Charging outdoors and GFCI breakers

[DMan]

Hi all,

I leave my 85D parked outside and charge it via 240V. The outlet for the charger is inside the garage so that stays dry but the plug into the car gets wet from the rain since the car is a few feet away from the garage and uncovered. Does anyone leave the car outside and plugged in? Do you have a regular breaker or a GFCI protected breaker? I spoke to a commercial electrician and he said the only time they use GFCI breakers is if something is by a hot tub or a pool or a bath tub, but other than that they don't use GFCI breakers. Wondering if it is necessary for me to get one. They run about $100-150.

 

[Rocky_H]

If your state is using the newer 2017 version of NEC, then it has a requirement for a GFCI breaker on a new outlet being installed for EV charging. But the only usefulness would be where you are plugging it in at the outlet, which is inside your garage and dry, so still not very relevant. All EVSEs, like the Tesla charging cable, includes its own GFCI, so anything downstream of the little electronics box is protected, so where your cord goes out to the car and is exposed, that's protected anyway.

 

[DMan]

Did not know there was a built-in GFCI in the charging cable. Thanks for the info!