What sort of EV charger should I install at a Hotel or Motel?

Installing a Destination Charger at a Hotel or Motel

hotel motel car charging

Picking what sort of charger to use can be difficult as there is so much information out there on what sort will be suitable for your hotel or motel. We will go over some options for different destination chargers
Firstly why install a EV charger at a hotel or motel? Simple, people with EV’s will actively look out for places to stay where they can charge overnight. This could be the difference of someone choosing to stay with you vs staying down the road at that other motel, yeah you know the one I am talking about. You can add your charger to the Plugshare site as well as your website so people can find it (free advertising). 

Summary:
Don’t want to read the whole article?
We recommend installing the Autel Maxi charger
It can then be setup in 3 ways. 
1. Open, customers bring a cable and plugin and start charging. 
2. Locked with a swipe card, you need to issue the guests a swipe card to allow charging. 
3. Pay as you go. Connect the charger to our paid platform, the customer downloads an App and pays for the charging using a credit card. You get the revenue at the end of the month minus the fees. 


Charging customers
If you are manually charging customers a set fee for charging an estimate of the cost to charge an EV overnight is around $3 per 100km. Something like a Nissan leaf has a 150km range so it would be around $6 from empty. A vehicle with a larger battery like a Tesla model 3 has a 500km range so this could be up to $15 but keep in mind they are unlikely to arrive at your hotel/motel fully empty so could only require a 200km top up. On average you should allow around $10-$15 per vehicle for overnight charging if manually billing the customer. 

If you are using our paid EV charging platform then you can set the rate. The going rate per kWh is 0.30-0.60c. 

Considerations 
There are a few considerations to look at before choosing the model that will work for you. Some things that you need to consider that we will go in to more detail about are:

How many chargers do you want to install
Where they will be installed to avoid trip hazards
Will they be public or private 
How close to the switch board they can be installed to reduce install costs. 

Charger and plug types for Hotels and Motels

There are many options depending on your budget and how many outlets/chargers you are going to provide for destination charging.

Its recommended to install a destination charger with a dedicated circuit at a commercial premise. Worksafe discourages using standard wall plugs for EV charging at a business.



Outdoor Plug
outdoor plug
This is the cheapest option. 95% of EV drivers will carry a slow charger that will plug in to a standard wall socket and charge at 8 amps.
If installing an outdoor 3pin plug, make sure its close enough to reach the carpark.
Plugin EV chargers are typically 5m long. Its against the Worksafe regulations to use an extension cord when charging.

Caravan Plug
blue cee caravan plug
Only 10% of EV owners will carry a caravan style plugin EV charger. These charge twice as fast as the standard wall plug charger. If you already have one of these plugs available then it would be worth advertising its availability. However, we would not recommend installing them just for EV charging due to the lack of EV owners carrying these chargers.


Dedicated EV Destination Charger

These are the most attractive to EV owners as they are quick to charge and can easily provide a full charge over night or a top up for the day.
Before choosing the charger there are a number of factors your electrician will consider that could affect the price of install.
1. Distance to switch board , The longer the run the higher the price.
2. How many chargers you want installed
3. The total load on your supply and its current rating. For example, if your current supply is rated to 300A and in peak times you are using 200A then you have 100A of spare capacity and could install 3 x 32A chargers. If you are already close to the limit, then you will need to choose a charger with load monitoring that will limit the charge to prevent it from going over the rated capacity. The Autel Maxi has this option. 

Type One vs Type Two EV plug.
There are two standard car end plug types that EVs use.
Type 1 and Type 2
The Japanese imports use a Type 1 cable on the car end.
NZ new and the New Zealand standard is Type 2.
Having a charger with a Type 2 socket is an advantage as people can use a cable with the correct end on it. 50% of travellers would carry a cable. So it’s a good idea to supply one if people do not have their own.
Type 2 to Type 2 cable
Type 2 to Type 1 cable

Load Balancing

Load balancing capable 

The Autel series charger has advanced load balancing capability as well as a socket on the front so can be used with Type 1 and Type 2 cables. 

This will allow more than one car to charge a time and has the ability to actively manage the total load of the charging and your total load. 
This is the ideal charger if you are planning on installing more than one unit and will allow for futureproofing your electrical capacity without the need for expensive upgrades.  

Autel Business ev chargerAutel Maxi ac wall charger
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Autel Maxi Charger AC Wallbox 7.4kW WIFI

Original price was: $1,150.00.Current price is: $994.00. inc. GST