not violating any city ordinance against sleeping in a vehicle, as his time at the charging station is patronizing a local business (while he also happens to be sleeping). He’s not putting out any EV drivers, as hardly anyone uses Level 2 chargers at night. So, without hurting anybody or freeloading, he finds a legal place to sleep and avoids burning fossil fuels with a generator or furnace.
Chargers outside Whole Foods are free. Some movie theaters have them for free also, and I have seen one shopping mall that has 2 or them (a joke, given the number they could deploy and that people could use.)
I have stayed at 3 different motels in the past year with free level 2 charging, and a few others with a commercial charger either in the lot or within a hundred yards.
Level 2 means it will take 6-8 hours for a full charge. Level 1 in the garage is standard household current and will take 24-48 hours, and you can find some of those for free, also. A few cities are installing them in random parking spaces, our local municipal garage had them for a while but took them out recently.
A high speed charger will get you going in 20 minutes or less; early Tesla charges, I am told, take 2 or 3 times that because they were designed for lower voltages when EVs first came out. Not sure about that, never used one.
All over the place. At my local supermarket, a one of the local theaters, at all the city halls, at most community centers, at many libraries, at TopGolf, at some malls, at quite a few hotels, etc. They pay commercial rates for electricity, so it’s a very minor expense. For example, when I charge at the supermarket, let’s say 40 minutes or so, it comes to about 4kWh of level 2 charging. At commercial rates of about 7 cents a kWh, it’s like a 28 cent coupon they give me to shop there instead of shopping at the supermarket across the road that has no chargers.