Do i need a wall charger?

[wbhokie]

if it’s a dedicated circuit, just convert it to 240V 20A assuming your wire size is appropriate for that. Tesla makes a NEMA 6-20 adapter. It will charge more than twice the rate of a 120V 15A outlet. Minimal cost and well worth it for temporary use until your new garage is built.

Yeah seriously.. if the panel is there you could do it for under $100. If I lived near you I would offer! So I'm sure someone else can to. Breaker, some conduit, a box, small amount of wire and an outlet. If it's only a 20A outlet wire is cheap too.

 

[daniel]

I would recommend a NEMA 14-50 outlet. Depending on what kind of breaker box you have and how far it is from your garage, a few hundred dollars should do it. The universal mobile charger (UMC) that comes with your Model 3 will plug into that and connect to your car. The UMC also has a plug for a standard 110 V plug, but it's worth it to do it right. You're spending many thousands on the car, spend what it takes to get the right plug for it. But, no, for 15 miles a day you don't really need the NEMA 14-50 or the HPWC. The UMC that comes with the car is all you need. And FWIW, the car also comes with an adapter to allow you to charge at a J1772 charging spot.

The high-power wall connector (HPWC) that Tesla sells, and an electrician would install, is overkill unless you need to charge more quickly than overnight.

But seriously, you bought this car to drive 15 miles a day? I'd have recommended a ten-year-old Prius for a use like that. You'd save about $30,000 and put gas in it about once a month.

 

[HopeToGolf]

If you have a few supercharging options nearby and/or on the way to/from the location of a typical long trip, I say try to go without upgrading. For a while, I used just a 110v option and it worked great. On weekends I added even more miles than I did each night during the week (but I also drive more).

My personal situation changed and I am glad I didn’t spring for an upgraded outlet. It isn’t a lot of money but why spend it if you don’t have to.

 

[karpetkutter]

Obviously you have never tried to use a supercharger in Southern California. If someone has the ability to install 240V charging at home they should do it. Assuming you’re going to have the car and the home for several years it will be worth it. There’s nothing like waking up every day to a full charge.

I can understand the convenience of a full charge each night as I typically do so, with my HPWC. In hindsight I may have not needed it.


Based on the amount of his commute (15 Miles) he should still be able to attain full levels of charging on a day to day basis. However if driving more than that SC visits would be required but always lengthy waits in SC but not necessarily the rest of the country.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Note that where you live is pretty important to this question. Since you are in Long Beach, where it never gets particularly cold, the 120V outlet is a viable option. In the land of Winter, 120V would most likely degrade into 0mph of charge.

Given you already have a subpanel right there, I'd probably throw a breaker and outlet on there anyway. Its what, maybe $15 for a breaker, and another $10 for wire/box. Size of breaker and type of plug/wire would be dictated by the amount of power available at the panel, and how cautious you are. Its pretty easy to relatively safely install a 20 amp/240 volt circuit. When you step into the 40-50 amp range and higher is where people start causing fires because they didn't use the right wire, didn't properly tighten the lugs, and so on.

To put 120V charging in perspective, I've been charging at home for a week(well, a couple nights anyway). I wasn't expecting much, and I pretty much got what I expected. First I tried a heavy(12gauge) extension cord(25', I think) into one of the overhead garage door plugs. Got 2mph at 8 of 8 amps, with a whopping 105V. I know for sure my garage is fed by a 14 gauge wire and 15 amp breaker.

Tried another 120V outlet that's fed by a 30 amp pool subpanel(not one the garage gets power from) in the garage, again with the same extension. Same 2mph.

Then I tried another heavy extension cord, this one 50-75' into a different outlet on the front of my home that I know is fed by 10 gauge wire and a 20 amp breaker. Again, 2mph, but I didn't note the voltage. This circuit had no other load.

Finally I returned to the garage, and plugged directly into the wall outlet, cutting out the extension cord and maybe 30' of 14 gauge. Now at least I got 3mph, occasionally 4mph, again at 105v, but it wavered between 9 and 12 of 12 amps.

 

[Dana1]

Hi,

am new to Tesla, and I will get my model 3 this Friday.
Do I need to charge my car with a wall charger? or can I charge it with the regular electrical extension?
my daily commute would be around 15 miles. I wonder if I need to charge daily or weekly?

Please let me know?

Thanks,

Yes. Over time a reliable, efficient method of charging will keep you in love.

 

[fnce_prof]

110v outlet will do fine for such a short commute. I'm in a very similar situation and my commute is 13 miles round trip/day. I've been driving a Volt for the last 4 years and using an 110v outlet in our garage to charge it for the first 3 (switched to a 240v home charger last year). I always set max current to 8A just to be safe for the circuit. I was able to get about 90% efficiency in this setting (~0.9kwh/hr added). Assuming you charge it overnight for 7 hours (11pm-6am) you would be getting 6.3kwh per charge. At 250wh/mile that's about 25 miles and about double the daily commute. I have a 110v outlet for my parking spot at work as well but don't need it that often (had the charging adopter stolen once).