About to depend on a shared charging setup for the first time — what actually goes wrong day-to-day?
Our building association finally approved two shared EV charging spots after almost two years of residents asking, install is scheduled for next month. I've been an EV owner for six years now but always had my own outdoor Level 2 at previous houses, so this will be my first time actually depending on a shared setup with other residents instead of something that's just mine. We're at roughly sixty units with maybe six or seven EV owners that I know of, and I'd rather hear from people who've lived with a shared setup for a while what actually goes wrong day-to-day, not the polished version from whoever installed it.
Filed under: Troubleshooting
65
10 answers
10 ANSWERS
@snowbolt_rJuly 01, 2026
Two spots for sixty units is going to be tight fast. The annoying part isn't charging speed, it's people leaving their car parked in the spot after it's done charging.
This is the single most common complaint I get as a property manager. A posted time limit with an actual enforcement plan, not just a sign, is the only thing that's worked for me.
@gravelpointJuly 01, 2026
did you ever fix it
@orbitmothJuly 01, 2026
Reservation apps exist specifically for this now and they're not expensive at the two-port scale. Worth looking into before you rely on a honor system that won't hold at sixty units.
@sleetburnJuly 01, 2026
Our building did an honor system for four months before switching to a reservation app. The honor system failed almost immediately once more than five people actually had EVs.
how many people actually ended up using it once you had more EV owners, did two spots end up being enough
Not really, we're adding two more next quarter. Two was fine for the first six months, then it wasn't.
@orbit_snackJuly 02, 2026
One safety note that gets missed: if you're sharing a circuit across multiple ports with load management, make sure residents know charging speed can drop when others plug in simultaneously. Otherwise you get complaints that sound like a broken charger when it's actually working as designed.
@frostbyte_742July 02, 2026
Flagging that last point because it's exactly the kind of thing that turns into an angry maintenance ticket instead of a two-line explanation posted near the spots.
@duskbuttonJuly 02, 2026
ICE'd spots (non-EV parked in the EV spot) were our actual biggest problem, more than charging speed or reservations combined. Signage alone didn't stop it, towing enforcement did.
Delete post?
Once you delete this post, it can't be restored.