Help w sticker shock over adding amp to detatched garage

[Emmexx1]

I had a separate 100 amp service run from the utility into my garage. 1350 all told, but commercial grade. No digging needed. I have a 50 amp 240 outlet that my mobile connector stays attached to 24/7. I currently have just the one car, but IF I get a second, I will have the second outlet. It is a separate line on my bill, but calculated under the same account to avoid excess charges. It is also more robust than the current home connection. Power went out a few times in the neighborhood, but the car was charging through it.

 

[ebennett22]

Thanks to everyone for being so helpful and giving me many ideas for a solution! I'll post once we pull the trigger on one or more of these options. I'm so relieved that we don't have to spend $5.5k. Now I just need to receive my Tesla before 12/31!

 

[Rocky_H]

One other thought that just came to mind as I was out doing stuff was that perhaps in the original build, someone had the foresight to oversize the conduit some for that run out to the garage because that would be the part that would be a royal pain to change later. So maybe there is extra room, but for the electrical needs at the time, they just put small wires in.

So maybe if there is room, you could replace the wiring run with thicker wire that might support maybe 30 or 40 amps total. You hook on the thicker wire and pull it through the conduit to replace what's there. Then, you could put that to a junction box where you split it to a 120V 15A circuit and a 240V 15A circuit.

 

[Mod3forMe]

Not sure if you already figured things out but...

I have woodworking shop that already had 20amp-240 plugs in place. I figured I would use that for a while before I jumped into installing anything. I typically get more than 15miles/hr using this. For me that is plenty as it would be odd that I a not parking the car for 10hours or more a night, and odd that I drive more than 150miles in a day.

 

[woodguyatl]

Find another contractor and get a different price. If you can find someone to just do the trenching, you may could also work deal with an electrician. Running 100A at 100 ft and trenching 75 isn't going to be cheap, unless you want to do the trenching.

The OP said 75 yards, not feet, thus the high price.

 

[woodguyatl]

Whether it's 40-Amps or 100-Amps, you are not really paying for the Amps but for the labor. A 100-Amp panel is probably under $50 and the wire from your main panel to the garage is under $2/foot. It's not really a challenging task other than that ingrained fear of a shock. The whole job should cost south of $500 including a trencher rental. I would recommend going to your town's building department to get a better understanding of the size of wire and how deep it needs to be buried and whether it needs to be in a pipe.

Alternatively, if you do all the work on the garage end and the trench work till the main house, then all the electrician needs to do is the final connection. That should save a lot and you never risk the "shock" that matters.

The garage is 75 yards from the house. Here in GA the wire along would be about $500.

 

[Glamisduner]

We are having sticker shock in advance of our MR model 3 delivery--quoted $5,500 in GA to install 100 amp. We have a detached garage that is 75 yards from the house panel. We have 20 amp today in the detached garage. All but $650 is for trenching/labor/etc. What have other people done to solve? Has anyone trenched themselves? I am worried about handling that amperage myself.

What do people do for remote garages? Run in the air? Buried cable? The world's longest extension cord? Looking for ideas to reduce this terrible price tag. Thanks in advance.

Yes you could do everything yourself, and then hire an electrician to hook it up. 100 amp is no joke though! You would probably be ok with a 50 and a 15 amp breakers though. Or a 240v 50 and a 120v 20.