Charging at the office ...

does he have a 120 volt outlet available? also since you're 20 miles away, if you can allot the time and have access to side roads with a speed limit of 25mph you could stretch your EV to 15 miles. I've done that going about 15 to 17 mph on the side streets on my way to work.

 

if you charge 10 miles per day at work, x 5 days a week, that's a bout a gallon a week at 50mpg. offer them $4./week = $200./year for 5 years = $1000. should cover about half the cost or more.

 

have you also looked into public charging stations?

PlugShare - Find Charging Stations for Electric Cars!

 

for a PiP, just a 110V outlet would go a long way at 1.4KW.

The L2 charging stations are very attractive for the PEV and PHEV with larger batteries and chargers, so don't be surprised if you find yourself bumped from an L2 station plug.

Most L2 chargers are setup to provide 7.2KW and I think your PiP can only sip about 2KW.

 

Have you looked around for an existing 110V outlet? check the parking lot light poles and areas around the AC equipment or landscape maintenance storage sheds. If you can find an existing outlet the next step is pretty easy and often just involves asking permission since charging a PiP from empty is equivalent to a cup of cheap coffee.

 

We looked all around the parking garage, no outlets, but since there are 4 of us, we convinced them to put in a 220 charger... we may eventually need another one..we also lock it with a combo lock so others (no employees) cannot use it and all 4 of us know the combination.

 

I've got an '04 with a 4kwh PHEV conversion. My company owns the parking structure here and has installed at least 4 chargers I know of (the Volt guys use them mainly). However, I only need a 110v outlet and permission to plug-in...which I finally got in April 2011, after almost 2 years using a 2kwh pack.

I can refill my pack in 2.5 to 3 hrs with the 3.2-3.5 kwhs I use up on the morning commute. No cost to me, but I can't speak for the guys using the chargers...last I heard they were NOT being charged. Access to charging at work is roughly equivalent to a $7.50/month subsidy on my commuting expenses. I'd gladly pay that if they wanted it...probably cost them more in bookkeeping than electricity used though.

 

Sometimes there are outlets behind buildings.

 

240V split phase is fairly typical, but that is 2 x 120V circuits on different phases to get 240V, very easy to get a 120V outlet, or a 240V outlet from them.

Some garages are 208V out of a three phase service which is different than single phase/split phase. There are some folks that have configured a transformer to get the 208V up enough to do a L2 charger at 240V but it isn't very portable. works well if you have an assigned spot in a garage, like a condo.

 

Better ask first. I found a light pole at work with a 120v outlet and used it several times without asking. Someone noticed and I got an email asking me to stop pluging in....

 

That is one way of bringing the problem to people's attention. I have only had one very large worldwide company refuse me, I plugged in and asked. They said they would get back to me, never did. I put it down to major ignorance.