Advice on Questions to ask Electrician who may install home charger

[Portland Blue]

I live in a condo with a common garage, but we have individual spots.
Another owner is looking for a charger as well for his Bolt. we're both looking to cut costs if possible.

It seems like it's a pretty busy time of the year for electricians. There is a lot of construction this summer in Portland. I wonder if others found that prices for installation were higher in the summer rather than winter months (less construction; less busy electricians).

Thanks in advance.

 

[David29]

All I can offer is that I tried to get a second quote from a different electrician from the one I had been working with off and on for several months, and the second guy (who came highly recommended) said he was too busy to take on the work and that all the electricians in our area (on the opposite coast) are also very busy. So suspect there is likely some truth in your supposition.

Seems like the cheapest way to go is to install a NEMA outlet that both of you can use, versus any type of charger. Can the Bolt plug into a NEMA 14-50? If so, put in just the outlet and you both could use it, and avoid the cost of a level 2 charging unit or a Tesla Wall Connector. Just use your Mobile Connector. If you are required to lock the outlet, be sure to get two keys so you each have one.

 

[Rocky_H]

I guess my advice would be the opposite of @David29's. It seems that no other car makers but Tesla are interested in providing any mobile charge cables that can plug into anything other than a 5-15 outlet. If you want something that actually can be used by more than one kind of car, you should get a J1772 station installed. That doesn't have to be too pricey if you get it put in on something like a 40-60 amp circuit.

 

[Vince Cobelo]

+1 for Rocky

Also insist on copper wire.

If possible prepare for the future by pulling two sets of lines or at least a fish wire and use oversize conduit. Use the second set of lines to have a external 110 house plug external to the locked housing.

Or, have the system wired completely for 80amp (which is what I did even though I only charge at 40) just because it is not that much more expensive for the breakers, conduit and wire than pulling 40 amp.

 

[David29]

Ah, well I did not know that other car manufacturers were so restrictive. In that case, I agree that a J1772 station would be better. Most of them seem to be for 30 amps, but one with larger capacity would serve the Tesla better. Using a J1772 station typically has some safety advantages over an outlet as well, and that might be advantageous in a multi-user environment such as a condo.

 

[larryep]

clipper creeks are good chargers i had one put in my garage. they have pedestals also
Search - hcs-40

 

[Rocky_H]

Ah, well I did not know that other car manufacturers were so restrictive. In that case, I agree that a J1772 station would be better. Most of them seem to be for 30 amps, but one with larger capacity would serve the Tesla better. Using a J1772 station typically has some safety advantages over an outlet as well, and that might be advantageous in a multi-user environment such as a condo.

Sorry, didn’t mean to be a downer toward your comment. It’s just kind of the catch-22/rock-and-a-hard-place situation that all other EVs are in so that outlets are not very universal for other EVs.

All other EVs but Tesla are short range with small batteries and low power onboard chargers. The short range means that they don’t travel, and therefore almost always do their charging at home at night. With a small battery, a 120V outlet is enough to fill it overnight, so why bother to make access available to any other kinds of outlets like 14-30 or 14-50?

The 30A being common on public charging stations is because almost every other EV (but Tesla) has a 6.6kW or less charger built in, and that’s about what you get from a 30 or 40A circuit. So most places don’t bother to put in anything higher than that, because it’s lowest common denominator. However, that was when Teslas were really rare. Now that they have sold a lot more, places are realizing that a 70 or 80A connector is actually useful for Teslas having to fill gaps between Superchargers, and there are enough of them that it will attract some business to your place.