What Is The Best EV Charger And App For A Holiday Let?

Introduction

There is no doubt that electric cars are becoming more common and this will inevitably result in a steady increase of electric cars being used by guests when they visit a holiday let property. In a similar way to offering a dog friendly property, it is likely that offering a EV charger at your property will become a facility that guests will search for when looking to book a property.

Given the above, what solutions are there for holiday let owners to provide EV charging to their guests; especially if you want to be able to offer it as a paid for service? In this article I have highlighted a solution that might work well for you and your guests; along with some alternatives.

Disclaimer

I (Phil) am not being paid to write this article and I do not receive any introduction fees by the EV recommendations in this article.

I personally do not own an electric car so I was able to ask the silly questions from a point of view of someone who knows very little - I saw this as an advantage!

In completing my research I sat down and interviewed Alex and Peter from South Coast EV who were able to provide some good insights. Their interview has been one of the inputs into writing this article.

What Are The Key Things I Need To Have To Be Able To Offer My Guests EV Charging?

From my research I think the first thing to understand is what are the ‘building blocks’ to enable you as a holiday let owner to be able to offer EV charging to guests.

In simple terms there are 2 key elements:

1. An EV charger
2. An app that enables you to provide your EV charger to guests as a paid for service

The majority of EV chargers come with their own app, however these apps do not allow you to offer your charger as a paid service to your guests. Therefore an additional app is required to provide this service.

It is worth highlighting that the majority, but not all EV chargers are able to connect to third party apps. Read on to see our top recommendations for EV chargers.

Photo credit Ed Harvey, Unsplash

What Is The Best EV Charger For My Holiday Let?

Assuming you don’t already have an EV charger at your holiday let property, what would be a good one to purchase?

There are a multitude a EV chargers available on the market, and as you don’t need a specific charger for a specific make of car you can generally choose the charger you would like.

Typical domestic EV chargers run on a 32 Amp source so the power output is capped at a maximum of around 7.4kW which is perfectly fine for home use.

A great EV charger that provides all of the basic functions you will need is the Easee One. The Easee One EV charger also works well with the Monta app for guest charging. As viable alternatives to the Easee charger, both the Sevadis or Zaptec EV chargers are good options with all offering similar features.

Photo credit Phil

How Do I Get An EV Charger Installed?

All EV chargers will need to be installed by a suitably qualified electrician. There are many companies in the UK that specialise in EV charger installation. South Coast EV are one such company. Feel free to contact them to gain a quote or if you are away from the south coast they also have a network of other EV installers across the country.

South Coast EV have kindly offered a 10% discount on installation between now and the end of 2023 using the code SouthCoastEV10.

Where Is The Best Location To Install An EV Charger?

Generally the best location is just outside the front of your property within easy access to your drive or parking space. EV chargers can either be wall mounted or installed on a post.

The EV charger will be connected to your main power inlet. The further away your charger is from your main power inlet the higher the installation price will be due to increased cable length, power boosters and cable protection. Some ground works may be required to bury the cable underground.

Can I Install An EV Charger In My Garage?

Yes. It is possible to install an EV charger either on the inside or outside of a garage; even if the garage is detached from the house. The installation cost will likely be higher due to additional cabling, with groundworks adding to this if the cable has to be run underground rather than being run along an external wall.

Do I Need A Comms Line Connection To My EV Charger?

To enable operation, all EV chargers require internet connectivity. In most instances your home wifi is sufficient to provide this connectivity. If your wifi signal is not powerful enough to reach you EV charger location then your EV charger can gain internet connectivity either through a 4G SIM installed within your EV charger or via a hard wired cat 5 cable (or comms line). Your EV charger installer will generally perform a wifi signal strength check prior to recommending the best solution.

How Do I Offer My Guests A Pay As You Go EV Charging Service?

Once you have a EV charger installed, how can you set it up to enable your guests to charge their electric car whilst staying at your property, where they pay for the electricity they use?

This is where apps such as Monta or Square Up come in. These apps are focussed on enabling organisations, businesses and individuals to be able to offer EV charging points to employees, visitors and guests.

Both of these options will enable you as a holiday let owner to be able to provide a service to your guests with you being able to set the price for how much you charge. You can remotely monitor usage via the apps and admin area of the websites.

Although I have not installed either of these apps I have thoroughly reviewed both of them and have had conservations with their support teams to make sure I correctly understand their offerings.

Monta - Complete EV Charging Management Software

The Monta software platform is the most refined software out of the two offerings and appears to have a broader worldwide installation base than Square Up. Their software is more focussed towards larger organisations such as hotels and the like where there will be multiple EV chargers, however their system will equally work with a single EV charger being managed by an owner.

As Monta appears to be more widely used than Square Up, there is a greater chance that electric vehicle owners will already have the app installed as it can also be used to connect to public EV charging points around the country. Meaning that there is one less step your guests will have to do to be able to use your charger.

To allow your guests access to use your EV charger, you will just have to supply them with a ‘Join code’ or QR code. They can then just enter this into the Monta app on their phone to begin charging.

As an owner you can set the cost per kW you want to charge.

Photo credit - Monta

How Much Does The Monta App Cost?

The Monta app works on a subscription model. Within their pricing there is a free subscription option where there is no monthly subscription cost and where you just pay a higher transaction percentage each time the EV charger is used via the app. For holiday let owners where the EV charger isn’t going to be used frequently this is probably the best option.

The free pricing tier has a reduced amount of options however is still enough to get you up and running.

Square Up - EV Charging For Hosts - An Alternative To Monta

Compared to the Monta app, Square Up is a less refined but more simplistic offering however is much more focussed on providing a simple solution to hosts wanting to provide a EV charging solution to their guests. Currently the Square Up app is also focussed on the UK market whereas Monta is available much more widely.

As a host you can sign-up for a free account, set your per kW pricing and create a QR code. Guests can then scan the QR code to sign-up, use and pay for any electricity they use.

Photo credit - Square Up

How Can I Offer EV Charging For My Guests At A Set Price?

The solutions we have highlighted above provide a great way of charging guests based upon their usage but what if you would like to offer EV charging at a fixed cost or even free?

All three of the suggested EV chargers are RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) enabled. This allows the EV chargers to be operated by means of a RFID card or fob. Therefore you can have a card or fob inside your property (or attached to the property keys), which the guests can then use to scan the EV charger and enable charging.

With this setup you will not need an app like Monta or Square Up and you would just charge the guests your set amount via your usual booking system and payment provider.

The RFID fobs are cheap to purchase and need to be paired with your EV charger to enable them to work. Therefore this will stop others using your charger if they just happen to have a RFID fob!

Photo credit - Easee

My Holiday Let Is In An Apartment Block. Can I Provide EV Charging?

Installing an EV Charger into the parking area of an apartment block can be tricky to achieve. The best scenario is if all of the apartment electric meters are within a plant room which is situated within the parking area, your EV installer should be able to connect an EV charger to your electrical circuit.

Alternatively if there are communal electrical service within the parking area there is the possibility to connect in to this system, however this will require authorisation from the block managers and agreement on how usage will be charged.

It is recommended that you request a visit from a reputable EV Installer to assess the options available to you.

Are There Grants Available To Install EV Charger To A Holiday Let?

We have not fully looked into this element however there is a Government Workplace Charging Scheme which “is a voucher-based scheme that provides eligible applicants with support towards the upfront costs of the purchase and installation of electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints.”. The scheme is open to ‘small accommodation businesses’ which includes ‘holiday and other short-stay accommodation’.

Making it Public

Once you are setup with an EV charger and accompanying Monta app (the Square Up app doesn’t offer this feature) there is the option to make your charger appear with the public map of available EV chargers. This will allow you to openly offer your EV charger to the public and to gain revenue from it during times your property is not being used by guests.

This option won’t be for everyone but for some it may be a good option based upon your location and openness to others using your EV charger.

There is a simple on/off switch within the Monta app that allows your EV charger to be visible to the public so you would just have to remember to switch this over to private whenever you have guests booked to remove the risk of your guests arriving to find a car parked in your drive or parking space!

Photo credit - Monta

Conclusion

As the volume of electric vehicles continues to grow, providing the ability for guests to charge their cars via an EV charger will increasingly be a feature that potential guests will look for when searching for a holiday let property. The Easee EV charger coupled with the Monta app provides a solution for holiday let owners to be able to provide a charging service where guests can pay for their usage.

Article created by Phil, March 2023