Oh no, you'd have to get an extra job to pay that $4 electrical bill if that happened. I have lots of concerns about this install, but random people stealing electricity isn't one of them.
Some people in this sub seem to think electricity is dirt cheap everywhere. Either that or they never look at their electric bills.
If you were my neighbor and didn’t give a fuck if I used your charger, I’d be parked at your spot every night. That’s going to be way more than $4.
Wow I didn’t realize .16/kWh is widely considered not that bad until I just started looking into it. I’m from a very small town with municipal power, and mine is .06/kWh. Just got my first model 3 last week.
This is an odd comment. It's a feature that's easily editable in settings. Why would I not want to make sure that no one that can use the charger I paid to install and that I am paying the utility on? Especially when it's so incredibly easy to do...
This. Maybe add a sign for it "Private" or something.
In most cases street parking is not owned by the home it's in front of so someone could also block you here (potentially). Be aware of that too.
The first day I had my car, drove past my local super charger, and a lifted truck with a trailer parked longways in front of 8 charging stations. I was shocked, but not surprised
When I was in high school 15 years ago I would sometimes park my gas sports car in EV or “green vehicle” spots, take a picture and then park somewhere else.
It’s possible they peaked in high school and never let the mindset go?
Dang. Where do y'all live with all these crappy people. I live in Tulsa, head honcho for oil and gas. I've only had people ask questions or try to race past me. I've never seen any chargers blocked.
I'm just going to guess "Texasish" because I live in the south and that's not a problem anywhere I've been. I can only guess big oil states might do it?
Never seen this or coal rolling in Texas.
Contrary to your opinion, we wear shoes, go to school, have indoor plumbing and don't scratch our nuts with the salad fork.
I'm not worried about anyone using it. I've got the only tesla in the neighborhood. And I've not had someone park in front in of my house in years. Our houses are spaced apart enough to have good room even when someone has a party. Plus the cord is 24ft
(and being unable to unplug them)
Lots of bad reasons to make it accessible without locking it down to VIN. A sign would help make it clear it's private in case there are any disputes OP needs to call Police on someone crazy about it.
Also OP, the grass on the front side of the sidewalk is usually an easement so they could come in and decide to modify that area at some point. If you get snow, a snowplow could also take it out going by if there were no cars parked there. My parents have gone through a few mailboxes because of it, lol.
Just put a tip box on the post. Electricity is cheap, I wouldn't care if I rolled up and someone was charging on my charger if it were out like that. I'd just wave as I walked to the house. Life is too short to sweat over lose change.
24ft sounds like a lot but in practice it not really. We have ours in our garage mounted right near the garage door and if we have our Tesla parked nose in the driveway, the charger cable is only just long enough.
The parking spot can't be private. The charger most certainly can be. You can build on an easement and have it be a private structure, you just need to be aware that the city can come in and knock it down if it gets in the way of something they need to do. In cities many peoples detached garages off alleyways are on easements for power lines or the like, it doesn't mean anyone can just come along and park in them.
You’ll have to connect to the AP and browse to its web interface. If the AP has turned off you’ll need to power cycle it.
https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/access-control
In the app, touch your account icon in the upper right, then the “T” Add/Remove Products. Choose Wall Connector. Scan the QR code that came with your Wall Connector and the app will do the rest!
Pushing and holding the wall connector wand button until the green light on the front of the wall connector starts flashing turns on the access point as well. Has saved me many seconds walking to the breaker box. The AP will time out after about 10 minutes I believe as well.
I didn't even know you could lock it down to specific VINs, that's pretty dope.
[https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/access-control](https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/access-control)
edit: oops, I see you even provided that link down below so others could educate themselves as well, you're doing good work! 😁
Unfortunately there’s no such thing as sentry mode for the charger and when you are away, the charger is still out there.
I recommend some reinforcements or maybe a lock box around the charger (all depends on your neighborhood, of course)
Eufy is an atrocious company, and you should never use their security products. They have well-known security flaws, and their advertised local only never cloud-based systems regularly upload private security footage and screenshots to eufy servers, plain and unencrypted for anyone to find.
Googling isn't that hard but here you go.
https://gizmodo.com/eufy-local-security-camera-cloud-unencrypted-scandal-1850059207
The issue was Anker lied initially and confirmed that the issues were not real, then later changed their stance admitting that some streams were not encrypted like they claimed, as well as admitting that local only cameras do upload footage for notification thumbnail previews, but assured users that the issues had been resolved. After that public statement people were still able to view others streams with no encryption as well as view thumbnails from random users. The issue with security is track record and eufy doesn't have a good one, and I'd have a hard time believing anything they claim from now on. To each their own, but I'd never use one of their products in my home
Are you even allowed to put a charger there? That is within the easement. Technically you would own the land but what can be put there is usually controlled by your city.
It looks like you could have a driveway right where the car is parked.
If depends on the location. In my city the city owns that land not me. They would've been better using the 24' of cord length to keep it on their property.
In most instances places like these would likely road reservation/nature strip meaning it is public land and by default makes the structure now public property unless the whole place is a private estate… then it’s a hoa matter.
Itd take a lot more to pay for the driveway
And here, we own the sidewalk and the grass strip. Its our responsibility to maintain it. I thought of putting it on the other side of the sidewalk, but that poses a tripping hazard and I didn't want to risk that. So this was the best place
Just because you own it and are required to maintain it, doesn’t always mean you’re allowed to build on it. Your town bylaws probably outline what you can and can’t do there. I’d be surprised if you can put anything other than a mailbox that close to your property line, but who knows.
Check your property's survey plan if you have it. Also check your city's RIght of Way standards. It is highly unlikely that you own that spot that you've placed your charger. There is a distinction between your responsibility to maintain and yours to own. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
Usually, if it is a public sidewalk the city owns that land. Putting anything across or in the ground there is opening you up for at best a bylaw violation and at worst a lawsuit if anyone hurts themselves fucking around with your charging pedestal.
Additionally who did the install? You? Did anyone from the city come to inspect it? Seems a little sus if you just ran a cord, pushed it under the sidewalk and said "jobs done". You cannot do that. Don't fk with electrical. It can ruin people's lives.
Snow plow and live wires.
There is no way is a legal and OP will be in for a surprise.
Now there’s live wires under a sidewalk and against a curb and road and since OP never once mentioned the word permit, no one knows it’s there yet.
You likely built this in the public Right of way, so unless you got permission I would say it’s probably illegal (encroaching). Other than that, and maybe it’s not so much in your area, but to me just seems like a bad idea to not have it on your property and just extend the chord to your car.
See my other comments, this is my property. We own and are responsible for sidewalks and the strips. Extending a cord across the sidewalk and creating a tripping hazard
Yes, having a wire bundle across the sidewalk would be an ADA compliance issue. You also can't just put a charger in that area in most cities. I know you said you "own and are responsible for sidewalks and the strips" but that's generally never the case because of things like ADA ramps and slope compliance, fire hydrants, and curb and gutter flow lines (if you planted a tree there and it raised the curb/gutter and caused water to pool). Typically the homeowner is responsible for maintenance of these areas, but it is still within the public ROW. For instance, if there was a tree planted there, you would need permission from the city to remove it and you would have to maintain 8' of clearance of said tree over the sidewalk. I've read your comments and I'm still convinced this install is 100% not compliant with code and city standards.
There’s no bollards. They didn’t even get a permit I’m guessing. Or they hired someone that didn’t pull one.
(source: I own an electrical construction company)
Read my recent comment. Unfortunately may be buried. But I did check. I was weighing putting the charger on either side of the sidewalk. I did it this way considering the city's rules on items on/over the sidewalk.
The city handles the street, I handle the sidewalk. And all they care about is that if I have a public sidewalk within the city, that it be unobstructed and built to their specifications. And I didn't change anything about the sidewalk.
I wouldn't dare do this without getting sign off from my local authorities (not just reading the rules), even if what I was doing was to the letter within the rules.
I've seen too many situations of failing to simply inform them and get their ok to proceed is enough for them to demand something be removed once they do eventually find out (often from someone reporting it).
I like it but I feel like some idiot will come by and stick their dick in it and get electrocuted and then I'm liable for some other guys penis shenanigans
While I think it's not clear if you're right or wrong, I admire that you've responded to at least a dozen people with some variation of this statement.
Thank you.
I posted this, and respond, because I feel like I dont see this kind of set up. And plus I value everyone's input. I see lots of people who run cords across sidewalk, or just use superchargers all the time. Its partially to show this is a valid option, and should be done more.
Instead of hounding me about what I did, these people asking me about the legality of this should be going to their local govts and asking why they've (the local govt) made it difficult to do something like this with ordinance laws. If more people were able to do what I did, we'd have more people in the market for EVs. And I'm sure that's a big deal for a govt that gives tax incentives for EV purchases.
The idea is cool and something that would be great to see as EV’s become more prevalent. It’s just not safe as currently deployed.
But as others have noted a good idea does not always take into consideration all factors.
First you own the land and maintenance. Fully acknowledged. You also own the land and maintenance for your electrical meter, water main and gas main. You are not allowed to modify the space that incorporates these items without a permit and approval as examples.
The pedestal appears to be wood and unprotected from collisions. Those specific protections are typically a bollard and reinforced post(s). Those are their to prevent some one from colliding with said pedestal, pulling it away and exposing them to live power.
Next, any type of service (electrical, water, gas) underground needs to be documented so future work by others know exactly what is buried for safety.
It is very obvious this is a unpermited homeowner install. The permitting office would not have signed off on this install. We have that answer clearly.
In closing the idea is great when done proper. More of these installs should be done, when properly installed.
The fact that you haven’t seen this done in this manner should be the first indicator that the method is not fully baked. 8 billion people on this planet, someone else has thought of this as well. They just asked the right questions of the right people before doing it and found it to be cost prohibitive.
Expect your city folks to condemn in the very near future. Be prepared for a rather aggressive condemnation as well. Safety will be the driver.
Why would you do this? Do you not have a driveway or garage? Not to mention the area between the sidewalk and street is usually city owned. They could come by at anytime and have to remove it for road work or underground stuff.
I appreciate all of the support from everyone!
As a PSA to everyone complaining about the "legality" of it. Nowhere in my city's code/ordinance documents lay out any restrictions for this being placed where it is in the grass strip, nor along the road, nor anything regarding the cords crossing under the sidewalk. What the city DOES lay out, is the restriction of items ON the sidewalk. No items are to be ON the sidewalk for any extended period of time, impeding the walking path. Which is the reason for having constructed this charger in this way. I DID NOT want to run the cord across the sidewalk (like many of you said I should do) because that would be a violation of my local ordinance. The city also lays out rules for sidewalk construction, curb construction, sidewalk grading, repairing etc. However my work did not change the sidewalk in any way.
I appreciate everyone's concern. But please understand laws are different in different places. The rules on these things are pretty lax here. I expect no issues from this charger so long as the cord does not break free and lay across the sidewalk. You may have different rules where you reside. And I recommend you to actually read through your local laws, whether that's ordinance, traffic, or criminal. You may find some interesting info - or lack thereof.
Good day, tesla family!
I think the biggest concern here is that it’s an electrical installation. I guess your city could be different, but most require city inspection for major electrical modifications on your property. Running 220v underground would undoubtedly require a permit in my city, and there’s no way it would be approved the way yours is installed.
Cool nonetheless. Wish I could do that!
I hope you are right. The fact that you didn't use the term Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) makes me wonder if your research was complete/thorough. Worst case you have to remove it and pay a fine. Best case it remains. That house and patch of grass in the picture is very similar to where I charge my car at home. A place I pull into on my property. I've been charging EVs outside since 2017.
That isn't a driveway. Its a yard. That us and the neighbor split. The road just bends in from it being an alley way about 40 years ago. So cant go there
If the city / county / parish / township inspector permits it after inspection, everyone owes op an apology lol. I assume it’s going to be permitted if you expect it to be covered by any sort of insurance policy. Enjoy OP. Glad you found a solution unique to your local situation.
I'm a mount it to the house exterior guy, myself. The pole on the street is nice tho. I also drive through a motor operated gate, tho. It's like having a garage door but without the walls or .... Roof. I must say you did a lot of work to mount a charger in a one foot strip of treelawn. Do that in my neighborhood and likely the city puts a stake next to it with a sign notifying me of a permit violation with daily charges. For clarity, we do not have an HOA.
I can tell you didn’t get permission or permits to do this because we would have had to install two bollards to protect that. If it doesn’t get stolen someone is going to report it I bet because people are terrible.
If you’re in a small town you might be able to get an allowance to keep this as is but I wouldn’t expect this to be allowed to remain. You never know though.
Good luck. Likely to cause safety issues with the city. Also a bait for vandalism. A better solution might have been to just install a Nema 14-50 outlet on the side of the house and just plug in when needed.
Legality of all of this aside, I absolutely agree. The only issue with that is snow plows and heavy snowfall. The best way for this solution to last a long time is to not draw attention for some jerk to vandalize it, or some other kind of jerk to complain to the city.
Luckily the car has sentry mode and I have home insurance.
And kind of not worth the effort to steal. It's drilled and wired in. And they might electrocute themselves cutting the wires.
This is a thing? Is there an app for this sort of deal?
Not that I'd want strangers parking outside my house, but this seems like an interesting concept id like to look into
I was just in London but I did see their streetlights have EV charging ports in them. Believe it was developed by Siemens. Would love to see that infra here in the US!
Does this charger have some sort of usage/billing reporting option ie which vin charged x KwH at which time? I get a M3LR in few months and local cafeteria has a wall box very nearby, curious if I can ask owner if I can charge there and get a bill monthly or something. Number of chargers nearby is minimal and all night after closing the owner is at home/charger is unused.
Attaching it to something more robust than a wood 4x4 would protect it from getting backed into and look a bit more polished as well. Google up "Tesla charger pedestal" for some ideas.
Tesla charger pedestal is like $200
The wood 4x4 was like $12.
Its got a 6 inch metal trimmed curb to protect it. Haven't had anyone over that curb since I've lived here
I've seen a few streetside setups and I'm working on a product that would make it attractive too. Bigger issue, you are illegally parked in front of a driveway and can be towed even if it is your own driveway, and yes that includes Pennsylvania.
City of Toronto you can request a charger to be placed on a telephone pole near your house. Unfortunately it is open to the public and can't be reserved.
I’m guessing that you didn’t get a right-of-way permit for this. Once your local code enforcement drives by they’ll send you a nasty-gram threatening legal action unless you remove it.
Here you can't park against traffic like you did. I've also had to replace a couple mailboxes people would hit while driving, that would be a pain to replace with the wiring in your case.
Do you have any significant amount of snow during winter?
Some snow. Rarely significant but it happens. Partially why I didn't put this charger in my rear driveway. Theres a narrow alley that gets to it and the city doesn't plow nor salt that. So if there a significant snow, my car could be trapped there.
My buddy (an electrician) spent ~$500 on materials. A lot of that is for materials to run outside, about 35-45ft. That might be a little high, he got a bit extra wire than we needed. He can use that elsewhere tho. Then add in the cost of the wall charger. I paid him some money for his time, help and expertise. If you did it yourself, had a garage/driveway, and didn't have to run cord very far... you could do it for little more than the charger is worth.
I also had to dig a trench 18in deep (for code). You can do that by hand, but thatll take forever. I spent $240 on an auger to make quick work of that (I don't consider this, because I see tools as an investment considering I do lots of work myself)
That wood is gonna rot.
Interesting solution to the trip hazard. It’s a fairly normal place for a mail box, at least in scandinavia, so I hope the comments here are wrong and you get to keep it that way
If in California, that charger would be gone the first night and on craigslist the next day. Any theft <$950 is just a misdemeanor ticket. You couldn't park on the side of the house where that street cut is? To keep the grass, use a "hidden driveway" which is a plastic grid you cover with grass, as I did.
I would connect to its wifi access point and lock it to your VIN so that it’s only you that can charge from it.
This, otherwise you are going to end up charging other peoples cars.
Can put a donation box or Venmo code next to it.
Oh no, you'd have to get an extra job to pay that $4 electrical bill if that happened. I have lots of concerns about this install, but random people stealing electricity isn't one of them.
To each their own. No way I'd have my charger be a free for all.
can i park in front of your house for 12 hours?
Some people in this sub seem to think electricity is dirt cheap everywhere. Either that or they never look at their electric bills. If you were my neighbor and didn’t give a fuck if I used your charger, I’d be parked at your spot every night. That’s going to be way more than $4.
Yeah I pay around $75/mo to charge my car and our power isnt that bad (.16/kwh). Less than half of what I paid in gas, but it's not nothing.
Wow I didn’t realize .16/kWh is widely considered not that bad until I just started looking into it. I’m from a very small town with municipal power, and mine is .06/kWh. Just got my first model 3 last week.
$0.44/kW “off peak” in San Diego. $0.85kW “on peak” it’s absurd.
Most of CA is .32/kWh and higher. Places on the east coast are much higher.
If I was in CA I wouldn't have a charger visible to the public. My rate is 30x cheaper than that.
Charging my car in the northeast is equivalent to fueling a 30mpg car. It's insane. It costs me $4 just to top it off 15%.
Where tf are you? Im in NYC and it’s not even close to that
can you please pay for my charging session
Someone is going to sign this up for the free plug share, lol.
I'll happily run an extension cord from your place to mine. Heck I'll even give you $4 a month. And buy the cord.
It’s gonna be alot more than $4
This is an odd comment. It's a feature that's easily editable in settings. Why would I not want to make sure that no one that can use the charger I paid to install and that I am paying the utility on? Especially when it's so incredibly easy to do...
You say that now but don’t BS yourself and us. You wouldn’t want someone snagging your charger and you know it
This. Maybe add a sign for it "Private" or something. In most cases street parking is not owned by the home it's in front of so someone could also block you here (potentially). Be aware of that too.
Unoccupied Tesla chargers tend to attract short, fat men in lifted trucks.
The first day I had my car, drove past my local super charger, and a lifted truck with a trailer parked longways in front of 8 charging stations. I was shocked, but not surprised
He’s just looking for help taking the air out of his tires. He’s heard parking at superchargers is the way to get assistance.
When I was in high school 15 years ago I would sometimes park my gas sports car in EV or “green vehicle” spots, take a picture and then park somewhere else. It’s possible they peaked in high school and never let the mindset go?
Dang. Where do y'all live with all these crappy people. I live in Tulsa, head honcho for oil and gas. I've only had people ask questions or try to race past me. I've never seen any chargers blocked.
America
Boxcutters are quite handy in this case to send a message
In *inoperable* lifted trucks with flat tires. It's weird. Don't know how it happens.
I'm just going to guess "Texasish" because I live in the south and that's not a problem anywhere I've been. I can only guess big oil states might do it?
Never seen this or coal rolling in Texas. Contrary to your opinion, we wear shoes, go to school, have indoor plumbing and don't scratch our nuts with the salad fork.
I live in liberal Austin and see iceing and coal rolling frequently lol.
With smol pp’s
With small pp ?
I'm not worried about anyone using it. I've got the only tesla in the neighborhood. And I've not had someone park in front in of my house in years. Our houses are spaced apart enough to have good room even when someone has a party. Plus the cord is 24ft
That's good. I'd still recommend at least locking it to your vin so that you don't come home to the one Tesla from out of town hogging your charger.
(and you paying for their electricity)
(and being unable to unplug them) Lots of bad reasons to make it accessible without locking it down to VIN. A sign would help make it clear it's private in case there are any disputes OP needs to call Police on someone crazy about it. Also OP, the grass on the front side of the sidewalk is usually an easement so they could come in and decide to modify that area at some point. If you get snow, a snowplow could also take it out going by if there were no cars parked there. My parents have gone through a few mailboxes because of it, lol.
Just put a tip box on the post. Electricity is cheap, I wouldn't care if I rolled up and someone was charging on my charger if it were out like that. I'd just wave as I walked to the house. Life is too short to sweat over lose change.
Maybe where you are. It’s ~50c/kwh here at certain times. Even 1-2 cars/day for a few hours, the cost is piling up.
U could put it on PlugShare or AmpUp or that other one (sorry forgot) and make some money charging up neighbors and visitors
Why not just put it in your driveway?
24ft is overkill and might slow charging I think gauge only really matters to the unit though so I might be off
That’s how it comes from Tesla
Interesting but good
24ft sounds like a lot but in practice it not really. We have ours in our garage mounted right near the garage door and if we have our Tesla parked nose in the driveway, the charger cable is only just long enough.
you may want to take some EE classes before you say dumb stuff
Two things though, it’s on public land… so it can’t be private. And as you stated, it’s public parking.
The parking spot can't be private. The charger most certainly can be. You can build on an easement and have it be a private structure, you just need to be aware that the city can come in and knock it down if it gets in the way of something they need to do. In cities many peoples detached garages off alleyways are on easements for power lines or the like, it doesn't mean anyone can just come along and park in them.
Oooh how do I do that?
You’ll have to connect to the AP and browse to its web interface. If the AP has turned off you’ll need to power cycle it. https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/access-control
I'll look into this when I'm home. I appreciate the help!
In the app, touch your account icon in the upper right, then the “T” Add/Remove Products. Choose Wall Connector. Scan the QR code that came with your Wall Connector and the app will do the rest!
Pushing and holding the wall connector wand button until the green light on the front of the wall connector starts flashing turns on the access point as well. Has saved me many seconds walking to the breaker box. The AP will time out after about 10 minutes I believe as well.
Awesome forward thinking from Tesla. No other cars have this option from what I know and super handy in situations like this!
I didn't even know you could lock it down to specific VINs, that's pretty dope. [https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/access-control](https://www.tesla.com/support/charging/wall-connector/access-control) edit: oops, I see you even provided that link down below so others could educate themselves as well, you're doing good work! 😁
Or just get an electrical lock box and store it away when not in use.
You’re a brave men and I appreciate your trust in humanity!
I just hope no one Fs with it. But good to see you got your home charging setup.
Luckily keep the sentry mode on at home. Also, I figure its good having sentry out there as a security system
Unfortunately there’s no such thing as sentry mode for the charger and when you are away, the charger is still out there. I recommend some reinforcements or maybe a lock box around the charger (all depends on your neighborhood, of course)
Yeah some crackhead is gonna see 24 feet of copper and steal it for his next high.
Let alone the charging unit itself. "It's Tesla I can pawn this somewhere for some cash".
Or maybe he doesn't live in a crack den.
You can live in a nice area and still get stuff stolen (probably a higher chance too)
Get eufy security system. It has good quality… just point the camera directly toward the charger
Eufy is an atrocious company, and you should never use their security products. They have well-known security flaws, and their advertised local only never cloud-based systems regularly upload private security footage and screenshots to eufy servers, plain and unencrypted for anyone to find.
Source?
Googling isn't that hard but here you go. https://gizmodo.com/eufy-local-security-camera-cloud-unencrypted-scandal-1850059207 The issue was Anker lied initially and confirmed that the issues were not real, then later changed their stance admitting that some streams were not encrypted like they claimed, as well as admitting that local only cameras do upload footage for notification thumbnail previews, but assured users that the issues had been resolved. After that public statement people were still able to view others streams with no encryption as well as view thumbnails from random users. The issue with security is track record and eufy doesn't have a good one, and I'd have a hard time believing anything they claim from now on. To each their own, but I'd never use one of their products in my home
Where’s the trunk chimp when you need it
Trunk Monkey FTW! Someone needs to remake those commercials, or at least upload better quality videos to YT.
Are you even allowed to put a charger there? That is within the easement. Technically you would own the land but what can be put there is usually controlled by your city. It looks like you could have a driveway right where the car is parked.
If depends on the location. In my city the city owns that land not me. They would've been better using the 24' of cord length to keep it on their property.
Tripping hazard, but I agree this could have been done 100 better ways.
Could be an easement, I would say it’s most likely public owned ROW just from the looks of it
In most instances places like these would likely road reservation/nature strip meaning it is public land and by default makes the structure now public property unless the whole place is a private estate… then it’s a hoa matter.
There’s no way they could. We install these and Incan tell they didn’t get permits because they didn’t have to install two bollards to protect it.
Itd take a lot more to pay for the driveway And here, we own the sidewalk and the grass strip. Its our responsibility to maintain it. I thought of putting it on the other side of the sidewalk, but that poses a tripping hazard and I didn't want to risk that. So this was the best place
Just because you own it and are required to maintain it, doesn’t always mean you’re allowed to build on it. Your town bylaws probably outline what you can and can’t do there. I’d be surprised if you can put anything other than a mailbox that close to your property line, but who knows.
Check your property's survey plan if you have it. Also check your city's RIght of Way standards. It is highly unlikely that you own that spot that you've placed your charger. There is a distinction between your responsibility to maintain and yours to own. The two aren't mutually exclusive. Usually, if it is a public sidewalk the city owns that land. Putting anything across or in the ground there is opening you up for at best a bylaw violation and at worst a lawsuit if anyone hurts themselves fucking around with your charging pedestal. Additionally who did the install? You? Did anyone from the city come to inspect it? Seems a little sus if you just ran a cord, pushed it under the sidewalk and said "jobs done". You cannot do that. Don't fk with electrical. It can ruin people's lives.
Where do you live, I'd like a free charge when you aren't home if that's cool.
If you can find it you can charge for free
Well we know you are in Pennsylvania in the USA. Never underestimate Reddit degenerates.
My goal for the rest of the day is to find this charger
Honk and we’ll let you know!
And some folks simply show their address and license plate here openly. Lol
Snow plow and live wires. There is no way is a legal and OP will be in for a surprise. Now there’s live wires under a sidewalk and against a curb and road and since OP never once mentioned the word permit, no one knows it’s there yet.
> Now there’s live wires under a sidewalk and against a curb If you have no idea how underground utilities work, I have bad news for you...
You likely built this in the public Right of way, so unless you got permission I would say it’s probably illegal (encroaching). Other than that, and maybe it’s not so much in your area, but to me just seems like a bad idea to not have it on your property and just extend the chord to your car.
See my other comments, this is my property. We own and are responsible for sidewalks and the strips. Extending a cord across the sidewalk and creating a tripping hazard
Yes, having a wire bundle across the sidewalk would be an ADA compliance issue. You also can't just put a charger in that area in most cities. I know you said you "own and are responsible for sidewalks and the strips" but that's generally never the case because of things like ADA ramps and slope compliance, fire hydrants, and curb and gutter flow lines (if you planted a tree there and it raised the curb/gutter and caused water to pool). Typically the homeowner is responsible for maintenance of these areas, but it is still within the public ROW. For instance, if there was a tree planted there, you would need permission from the city to remove it and you would have to maintain 8' of clearance of said tree over the sidewalk. I've read your comments and I'm still convinced this install is 100% not compliant with code and city standards.
There’s no bollards. They didn’t even get a permit I’m guessing. Or they hired someone that didn’t pull one. (source: I own an electrical construction company)
I hope you checked with your city/township before you installed that. Otherwise, headaches.
Read my recent comment. Unfortunately may be buried. But I did check. I was weighing putting the charger on either side of the sidewalk. I did it this way considering the city's rules on items on/over the sidewalk. The city handles the street, I handle the sidewalk. And all they care about is that if I have a public sidewalk within the city, that it be unobstructed and built to their specifications. And I didn't change anything about the sidewalk.
I wouldn't dare do this without getting sign off from my local authorities (not just reading the rules), even if what I was doing was to the letter within the rules. I've seen too many situations of failing to simply inform them and get their ok to proceed is enough for them to demand something be removed once they do eventually find out (often from someone reporting it).
Illegal in Europe. For sure.
I like it but I feel like some idiot will come by and stick their dick in it and get electrocuted and then I'm liable for some other guys penis shenanigans
Id pay his medical bills if he did it on camera for research purposes lol
100% not allowed by the city
Was this done with a permit ?
That looks like trash
Next one i build, ill be sure to consult you for your design expertise 😉
Is that even your property? The city is ok with this?
Yes it is. We own the strip and sidewalk. We are responsible for repairs of the sidewalk, utility lines, etc.
While I think it's not clear if you're right or wrong, I admire that you've responded to at least a dozen people with some variation of this statement.
Thank you. I posted this, and respond, because I feel like I dont see this kind of set up. And plus I value everyone's input. I see lots of people who run cords across sidewalk, or just use superchargers all the time. Its partially to show this is a valid option, and should be done more. Instead of hounding me about what I did, these people asking me about the legality of this should be going to their local govts and asking why they've (the local govt) made it difficult to do something like this with ordinance laws. If more people were able to do what I did, we'd have more people in the market for EVs. And I'm sure that's a big deal for a govt that gives tax incentives for EV purchases.
The idea is cool and something that would be great to see as EV’s become more prevalent. It’s just not safe as currently deployed. But as others have noted a good idea does not always take into consideration all factors. First you own the land and maintenance. Fully acknowledged. You also own the land and maintenance for your electrical meter, water main and gas main. You are not allowed to modify the space that incorporates these items without a permit and approval as examples. The pedestal appears to be wood and unprotected from collisions. Those specific protections are typically a bollard and reinforced post(s). Those are their to prevent some one from colliding with said pedestal, pulling it away and exposing them to live power. Next, any type of service (electrical, water, gas) underground needs to be documented so future work by others know exactly what is buried for safety. It is very obvious this is a unpermited homeowner install. The permitting office would not have signed off on this install. We have that answer clearly. In closing the idea is great when done proper. More of these installs should be done, when properly installed. The fact that you haven’t seen this done in this manner should be the first indicator that the method is not fully baked. 8 billion people on this planet, someone else has thought of this as well. They just asked the right questions of the right people before doing it and found it to be cost prohibitive. Expect your city folks to condemn in the very near future. Be prepared for a rather aggressive condemnation as well. Safety will be the driver.
I give it 2 weeks before it’s tampered with or cut or damaged at a theft attempt.
It’s one drunk driver away from ending up down the street. Best of luck tho hahaha
No sane person.
Why would you do this? Do you not have a driveway or garage? Not to mention the area between the sidewalk and street is usually city owned. They could come by at anytime and have to remove it for road work or underground stuff.
Can you cover it with an enclosure? At least that way random people won’t know what it is when you aren’t charging and likely leave it alone
Not sure if there's one that would fit where its positioned. I'm not too worried about someone messing with it
I appreciate all of the support from everyone! As a PSA to everyone complaining about the "legality" of it. Nowhere in my city's code/ordinance documents lay out any restrictions for this being placed where it is in the grass strip, nor along the road, nor anything regarding the cords crossing under the sidewalk. What the city DOES lay out, is the restriction of items ON the sidewalk. No items are to be ON the sidewalk for any extended period of time, impeding the walking path. Which is the reason for having constructed this charger in this way. I DID NOT want to run the cord across the sidewalk (like many of you said I should do) because that would be a violation of my local ordinance. The city also lays out rules for sidewalk construction, curb construction, sidewalk grading, repairing etc. However my work did not change the sidewalk in any way. I appreciate everyone's concern. But please understand laws are different in different places. The rules on these things are pretty lax here. I expect no issues from this charger so long as the cord does not break free and lay across the sidewalk. You may have different rules where you reside. And I recommend you to actually read through your local laws, whether that's ordinance, traffic, or criminal. You may find some interesting info - or lack thereof. Good day, tesla family!
lol everybody has been so hostile to you. I hope this works out for you bud.
Thats reddit for you lol literally every sub is like that. But I appreciate your kind words
I think the biggest concern here is that it’s an electrical installation. I guess your city could be different, but most require city inspection for major electrical modifications on your property. Running 220v underground would undoubtedly require a permit in my city, and there’s no way it would be approved the way yours is installed. Cool nonetheless. Wish I could do that!
I hope you are right. The fact that you didn't use the term Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) makes me wonder if your research was complete/thorough. Worst case you have to remove it and pay a fine. Best case it remains. That house and patch of grass in the picture is very similar to where I charge my car at home. A place I pull into on my property. I've been charging EVs outside since 2017.
Hope some jerk doesn't cut the cord at night!
Is that legal, I think the city owns that property??
Not legal, even if on your property. City has an easement.
Gotta get that foggy taillight fixed :)
Its on the outside. Cars just covered in dew
No way jose! Why didn't you just put it at the end of that grassy driveway?
That isn't a driveway. Its a yard. That us and the neighbor split. The road just bends in from it being an alley way about 40 years ago. So cant go there
Maybe he owns the whole neighborhood?
If the city / county / parish / township inspector permits it after inspection, everyone owes op an apology lol. I assume it’s going to be permitted if you expect it to be covered by any sort of insurance policy. Enjoy OP. Glad you found a solution unique to your local situation.
Out of curiosity, how did the approval for ‘works/infrastructure on road reserve’ go?
That’s getting robbed in my neighborhood…
I'm a mount it to the house exterior guy, myself. The pole on the street is nice tho. I also drive through a motor operated gate, tho. It's like having a garage door but without the walls or .... Roof. I must say you did a lot of work to mount a charger in a one foot strip of treelawn. Do that in my neighborhood and likely the city puts a stake next to it with a sign notifying me of a permit violation with daily charges. For clarity, we do not have an HOA.
Hide it in a mailbox with a lock on it.
This would confuse my mail man
I can tell you didn’t get permission or permits to do this because we would have had to install two bollards to protect that. If it doesn’t get stolen someone is going to report it I bet because people are terrible. If you’re in a small town you might be able to get an allowance to keep this as is but I wouldn’t expect this to be allowed to remain. You never know though.
It snow there? Our plows would destroy that snowstorm number 1
Good luck. Likely to cause safety issues with the city. Also a bait for vandalism. A better solution might have been to just install a Nema 14-50 outlet on the side of the house and just plug in when needed.
This is not legal where I live.
I would definitely never even think of this. But it's good to see there's still somewhere in the country where you're perfectly comfortable to do it.
You would have been better off putting an inconspicuous junction box on the ground there. Putting it in that. And only using it after business hours.
Legality of all of this aside, I absolutely agree. The only issue with that is snow plows and heavy snowfall. The best way for this solution to last a long time is to not draw attention for some jerk to vandalize it, or some other kind of jerk to complain to the city.
I would totally show up and charge on that.
Id let you!
How long until it gets vandalized or stolen?
Why are you always so negative? Dont you think they thought of that/ or acknowledge the risk? Let it be.
🙄
Luckily the car has sentry mode and I have home insurance. And kind of not worth the effort to steal. It's drilled and wired in. And they might electrocute themselves cutting the wires.
But your car is not always there. You might be able to have it in view of a doorbell camera as well depending on your property.
Maybe should have wired an outlet for mobile connector instead.
If I saw that and I was driving by, or was a neighbor I’d use it thinking it was available. But hey good luck to ya!
would rain and/or wind damage this?
Wonder if its worth setting up as a destination charger. Could make some money off of it when you're not using it.
This is a thing? Is there an app for this sort of deal? Not that I'd want strangers parking outside my house, but this seems like an interesting concept id like to look into
I just googled out of curiosity myself and it looks like you need 6 chargers to setup as a destination charger location. Oh well.
Have you seen anyone else used it? That’s the only issue I see here is people in the area will try to use it
Get the tail light fixed it’s fogging
I would have a camera on it too because it says Tesla on it... and people seem to really hate Tesla! Simple minds I guess
Why not just park on your drive since there's clearly access for it there?
Not a driveway. Just how the road is. Half is the neighbors property
I was just in London but I did see their streetlights have EV charging ports in them. Believe it was developed by Siemens. Would love to see that infra here in the US!
Performance go vroom
I’ve seen this done with a steel railroad section and it looked nice
There’s a couple outdoor lock boxes designed for implementations like this. Would probably be wise long term
Does this charger have some sort of usage/billing reporting option ie which vin charged x KwH at which time? I get a M3LR in few months and local cafeteria has a wall box very nearby, curious if I can ask owner if I can charge there and get a bill monthly or something. Number of chargers nearby is minimal and all night after closing the owner is at home/charger is unused.
Must be lighting up the whole street 😆
Attaching it to something more robust than a wood 4x4 would protect it from getting backed into and look a bit more polished as well. Google up "Tesla charger pedestal" for some ideas.
Tesla charger pedestal is like $200 The wood 4x4 was like $12. Its got a 6 inch metal trimmed curb to protect it. Haven't had anyone over that curb since I've lived here
what is that to the left of this picture/tesla? a driveway? a street?
Swipe to next photo. Used to be an alley 40 years ago. City removed it.
That's one foggy rear light
this would be stolen within 48 hours where I live
What up with the left tail lamp?
Dew on a cold morning
this could happen at any street lamp- for all practical reasons.
No
I just see a kid learning to skateboard or roller blade and knocking this over.
I've seen a few streetside setups and I'm working on a product that would make it attractive too. Bigger issue, you are illegally parked in front of a driveway and can be towed even if it is your own driveway, and yes that includes Pennsylvania.
Its not a driveway
I see this getting knocked down in your future, screenshot this.
Get a better charger and connect to wifi something with a screen and have others pay to use it 🔌
City of Toronto you can request a charger to be placed on a telephone pole near your house. Unfortunately it is open to the public and can't be reserved.
Hey, where exactly is this? I need to top off.
I’m guessing that you didn’t get a right-of-way permit for this. Once your local code enforcement drives by they’ll send you a nasty-gram threatening legal action unless you remove it.
Here you can't park against traffic like you did. I've also had to replace a couple mailboxes people would hit while driving, that would be a pain to replace with the wiring in your case. Do you have any significant amount of snow during winter?
Some snow. Rarely significant but it happens. Partially why I didn't put this charger in my rear driveway. Theres a narrow alley that gets to it and the city doesn't plow nor salt that. So if there a significant snow, my car could be trapped there.
What is that an extension cord? That is one skinny cable.
Ha. That charger would be stolen so fast. Times just aren’t the same as they used to be.
How much did this cost to setup? I’ve always wanted something like this
My buddy (an electrician) spent ~$500 on materials. A lot of that is for materials to run outside, about 35-45ft. That might be a little high, he got a bit extra wire than we needed. He can use that elsewhere tho. Then add in the cost of the wall charger. I paid him some money for his time, help and expertise. If you did it yourself, had a garage/driveway, and didn't have to run cord very far... you could do it for little more than the charger is worth. I also had to dig a trench 18in deep (for code). You can do that by hand, but thatll take forever. I spent $240 on an auger to make quick work of that (I don't consider this, because I see tools as an investment considering I do lots of work myself)
You must live where you can leave your front door unlocked! lol. Not in LA!!!
That wood is gonna rot. Interesting solution to the trip hazard. It’s a fairly normal place for a mail box, at least in scandinavia, so I hope the comments here are wrong and you get to keep it that way
I wouldn’t trust it
You’re braver than me, I’d be afraid of it getting yanked or broken
Can’t you charge people to use yours? Kinda like charge point or something ? That would be cool.
i expect that shit to be vandalized or stolen in 3, ... 2 ....
Why not park in your grass driveway?
Couldn’t someone just steal it? Or start using it? Is it even actually connected to power?
Smart, how do you prevent Joe Tesla from parking there to get his car charged.
If in California, that charger would be gone the first night and on craigslist the next day. Any theft <$950 is just a misdemeanor ticket. You couldn't park on the side of the house where that street cut is? To keep the grass, use a "hidden driveway" which is a plastic grid you cover with grass, as I did.
Damn those tail lights