Sorry but noob here.
Is having GFCI necessary for EV charging? How can I tell if a receptacle is 15A or 20A? Right now I'm daily charging on a receptacle in the garage and getting 12A at 120V. That's the only receptacle in it and it doesn't have a cover, does it matter? Thanks!
See the image below. A 20 amp 120v plug (NEMA 5-20) has a sideways piece of metal on the left hand side instead of a vertical one (assuming your ground pin is down, which it is not in the picture below). So a receptacle that supports 15a or 20a is a T shape. One that only does 15a is just vertical.
What is kind of weird is that in the US you are allowed to install 15a outlets on both 15a circuits and 20a circuits. So very commonly in garages you will have a 20a circuit with 12 gauge wire (12 gauge is needed for 20 amps, 14 gauges is for 15a), but all the plugs will be 15a plugs. So if you simply spend $6 on a new receptacle at Home Depot that is 20a keyed you can charge 33% faster (but ONLY do this if it indeed is a 20a circuit with 12 gauge wire).
You will also need to buy the 5-20 Tesla adapter for $35 since the 15a one is limited to 12a (80% derate).
On the GFCI question: NO a GFCI is not required for EV charging. It won't hurt anything, but it is not required. Actually, one of the primary functions of the EVSE (i.e. your UMC or Wall connector) is to provide GFCI protection. So when plugging in to your car you are GFCI protected. The caveat is that the wall socket end of the UMC can't be GFCI protected by the UMC itself. So if you are not plugging in that end in a dry location you REALLY want that to be on GFCI. I would not worry about it inside my garage, but if I was using the outside plug I would darn well make sure it was GFCI protected.
This is what I did. I upgraded a dedicated 5-20 circuit to a 6-20. It cost me under $15 and 30 minutes of my time. I'm still waiting on my Model 3.....but, I should be able to charge 15 miles/hour which I believe will cover 100% of my needs.
After getting three quotes of nearly $1000 for a NEMA 14-50, I think I can live with it.
Yeah, this is a great option too! Still not the fastest, but WAY faster than 120v charging. This poster here converted the "neutral" wire into a second "hot" leg. So instead of having 120v of potential between the hot and neutral, they have 240v from "hot to hot". Note that you need an extra breaker position in your panel to do this (need a double wide breaker), and you need to be absolutely 100% positive and certain that there are no other plugs on the same circuit. If there was and you missed one you could create an incredibly dangerous situation where a regular 5-15 plug had 240 volts coming out of it. Also, technically per code you need one 120v plug every X distance of wall in many situations and so if you convert one to a dedicated car charging outlet at 240v you may violate that part of code. But yeah, now we are splitting hairs. ;-) (the reason though for these rules is to keep folks from using extension cords which are hugely dangerous as statistically they start a lot of fires due to misuse and damage)
GFCI circuits are required on all 120v garage outlets in the U.S. Being in Canada your laws may be different. A GFCI outlet doesn’t necessarily have a cover or an obvious trip switch. The trip switch may be located on the actual breaker. In the U.S. a cover is only required on outdoor outlets exposed to the elements. But again laws may be different in Canada.
Great points! Note that I think there is an exception in the US still if you put only one single receptacle on a circuit then you don't have to do GFCI, so just watch out for this. I have a dedicated plug in my garage for a freezer that is this way. To pile on to what you said, there may be another receptacle elsewhere in the circuit that provides the GFCI protection. If you buy an inexpensive circuit tester with a GFCI test button you can verify a receptacle is DOWNSTREAM of a GFCI unit and ensure it is functioning (they have like a 1 in 8 failure rate). My GFCI for my garage is in a receptacle on my workbench, but it also protects the outside plug I would plug my EV into if I charged that way.
https://www.amazon.com/Sperry-Instruments-GFI6302-Receptacle-Professional/dp/B000RUL2UU/
I am currently charging on a regular wall outlet outside of my house. Did better then I expected but it rained last night so I unplugged everything because its a weird concept to me to be able to charge something in rain lol.
Yeah, so as mentioned above the EVSE provides GFCI services, so you are pretty well protected there, however- You are not protected on the plug end where you go into the wall. So optimally that receptacle is GFCI protected. I would absolutely buy a tester for a few bucks and prove to yourself if that plug is on a GFCI or not. If it is not, I would absolutely spend a few more bucks and put in a GFCI (optimally this would go in the first plug in the chain of plugs on a circuit, but at least if installed on the outside plug that would solve for your EV charging).
I also would suggest a rainproof outlet cover that protects even when something is connected. something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/MM510C-Weatherproof-Outdoor-Receptacle-Protector/dp/B001JEPX4Y/