Dilemma: bought both wall charger and mobile charger...

[BulldogsRus]

So my company allows for the ability to use a 240v plug onsite, as of now I'm using the 110v charger plug in my garage with the hardwired (not plug-in adapter) 110v mobile charger, and bought the $400 wall charger last month. My electrician wants to charge me $1500 to run a 240v line from the other side of my house to the garage (30'). What's frustrating is that my dryer is inside sharing the same wall as where it would be installed in my garage. I then found the option to buy a NeoCharge but that scenario assumes that both the EV and dryer are in your garage. In a perfect world I wouldn't need to spend all this money to charge at 240v for both home/office if I could just use the new $230 mobile charger (w/both 5-15 & 14-50 adapters), but I assume it's illegal to run that through said wall. I don't want to leave the door to the garage open overnight as it's cold in the garage this time of year.

I assume even if I had a 240v outlet installed in the garage he's still gonna charge me $1500, so my only savings would be returning the $400 wall charger. I'm kinda nervous to try and do this myself tbh, I'm wary of doing anything at the breaker box.

Has anyone figured out a workaround to something like this?

 

[SO16]

Even though I know I’m capable of doing wiring, I prefer to have a licensed professional do it in case something goes wrong. To me, the added cost is worth absolving me of liability. If a fire broke out, made the news and said owner installed it themselves, that would not be cool.

But what I did do is since I don’t have an electric dryer, I had the electrician extend that connection rather than going so the way to the breaker panel. I can’t charge quite as fast but fast enough. You just wouldn’t want to use both the dryer and car charger at the same time. It was a real short run but they did still charge me over 1k.

I like having a dedicated charger without plugging and unplugging all the time. Outlets could wear out and spark.

 

[Silicon Desert]

How about calling some other electricians for a free estimate. You might get some other ideas. Side note, I never charge at 120 vac as it is not very efficient. When I got our first Tesla, it came with the car for free and in the 5 years of having it, I never used it except testing it when I first got it.

 

[1965Falcon]

You could get something like a DCC that is enclosed and you could run conduit through the wall, but the cost would be about the same as running the new circuit. I'd be thinking long term... EV's are not going away and a $1500 investment will be more convenient and improve your home value. You can also run a higher amp circuit (assuming you have the panel capacity) for your home connector.

 

[vcor]

Dont' know about Boston, but some utilities offer a rebate on EV charge installation. Numbers tend to be in the $300-500 range, so it may not cover the entire cost, but worth checking out. These are rarely advertised but can show up if you do a web search on your local utility.

 

[snorp]

My neighbor ran his own 240v Romex and had the electrician make the connections at both ends. Saved himself quite a bit of money. The local inspector signed off on it fwiw.

 

[DerbyDave]

If you install a home EV charging station, the tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act is 30% of the cost of hardware and installation, up to $1,000. Also, beginning in 2023, the EV charger tax credit for business and home installations, will apply to other EV charger equipment like bidirectional (i.e., two-way) chargers.

 

[BulldogsRus]

If you install a home EV charging station, the tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act is 30% of the cost of hardware and installation, up to $1,000. Also, beginning in 2023, the EV charger tax credit for business and home installations, will apply to other EV charger equipment like bidirectional (i.e., two-way) chargers.

Per the site it would only apply to the charger, as the install also needed to be done in 2022:

The EV Charger Tax Credit Gets A 10-Year Extension—And A Few Upgrades

A recently expired federal tax break for electric vehicle (EV) chargers got new life under the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act—a move that will give taxpayers up to $1,000 in a tax credit. The section 30C tax credit–officially referred to as the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Refueling Property

www.forbes.com

 

[BulldogsRus]

My neighbor ran his own 240v Romex and had the electrician make the connections at both ends. Saved himself quite a bit of money. The local inspector signed off on it fwiw.

Mine's pretty straightforward as the panel is in a basement and all of the wire would be travelling through my suspended ceiling then up the wall into the garage.

 

[BulldogsRus]

Dont' know about Boston, but some utilities offer a rebate on EV charge installation. Numbers tend to be in the $300-500 range, so it may not cover the entire cost, but worth checking out. These are rarely advertised but can show up if you do a web search on your local utility.

I have National Grid which at this time offers no rebates unfortunately.

 

[aerodyne]

Check this out. Perhaps it's something you can do yourself.

Doing it by the book, NEC, and Tesla guidance is great, but if you are careful and understand what you are doing, nothing wrong with a quality extention "Cord" to the MC.

In my case I used a 50' cord, UL listed 50A continuous current rating meant for welding (NEMA 6-50 plug)

I pull no more than 31A, with a 50 GFCI breaker. Good for 26 miles an hour of rated range.

Cord and MC are strapped to the ceiling with mil spec aircraft cushioned clamps every 18".

No problems for 4 years, never see less than 225V.

Here is a great guide if you have no seen it before:

Home Charging Wiring Guide – TeslaTap

teslatap.com

Also pic of my installation:

 

[Crusader1]

Heres the deal- i just had tesla wall charger installed this morning. I paid $375 for it two weeks ago. I have no idea why tesla dropped price and then raise it back up right after. My electrician used 6 gauge wire. He fed it down pane inside wall then under house when i have enclosed closets(piling house) then poke through outside wall to spot. Probably 30 feet of wire needed. Wire he said was $15 a foot plus cost of 60 amp breaker. Cost $825. He got here at 9:15 and was done at 12:30. I have no idea what he actually pays for wire but even he gets it for $10-11$ a foot i considered his price to be very fair. Ask around and talk to people etc. These $1500-2000 jobs are nuts. They are paying people $400-500 an hour. I am not a cheap person and i understand electricians have overhead costs ie gas, workers comp etc etc. But paying a skilled laborer more than $200 a hour is not needed.

 

[aerodyne]

Heres the deal- i just had tesla wall charger installed this morning. I paid $375 for it two weeks ago. I have no idea why tesla dropped price and then raise it back up right after. My electrician used 6 gauge wire. He fed it down pane inside wall then under house when i have enclosed closets(piling house) then poke through outside wall to spot. Probably 30 feet of wire needed. Wire he said was $15 a foot plus cost of 60 amp breaker. Cost $825. He got here at 9:15 and was done at 12:30. I have no idea what he actually pays for wire but even he gets it for $10-11$ a foot i considered his price to be very fair. Ask around and talk to people etc. These $1500-2000 jobs are nuts. They are paying people $400-500 an hour. I am not a cheap person and i understand electricians have overhead costs ie gas, workers comp etc etc. But paying a skilled laborer more than $200 a hour is not needed.

Some folks have slab foundations and the above approach won't work, adding labor hours.

 

[Crusader1]

Some folks have slab foundations and the above approach won't work, adding labor hours.

Let me know how many hours its taking other installs.

 

[aerodyne]

Let me know how many hours its taking other installs.

Mine took about 6, diy. Several hours fixing mistakes made by the builder. Only had a 3 ft run of 6Ga though, no drywall removal required.

I think running the cable yourself, and having a electrician do the hookups is a great way to save money, and have it done right.

 

[Crusader1]

Mine took about 6, diy. Several hours fixing mistakes made by the builder. Only had a 3 ft run of 6Ga though, no drywall removal required.

I think running the cable yourself, and having a electrician do the hookups is a great way to save money, and have it done right.

Great i agree- i just think its a shame people are paying $1500-$2000 for same but its their $

 

[Rocky_H]

What's frustrating is that my dryer is inside sharing the same wall as where it would be installed in my garage. I then found the option to buy a NeoCharge but that scenario assumes that both the EV and dryer are in your garage. In a perfect world I wouldn't need to spend all this money to charge at 240v for both home/office if I could just use the new $230 mobile charger (w/both 5-15 & 14-50 adapters), but I assume it's illegal to run that through said wall. I don't want to leave the door to the garage open overnight as it's cold in the garage this time of year.

I have seen this situation from a few people before on this forum. And you're right, that the things that seem easy are illegal. Here are some of the things that are not allowed that exclude some of the possibilities you're thinking of:

1. EV charging circuit can't share with another circuit.
2. Can't just pass a cord through a hole in the wall.
3. Can't run a cord through an open garage door long term.

There are maybe one or two ways to make this work, but they are a little complicated, and so are still going to run several hundred dollars and not really save you much versus just running a new line. To comply with the "can't share" provision, you can have it be a "dedicated" line if only one side is connected at a time. So sometimes people will use an existing run like this, but then interrupt it with an A/B toggle throw switch box. That could be mounted in the wall. Then you have to manually switch to whether the last segment of the line goes to the dryer or to the other side on the garage wall for the EV charging connection.

So that should be possible, but long term, it's going to feel inconvenient, and would still probably cost more than half of that $1500 estimate.

 

[Crusader1]

Good points. When i got my wall charger i read through the install instructions myself even though i sent to my electrician. I also went in the forums here to get advice. Dedicated line, double pole 60 breaker min 6 gauge wire. I wentbover all with my electrician. Btw he had a 50 breaker on his mind even though it runs at 48amps. I tried to get 4 gauge for future proofing as advised but lost that battle as overkill etc. The reality is im sure he stocks 6 gauge as most he does are universal or tesla etc. The point im making is i spent a lot of money on car and i educated myself enough to make sure electrician was on same page. I even questioned whether conduit was necessary or not. I like to sleep well at night so i question and read like crazy.

 

[OrbiterTI4]

So my company allows for the ability to use a 240v plug onsite, as of now I'm using the 110v charger plug in my garage with the hardwired (not plug-in adapter) 110v mobile charger, and bought the $400 wall charger last month. My electrician wants to charge me $1500 to run a 240v line from the other side of my house to the garage (30'). What's frustrating is that my dryer is inside sharing the same wall as where it would be installed in my garage. I then found the option to buy a NeoCharge but that scenario assumes that both the EV and dryer are in your garage. In a perfect world I wouldn't need to spend all this money to charge at 240v for both home/office if I could just use the new $230 mobile charger (w/both 5-15 & 14-50 adapters), but I assume it's illegal to run that through said wall. I don't want to leave the door to the garage open overnight as it's cold in the garage this time of year.

Assuming your dryer is running on a 30A circuit, if you used some of the offered solutions that allow you to use the existing 240V line, would 24A home charging be sufficient?

I assume even if I had a 240v outlet installed in the garage he's still gonna charge me $1500, so my only savings would be returning the $400 wall charger. I'm kinda nervous to try and do this myself tbh, I'm wary of doing anything at the breaker box.

I disagree the quote would remain $1500; I imagine a significant portion of the bid is the materials cost for 30' of wire.

That said, I agree with the thought process that paying for a licensed electrician to sign off on a new run (whether you physically run the wire or pay the electrician to do so) with 60A-circuit-capable wiring (assuming you have the 48A wall charger...or maybe you go even larger if you investigate putting in a garage subpanel!) will probably still be useful for you in the future.

 

[vcor]

One reason for going with a larger wire size is reduced power loss due to wire resistance. Likely not a big deal, but I had a 20' run and used #3 wire, as I was planning to use a Gen 1 charger with dual chargers (a 100 amp circuit). Today, I mostly run at 24 amps, as I have plenty of time to charge. The higher wire size means very little power loss due to resistance. Over the years, it likely pays to get one size larger than required (i.e. #4 in your case, they don't make a #5 size) but #6 is fine too if you're on a budget and/or they charge a lot extra for #4 wire.