EV charging
- Thread starter mitz501
- Start date
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A standard wall outlet is like 3 miles per hour charge. Unless you only drive your car once a week it's not really practical. Would take 90 hours to charge my Tesla.
I called around and paid $700-800 to install L2 which seemed like the going rate. But my friend found Johnny Electric on Yelp and only paid $250 or something.
Sorry, not going to keep my garage open all day so strangers can charge their cars. Seems unsafe and my electric bill is already sky high.
But $250 is 99%er affordable so I would do that just in case I need a fast charge.
It's not required. Would it be nice, of course. But it you add up all the cost. (Labor, device, permit)
I would say if your all electric vehicle, I would probably think about it. But I know people that have all electric that doesn't have a level 2 charger at home.
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
I plan to use the standard wall outlet since I will usually charge overnight but if the cost to install an L2 is less than $500, probably have that done also.
SubSolar
Active member
irvinehomeowner said:
A standard wall outlet is like 3 miles per hour charge. Unless you only drive your car once a week it's not really practical. Would take 90 hours to charge my Tesla.
I called around and paid $700-800 to install L2 which seemed like the going rate. But my friend found Johnny Electric on Yelp and only paid $250 or something.
Sorry, not going to keep my garage open all day so strangers can charge their cars. Seems unsafe and my electric bill is already sky high.
irvinehomeowner
Well-known member
Not planning on getting a full EV, just a plug-in. Should take 10-12 hours which would work for overnight charging.SubSolar said:
But $250 is 99%er affordable so I would do that just in case I need a fast charge.
We are thinking about it, but really don't have a huge need. The whole clan commutes in our Leaf most days, and we only need to charge every 3 days or so. If it wasn't for daycare we could probably stretch it to 1x a week. Plus we charge at work typically, and only pay $1/hour for L2, which is cheaper than what we would pay at home. It takes typically 1.5 hours to get us to 80% charge....$3-4/week for the daily commute of the whole family is a win.
If we decided to, we already have 240V outlets on 6ga wire in the garage, so I could go up to 50A with either plug in or hardwire there. The other option is to put the charger next to the driveway near the crawlspace. There's a 30A circuit there leftover from when we replaced the electric stove with gas.
Several factors determine cost/feasibility. Do you have the proper wiring to support the charger already run inside the wall? Will the charger be a plug in or hardwire? Will it be indoor or outdoor? My choice for chargers would be the openevse charger kit with a 25' cord: http://store.openevse.com/products/openevse-50a-charge-station-combo-with-enclosure: http://store.openevse.com/products/openevse-50a-charge-station-combo-with-enclosure
If we decided to, we already have 240V outlets on 6ga wire in the garage, so I could go up to 50A with either plug in or hardwire there. The other option is to put the charger next to the driveway near the crawlspace. There's a 30A circuit there leftover from when we replaced the electric stove with gas.
Several factors determine cost/feasibility. Do you have the proper wiring to support the charger already run inside the wall? Will the charger be a plug in or hardwire? Will it be indoor or outdoor? My choice for chargers would be the openevse charger kit with a 25' cord: http://store.openevse.com/products/openevse-50a-charge-station-combo-with-enclosure: http://store.openevse.com/products/openevse-50a-charge-station-combo-with-enclosure
SubSolar
Active member
When I first got Tesla I was paranoid about running out of juice before coming home so I signed up for the cards for Chargepoint, Blink, GE Wattstation and downloaded Plugshare and EV Chargehub. But I've never had to charge at a public station yet. In fact, I don't think I've ever gotten home with less than 50-60 miles range left.
rideBMC said:
It's not required. Would it be nice, of course. But it you add up all the cost. (Labor, device, permit)
I would say if your all electric vehicle, I would probably think about it. But I know people that have all electric that doesn't have a level 2 charger at home.
I'm guessing cost and product positioning. A Nissan Leaf can charge off a wall outlet overnight. It's a "budget" electric and I think owners overall are less willing to spend $500 more for the car with a better charger, plus another $800 to install a 240v outlet. The included charger is sufficient for a product that's ready to go out of the box. A Tesla owner (at least before the model 3) has deeper pockets and, more importantly, they don't want to wait 90 hours to charge their car as stated above. Requiring 90 hours as the only included option is not a story you want tied to your product. I assume the model 3 will also include a 240v charger with 120v adapter.SubSolar said: