Installed a 40amp circuit for the EVs after charging a PHEV for 5 years and a BEV truck for almost a year on a single 15amp circuit.
50ft x 8 AWG x 4 wires isn’t cheap ($1.32/ft with tax), plus conduit, straps, breaker, wet location boxes and outlet cover and the extra cost for an EV rated outlet.
Wasn’t room between the post and the garage door king stud for a flush mount box, oh well.
I’ll pay the electrician for a proper hard-wired charger when we upgrade service and run it from the main panel instead.
do you need to have more amps than 15?
If you want to charge anything in under a day.
I’m in Europe, so we have 230 volts here (two times less amps needed for identical power), but… I charge my i-MIEV with 5.5 amps at night (the whole night) and it’s charged by the morning. Knowing that, I optimized my grid connection down to 3 x 6 amps (three phases, each up to 6 amps).
Of course, if I charge during daytime, I can draw power from the house inverter, so then I charge at 10…13 amps.
You actually have an I-MIEV?! How is that working for you?
For commutes of an average length you don’t need more than a standard outlet if you leave the car plugged in when you’re not using it. However, a benefit of a level 2 charger is that if you have time-based electricity rates, you can schedule the car to charge only when electricity is cheapest, and get more kWh in less time.
The cars can do that though?
Kia’s scheduling is poor but functional.
Yes, sorry if I wasn’t clear. It’s the car that does this, not the charger. But the reason you might want level 2 is that in the scheduled charging situation, level 1 might not have enough time to provide enough energy for your daily commute. (But even if you have e.g. 40 mile daily commute and can only charge 25 miles overnight, you might still be fine to make it to the weekend and make up the difference)
Yes, but if you want all your power draw in this window you probably want more throughput. Plus if you do things other than commute it’s nice to have the flexibility. I get by fine for my normal commute on 15a but if I do things outside of going to work and can’t get a charger spot on my first day back from work it can be tight.
To charge faster, yes.
Here in the EU, 11kW home chargers are very common. Especially because three-phase power is common.
Really depends on how much somebody drives. I could probably squeak by on 1.2kw but the peace of mind of being able to crank it up to 11kw just in case is nice, doubly goes for the charger getting its own circuit. Typically I limit the charge to 2kw and the car is good to go overnight.
Slower charging is better for the battery anyway.
What size car battery have you? Mine is 64kw and I have a 7kwh charger at home. Overnight is ok but I cant imagine 1.2-2 being good enough.
77.4kwh iirc. The car doesn’t get a ton of miles every day, probably no more than 8kwh on average. It’s only when there’s a trip planned that requires a full charge do I bump up the charger power limits to be ready in time.
Practical, sounds good
With 2 vehicles to charge and one being a 130kwh truck, I needed a second circuit at the very least.
With how much I drive the truck (not a lot, I work from home, about to hit 3500 miles in 11 months), a 240v 20A is even more than enough. But I installed what the mobile charger you see is rated for (32A max, but the plug says 30A … ?) because I whole-ass anything I do. And now there’s a 14-50R for my dad to plug his camper into if he ever decides to visit his grandson.
Most people probably don’t, it takes a while to charge but you could leave it charging all weekend.