Tesla Model 3: How to create your personal charging infrastructure [Video]

I haven’t walked up to a gas pump and placed the gas nozzle into my personal vehicle in over four years! Sure, I do it for an occasional rental car, but the entire activity now seems both inefficient and quaint. The process for filling my Tesla Model S is considerably more intimate—I charge the car every night when I get home. I plug it in just as I plug in my phone or notebook computer. In the morning, the car, the notebook, and the phone are all fully charged.

People on the Model 3 reservation list will use the same process, but many of them will do so for the first time. If you’re one of them, you’ll need to begin thinking about what I call personal charging infrastructure (PCI). In most cases, you’ll create a PCI at your place of residence or for a relatively small percentage, you’ll have charging capability at your workplace.

But for those who must create their own PCI, there can be challenges. Before you become anxious, creating a PCI is really quite simple, if you’re the only person who has to approve the project. But if you live in a communal setting—a condo, an apartment building, a co-op—things can get a bit more complicated and sometimes, quite frustrating. And if you live in a city and use on-street parking? Then what?

These are some of the issues that Tesla Model 3 reservation holders need to begin thinking about now. Sure a lucky few will be able to use existing EV chargers at their workplace or in their condo parking lot, but what if your workplace or residence doesn’t have charging capabilities? What strategies can you use to convince your boss, your condo association, your apartment’s property manager that a charger is a good idea? How should you approach the people who decide? What information do you present to make your case?

Above: Creating a PCI for your Tesla (Source: Author)

As I see it, there are six residency variants that will characterize the living arrangements for most Tesla Model 3 owners:

• RV1: You own/rent/live-in a house/condo with a garage
• RV2: You own/rent/live-in a condo without a garage
• RV3: You rent in-the-small (i.e., in a 2 – 4 family house) with a driveway or in a small apartment building with parking spaces
• RV4: Your rent in an apartment complex with multiple buildings and parking spaces
• RV5: You rent in a large apartment building with a parking garage
• RV6: You rent in a building that has no provision for parking; you park on the street

I present strategies for creating a PCI for each of these residency variants in Getting Ready for Model 3. If your residency variants falls somewhere within RV3 through RV6, you should begin planning your PCI now.

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Editor's note: Want more Model 3 news? We've got some courtesy of the Model 3 Owners Club Show. If you'd like additional updates on the Tesla Model 3 including some discussion about competition from the Chevy Bolt, Autopilot news, National Drive Electric Week, and more — and/or if you'd like to check out what the guys over at Tesla Model 3 Owners Club think about our new book (starting at 59:24), take a look at the video below...

Youtube: Model3OwnersClub

As we've noted, there is some controversy around our Tesla Model 3 delivery estimates, but we believe it's worth checking out. In any event, you can preview a free chapter of the book, or, you can learn more about it right here... Getting Ready for Model 3.