My EVSE keeps faulting out though. Not sure what’s up with that. It’ll charge for a while (it varies) then stop and the red lights on the EVSE are flashing.
EVSE's are super anal on having a proper ground, as well as any voltage leakage. It's possible that the receptacle itself is old and crusty and the ground is marginal at best..and once it heats up after an hour or so of usage it's enough to weaken the ground connection enough that it fails.
Is the plug itself you're using in good shape? Can you access the breaker for it so that if you wanted to you could replace it with a new one on your own dime if you wanted to?
I have some plugs at work that I do use on occasion (although living <10KM to work makes it not worth my time typically) and despite there being a row of 7 or 8 (they were also originally for block heaters) only one single one has a ground that my EVSE is happy with - the rest just throw the flashing red light errors as well, despite having power.
There are two chargers on a commercial building near the Aurora go station. If I had to guess, I would say they have been there for 5 years or more. I have never seen anything plugged into them. My guess is they were either paid for by liberal waste or they charge exorbitant rates to use them. It just doesnt make sense that a pair would be installed and never used.
It's not uncommon to see stupid pricing - some private property ones have people that really don't understand the realities of EV's or the cost of electricity who have set prices that are just off the charts ridiculous. I've seen $10/hour listings for a 32A L2. And then they wonder why nobody uses them.
My BIL works in Toronto and his company has a private parking garage. He was using his L1 charger at work for about 6 months with nobody batting an eye until someone in management told him that he couldn't charge any more because "the company wasn't paying $50 a day for electricity". In reality it might have been using about a buck a day, tops. He tried to explain this to them, offered to pay for the electricity...etc etc etc. Said person was convinced that the cost of electricity was in the stratosphere despite the fact that it would be physically impossible to draw $50 of electricity out of a 15A receptacle in an 8 hour work day.
In short, a lot of people still don't understand EV's and don't want to be educated, either.
They are putting in L3 charging stations, but have already informed employees that they will be priced at $2/hour. For him, even if he only plugged in for the 4 hours before lunch and then rushed out to move his car, at $8....he's losing money versus just driving home on gas when need be. Again, they just don't understand.
Slightly more on topic, it makes sense a gas station tries this at least as a pilot. It may even be priced reasonably as they hope you come in to the store where they can make tons of money off you.
Yep, this is a known tactic. When gas prices are low in the evening hours, or stations near a Costco gas station (for example) have to price their gas very low to compete, many stations are making a pittance on the actual gas sales - they DO make a great margin on that coffee, chocolate bar, lottery ticket, and bag of munchies you bought while you were there, however.
An EV owner that might be there for 20 minutes while picking up a quick hit L3 charge will be almost certain to come inside and spend money on a coffee and snacks, etc. The chances are actually far higher versus the quick pay at the pump (and leave without ever going inside) gas customers actually.
They'd be stupid to try to rip off EV owners, accordingly. Sell the electricity basically at cost or only marginal profit to cover the infrastructure, and benefit from the captive audience for the time they're there.
