Tracking Charger Usage Per User - Do You Need This?

[mpshizzle]

I live in a household with 3 residents who are EV drivers. In order to divide utilites fairly between us, I needed a system that would track charger usage per-driver. I was unable to find any system that was able to do that. Maybe there is something, but as far as I could tell unless you get some kind of commercial system like charge point, there's no way track per-driver.

So I set out making my own. It interfaces with OpenEVSE and controls the whole system. Some of the features include:

• Locking/unlocking the EVSE automatically so only authorized users can charge
• Tracking usage per-user
• Web interface for managing users, viewing session logs/totals, and starting charging sessions
• Load balancing between multiple openEVSE units on the same circuit
• Home Assitant integration for a pretty interface and automations (such as a post-charging session receipt sent to the user's phone)

Right now this is very much a one-off custom build - but I'd consider making a consumer friendly version of this if there's interest. What do y'all think. Is this something you'd use? Is it worth my time to make a marketable, sellable version of this?

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[mpshizzle]

On my particular implementation, I have a permanently installed tablet with an app interface as well.

 

[NDIrish]

I say this has potential. But I personally don't want it because my work charging is FREE probably because they can't control it

Anyway, I think apartments, private businesses, other places that can control the user and Split costs after the fact is something very much needed.

My work for instance it is free. Everyone does well on balancing and sharing. But the Lifted Diesel Driving Enforcer is constantly bugging people about the rules. Main rule is only plug in for 4 hour blocks at a time to make sure more people have a chance to charge.

So a solution that does not need to take payments yet controls and records usage is definitely a valuable product. I can see this with value beyond chargers

 

[DeafPug]

Nice setup.

OpenEVSE (at least my old OpenEVSE hardware) doesn't actually measure the voltage for the kWh calculation. It just assumes a steady 240V on the line. It's OK for something like this being a private system among roommates, but wouldn't be suitable for a system that actually needed to have an accurate reading (say for example managed by a landlord at an apartment complex) - this is part of why some state laws originally forced Tesla and other charging companies to bill by the minute instead of the kWh - laws are on the books that ONLY the public utility can bill end customers for electricity by the kWh.

I track energy usage between the Model 3 and R1T somewhat manually right now. I have an external TED 5000 system monitoring the feed to my OpenEVSE and then just track which days of the month I use the charger on the Tesla and ivy up the usage once a month into my spreadsheets for tracking vehicle expenses. More charging is done on the R1T and then I top off the 3 as needed. A little bit of a hassle, but not terrible. At some point, I do need to wire up the Tesla Wall Connector that I purchased to avoid this nuisance.

 

[NDIrish]

Nice setup.

OpenEVSE (at least my old OpenEVSE hardware) doesn't actually measure the voltage for the kWh calculation. It just assumes a steady 240V on the line. It's OK for something like this being a private system among roommates, but wouldn't be suitable for a system that actually needed to have an accurate reading (say for example managed by a landlord at an apartment complex) - this is part of why some state laws originally forced Tesla and other charging companies to bill by the minute instead of the kWh - laws are on the books that ONLY the public utility can bill end customers for electricity by the kWh.

I track energy usage between the Model 3 and R1T somewhat manually right now. I have an external TED 5000 system monitoring the feed to my OpenEVSE and then just track which days of the month I use the charger on the Tesla and ivy up the usage once a month into my spreadsheets for tracking vehicle expenses. More charging is done on the R1T and then I top off the 3 as needed. A little bit of a hassle, but not terrible. At some point, I do need to wire up the Tesla Wall Connector that I purchased to avoid this nuisance.

Great points

For landlords / businesses that want to manage , managing by the time charging may be best anyway since it's a shared resource and you may not care as much about the electric bill, more the reward of access to it

 

[Commonguy]

That's very cool, and I think that it could be useful for landlords of small complexes. For larger numbers of users, I suspect the landlord would quickly tire of billing and collecting the charging fees. If you do get this ready for prime time, let us know. I'm sure my brother would be interested for his 7-unit place. He installed a single charger despite no tenants having an EV, on the build-it-and-they-will-come principle. He's still trying to figure out how to bill if he eventually gets more than one user.

 

[NDIrish]

Landlords may like the simplicity, charge $10 a month for access to the charger (make them sign up so you can control it ). Or free for tenants, but then limit them to 8hrs a day or something like that. Or 100 hrs a month. Or whatever you want to make it. Don't worry about billing for actual usage, it's a perk for those that sign up for an account.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

You should be able to achieve the same thing with Wallbox Pulsar Plus by setting up individual user accounts and PIN access to the charger. I haven't done this myself, but the mechanism seems to be there.

 

[Commonguy]

the

Tim, that's perfect! I checked out the Wallbox site, and they offer simple pay-per-charge via a QR code that works for anyone who wants to charge, and several options for designated users like tenants.

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