Home EV charging

[NgineER]

Thanks Audrey,
Not sure if it is worthwhile or not. There is an option to search for properties with an EV charger as an "amenity". It looks like about 3% of the properties in our area have them, so was unsure whether to install one or not.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks Audrey,
Not sure if it is worthwhile or not. There is an option to search for properties with an EV charger as an "amenity". It looks like about 3% of the properties in our area have them, so was unsure whether to install one or not.

I see. Hard to say if that would make a difference in someone picking your place, and many don’t have an EV.

A dedicated 240V connection would give me great charging. I have the adapters not sure if everyone would. Otherwise you would have to decide what kind of charger to install.

I guess you can keep an eye on the trends and types of chargers.

 

[homestead]

I think your son's MIL has a legit question. How often will you have to replace batteries?

I think never. The warranty period is more than I will probably drive the car and after that expires it is too expensive to replace the batteries so time to replace the car.

 

[NgineER]

I see. Hard to say if that would make a difference in someone picking your place, and many don’t have an EV.

A dedicated 240V connection would give me great charging. I have the adapters not sure if everyone would. Otherwise you would have to decide what kind of charger to install.

I guess you can keep an eye on the trends and types of chargers.

It seems like a lot of the chargers do most but Tesla, it would be a dedicated 240V, but likely a 30 Amp dedicated as the current garage panel could handle it without rewiring, so unlikely to get more than 18mph, but sufficient for people staying the night I suppose. Most major cities are within a 180-mile radius and then there are cities that are beyond the range of most EVs anyway, so there would have to be a charger stop along the way.

 

[audreyh1]

It seems like a lot of the chargers do most but Tesla, it would be a dedicated 240V, but likely a 30 Amp dedicated as the current garage panel could handle it without rewiring, so unlikely to get more than 18mph, but sufficient for people staying the night I suppose. Most major cities are within a 180-mile radius and then there are cities that are beyond the range of most EVs anyway, so there would have to be a charger stop along the way.

Yes, that would be sufficient for someone staying the night.

 

[Midpack]

It seems like a lot of the chargers do most but Tesla.

Not an issue. Most non-Tesla chargers are J1772 connectors, ALL Teslas come with a NACS>J1772 adapter.

 

[hesperus]

Jumping in a few years late here, but hopefully this helps someone digging through the archives like I was.

First piece of advice: get a 240V outlet installed in your garage before the EV arrives. I didn't, and that first week of trickle charging was painfully slow – like gaining 3 miles per hour slow. You don't want to be hunting for electricians after you've already got the car sitting in the driveway.

I'm no electrician, so I didn't want to risk touching my main panel. Ended up hiring Wolf River Electric(I am in South Dakota) to handle the breaker and the new wiring. They weren't the cheapest quote, but they knew EV load requirements better than the general electricians I called.

One more thing I wish I'd checked sooner: see if your utility company offers a time-of-use rate. Mine gives me half-price electricity from 11pm to 7am. Pair that with a 240V charger and your 'fuel' cost drops to something like $0.03 per mile.

Anyway, late to the party but this post is still gold. Hope the OP is enjoying their EV by now.

 

[Koolau]

Jumping in a few years late here, but hopefully this helps someone digging through the archives like I was.

First piece of advice: get a 240V outlet installed in your garage before the EV arrives. I didn't, and that first week of trickle charging was painfully slow – like gaining 3 miles per hour slow. You don't want to be hunting for electricians after you've already got the car sitting in the driveway.

I'm no electrician, so I didn't want to risk touching my main panel. Ended up hiring Wolf River Electric(I am in South Dakota) to handle the breaker and the new wiring. They weren't the cheapest quote, but they knew EV load requirements better than the general electricians I called.

One more thing I wish I'd checked sooner: see if your utility company offers a time-of-use rate. Mine gives me half-price electricity from 11pm to 7am. Pair that with a 240V charger and your 'fuel' cost drops to something like $0.03 per mile.

Anyway, late to the party but this post is still gold. Hope the OP is enjoying their EV by now.

Better late than never.

Sounds like excellent advice. Just curious what the electrical installation for EV charging cost you (If I may ask). Is there any way to estimate the cost per mile based on the installation price? I realize that would require some estimates and assumptions.

 

[joesxm3]

I had a very long run with a 60 amp breaker and 6awg wire in a metal conduit. The electrician charged me $1200. The Tesla wall connector was about $500. I got 30% off as a clean energy discount but that was in 2023.

The run was over 50 feet and if I recall, the wire alone was something like $3 a foot.

 

[Alan]

Better late than never.

Sounds like excellent advice. Just curious what the electrical installation for EV charging cost you (If I may ask). Is there any way to estimate the cost per mile based on the installation price? I realize that would require some estimates and assumptions.

If the deal mentioned by Hesperus is similar to the deal that we have then all electricity consumption during those overnight hours is at the cheap rate so we have changed how we do things. Dishwasher, washing machine etc are scheduled overnight and for us we have solar panels and batteries so we charge up our batteries overnight as well. Even during the summer we will charge up our batteries overnight because we get paid for what we export which is over double the overnight rate.

 

[Luvtoride]

Good advice. We are on our 2nd set of EVs (about 5 years) and have had a Chargepoint Level 2 charger installed since the first car arrived. PSE &G here in NJ paid for the electrician installation fee and part of the charger hardware as well. I have a friend who still plugs his Tesla into a normal 120 outlet in his garage when needed but usually goes to Tesla Superchargers paying .40 -.50 / kWh of charge there Talk about BTD!

 

[ERD50]

..... I have a friend who still plugs his Tesla into a normal 120 outlet in his garage when needed but usually goes to Tesla Superchargers paying .40 -.50 / kWh of charge there Talk about BTD!

Still, an occasional Supercharger 'fill up' might be cheaper than the installation costs of a 240V outlet.

The problem with 120V charging though, is that there is some 'fixed' consumption while the car is in charge/standby mode, and that makes up a significant percent of the charge power at 120V. So you end up paying significantly more with 120V than 240V (which is also higher amps), just because the car must be 'ON' for so many more hours, sucking up that 'standby' juice.

 

[audreyh1]

We already had a 50 amp 240V RV pedestal in our covered parking area, and no RV anymore, so that very conveniently charged our car for the first few months using the Mobile Connector that came with the Tesla and an adapter. Later we had the Tesla Wall Charger installed in a different location running a separate 240V connection to it. That’s been great. We will be moving the Tesla Wall Charger to our new house which already has 240V 6 gauge wired to the garage for it.

 

[Texas Proud]

Still, an occasional Supercharger 'fill up' might be cheaper than the installation costs of a 240V outlet.

The problem with 120V charging though, is that there is some 'fixed' consumption while the car is in charge/standby mode, and that makes up a significant percent of the charge power at 120V. So you end up paying significantly more with 120V than 240V (which is also higher amps), just because the car must be 'ON' for so many more hours, sucking up that 'standby' juice.

It matters what you call 'significant'...

I cannot find where I read it but I think IIRC charging at 120 has a 25% overhead and 240 has a 15% overhead...

That means 10%... my math might be wrong but my quick calc says that I would need to charge over 100,000 kwhs to pay for a 240 plug... at 2.5 miles per kwh that is 250,000 miles of driving!!!

I think I have driving 3K in 6 months... wife has say 4K to 5K of EV driving on the PHEV in a year...

I have not checked to see if there is a time of day rate as I signed up for a 3 year plan, but that would make a bid difference in the calculation...

 

[Midpack]

Better late than never.

Sounds like excellent advice. Just curious what the electrical installation for EV charging cost you (If I may ask). Is there any way to estimate the cost per mile based on the installation price? I realize that would require some estimates and assumptions.

My electrician charged me $485 all labor and materials to put in a 50A 240V circuit with a top notch receptacle (don't buy a cheapo builder grade washer/dryer outlet). I already had the Tesla mobile connector. I did not spring for the fancy Tesla wall connector. Luckily my panel is only about 15 feet from where I chose to put the receptacle, obviously it could cost (considerably) more depending on each situation - I have heard others who've had to pay $1500 for a garage receptacle.

 

[audreyh1]

I think we paid just under $800 for the additional breaker and wiring which was pretty long as it was run above a high ceiling and dropped down a tall column.

 

[braumeister]

I have a ChargePoint home charger (Level 2) in my garage and it has been great. Cost $550 back in 2018 and since I already had a 240V outlet in the garage, all I had to do was plug it in.

In my new CCRC home, since it's new construction they asked me if I wanted an EV charger in the garage. You bet! It was an $1,100 upgrade, but since electricity is included in the monthly service fee, that will pay for itself soon enough.

 

[RetiredHappy]

It didn't cost me a dime to get the 240V setup for the wall charger. GM paid for the whole installation and I paid for the wall charger. Returning the burnt-out GM wall charger after 3 months and getting a refund, and getting a Tesla wall charger was the beest thing ever.

 

[Original Wally]

No sharing, our charger circuit goes directly to the breaker panel.

Ditto

 

[Original Wally]

DW "Molly" got her BMW i4 electric in 06/2024 and we had the 240v line installed in the garage for $1,300. Since it was only in the garage, I did NOT have them bury the conduit. Surface mount was fine. ALSO that way it is easier to work on if the need should arise. RIGHT NOW, we are still on the "2 years free charging @ Electrify America", so we really don't charge up at home that much. That will change come 07/01. We live in Sacramento and the local Utility District gives a penny and a half discount for all consumption between midnight and 6 AM. Since they also provide kWh consumption and $ statistics BY THE HOUR, it is on my "list" to look into what the cost is. But, then, it doesn't truly matter: Happy wife, happy life. She is and it is all good. Shrug.

 

[Koolau]

Thanks to all for the cost-of-EV-charger-installation info. We drive so few miles, I'm guessing I'd try to get free charging at the near-by shopping mall, at home 120v or occasional Supercharger. My son used the Superchargers when he lived on Big Island. I think he said it cost him about 13 cents per mile at that time.

For more active drivers, it sounds like the installation could pay for itself - especially with off-peak charging.

 

[Texas Proud]

Thanks to all for the cost-of-EV-charger-installation info. We drive so few miles, I'm guessing I'd try to get free charging at the near-by shopping mall, at home 120v or occasional Supercharger. My son used the Superchargers when he lived on Big Island. I think he said it cost him about 13 cents per mile at that time.

For more active drivers, it sounds like the installation could pay for itself - especially with off-peak charging.

Hope it stays free... and plan on staying awhile at the mall as it is not DC fast...

When I bought my EV I was thinking that I would go and get free electrons... plugged in, walked the mall for a couple of hours and went home... I netted a whopping 13 miles after subtracting the miles driven. The cost of tires etc was more than that... I did start to plug in when going to a movie which was great as I was doing something I wanted to do...

BUT, then they sold the chargers to some other firm who started charging 36 cents per kwh... so not worth plugging in at all...

I have gotten all my charging in at home so far... I drive very few miles... the longest is to visit one sister who is 50 miles away so 100 round trip.. easy peesy... I have thought about going to a fast charger just to see how it works, but so far have not..

 

[RetMD21]

Still, an occasional Supercharger 'fill up' might be cheaper than the installation costs of a 240V outlet.

The problem with 120V charging though, is that there is some 'fixed' consumption while the car is in charge/standby mode, and that makes up a significant percent of the charge power at 120V. So you end up paying significantly more with 120V than 240V (which is also higher amps), just because the car must be 'ON' for so many more hours, sucking up that 'standby' juice.

I understand that 240V is efficient than 120V but is faster shorter duration 240V (like 11 kw) more efficient than something slower (5.5 kw)?

 

[reneeh63]

It was worth it to me to get Level 2 charging simply for convenience and ensure I use the car to its fullest advantage rather than make excuses for it.

It also enabled me to get on a tiered electricity plan - 18.5 cents kWh in prime time (2pm-7pm weekdays) and 3 cents kWh off prime (all other times plus most holidays).

 

[ERD50]

I understand that 240V is efficient than 120V but is faster shorter duration 240V (like 11 kw) more efficient than something slower (5.5 kw)?

Yes, the shorter duration is more efficient, because of the fixed consumption of running everything that needs to be ON while charging. So it is ON for a shorter time, less total energy used that didn't go into the battery.

At some point, charging fast will increase losses, the battery just can't absorb the energy as efficiently, but I think the 240 V home chargers are well below that point.