Might be joining the EV crowd soon...
Kind of eager. I'll share more as this develops.
If you're going EV anytime soon, it's time now to look at your circuit breaker panel to see if it's easily expandable or not. You also should think now about where you plan to install a Level 2 charger. In a garage, under some kind of covered parking such as a carport, or outdoors? Personally, I'd prefer at least covered parking to keep the charger & yourself out of the rain. But to be honest, the chargers I've seen are rated as 'all weather'.
Back to circuit breakers … my old panel, installed new with the house in 1993 was fine, as long as I didn't try to add more circuits. It had 200 amp service with 30 slots for breakers. It was already full. A single level 2 charger, will require 240 Volts – 2 standard slots ganged together. And it requires at least 50A – for my EV. It depends on what EV you get, but the trend is getting larger & larger. Some EV pick-up trucks have huge batteries, and use an 80A charger. Compare that to a typical home circuit of 120V 15A. (Or an audiophile-grade circuit of 120V and 20A
.)
I had to replace my circuit breaker panel with a larger 42 slot box. That cost me 5 figures! Where I live, the county will inspect any electical work this large, so I got an electrician to do the work. Get more than 1 estimate. (If you really want to know how much it cost, ask by PM.)
In the new box, I had the electrician install a 240V 100A circuit that ran out to a sub-panel in my detached 2-car garage. You read that right, 100 amps. I decided to set it up now for easy expansion for 2 chargers in the future. At present, I have one level 2 charger. To add another charger, all I have to do is add another 50A line from the garage sub-panel for the second charger. My wife & I are both retired and we don't drive everyday anymore. At this point, I think one charger is enough for us. But for a future owner, that could easily change.
Buy a charger you can mount permanently, on a wall. Most come with an easy way to coil & hang the heavy cable. All EVs come with a charger and ~20 foot cable capable of both Level 1 (120V slow charging) and Level 2 (240V faster charging). My first thought was why buy a 2nd charger? The car dealer talked me out of this idea. Keep the portable charger & cable supplied with the EV in the front trunk (the frunk). It's just too easy to leave that clunky charger & heavy, stiff cable in the garage. If you need it on the road you won't have it.
When I bought mine, I was in a hurry, and I was bewildered at the large choice when I shopped at Home Depot/Lowes. The cheaper chargers provide less current, as low as 16A. My car can use as much as 48A, so a 50A charger is common now. In the near future, bigger current chargers like 80A could easily be the norm.
I also didn't really understand the deal about a smart charger with built-in control software vs. a dumb charger. Telsa
provides sells a dumb charger for $400 because the car has the software in it. So does my car. I paid $750 for a smart charger sold by ChargePoint, when I didn't really need it. It works well. It can charge EVs at 16, 32, 40, or 50 amps. And it communicates to me via a smartphone app. But that duplicated what my Volvo EV already does.
So, when you look for EVs, ask three questions: 1) What Level 2 current charger is needed by the EV, 2) Does the EV have all the software for charging built-in or not? Do you need a smart charger or a dumb one, and 3) Does your existing WiFi reach the location where you plan to put the EV & charger? For the smart EV & smart charger to actually communicate with my phone, I had to expand my WiFi to reach the garage. Blue Tooth was said to be an option, but I couldn't get it to work reliably. When you think about where you want that charger, also think about your WiFi coverage. That's yet another expense.
My electrician suggested a charger brand called Juice Box. They come in a variety of fixed charge currents, that vary widely in price. The Juice Box model for 50 amp charging cost $100 less than the smart & variable ChargePoint I got. I didn't buy it because I was in a hurry, and didn't know precisely what I needed.
So, be prepared by seeing if your electricity service can be expanded for at least a 240V 50A charger; find out what your EV will require for fast (about 8 hours) Level 2 charging, be prepared to spend some money on this. In my opinion, an EV without a Level 2 charger at home is not worth having. I like being able to control & monitor the charging process from my phone while I'm in the house. I can set up a timer to charge at night when lower electricity rates are available.
