Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
An update on installing a Level 2 car charger … I've made up my mind about what I'll do.
  • First of all, a car charger requires a 40A 240V circuit. I'll need about 100 feet of Romex to run from my main electrical panel in the basement to the garage. Some of that must go underground. Romex is now expensive, but the outdoor/underground grade hardly costs any more. (Thank goodness for small things.)
  • I'm going ahead with a new, larger, circuit breaker panel. There was really no choice about that. My old 30 slot panel is full, and if I want to add an EV charger circuit, I need a larger panel. The only choice was in how big a panel, and of what quality/price?
  • My detached & unheated garage can hold 2 cars. At present, I'll only have one charger for one EV. But why not equip the garage for the future possibility of two chargers? For one charger only, I could run Romex straight into the garage and terminate it with a standard 4 prong 240V plug (NEMA 14-50). Instead, I will have a circuit breaker sub-panel inside the garage with two circuit breakers for two 40A car chargers. The additional cost for Romex capable of that extra current was hardly much more – but the sub-panel is not cheap. For now, I'll have one car charger. In the future, I can easily add a second charger without any additional cost, other than the cost of the charger itself.
  • The work is estimated to take 3 days. The electrician & 2 assistants will start next Monday, when they'll replace the main panel. My electric power will be off that day. The next day or two, they'll install the line to the garage and the sub-panel switch box. As usual, the 3-day estimate is probably longer than needed. It may get it done in less time, 2 or 2½ days.
  • The car charger I ordered hasn't shipped yet. When it arrives, I can install it on a stud nearby the sub-panel & plug it in myself.
I won't discuss the price for all this. Suffice to say, it's not cheap. But neither is an EV. I don't want to generate posts informing me I could do this at a lower price – that's not my reason for this thread.

Having a Level 2 car charger must be thought of as part of the price of getting an EV. The cost of a Level 2 charger, plus the cost of powering it with a 40A 240V line is not small. But that cost can vary by a lot, depending on your particular circumstances. You must learn your own situation:
  1. Does your present circuit breaker panel have enough capacity for a car charger?
  2. If not, it must be replaced – or – it might be modified by adding a sub-panel.
  3. And finally, do you want to have only one car charger, or wire things for two chargers?
Of course, I'm thinking only what it takes for a single family house, or town house, with it's own garage or off-street parking. I'm not tackling what it might take for any other circumstances.
 
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Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
Just in case you didn't know, 'Romex' is a ™ of the Southwire Corp. There may be other 8 gauge wire available that is perfectly suitable for the task at a lower price perhaps ?

FWIW 'Romex' was originally produced by the Rome Wire Co, Rome, NY, located on our RR (Mohawk Adirondack & Northern), I believe they went bankrupt about twenty years ago.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Just in case you didn't know, 'Romex' is a ™ of the Southwire Corp. There may be other 8 gauge wire available that is perfectly suitable for the task at a lower price perhaps ?

FWIW 'Romex' was originally produced by the Rome Wire Co, Rome, NY, located on our RR (Mohawk Adirondack & Northern), I believe they went bankrupt about twenty years ago.
Thanks for the info. I was using the term Romex in the generic sense. Like we say Kleenex when we really mean facial tissue.
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
Thanks for the info. I was using the term Romex in the generic sense. Like we say Kleenex when we really mean facial tissue.
For sure, just like all my Canadian buddies that call all snowmobiles 'Ski-Doo' !
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Yep, electricity is not cheap at $0.43 per kWh. That is about $ 0.14 per mile.
Wonder what it would cost for gas for the same range that the electric Hummer will run with a 212 kWh batter and range of about 600 miles.
Then again with a vehicle like this, who cares about cost? Thought it was only like 350 miles for that EV, tho....
 
mtrycrafts

mtrycrafts

Seriously, I have no life.
Then again with a vehicle like this, who cares about cost? Thought it was only like 350 miles for that EV, tho....
If 350 mile is the rage with a 212 kWh battery, that would be 1.65 miles per kWh, poor to say the least although weight might take a toll?
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
If 350 mile is the rage with a 212 kWh battery, that would be 1.65 miles per kWh, poor to say the least although weight might take a toll?
Yeah I'm sure weight (near 10000 lbs IIRC) has something to do with it. Wonder in the mountains how well it would particularly do too?
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
An update on installing a Level 2 car charger … I've made up my mind about what I'll do.
  • First of all, a car charger requires a 40A 240V circuit. I'll need about 100 feet of Romex to run from my main electrical panel in the basement to the garage. Some of that must go underground. Romex is now expensive, but the outdoor/underground grade hardly costs any more. (Thank goodness for small things.)
  • I'm going ahead with a new, larger, circuit breaker panel. There was really no choice about that. My old 30 slot panel is full, and if I want to add an EV charger circuit, I need a larger panel. The only choice was in how big a panel, and of what quality/price?
  • My detached & unheated garage can hold 2 cars. At present, I'll only have one charger for one EV. But why not equip the garage for the future possibility of two chargers? For one charger only, I could run Romex straight into the garage and terminate it with a standard 4 prong 240V plug (NEMA 14-50). Instead, I will have a circuit breaker sub-panel inside the garage with two circuit breakers for two 40A car chargers. The additional cost for Romex capable of that extra current was hardly much more – but the sub-panel is not cheap. For now, I'll have one car charger. In the future, I can easily add a second charger without any additional cost, other than the cost of the charger itself.
  • The work is estimated to take 3 days. The electrician & 2 assistants will start next Monday, when they'll replace the main panel. My electric power will be off that day. The next day or two, they'll install the line to the garage and the sub-panel switch box. As usual, the 3-day estimate is probably longer than needed. It may get it done in less time, 2 or 2½ days.
  • The car charger I ordered hasn't shipped yet. When it arrives, I can install it on a stud nearby the sub-panel & plug it in myself.
I won't discuss the price for all this. Suffice to say, it's not cheap. But neither is an EV. I don't want to generate posts informing me I could do this at a lower price – that's not my reason for this thread.
All of the electrical work is done, a day sooner than the obviously experienced electrician had previously estimated. They began work on Monday, 21 Nov, and finished mid-afternoon on Tuesday, 22 Nov.

On Monday, they replaced my old 30-slot circuit breaker panel with a new one with 42 slots. That work took all day Monday, while I was without electricity (no heat, lights, or Wifi) all day. They also installed most of the new 240V 100A (yes, 100A!) line, and dug an 18" deep trench from the back of my house to the detached garage, so they could bury the new line in conduit. Tuesday morning, the county inspector came, quickly passing the new circuit breaker installation and the new line to the garage. Then the electrician finished installing the sub-panel box in the garage and ran a cable to where the new charger got installed. It's on a 50A circuit. The sub-panel box has one 50A breaker for it, and 7 more unused slots. If a second charger is needed, it will be fairly easy to add a second 50A circuit to the sub-panel.

I had ordered a ChargePoint EV charger, directly from ChargePoint. About 5 days later, they shipped it, by FedEx Ground from California. FedEx originally said it would arrive next Monday, 28 Nov. To my surprise, it arrived yesterday, while the electricians were still here. I was happy to let them install it. My new license plates also arrived on Tuesday. Earlier today, I took off the old cardboard temporary plates, and put the new plates on.

Photos from my phone to follow.
 
Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
First, the new much larger circuit breaker box with 42 slots, instead of 30.
 
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Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Next is the new buried conduit going from the basement to the garage. Trench is 18" deep.
 
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Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
I already had existing conduit for lighting & garage door openers, 120V 15A lines. The unpainted gray conduit is for the new line. It obviously couldn’t fit into the old one.
 
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Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Here's the sub-panel inside the garage. The large grey cable at the bottom is the 100A line coming from the buried conduit. Above the box is the black 50A line going to the charger. These cables make 10g speaker cables look like toys.
 
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Swerd

Swerd

Audioholic Warlord
Now, all I have to do is figure out how to get the charger on my Wifi, so I can control it from my phone via the ChargePoint app I had downloaded onto my phone. Yesterday afternoon, it defied all my efforts :confused:.

It's possible my router doesn't quite reach the garage. The router is a first generation Google Mesh router. What do I need to add so the Wifi signal is strong enough to reach the charger in the garage? Anyone? @BoredSysAdmin ?

Bluetooth is an alternative to Wifi. Sigh, one step at a time.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
Either get another google wifi mesh access point (2nd gen Google Wifi is ok to mix with 1st gen, but Nest Wifi isn't) - these start at $70 BF deal. https://store.google.com/us/product/google_wifi_2nd_gen?hl=en-US

Another option would be to move to router physically closer to the garage if necessary, run ethernet cabling from your modem.
 
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