Getting ready for Model 3 in Aus/NZ... garage charging advice?

[Vostok]

Oooh it’s getting exciting. About 6 months to Model 3 arriving. Next month I am getting solar on my roof and a PW2. Then garage floor epoxied. House being prepped for its arrival as if a newborn was coming our way.

I currently have a Nissan LEAF which I am keeping. Model 3 will make us a BEV-only family. I use the supplied Nissan EVSE to charge the LEAF, but want to move to a proper wall connecter when we have two BEVs.

BUT.... I’d like to just install one wall connector not two. Are there any wall connectors that have TWO cables on them? One for the LEAF and one for Model 3. Both can be J-1772, I’d just use the adaptor for the 3.

I’ve done some searching and not found anyone who makes such a thing. Surely it’s not that weird a concept?

Your advice would be welcome!

 

[Chuq]

Oooh it’s getting exciting. About 6 months to Model 3 arriving. Next month I am getting solar on my roof and a PW2. Then garage floor epoxied. House being prepped for its arrival as if a newborn was coming our way.

I currently have a Nissan LEAF which I am keeping. Model 3 will make us a BEV-only family. I use the supplied Nissan EVSE to charge the LEAF, but want to move to a proper wall connecter when we have two BEVs.

BUT.... I’d like to just install one wall connector not two. Are there any wall connectors that have TWO cables on them? One for the LEAF and one for Model 3. Both can be J-1772, I’d just use the adaptor for the 3.

I’ve done some searching and not found anyone who makes such a thing. Surely it’s not that weird a concept?

Your advice would be welcome!

First thought, will you be charging both vehicles every night? You might be fine with just one. We are the same, currently have a Leaf, which gets charged every night using the supplied EVSE. The petrol car does about 5-15 km per day. When we replace the petrol car with a Model 3 (or Ioniq, or Kona, or something else) it would typically only need to be charged once a week.

When the time comes, I'll be looking for a Zappi or something similar. Make the most of solar by putting any excess into the car before exporting! And of course you can still charge from the grid if you need to.

None of this helps with the "EVSE with two cables question", I'm 100% useless there. Closest would be to get a dual-head Type 2 socket style that you see in public locations? Example: PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

 

[Doctor X]

We have both a Model X 75D and a Model 3 LR RWD (you will absolutely LOVE the Model 3 by the way). And we use just one HPWC with only one cable for both. We typically charge each car overnight, we are on time base electricity rate, so it’s cheaper at night. With the huge range in each car battery we find that each car only needs to get charged every 5-6 days, so you don’t really need two cables or two chargers. It’s very doable. Good luck and enjoy the new addition!

 

[ewoodrick]

I had a NEMA 14-50 installed for my Leaf. I just add the Tesla UMC to the holder (a plastic garden hose holder) so that both are available. There's a 120V plug in the garage as well. So, one tends to stay hooked to the L2 and the other to the 120V, works very well for us.

I do have two EVSEs for each car, one stays with the car and the other two on the cord holder in the garage.

I tried the J-1772 adapter for a little bit, but it was more painful to get the adapter out of the car and plug it in each time. The additional Tesla EVSE/UMC makes it mindless task.

I would not recommend switching wall plugs daily, they aren't made to be plugged in an out that often, unlike the plugs into the car.

 

[D.E.]

If this is new construction I’d put in a 14-50 for each car, each with its own breaker. Then you can charge simultaneously and not worry about the load from both cars.

I can’t help with the one unit, two cables part. You can have two Tesla wall chargers and I believe feed them with a common circuit but double check that, also you’ll probably need a 100A breaker, but again, check this first. You might be able to make the pair suitably attractive.

As for me, I’d just put in two separate 14-50 circuits. If you did that you should be good for the foreseeable future. Later you might opt for a different car, there will be lot more choices in the near future. I love my Tesla. That said some people are dismayed, especially with the long wait for parts if there is body damage. Since cars are made from parts and since they are making lots of new cars, the parts supply problem seems to be a problem of Tesla’s motivation rather than a parts shortage problem. We all go through the honeymoon period with our Teslas, but for some the honeymoon is over, and some have even divorced. Two 14-50s will let you stay married to Tesla as long as you want but if your eye wanders toward another beautiful electric, you’ll be ready for a painless jump.

The Tesla chargers will give you a higher charge rate if that’s important to you.

You can look at the installation guide for the Tesla wall chargers, there’s a lot of information there.

 

[miimura]

The last 3 responses from North American members may not be so useful in this Australia sub-forum.

I think the main issue is that the Model 3 and Leaf have different charge ports. In Australia, the 3 should have a Type-2 CCS port like the European cars being delivered now. I believe the Leaf has a Type-1 (J1772) port globally (except 2018+ in Europe which has Type-2). If your Australian Leaf has Type-2, then ignore this. So, to charge both cars with different ports you would need one of these solutions.
1. Separate EVSE for each car, each with their own circuit and the correct vehicle connector.
2. One EVSE to swap between the cars, with one car using an adapter like the Jetcharge cable, or different cables for each car on a socketed wall box like the Jetcharge Wallpod
3. A pair of load sharing EVSEs like the Tesla Wall Connector, connected to a single circuit. Since the Tesla unit has a captive cable, the Type-1 car would require an adapter from a Type-2 vehicle plug, which is not common, but I have heard does exist. Basically, the genders are opposite of the Jetcharge cable linked above. A Type-1 to Type-2 cable like the one used with the Wallpod will not work.

Option #2 above is probably the cheapest if your existing Leaf charging cable is Type-1. The adapter for this situation is also useful if there are public charging stations (like ChargePoint) with captive Type-1 cables in your area.

 

[D.E.]

Apologies, I got here from the “new posts” menu choice. The Australia part doesn’t even appear on the page as far as I can see. I see it if I scroll to the top but I didn’t do that. Anyway, sorry, didn’t mean to post to your group. Please ignore my post. I feel awful.

 

[miimura]

Apologies, I got here from the “new posts” menu choice. The Australia part doesn’t even appear on the page as far as I can see. I see it if I scroll to the top but I didn’t do that. Anyway, sorry, didn’t mean to post to your group. Please ignore my post. I feel awful.

Don't feel bad. Simple mistake. You had good advice for a future USA Model 3 driver.

 

[meloccom]

Moderators note:
Modified thread name to make it specific to Australia/ New Zealand.

 

[paulp]

Only issue with sharing a connector is if one of the plug in points is in the middle of your garage. Its a pain to roll the cable out each time. I’ve made up a ceiling decice for the middle of the garage so you just drop it down and plug in. Wife cant coil cables.....
Epoxy floor is great too. Fantastic in a garage. If you want to keep it really clean, go to a commercial cleaning supplier and get a 900mm wide mop. A little water, and your entire epoxy garage will have a clean floor in moments. Much on the floor scratches the epoxy, so I clean regularly.

 

[Vostok]

First thought, will you be charging both vehicles every night? You might be fine with just one. We are the same, currently have a Leaf, which gets charged every night using the supplied EVSE. The petrol car does about 5-15 km per day. When we replace the petrol car with a Model 3 (or Ioniq, or Kona, or something else) it would typically only need to be charged once a week.

When the time comes, I'll be looking for a Zappi or something similar. Make the most of solar by putting any excess into the car before exporting! And of course you can still charge from the grid if you need to.

Thanks chuq... re charging both every night, the LEAF certainly needs it, while I’ve often read that “a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla” hence the dilemma.

Looks like I’ll need to install two wall connectors!

 

[Vostok]

I think the main issue is that the Model 3 and Leaf have different charge ports. In Australia, the 3 should have a Type-2 CCS port like the European cars being delivered now. I believe the Leaf has a Type-1 (J1772) port globally (except 2018+ in Europe which has Type-2).

My Leaf is 2012 with J1772. Model 3 here will almost certainly come with CCS2. If a dual cable wall connector existed I’d have 2 x J1772 and use the adaptor to plug into Model 3.

But, since it seems they don’t exist, looks like I’ll be installing one J-1772 and one Tesla HPWC.

 

[Vostok]

Apologies, I got here from the “new posts” menu choice. The Australia part doesn’t even appear on the page as far as I can see. I see it if I scroll to the top but I didn’t do that. Anyway, sorry, didn’t mean to post to your group. Please ignore my post. I feel awful.

No reason at all to feel awful. It never occurred to me that a post in the ANZ forum would appear outside of ANZ in the “new posts” menu. The moderator has updated the title to make it clear.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Apologies, I got here from the “new posts” menu choice. The Australia part doesn’t even appear on the page as far as I can see. I see it if I scroll to the top but I didn’t do that. Anyway, sorry, didn’t mean to post to your group. Please ignore my post. I feel awful.

I do it all the time, don’t feel bad. We don’t own this forum!