So, I had 2 electricians come out to my condo building to give me quotes on NEMA 14-50 instillation in my parking space. Good news- this can be done! BUT, I am getting conflicting opinions from them on HOW this should be done. The first guy told me I have 125A to my unit from main panel, which should support 125A charging, and they will install a sub-panel and just run a cable to my parking spot. Quote $2800 plus $200 for permit (not horrible I guess for a condo instillation). The other guy said that since I have a fairly big condo, I don't have enough power to support 50A charging and he recommends getting a TOU meter from my unity company. This will also allow to have a dedicated line for EV charging and reduce electricity rates will apply. Does any of this make sense? Please be gentle, I know nothing about this stuff. TIA!
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I have had a Tesla dual charger installed at home so I think I can help you here a bit. You don't need a 125 amp line installed. The dual charger required a 100 amp line. A dual charger can do about 80-90 km/h of charge provided your car can handle that. For this you would need to purchase a dual charger on board the car. This really isn't necessary for you unless you are in and out of your house on a regular basis. This means you would need to park your car for 3-4 hours to really top up the car to full. This is a convenience of course. However you keep in mind just put what you need. If you are like most people you are home an awful lot because you need to recharge (Sleep) so that means if you had a 40 amp line run similar to what you would run for a dryer. Then 8 hours is all you need to charge up your car. A dryer line is far far cheaper to run than a 100 amp line. Get the same plug as say an oven and you are all set. The mobile adapter has an oven plug included. As far as a time of use... You can schedule your charge for after 7 pm (Ontario) and then you will be in low peak time.
First guy had a good idea about running a line to the car. However it looks like he doesn't have a clue as to what you need. You don't ever need a 125 amp line. Run a dryer or oven line to the spot with an oven plug. This must be of course on a dedicated circuit breaker.
Put a lock on the plug in the garage. This will stop someone from using your hydro without you knowing. Lock that hydro before some other guy uses it too.
Second guy is wrong about a TOU time of use meter. That will cause more problems for you as well. The province has that stupid meter charge on that or a third part will charge that. This can exceed your electricity use and they may tack a delivery charge and so forth. You don't need two utility bills.
First guy had a good idea about running a line to the car. However it looks like he doesn't have a clue as to what you need. You don't ever need a 125 amp line. Run a dryer or oven line to the spot with an oven plug. This must be of course on a dedicated circuit breaker.
Put a lock on the plug in the garage. This will stop someone from using your hydro without you knowing. Lock that hydro before some other guy uses it too.
Second guy is wrong about a TOU time of use meter. That will cause more problems for you as well. The province has that stupid meter charge on that or a third part will charge that. This can exceed your electricity use and they may tack a delivery charge and so forth. You don't need two utility bills.
Oh. The TOU by Edison is not that much of a problem if it is only $5. In Canada specificially Ontario they rip us off up here. They charge $50 smart meter charge and then delivery. However if you get a dedicated line out of your panel then that should do the trick. Ontario is just pain nuts as they charge something 0.28 cents per kwH. Our politicians are greedy.
Electric700
Active Member
Rjdoc74, you may want to consider getting Plugless Power (Meet Plugless | The Wireless EV Charging Station). You'd need a 50 A circuit for that, and they do have an outdoor configuration option.
Remember that your car would be sharing power with everything else in your house if you don't go with a dedicated line, so you should ask your electrician to check your total consumption when you have everything on (dryer, stove, air conditioner, etc...). If the total current is greater than 100 A, you should likely set your car to charge at less than 40 A once the install is complete.
Remember that your car would be sharing power with everything else in your house if you don't go with a dedicated line, so you should ask your electrician to check your total consumption when you have everything on (dryer, stove, air conditioner, etc...). If the total current is greater than 100 A, you should likely set your car to charge at less than 40 A once the install is complete.
goneskiian
Active Member
I mean no offense, but there is a lot of misinformation in this post. Or rather, a lot of mixing of terms.
First, no, you didn't have a dual charger installed in your home. The actual charger is in your vehicle. What you had installed in your home was most likely the HPWC (High Power Wall Connector). Which has had a name change to simply Wall Connector, or High Amp Wall Connector.
Second, you must have an older model S to have a dual charger. I say "older S" because the "Dual Charger" option was never available on the X, and hasn't been available on the S since the facelift in early 2016 (or so, I can't remember exactly when they stopped using the 40/80 and switched to the 48/72). The only options now are what's standard (48 amp), and the High Amperage Charger Upgrade (72 amps).
Third, while the new Wall Connector can be used on a 100 amp line to provide the full 80 amps to older model S's, it's not really necessary since the new chargers in the vehicles can only handle 72 amps. So, technically, all you need is a 90amp line to provide that 72 amps continuos power.
I don't have TOU plans where I live, but if I did, I would want to take advantage of one.
Cheers!
@goneskiian- thank you. Great info. My MX does come with 72 amp charging capability, but I am not sure if I am able to get HPWC installed in my condo. I guess I should feel lucky being able to get 50.
I had installation done in a condo a few years ago. In my case the power line from my meter to the condo unit ran on the garage ceiling. They tapped into that line at the nearest point to my garage stall. They then installed a new breaker panel at my garage stall with the 14-50 outlet a foot from the panel. I investigated TOU, but I couldn't install a new meter just for the car charging(due to logistics of where all the building's meters were located). If I wanted TOU, it had to be for my condo unit, too. And that would have been a disaster in the summer with A/C running. I priced it out and it was not economical in my case. The cost of my installation was only $900, which was a deal. The reason for the low price is that the power line happened to be close to my garage stall already.
@deloryan- thank you. I am scheduled to speak to another electrician on Monday (to break the tie, so to speak). I don't see a downside to installing a dedicated TOU right now other then more instillation costs. Edison (my electric company) does provide off peak charging rates for EVs, so I should theoretically take advantage of that.
@goneskiian is correct. The change over from singe/dual chargers happened with the S facelift, btw.
If you can get a separate meter on a TOU plan on a separate feed from your building's main panel I would go that route.
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