Home EV charging

[RetMD21]

As RetMD said, yes you can charge with 110v but it will be very slow. 110/115v charging adds only 3 to 4 miles of range per hour of charge.

For my purposes, 6 hours of charging a Prius would suffice for most days to give me my 25ish miles of local driving.

 

[Koolau]

As RetMD said, yes you can charge with 110v but it will be very slow. 110/115v charging adds only 3 to 4 miles of range per hour of charge.

Slow is understood and okay. I'm talking about the "fit" to the car. Does one attach a compatible "plug" to an extension cord??



3 to 4 miles of range times 12 hours over night would be almost 40 miles/day - way more than we usually drive. Heh, heh, YMMV.

 

[REWahoo]

Does one attach a compatible "plug" to an extension cord??

Yes.

 

[Midpack]

Slow is understood and okay. I'm talking about the "fit" to the car. Does one attach a compatible "plug" to an extension cord??

Depends on the specific make/model car. Is the charger onboard or external? Here’s a pic of a 120V charge cable for a Toyota PHEV.

And lumping PHEVs and BEVs together is too broad for a number of reasons.

 

[RetMD21]

Usually a connector for 110 is included with PHEVs. For many BEVs you pay extra for a dual 240/120 connector. I think the Bolt used to come with a "free" 110 connector. I am not sure if that's still the case

 

[Koolau]

Depends on the specific make/model car. Is the charger onboard or external? Here’s a pic of a 120V charge cable for a Toyota PHEV.

And lumping PHEVs and BEVs together is too broad for a number of reasons.

I don't own an EV yet but would consider one of the cheaper ones (maybe a Leaf) that's used. I just don't drive much. Two issues are whether I could plug it in with just an extension cord and maybe an adapter AND whether the Condo Association would allow it. It wouldn't be MY electricity. We do have "free charging" close by but it's (supposedly) for one hour only. It's not a fast charge but I think it's more than 120 volts.

 

[audreyh1]

DH updated our TurboTax yesterday and now EasyStep is there for energy tax credits including the home charger credit.

DH had all the info but wasn’t sure what to do. The EasyStep took care of that!

 

[REWahoo]

DH updated our TurboTax yesterday and now EasyStep is there for energy tax credits including the home charger credit.

DH had all the info but wasn’t sure what to do. The EasyStep took care of that!

+1

I'd been waiting for that update for three weeks as it was all I needed to file, which I did early yesterday morning.

 

[DallasGuy]

Chevy installed my level 2 charger in my garage for "free" (ie. included with the new car purchase). I've had my Chevy Bolt EUV for about 18 months. Even though I charge it on level 2, there was not one time I couldn't have gotten by with just level 1 charging. I just don't drive that much.

 

[Midpack]

DH updated our TurboTax yesterday and now EasyStep is there for energy tax credits including the home charger credit.

DH had all the info but wasn’t sure what to do. The EasyStep took care of that!

Interesting.

I did it all manually over a week ago and we are not eligible.

So I verified my GEOID using the TT lookup, confirmed I had it right. Then I looked on the 2015 and 2020 census list as TT recommends, our GEIOD is NOT on either list.

But after completing the Easy Step pages, TT says I AM eligible for the credit.

For $220 I am not going to fight it even though the IRS would probably never challenge, and I already filed, but it appears TTP got it wrong.

 

[audreyh1]

Interesting.

I did it all manually over a week ago and we are not eligible.

So I verified my GEOID using the TT lookup, confirmed I had it right. Then I looked on the 2015 and 2020 census list as TT recommends, our GEIOD is NOT on either list.

But after completing the Easy Step pages, TT says I AM eligible for the credit.

For $220 I am not going to fight it even though the IRS would probably never challenge, and I already filed, but it appears TTP got it wrong.

Interesting. DH says that TT says that you have to tell it whether you are eligible. It doesn’t look up your eligibility for you. DH says TT clearly states that if you are not on either list you are not eligible. It’s still a manual process even in EasyStep.

 

[Midpack]

Interesting. DH says that TT says that you have to tell it whether you are eligible. It doesn’t look up your eligibility for you. DH says TT clearly states that if you are not on either list you are not eligible. It’s still a manual process even in EasyStep.

+1. I must’ve misread the second page and checked something I shouldn’t have. It doesn’t make any sense anyway as some neighborhoods all around us are eligible. Doesn’t correlate to how old the neighborhood is or property values.

[edit: Actually I looked it over, and TT will give you an EV charger credit if you complete all the Easy Steps info, even if you're GEIOD is NOT eligible. It's entirely up to the user to determine, but that's not at all clear from the Easy Steps form. In fairness though, the Form 8911 and the census tract eligibility qualification would be way too cumbersome a coding task for Intuit. So the taxpayer has to be careful.]

 

[audreyh1]

We are currently in an area designated as rural - we are in a small development a bit out in the boonies even though we are in the city limits - at the edge. But more importantly our county and city is overall quite poor.

So it just happened to work out for us.

 

[RetMD21]

I've switched to daytime EV charging. I'm trying to run enough current to the car to use up most of my solar production. I only get 9.x cents /KWH for what I send to the grid but buy it back at night for 16.7 cents.

 

[Alan]

I've switched to daytime EV charging. I'm trying to run enough current to the car to use up most of my solar production. I only get 9.x cents /KWH for what I send to the grid but buy it back at night for 16.7 cents.

My daughter has a MyEnergi Zappi charger that has an eco+ mode that uses only excess solar energy to charge her car, a VW id.3. She works from home so it is easy for her to do.

I know someone here with a Tesla and also solar panels with a Tesla powerwall and they have a similar arrangement. They are retired so again get good usage out of the setup.

 

[homestead]

So what level charging do the solar panels support? Level 1 or 2?

 

[Alan]

So what level charging do the solar panels support? Level 1 or 2?

Not sure I understand the question.

 

[audreyh1]

I've switched to daytime EV charging. I'm trying to run enough current to the car to use up most of my solar production. I only get 9.x cents /KWH for what I send to the grid but buy it back at night for 16.7 cents.

In this cooler weather we’ve been enjoying, I have been charging during daylight hours too. We don’t get a break in price for non-peak hours.

However I’ll switch back to early morning wee hours charging when hotter weather is here.

 

[homestead]

Not sure I understand the question.

120Volts or 220Volts

 

[audreyh1]

England maybe doesn’t have 120 volts. Europe doesn’t.

 

[Romer]

I have a 2nd electrical box in my Garage and added a 220V 14-50 NEMA outlet just below it

I used the more expensive and durable Hubble Socket as it is Industrial grade used by Electricians for this work

I used 6 AWG wire

a 50 Amp GCI Outlet to run a 40 Amp charger

Since the smarts come with the car, I used the top rated level 2 dumb charger (Not a Tesla)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082LMVSLY?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

We just bought a Cadillac Lyriq and this charger does just fine with that

I have a solar system with batteries. I have more than enough margin in my production to cover the average 15 miles a day my wife drivees over a year

If I charge during a sunny day in mid morning, I can add back on 45-50 miles of range and still fully recharge the batteries before the end of the production day

 

[Alan]

120Volts or 220Volts

England maybe doesn’t have 120 volts. Europe doesn’t.

Exactly.

The charger connects to the mains and delivers 30amps at 240v (7.2 kW) but when in eco+ mode it only delivers the excess solar power rather than export it to the grid. The snapshot above shows 3.1 kW which is less than half of what it would be charging at under normal conditions. I have an Ohme charger which also integrates with my energy supplier and I normally charge overnight on the cheapest rates, however the company say they are going to be upgrading the firmware to allow a solar only option like MyEnergi .

 

[RetMD21]

My EVSE (charger) has 11.5 kw capacity which exceeds my solar production so I just set the car to charge at 2-3 kw. Over the course of a day I can "top up" the car battery. Perhaps someday I will have this automated.

 

[explanade]

Does anyone have a setup for feeding power back to the home from the EV?

Or for those with solar, anyone look into battery power storage systems?

 

[Alan]

Does anyone have a setup for feeding power back to the home from the EV?

Or for those with solar, anyone look into battery power storage systems?

We have the option of feeding back from our EV but would need a new charger.

We do have solar battery storage so charge up every day and powers the house all day.