We are considering buying a 2025 EV6 this spring or whenever it is that they come on to the market.
We happen to have an electrician coming to our house this week for an unrelated reason. I was thinking of asking him to inspect our garage outlet/electrical box to see how or if it can handle at least level 1 charging to start.
What do I even ask him? I don’t understand the vocabulary or tech specs for charging an EV.
Right now we have a couple standard outlets in our garage. We have a large freezer plugged into one of them. I do know ow that once I plugged in and ran a food dehydrator on the same circuit as the freezer and it blew the fuse.
I’m just a consumer that has recently purchased an EV and what I am providing is my view point of the charging question which i have tried to put in simple terms.
You want to ask what would be required to add a 60 amp 240 volt circuit for a hard wired EVSE (electric vehicle supply equipment). Based on what you have described you will not need this level of power but if your house will support it that is what I would recommend having installed.
If they say you will need to upgrade your houses total amperage to support this then ask if you can support a 240 volt 40 amp circuit without an upgrade. You can get by with Level 1 charging (this is 120v in the US) and you can have a separate circuit installed just for your EVSE more than likely without too much work.
What all these volt and amp numbers relate to is the charging speed of your EVSE. In round numbers they are as follows.
If you had a 77kWH battery it would take the following lengths of time to charge it from 0 to 100% if the process was linear (which it is not) but I find it best to simplify this in order to more easily understand the decision you will be making.
You will be charging about 20% of the battery overnight so even at 120v the vehicle should be topped back up in 12 hours.
The reason to go ahead and get the 60 amp hardwired EVSE is because it provides you the most flexibility in your charging and allows for future proofing but it is not a hard requirement. I would also consider hardwiring the EVSE the safest way to implement it.
If you can get level 2 installed for under $1500 or so I’d say it’s a no brainer. If more than that you might want to try out level 1 charging to see if it suits your needs (it most likely will), sounds like you can get away with level 1 but level 2 is a nice bonus.
Level 2 charging is the best option. Hardwired will let the charger pull more amps BUT if your charger dies, you’ll need an electrician again. If you get a NEMA 6-50 plug fitted and use a plug-in charger you’ll get slower speeds but if the charger dies you can swap it out easily. My setup is a 50A line to the garage, with a 50A line to the charger. Breaker is 40A and charger is set to 32A which is 7kW. Plenty fast enough. Doesn’t heat up the charge port. Never been without charge in the car when I’ve needed it.
And I HAVE had one charger die on me so I’m glad I did the plugin option.
Do I have room and capacity to add a 60A 240V service in my main panel?
How much would it cost to run 6/6/10 to here (show them where you want the charger) and hook up an EV charger there?
Pull and get inspected any required permits.
Should be $300 - $1200 depending on your area and the ease of running that wire and conduit including materials. Low end is your EVSE right next to your panel.
OP, Level 1 charging (regular 120 volt outlet) is doable under fairly narrow circumstances. Even IF hubby drove little enough to recharge enough in one night of L1 charging, it is less efficient than L2 charging.
What I mean is, the car has certain overhead converting AC to DC, keeping the charging components energized, the computer awake, etc. That overhead is the same regardless of charging speed. So the lower the charge rate the higher percentage of overhead. It adds up.
Then there will be the inevitable road trip where you’ll want to leave home with 100% state of charge (a full battery). Doing that on a 120 Volt 15 Amp circuit could take upward two solid days. With L2, you can get a full charge in 6-8 hours (overnight, easily) depending on the state of charge before you plug in.
If you’re going to spend the bucks on an EV then go ahead and get a L2 charger, assuming your home’s electrical system can accommodate that. The electrician can certainly answer that question.
I’m a master electrician in Minnesota with an EV6.
This is a difficult question to answer without more information in regards to your main panel. Amperage of panel? Location of panel?
My recommendation is to put in a 60 amp breaker, so you can have a level 2 charger at 240v, & 48 amps. You need to have a larger breaker because it’s a continuous duty. Long explanation on that. Set yourself up for your EV6 properly and for all future electric cars that you will have. Pay for this once, and be done with it.
Get a direct wired level 2 charger that can have off peak capabilities. You get charged different rates at night that are much cheaper. Please have the charger be GFCI protected internally. You now need GFCI protection for everything in a garage.
YOU MUST GET A PERMIT! Absolutely a must. They can void your warranty if you don’t.
Also get a whole house surge protector! Protect your car and everything in your house.
Get multiple quotes, and don’t go with the cheapest. This may cost thousands depending on your electrical set up. Be prepared for that. But I’ve seen some people get seriously ripped off too for very easy jobs
Level two charging is efficient and easy. The cost difference between a new outdoor outlet and a l2 charger is likely just the cost of the charger. Check with your electric company, many heavily subsidize the charger.
A level 2 charger will generally require an available spot in your box (question one). Distance and access from box to charging location is the other key question.
…a level 1 just requires an existing outlet. A level 2 requires a 50 amp 240v circuit. Not the same at all bud. It can be a difference of possibly thousands of dollars.
Ah Belgium… 3 phase 400V coming in my house. Regular installations 2 phase 220/240V. I have no problem Running a 11 kWh charger. Best is to ask him to increase your installation with one dedicated breaker for a phase 2 charger (possibly connected with your PV installation.)
What size is your service/panel? 100 or 200 amp. Level 1 you will have no issues, it uses a standard outlet…it’s just really slow and inefficient.
For a level 2
“Can I get a quote for a 50 amp outlet in the garage directly below the panel”. (If the main panel is on the garage wall) that’s all you have to ask him.
Level 2. If you want no worries…just get the level 2 installed. Charge it when ever you need at night when rates are the cheapest and you’re good to go.
Level 1 is just a normal outlet that you already have.
240volt charging station. But specifically does your panel have enough space to install it (it’s like installing another washer/dryer machine) you need to have enough space in you panel to accommodate that size breaker.
The main issues I had with my house was 1) I had not available space on my panel so a new panel would have to be installed and 2) my panel was on the other side of the house from where the install would have been so would have cost a fortune to run the cables.