Newbie here - investigating garage chargers etc. Questions.....

[tvmaster]

Couple of questions for those who may know....
We have 100amp service, and no AC in the house.
Can we get by with a Level 2 charger maxing out at 50kWh rating if used between 12am and 6am?
An electrician would be required to wire the 240volt plug, but it's really the overhead needed. The only thing running after midnight are a few lights, a couple of computers, a big screen with receiver, and typical appliances.
We have the ability to upgrade to 125amps, but it will be a little costly due to some housing architecture problems with the old box.

Second - what Level 2 garage chargers combine automatic features, maybe a wifi app, but won't break the bank? Our utility won't recommend any, neither will Genesis.
Opinions welcome please. We have three years offsite free charging, so it would mainly be used in emergencies or to top-up to 100% for a longer trip.
Oh, 2025 GV60 Performance

 

[ideutsch]

Couple of questions for those who may know....
We have 100amp service, and no AC in the house.
Can we get by with a Level 2 charger maxing out at 50kWh rating if used between 12am and 6am?
An electrician would be required to wire the 240volt plug, but it's really the overhead needed. The only thing running after midnight are a few lights, a couple of computers, a big screen with receiver, and typical appliances.
We have the ability to upgrade to 125amps, but it will be a little costly due to some housing architecture problems with the old box.

Second - what Level 2 garage chargers combine automatic features, maybe a wifi app, but won't break the bank? Our utility won't recommend any, neither will Genesis.
Opinions welcome please. We have three years offsite free charging, so it would mainly be used in emergencies or to top-up to 100% for a longer trip.
Oh, 2025 GV60 Performance

An electrician should be able to advise you on whether you can add a new 240v circuit and if so how many amps it can be. I would start there.

For level 2 chargers, I have an Emporia unit and appreciate how much control it provides as well as the usage data, but also know many that are happy with their Tesla branded chargers.

 

[noremacnova]

There was a recent episode of Ask This Old House that featured your situation almost exactly. The homeowner had a 100/125A panel and therefore the ability to install and power a 50A EVSE circuit was questionable. But there is a new version of the Emporia charger (a brand I also recommend) that can monitor your home’s power demands and throttle-back the power to the EVSE if necessary. [Edit: looks like the throttling feature now comes with the Emporia ‘Pro’ equipment, which is not as shown in the video]

Watch the video for all the details:

 

[gknyce]

I have an old house, only 100 amp service. I'm charging my 2023 advanced on a 240 / 30 amp circuit breaker. Which means I charge at 24 amps (80%). I'm not commuting so my charging needs are not great, but charging overnight, say 12 to 14 hours is pretty much a full charge or at least 20 - 80%. Completely sufficient for my needs, and maybe yours as well depending on your use case. Point being, you might not need the highest amperage and fastest home charger.

 

[tvmaster]

I have an old house, only 100 amp service. I'm charging my 2023 advanced on a 240 / 30 amp circuit breaker. Which means I charge at 24 amps (80%). I'm not commuting so my charging needs are not great, but charging overnight, say 12 to 14 hours is pretty much a full charge or at least 20 - 80%. Completely sufficient for my needs, and maybe yours as well depending on your use case. Point being, you might not need the highest amperage and fastest home charger.

40amp will be plenty. If it has a smart feature to dial-down if the house is nearing 100amp usage then even better.

 

[Looney100]

A few things to offer:

• Unless you have a particularly long commute, you probably don't need a L2 charger - particularly a high amperage unit. With the included L1 charger, you can recover ~70km of range overnight.
• I have 100A service at my home, and a couple years ago, had an electrician install a 60A circuit to enable 48A charging - he didn't bat an eye about it.
• I have a device installed that provides real-time monitoring and reporting of my home's electrical consumption. So far this year, I've exceeded a 40A draw on two occasions - for a combined period of just two minutes. Aside from those anomalies, our typical peak sustained draw tops out at about 35A - when we'd have the oven and dryer running at the same time.
• If you set aside 50A for your charger, you're still left with 50 for other devices. That's a crap-tonne of power. If you don't have electric heat, you'd have to try awful hard to hit that number. We've got five people in the house, gas heat, and electric stove, and have never hit that.

 

[tvmaster]

A few things to offer:

• Unless you have a particularly long commute, you probably don't need a L2 charger - particularly a high amperage unit. With the included L1 charger, you can recover ~70km of range overnight.
• I have 100A service at my home, and a couple years ago, had an electrician install a 60A circuit to enable 48A charging - he didn't bat an eye about it.
• I have a device installed that provides real-time monitoring and reporting of my home's electrical consumption. So far this year, I've exceeded a 40A draw on two occasions - for a combined period of just two minutes. Aside from those anomalies, our typical peak sustained draw tops out at about 35A - when we'd have the oven and dryer running at the same time.
• If you set aside 50A for your charger, you're still left with 50 for other devices. That's a crap-tonne of power. If you don't have electric heat, you'd have to try awful hard to hit that number. We've got five people in the house, gas heat, and electric stove, and have never hit that.

Excellent info, thanks. Yes, I’m also adding up amperage estimates from things likely to be on between 12am and 6am (super off-peak times), and I’m thinking we’d be fine as well. The only reason I’m considering a Level 2 setup is for unseen situations like the local 350 chargers being out of order or unplanned long, last-minute trips. Wouldn’t hurt resale value either I reckon.
What’s that reporting device you installed (aka madel, manufacturer), sounds interesting…..

 

[Husky]

Couple of questions for those who may know....
We have 100amp service, and no AC in the house.
Can we get by with a Level 2 charger maxing out at 50kWh rating if used between 12am and 6am?
An electrician would be required to wire the 240volt plug, but it's really the overhead needed. The only thing running after midnight are a few lights, a couple of computers, a big screen with receiver, and typical appliances.
We have the ability to upgrade to 125amps, but it will be a little costly due to some housing architecture problems with the old box.

Second - what Level 2 garage chargers combine automatic features, maybe a wifi app, but won't break the bank? Our utility won't recommend any, neither will Genesis.
Opinions welcome please. We have three years offsite free charging, so it would mainly be used in emergencies or to top-up to 100% for a longer trip.
Oh, 2025 GV60 Performance

I'm confused when you say you have no AC in the house. ?? Also, do you mean a 50A L2 charger, rather than a 50kWH charger? Your car's L2 charging capability is probably limited to about 11kW (not kWh).
You should probably be OK with a 40A charger, as long as you're not using it when you have other heavy loads on. Electric range, electric dryer and electric heat or water heater would be the worst, or a large AC unit or heat pump ("mini-split" ). The breaker needs to be rated for to 20% more, so it would be a 50A breaker and wiring to handle 50A.

 

[tvmaster]

I'm confused when you say you have no AC in the house. ?? Also, do you mean a 50A L2 charger, rather than a 50kWH charger? Your car's L2 charging capability is probably limited to about 11kW (not kWh).
You should probably be OK with a 40A charger, as long as you're not using it when you have other heavy loads on. Electric range, electric dryer and electric heat or water heater would be the worst, or a large AC unit or heat pump ("mini-split" ). The breaker needs to be rated for to 20% more, so it would be a 50A breaker and wiring to handle 50A.

We don’t have central air. No AC. Just heat and the cool breeze from the mediteranian ocean climate
Furnace and dryer are gas, but the blower motor is likely electric.
I think we’ll be ok if we don’t use the oven after midnight, and buy a Level 2 unit which auto detects load balance….

 

[Jeffdawgfan]

You probably will not be happy with only a lvl 1 charger. I would recommend the Charge Point Flex as you can change the settings on how much power it pulls.

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[noremacnova]

You probably will not be happy with only a lvl 1 charger.

Agreed.

I would recommend the Charge Point Flex as you can change the settings on how much power it pulls.

The Emporia Pro will automatically draw back the power delivered depending on panel load!

 

[Gen-EV]

Here is where you can save a lot of money.
The first thing you need to figure out is how many miles you will drive daily. I commute 70 miles per day and can easily replenish my battery daily on a 240v 20amp circuit and 3.8 kW charger (this adds 15 miles of range per charging hour). Why does this matter? I could have installed a 20 amp breaker and 12 gauge wire from my panel to my garage 60 feet away. I have a ChargePoint Flex and while setting it up you have to set the size of the breaker and wire in the process. This limits the charger to how many kW it will charge and not over draw your breaker and wire size.
I spent $300 on 6 gauge wire that I really don't need because I do not charge at 40A. I did save money by doing all the work myself, $1100 for all the materials and charger.
As Americans we feel bigger is better. 95% of Americans do not need to charge at 40A (9.6kW) and to be able to gain 30 miles of range per charging hour. I'm going to tell you that a 240v circuit will likely be all you need.
Of coarse, verify with you local codes before starting an install.

Pro tip
Be cautious of buying used. If you do make sure the previous owner "releases" the unit to you so that you can program it and use the app. You can get more information on the process by call support for the charger manufacturer before purchasing.

 

[ideutsch]

Here is where you can save a lot of money.
The first thing you need to figure out is how many miles you will drive daily. I commute 70 miles per day and can easily replenish my battery daily on a 240v 20amp circuit and 3.8 kW charger (this adds 15 miles of range per charging hour). Why does this matter? I could have installed a 20 amp breaker and 12 gauge wire from my panel to my garage 60 feet away. I have a ChargePoint Flex and while setting it up you have to set the size of the breaker and wire in the process. This limits the charger to how many kW it will charge and not over draw your breaker and wire size.
I spent $300 on 6 gauge wire that I really don't need because I do not charge at 40A. I did save money by doing all the work myself, $1100 for all the materials and charger.
As Americans we feel bigger is better. 95% of Americans do not need to charge at 40A (9.6kW) and to be able to gain 30 miles of range per charging hour. I'm going to tell you that a 240v circuit will likely be all you need.
Of coarse, verify with you local codes before starting an install.

Pro tip
Be cautious of buying used. If you do make sure the previous owner "releases" the unit to you so that you can program it and use the app. You can get more information on the process by call support for the charger manufacturer before purchasing.

Only thing I would add is that it is cheaper to run thicker gauge wire the first time than it is to install a smaller gauge now and upgrading it later. This allows for flexibility down the road.

 

[Looney100]

Excellent info, thanks. Yes, I’m also adding up amperage estimates from things likely to be on between 12am and 6am (super off-peak times), and I’m thinking we’d be fine as well. The only reason I’m considering a Level 2 setup is for unseen situations like the local 350 chargers being out of order or unplanned long, last-minute trips. Wouldn’t hurt resale value either I reckon.
What’s that reporting device you installed (aka madel, manufacturer), sounds interesting…..

The device is a Sense energy monitor. It can be found on Amazon.

I got the solar model in advance of my array being installed. It facilitates a great understanding of your home's electrical consumption.

 

[tvmaster]

Hey again folks. Looking at installing a level 2 charger with a solar system in hopes of claiming the 30% tax credit before Dec 31, 2025
Have narrowed it to Emporia and Enphase, since that will be the solar system.
I like the idea of a 14-50 plug, as opposed to a hardwired charger. Does that eliminate the Enphase charger? It's also quite a bit more expensive.
Thanks

 

[Gen-EV]

Here is what I understand from the research that I did before my installation. If a 14-50 receptacle is installed, the circuit needs to be protected by a GFCI breaker by my local code. If you install a hardwired unit, the installation does not require a GFCI breaker since there is a lower chance of electrical shock. I went with a receptacle and GFCI breaker for flexibility in my garage. Side note: the charging unit I installed has internal protection. My thought is that your electrician could install a short cord and plug on the Enphase but would likely want to use a GFCI breaker. The GFCI breaker will add about $100 to the project. As always verify with your preferred electrician and local codes.
Disclaimer: I am a mechanical/electrical industrial technician but not a certified residential electrician.