Do you have a charging location?

[melindav]

I'm in a fairly new house/garage with a 200A panel with some room left. I had been thinking of adding a 50A outlet, but now with the WC lower price will likely go with it.

 

[Seir]

I have a J1772 one for my Leaf that I would imagine will work fine for the M3.

 

[EcoHeliGuy]

My home is parking on the street or parking in a shared parking lot down the street from my house. If I were to charge from my house it would be through a standard outdoor wall receptacle with an extension cord crossing the sidewalk. I am not sure how the homeowners association would feel about this, with the number of hours it would have to be plugged in and likely overnight in the dark.

Get a quote from an electrician to install a curbside post with the NEMA 14-50 plug. They can easily run conduit under sidewalks and turf. Take that quote to your home owners association and ask for permission. Proof that it's noninvasive really helps with persuasion.

 

[arjay]

Yes, I have a Level II (240v/50amp), J1772 for my MB B-class and have already checked that it will also reach to the other side of the garage for the M3 when it arrives to replace our Prius.

 

[Road.Runner]

Setup of my garage is too expensive. Electric company is charging 3k for a new meter (1.5k if your current meter is already in the garage) . New meter is so you can be in a ev rate plan (to separate normal.usage from the ev so you dont jump to. Tier4 rates) . Electrician would cost 1.5k and the charger 800. With those numbers; rather charge at work and a public locations.

 

[bmah]

Setup of my garage is too expensive. Electric company is charging 3k for a new meter (1.5k if your current meter is already in the garage) . New meter is so you can be in a ev rate plan (to separate normal.usage from the ev so you dont jump to. Tier4 rates) . Electrician would cost 1.5k and the charger 800. With those numbers; rather charge at work and a public locations.

You didn't say what utility company you use, but if you're on PG&E, it sounds like you're describing the EV-B plan (with a separate meter)., EV-A is a time-of-use, non-tiered plan tailored for EV owners but you only use one meter (I personally have EV-A, one Tesla, and solar...my Tesla knows to charge late at night when electric rates are lowest). I didn't do the Tesla HWPC (which just came down in price BTW, so it's not $800), I just had my electrician do a NEMA 14-50 outlet and I plug my UMC into that. I imagine a Model 3 would do something similar.

It's very nice to be able to start every day with a fully-charged (or charged to whatever level you want) battery...don't underestimate the convenience of being able to charge overnight. Not everybody is in a position to do this, but when I read your post it felt to me like you were overestimating the barriers to be able to do this.

Bruce.

 

[arjay]

Setup of my garage is too expensive. Electric company is charging 3k for a new meter (1.5k if your current meter is already in the garage) . New meter is so you can be in a ev rate plan (to separate normal.usage from the ev so you dont jump to. Tier4 rates) . Electrician would cost 1.5k and the charger 800. With those numbers; rather charge at work and a public locations.

I had an electrician hardwire a Clipper Creek level2 charger and add a dedicated 50amp breaker for the 240v supply and an additional 240v outlet as well. This was almost two years ago and total cost was 1500 electrician and 1000 for the charger. Charger prices have come down, although electricians not so much. It is super easy to charge each night so I'm ready to go in the am.

 

[Road.Runner]

I'm pretty sure in the long run I'll do something like yours_ single meter time of use. The ROI on the meter can not break me even with the amount of mile I drive (200 per month)

 

[cman8]

definitely try not to abuse the superchargers. I think if we all understand that its meant for the long distance travel first and formost we should be ok. I know there will be problems though with people that abuse them. We see it now with the S from time to time especially in California so i cant imagine how it will be once the model 3 starts ramping up.

 

[Wolfsburg]

Yeah, a representative at the local store expressly said they discourage locals from using their supercharger. It's for people passing through. I think that's reasonable. I asked about the issue of some people not having garages/parking on the street and he said that's something Tesla hasn't really worked out yet, barring literally running a cable from the house/apt to the car.

 

[ProphetM]

I was planning on putting an appropriate plug in my garage, assuming that I could find out later just what that entailed. My electrical panel is on the outside of a garage wall so the physical construction at least should be fairly simple. This thread spurred me to go check out my breaker box (and then Google for what it all means, LOL). It would appear that I have a 100 amp panel with 3 open spots. Hopefully this will be adequate! I do have a fairly small house of under 1500 square feet, and the oven, dryer, furnace & water heater are natural gas so those aren't loading up the system.

 

[pmich80]

I currently live in a condo that's a fairly old building. We have underground and outdoor parkin. I'm hoping to ask the board if we can install stations on site. We have over 300 outdoor spots so if we can't do it affordablely underground, I'd like the option of having one or more outside.

If all this fails I know there's a chademo charging station about 4 minutes from my home which offers 72amp charging. So for sure I'll be getting a dual charger and chademo accessory to make use of it.

If I got one underground I'd be elated though.

 

[EcoHeliGuy]

I currently live in a condo that's a fairly old building. We have underground and outdoor parkin. I'm hoping to ask the board if we can install stations on site. We have over 300 outdoor spots so if we can't do it affordablely underground, I'd like the option of having one or more outside.

If all this fails I know there's a chademo charging station about 4 minutes from my home which offers 72amp charging. So for sure I'll be getting a dual charger and chademo accessory to make use of it.

If I got one underground I'd be elated though.

Don't think your getting dual chargers

 

[pmich80]

My plan is to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage next to the door and hope the 20' charger cord can reach the M3 in my driveway. Currently my 2-car garage is full of junk and there's no room for any car. Assuming that I'm still working in the same place in a couple of years and the garage is still a storage facility (excellent chance as it's been this way for 16+ years), the company I work at has several J1772 chargers in the multi-story parking garage. A recent email went out saying that they are planning to add more chargers due to more employees driving EVs. It also stated that they will start to enforce a maximum of 4 hours per charge then you'll have to move your car. I guess that's progress...

Clean out your garage... seriously. Build a shed if you can and make better use of the garage

 

[dgpcolorado]

Yes, I do:

Now that I have only one car, instead of two crammed into my garage, I can't get over the luxury of extra space. Nice to be able to fully open the doors on both sides of the car. I run the cable along the ceiling to keep it off the floor and out of the way:

Spring showers today; time to venture out into the snow:

Springtime in Colorado!

 

[N5329K]

Yes. 220v outlet in the garage.
Robin

 

[chuhouse2003]

I have a garage and an Aerovironment charger at home. I just need a J1772 to Tesla adapter then I am good to go.

 

[SnoValleyRob]

Yeah probably not the best solution. You could approach your assn about installing a plug in the shared lot - but that might not work.

Plenty of owners rely on public chargers, chargers at work, or superchargers. And don't let the anti-local-supercharging crowd make you feel guilty about using them. If you have no option to charge at home, it is totally fine.

That said, if you plan on moving, then fine. You could also approach your employer about installing a charger so you can charge at work. Many employers are doing that these days.

I definitely won't let anyone make me feel bad for using the superchargers if I don't have any other option, hopefully I will have a way to charge somewhere else in 2 years, but if I don't I will have no problem hitting up the chargers. I currently build model train layouts for a living in private residences so I don't have an actual employer, but someday when I get a real job it will definitely be something I look into

There are dozens of great cars and you picked the one that makes no sense for your lifestyle? I am as excited as anyone about owning a Model 3 but wouldn't even think about it if home charging wasn't realistic.

First off, I plan on owning a home with a garage for charging

Get a quote from an electrician to install a curbside post with the NEMA 14-50 plug. They can easily run conduit under sidewalks and turf. Take that quote to your home owners association and ask for permission. Proof that it's noninvasive really helps with persuasion.

Excellent idea! The plan is to in 2 years be in a different house, but your idea is fantastic and would be the best way to deal with the HOA. Thanks!

 

[EVie'sDad]

Clean out your garage... seriously. Build a shed if you can and make better use of the garage

had the same issue 6 months before picking up my Model S, two trips to the dump, donations to goodwill and setting up storage racks, and putting all the garden tools into the shed all helped, we did it in less than 2! you can do it too, good luck!

 

[Bimbels]

Can I ask how much the installation cost for that set up? Also,does it fully charge overnight?

Well for us, just the cost of materials since my husband did it. (he grew up helping his electrician father).

You'd have to have an electrician come give you an estimate. Will depend on how far your panel is from the desired outlet, if you need to upgrade service, add a breaker, etc. I've heard ranges from just a few hundred to over a thousand dollars, depending on your current setup.

Yes it charges overnight. When I arrive home from my commute I usually have 40ish miles of range left and charging takes about 5 hours.