Help requested with charging (set-up) issue for Model S

[J_Harrington]

Good Morning,

I will soon be picking up my CPO Model S!

Had an electrician come out yesterday in hopes of having the NEMA 14-50 installed.

The issue are: I am in a middle unit townhome, and the breaker box is outside in the back of the house, and there is currently only 1, 15amp outlet in the garage. Per the electrician is looking like could be an ~ $1,500 - $2,500 job to set up the 40amp connection (and of course have to cut hole in multiple places in the drywall to run the wiring from the panel to the garage) :/

I have a fairly short commute to work, yet the basic charger at ~ 3 miles per hours could be problematic. Other note is that may be moving from this house in ~ a year or so (another downside to dropping that much $ now to get the 40amp set up.)

Anyone been in a similar situation or having any suggestions? I saw something about a NEMA 6-15 that could get me possible 5-7 miles per charge from a standard 15amp outlet, yes? I appreciate any suggestions on solutions.

Much appreciated!

Jesse

 

[habanero69]

Good Morning,

I will soon be picking up my CPO Model S!

Had an electrician come out yesterday in hopes of having the NEMA 14-50 installed.

The issue are: I am in a middle unit townhome, and the breaker box is outside in the back of the house, and there is currently only 1, 15amp outlet in the garage. Per the electrician is looking like could be an ~ $1,500 - $2,500 job to set up the 40amp connection (and of course have to cut hole in multiple places in the drywall to run the wiring from the panel to the garage) :/

I have a fairly short commute to work, yet the basic charger at ~ 3 miles per hours could be problematic. Other note is that may be moving from this house in ~ a year or so (another downside to dropping that much $ now to get the 40amp set up.)

Anyone been in a similar situation or having any suggestions? I saw something about a NEMA 6-15 that could get me possible 5-7 miles per charge from a standard 15amp outlet, yes? I appreciate any suggestions on solutions.

Much appreciated!

Jesse

I'm in the same boat. Exactly. I too am left with putting in a 240v/15A circuit. My commute is very small; 5 miles ROUND trip so weekdays for the most part hardly count. If you can get the car on the charge overnight every night, you at least get about 70 mpc added per night. I don't know what your daily commute is so that plays the biggest part.

I have a 8 SuperChargers 24x7 a few miles from my house so I plan to hit that from time to time as needed...

Best of luck...

 

[TexasEV]

First off understand that it's a 50A circuit you need for the 14-50 outlet, not 40A. (That's the 50 in 14-50). The car draws 40A from a 50A circuit, or 80% of whatever the circuit is rated for.

It's unlikely you can do anything without running new wiring, and if you're going to pay to have a new circuit installed it might as well be a 14-50. If the 15A outlet is a dedicated circuit you could have the breaker and outlet changed to 240V 15A (6-15) and use that UMC adapter you mentioned, but that would only work if the garage outlet is on a circuit by itself which is unlikely.

Do you have a place to plug in at work?

 

[J_Harrington]

I'm in the same boat. Exactly. I too am left with putting in a 240v/15A circuit. My commute is very small; 5 miles ROUND trip so weekdays for the most part hardly count. If you can get the car on the charge overnight every night, you at least get about 70 mpc added per night. I don't know what your daily commute is so that plays the biggest part.

I have a 8 SuperChargers 24x7 a few miles from my house so I plan to hit that from time to time as needed...

Thanks, habanero69,
I am no electrician. So you were able to have a 240v outlet added vs. a 110v without having to have a separate wire/connection run from the breaker?
Jess

 

[J_Harrington]

And unfortunately only 1 supercharger in the area here, and it's ~ 30 miles away...

 

[J_Harrington]

First off understand that it's a 50A circuit you need for the 14-50 outlet, not 40A. (That's the 50 in 14-50). The car draws 40A from a 50A circuit, or 80% of whatever the circuit is rated for.

It's unlikely you can do anything without running new wiring, and if you're going to pay to have a new circuit installed it might as well be a 14-50. If the 15A outlet is a dedicated circuit you could have the breaker and outlet changed to 240V 15A (6-15) and use that UMC adapter you mentioned, but that would only work if the garage outlet is on a circuit by itself which is unlikely.

Do you have a place to plug in at work?

Thanks TexasEV. Unfortunately, no charging option currently available at work. Also, believe outlet in garage is probably on circuit as well with front and back porch lights (and not really looking to lose those)
Jess

 

[miimura]

Lighting is usually not combined with outlets, but if you have an electric garage door opener, your outlet is likely shared with that. If so, it would eliminate the possibility of changing the circuit to 240VAC barring some extreme measures like putting a 240/120 transformer in front of the garage door opener. Actually, I doubt that would be allowed by code anyway.