At-home charging requirements?

[Looney100]

Good luck. I suspect they will be expensive and/or quite hard to find. It’s very cool tech, but not sure it’s worth thousands more than a standard plug.

 

[joegr]

A 200A panel? I’m envious. You must be in a very new home.

200A service has been pretty standard in the US for many years now. My house built in the 1970s has 200A service.

 

[Jbgv60]

A 200A panel? I’m envious. You must be in a very new home.

Lol I am lucky indeed. House is new-ish, built in 1999.

 

[Looney100]

Lol I am lucky indeed. House is new-ish, built in 1999.

I guess the standards in Canada are different. My house was built in 2008 and just has 100A service. Panel is rated for a max of 125.

 

[Bill Hall]

I don't have any experence with an EV, but my experience with having a ceramics kiln can add to this discussion. I'm in the US, and we have transformers, so this doesn't apply to other countries.

My kiln requires 50A. Here in the US, or at least here in Texas, the utilites can supply up to 200A. When we got the kiln, we had a 60A circuit added for it. A circuit needs to have higher capacity than the maximum load for that branch. What happened the first time we fired the kiln was that it blew the breaker on the transformer out at the street. We called the electric company, and they said that even though they can and will supply 200A, most houses don't need more than 100A, so they normally use that size transformer in order to save money. However, they are willing to, and did, replace the transformer with a 200A one.

And, as someone else pointed out, the capacity of the panel has to be checked. Some panels might be able to carry a larger load by replacing the main breaker.

It's worth it to hire a licensed, bonded electrician. High voltage wiring can easily be dangerous if it's not done properly.

 

[Jbgv60]

I don't have any experence with an EV, but my experience with having a ceramics kiln can add to this discussion. I'm in the US, and we have transformers, so this doesn't apply to other countries.

My kiln requires 50A. Here in the US, or at least here in Texas, the utilites can supply up to 200A. When we got the kiln, we had a 60A circuit added for it. A circuit needs to have higher capacity than the maximum load for that branch. What happened the first time we fired the kiln was that it blew the breaker on the transformer out at the street. We called the electric company, and they said that even though they can and will supply 200A, most houses don't need more than 100A, so they normally use that size transformer in order to save money. However, they are willing to, and did, replace the transformer with a 200A one.

And, as someone else pointed out, the capacity of the panel has to be checked. Some panels might be able to carry a larger load by replacing the main breaker.

It's worth it to hire a licensed, bonded electrician. High voltage wiring can easily be dangerous if it's not done properly.

Great advice. Even if a charger, or any appliance, is rated up to a certain amperage you shouldn’t be operating it above 80% of the breakers capacity. I ran a new circuit off a dedicated 50 amp breaker from my main panel and am using an EV charger that can operate up to 50 amps but has the capability of dialing down, which I wanted. So I’ll run my charger at around 40 amps, otherwise I’ll risk tripping it.

Overall the electrician will check your amp service and physical (breaker) space on the panel. Another consideration is what they call “diversity” of circuits inside your panel. Which is beyond my understanding but underscores advantage of using an electrician. If you have to upgrade your service (amperage) it might not be worth it since that’s pretty expensive. If they just need to re-organize your panel to make physical space (like in my case) it should be doable.

 

[Looney100]

The rule is that you shouldn’t run your circuit at more than 80% of the circuit’s rating for more than 3 hours continuously.
This is why I’m getting a 60A line put in for a 48A charger.

 

[MovingOn]

If y’all can afford a $70K - $80K car, just use an electrician. Added bonus: I would imagine having this done properly will be a good feature if you sell your house.

 

[Looney100]

I don’t think anyone was considering doing this on their own.

I ran a 240V line to my garage a couple years ago, myself, but with Much support from my neighbor that is an electrician. I wouldn’t suggest that this sort of thing is for anyone to try based on YouTube videos alone.

 

[Bobdhd]

I am in the UK. I have ordered a Sports Plus and I am advised the car will be delivered to me in October.

Nearer the time. I will endeavour to find out the price and the suppliers of the Wireless Charging System, as in the video below @ 12 minutes…

Hopefully it's not too expensive. It does look to be a great way of charging the GV60…

Paul Choo…

I had a quick look for what the cost would be (Canada), EVSE ~$1000, wireless ~$5000. It’s a pretty big difference for one to walk around the back, open the door & plug it in.

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Help support this site so it can continue supporting you!

 

[Looney100]

A $1000 EVSE is a pretty nice one, too. I paid $200 for my first.

 

[gitSehT]

I will be checking with my electrician closer to the delivery date (when I finally get one) as I believe I have two options to chose from as both my dryer and stove are gas the 240v outlets for those go unused. I think he will need to run a new line to the garage (about 25 ft from the panel) while utilizing one of the existing breakers.

 

[Looney100]

I suspect your stove circuit will be higher amperage. You may want to go with that.

 

[Rimsky44]

More practical question for those parked outside 24-7 without any cover, is there any issues with the car plugged in when it's raining? I assume no.

 

[Looney100]

More practical question for those parked outside 24-7 without any cover, is there any issues with the car plugged in when it's raining? I assume no.

No issues at the car. You’ll need to make sure you have EVSE that is built for the outdoors, though.

 

[kqian111]

Given the high prices of 40+ amps wall chargers online US$600+, I'm highly considering buying a used Tesla Mobile Connector. They are officially only US$200 and you can change the adapter plug to any NEMA plug imaginable. Then you can buy a Tesla to J1772 adapter for about $150 so total cost is $350 all in. The only downside is the Tesla mobile connector is limited to 32amps, which doesn't matter if you're just overnight charging. But what you gain is portability (take anywhere) and universal plug adaptability, not to mention half the cost of other permanent wall installations. Having the Tesla to J1172 adapter also gives you max flexibility while traveling since many hotels and destinations have Tesla wall chargers for customers so you can plug right in.

 

[rickcinyyc]

I have to do some research - unless anyone here is in the same boat and can provide any advice. I have solar on my roof with a max capacity of 8.16kWh generation. I'd prefer to prioritize charging from solar and only the excess goes to the grid, for no other reason than to brag that my car is running on 100% renewable energy. Any excess generation gets sold back to the grid at the same price I purchase it for, so there's little by way of cost considerations whether I charge at night or during the day.

 

[Looney100]

Given the high prices of 40+ amps wall chargers online US$600+, I'm highly considering buying a used Tesla Mobile Connector. They are officially only US$200 and you can change the adapter plug to any NEMA plug imaginable. Then you can buy a Tesla to J1772 adapter for about $150 so total cost is $350 all in. The only downside is the Tesla mobile connector is limited to 32amps, which doesn't matter if you're just overnight charging. But what you gain is portability (take anywhere) and universal plug adaptability, not to mention half the cost of other permanent wall installations. Having the Tesla to J1172 adapter also gives you max flexibility while traveling since many hotels and destinations have Tesla wall chargers for customers so you can plug right in.

Maybe things have changed post-COVID, but I remember entry level chargers being available for significantly less than $600 US. I paid less than $1000 for a 40A Wi-Fi-enabled unit.

I just ordered a Tesla adapter for flexibility while on the road. I think you might find what you’ve suggested a little bit of a hassle. From what I’ve seen, you need to wait 30-60 seconds after connecting the adapter to the Tesla unit before connecting to the vehicle, which would make regular use at home a bit of a pain - unless you left it connected at home, which then negates your on-the-road flexibility.

 

[kqian111]

Maybe things have changed post-COVID, but I remember entry level chargers being available for significantly less than $600 US. I paid less than $1000 for a 40A Wi-Fi-enabled unit.

I just ordered a Tesla adapter for flexibility while on the road. I think you might find what you’ve suggested a little bit of a hassle. From what I’ve seen, you need to wait 30-60 seconds after connecting the adapter to the Tesla unit before connecting to the vehicle, which would make regular use at home a bit of a pain - unless you left it connected at home, which then negates your on-the-road flexibility.

There are definitely cheaper Chinese brand wall chargers on Amazon that are not UL listed and I would not trust them even if they are $300. For any name brand Chargepoint, Lectron, EVGo wall chargers, they are typically $700+. Yes you do gain wifi control, but you can already do that within the vehicle.

For the Tesla adapter, it would sit at home 90% of the time, except for those long road trips where you would benefit from destination L2 top ups.

 

[Looney100]

I have to do some research - unless anyone here is in the same boat and can provide any advice. I have solar on my roof with a max capacity of 8.16kWh generation. I'd prefer to prioritize charging from solar and only the excess goes to the grid, for no other reason than to brag that my car is running on 100% renewable energy. Any excess generation gets sold back to the grid at the same price I purchase it for, so there's little by way of cost considerations whether I charge at night or during the day.

Ricky,
I‘m in a similar situation as you. I’m in Calgary and am getting solar installed this summer.
The thing to keep in mind is that electrons are fungible. They are all the same regardless of where they came from. If you are charging while you are generating more power than your house needs, then theoretically, you could say that your car is running on 100% renewable (unless you charge elsewhere). However, that just means that that energy didn’t make it onto the grid, and someone else is going to burn some coal or natural gas that wouldn’t have otherwise been needed if you didn’t charge at all.

I‘ve been paying extra for offsets to my electricity consumption up to this point, and feel good that the house is “net zero”, but I do recognize that the incremental kWh is still fossil-fuel generated, so my charging does create carbon emissions.

On another note, your post made me think of the Tesla that my wife saw in town once with a license plate of “COALPWD”