this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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[–] calabast@lemm.ee 52 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Orange Charger bills landlords based on energy usage instead of the number of outlets installed. So far, the company has installed about 2,000 units nationwide.

“You have no downside to install 50 outlets day one,” Johnson said. “We only charge when the device is used.”

But it also says the chargers cost $600 or $750, plus more for installation. Do they charge for both? Either way, I guess it's the apartment owner's choice, but god damn I am sick of everyone trying to get a subscription or on-going payment out of me.

[–] credo@lemmy.world 42 points 6 months ago

This doesn’t sound like a subscription, so much as consumption based billing. They make their money back by cornering the building-level market (perhaps landlords can put in competing chargers?) and charging a higher charging fee… okay that’s confusing. Charging a higher “fillup” fee.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Is that what they're doing differently? Because I live in an apartment, and like most people in my city, parking is street parking. This isn't exciting, it's just a regular charger with a modified installation cost. Even for people with driveways, the issue isn't what kind of charger, the issue is that the landlord has no motivation to make an improvement like this.

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee -2 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Also, many, many, many apartments buildings aren't built to handle such electrical loads (I'd bet loads of money most aren't capable - why would you engineer a building for more than it's projected to need? That just costs more).

In every apartment and rental house I've been in, you'd have to install a new service to be able to charge anything, because they're already running close to max current capacity.

What's that charger going to pull, in amps, for how long? It'll need to be 220v, at least, and those are dedicated runs (think electric dryer or electric stove).

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 months ago

You realize virtually every American building with electricity has 220v? It’s not some mystical thing only some people have stumbled upon. All it would take to install it is running cable… which is what needs to happen anyway. Not only are they being placed where you’re not likely to have existing lines, you wouldn’t want to use existing line since you wouldn’t want these on a shared breaker to begin with.

[–] toofpic@lemmy.world -1 points 6 months ago

I have no idea why you are being downvoted, you're just stating facts

[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)

And of course those expensive chargers will become bricks when the company goes out of business or just decides to stop supporting them.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 11 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Maybe. Or maybe someone buys them out, or the landlord is given the option to flip them open for free use. The good news is it should leave the infrastructure in place.

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 6 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Hahahahaha, right, sure.

Not like we don't have plenty of current dead hardware as an example of just this issue.

How about we build on knowns, rather than corporate promise fairytales?

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago

Once the infrastructure (conduit, circuit breakers, cable, etc.) is in place then swapping out the charger at the end of it is pretty much trivial.