Home charger options

[SSedan]

The argument being posed that focus on your daily commute are very short sighted.
In Albany cold temps are going to drastically increase energy use in winter.
I have a 7 mile each way drive and can see energy use triple if I don't preheat, of course if you preheat you use that energy you just don't see it on the dash.

I advocate going as high an amperage connections practical, what happens when you work Friday in winter and want to top up while loading the car for a weekend trip? In my case it was a family emergency that came up while I was far from home that caused me to spend the money on the wall connector. Was hours south of home got a call that I needed to get an hour north of home, with a 14-30 it got just a few miles while I offloaded the wife, kids, baggage and I ended up having to hit a supercharger very briefly but was a few miles out of the way too. If I had had the wall connector I could have just stayed home 5-10 more minutes longer and skipped the supercharger. Mine is an older S that can take 80amps which is good for 58miles added per hour.
Usually I keep it dialed way down below that but am happy to have the capability.

On the "slower is better", AC charging is slow charging, maxed out on a wall connector is still what 6-7hours to charge empty to full that isn't fast charging. Even if you are thick headed and incapable of rational thought and want to argue that is fast having the capability doesn't mean you use it all the time.

I also advocate having a backup plan, be that a second UMC or use a wall connector as primary and UMC as backup. Heck maybe your neighbors EV charger is your backup plan but have something.

On future proofing since it seems 60amps is currently the highest rated connector Tesla wants to sell I would put in wire for that even if putting lower rated breaker and outlet.

 

[UncleCreepy]

Keep in mind that the car won't sleep while charging which results in about 300 Watts of lost power while charging. For that reason, I always charge at the highest possible setting to keep those losses at a minimum.

 

[Klau2]

I have a Charge Point Home Flex. With state and utility company rebate, it cost me about $100. My local utility only gives rebate to this, and but the tesla charger, that's why I bought this instead.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WXZDHGV?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[iamnid]

I'd say, generally, the cost of adding a 240v outlet or charger to your garage is minimal compared to the convenience of having faster charging. You MAY be able to make it work with the 120v outlet you already have, but the added inconvenience isn't going to be worth the price of adding at least a 240v outlet and getting the appropriate plug for your mobile connector (which is the cheapest way to get faster charging at home). Just get the outlet, you won't regret it.

 

[Electric Steve]

Keep in mind that the car won't sleep while charging which results in about 300 Watts of lost power while charging. For that reason, I always charge at the highest possible setting to keep those losses at a minimum.

The tradeoff, I guess, is that slower charging is generally easier on battery life.

 

[SSedan]

The tradeoff, I guess, is that slower charging is generally easier on battery life.

AC charging is all slow charging 5+ hours to go from empty to full is not fast by any stretch.

 

[Kuro Houou]

Check out the chart on this page from Tesla, its 30MPH.. not really worth it if you already have a 14-30 like I said. Essentially will get you a full charge about 3-4 hours quicker. ~10.5 hours for the 14-50 and ~14 hours for the 14-30. If you drive 200+ miles a day then thats when I would get a 14-50 charger.

Gen 2 NEMA Adapters

I can't edit my post anymore so ill reply to myself

After a lot of analysis on installation costs and types of chargers, normal mobile charger, 14-50 mobile charger (not the adapter), and the Tesla wall charger.. I have decided to get the Tesla Charger. Here is what I found and it may vary so by no means is this set in stone for everyone. First, after getting some quotes I determined its actually cheaper to get the Tesla Wall charger installed then a NEMA 14-50 outlet. Namely because:

Just looking at the charger options themselves your looking at 3 options really:

1. Gen 2 Mobile Charger with NEMA 14-50 adapter = $310 (Sure you can use the one in your car but I don't want the inconvenience of that or the risk of not having it, its like a spare, probably will never use it, except for that one time you do).
2. NEMA 14-50 Mobile Charger = $520
3. Tesla Wall Charger = $500

So really for me it was between 2&3, and 3 was cheaper and charged faster, plus allowed other functions.

That aside, there was also the following:

1. Install/Labor costs from an Electrician was the same for both options 2&3 but I would need to buy more parts for a NEMA 14-50 outlet, namely a GFCI breaker which is almost 100 bucks and a NEMA 14-50 outlet. Not sure why anyone would install a 14-50 outlet in a garage or worse yet outside without a GFCI so a lot of people miss that I have seen.

I never thought the Tesla Wall charger option would end up being my choice. It certainly wasn't just about MPH for me but all these other reasons just made it an easier choice at the end.

 

[SSedan]

The high end outlet recommended for 14-50 installs and the extra wire can eat into the $200 price difference between a second UMC and HCWC.
People fixate on cable cost but it really isn't that bad and running it once large is better than going back and doing it over.

I used THHN and a 100amp install, think it was about $2.70 a foot, if I bought smaller gauge wire and still spent $1.70 a foot that is a $40 savings........... hopefully if you buy a Tesla you have that kind of coin laying around.

 

[Scooby24]

Out of curiosity how much have folks had to pay for parts and labor on installing a nema 14-50?

I had to run 100 ft of wire and conduit outside the house(finished basement) so we had to bury about 40 foot of it 18" down so that was a lot of labor, my guy spent about 10 hours on the job. Luckily he's an electrician friend but even still parts and labor I spent 900. Don't even want to know how much it costs if you don't have a hookup.

 

[Electric Steve]

Out of curiosity how much have folks had to pay for parts and labor on installing a nema 14-50?

I had to run 100 ft of wire and conduit outside the house(finished basement) so we had to bury about 40 foot of it 18" down so that was a lot of labor, my guy spent about 10 hours on the job. Luckily he's an electrician friend but even still parts and labor I spent 900. Don't even want to know how much it costs if you don't have a hookup.

I think it matters a lot just how far the wires have to be run. I need my WC hooked up literally just outside from where the circuit breakers are, so it's not a lot of wire and there'll be no digging. Your circumstances were closer to the worst case.

 

[Kuro Houou]

Out of curiosity how much have folks had to pay for parts and labor on installing a nema 14-50?

I had to run 100 ft of wire and conduit outside the house(finished basement) so we had to bury about 40 foot of it 18" down so that was a lot of labor, my guy spent about 10 hours on the job. Luckily he's an electrician friend but even still parts and labor I spent 900. Don't even want to know how much it costs if you don't have a hookup.

Wow that is cheap! especially for digging a trench 40 feet too. You got a great deal!!! Most labor/parts for installing a NEMA 14-50 or a Wall Charger are in the 500-1000 range. Mine will be about 800 (Not including the wall charger) and that's to run about 25 feet of metal conduit to the place in the garage I want it mounted from the panel which is also in the garage.

 

[UncleCreepy]

The tradeoff, I guess, is that slower charging is generally easier on battery life.

What SSedan said... AC charging in a Tesla is always slow charging, even at the highest possible rate. Even DC charging at 50 kW is no burden for a 75 kWh battery.

The only trade-off I can see is the voltage drop on the wires. This depends on the individual situation though. I have an AWG 1/0 cable running from the breaker panel in the house to the sub panel in the garage. Even if my girlfriend charged her Chevy Bolt at the same time, we'd be at 80 Amps which results in 1.46 V drop, thus making the cable a 117 W heater. That's pretty much nothing, considering the cars draw roughly 19 kW while they are both charging.

 

[shinytop]

My box was maxxed out so I had to upgrade my box, the new box was 900 by itself. The electrician charged 450 including the outside lockable waterproof box. 14-50. I also did not want to have to remove my charger in order to have in car when necessary, so I bought another charging bundle.

 

[iamnid]

To OP: GFCI is not required in many locations -- wasn't required in mine. So that wasn't a cost consideration. I installed the NEMA 6-50 outlet myself with about $80 in total cost for parts. I bought about 8 feet of cable as the outlet ended up being right on the other side of the main panel. Additionally, I ran one less cable than 14-50 as the 14-50 connector was out of stock when I did my install so I went with NEMA 6-50, which allowed me to save a negligible amount of m oney. I was initially hesitant to use the mobile charger as the main means of charging, thinking it needed to be kept in the car. I guess that depends on where you live -- there are so many available chargers in my area that I don't worry at all about not having the mobile connector with me in the car. If I took a roadtrip somewhere, I'd take it with me.

I think you made the right decision. Unless you plan on getting a non-tesla electric vehicle in the future, there's no reason to go with a permanent wall connector other than Tesla's -- it's generally the cheapest and fastest and you don't have to deal with an adapter. I bought a Tesla HPWC I had planned to install at my office. Turns out it was going to be too expensive to run the cables at my office so I have it sitting in my garage. I'll probably install it next year when we get a Model Y that can take advantage of the extra amps it can offer. Currently we only have a Model 3 SR+ which tops out at the mobile connector's 32A anyway.

 

[SSedan]

On the mobile connector and buying a second, it isn't just about having it for a road trip or whatever.
A big reason to buy one is so you have a backup charging solution. Things fail or are physically broken accidentally all the time.

On the outlets Tesla specifically recommends premium outlets as many folks have had the $8 14-50 outlets overheat. Your electric range/oven on Thanksgiving day does not see the continuous load your car can place on that outlet. The range cycles on and off constantly.
Maybe the 6-50s are better made since they are more likely welding targeted and likely harder use, more plug/unplug cycles etc.

 

[Electric Steve]

What SSedan said... AC charging in a Tesla is always slow charging, even at the highest possible rate. Even DC charging at 50 kW is no burden for a 75 kWh battery.

The only trade-off I can see is the voltage drop on the wires. This depends on the individual situation though. I have an AWG 1/0 cable running from the breaker panel in the house to the sub panel in the garage. Even if my girlfriend charged her Chevy Bolt at the same time, we'd be at 80 Amps which results in 1.46 V drop, thus making the cable a 117 W heater. That's pretty much nothing, considering the cars draw roughly 19 kW while they are both charging.

Hmm. Given that labor is likely to far exceed materials, it may pay to overspec the wiring a bit, so that it stays cool. For that matter, it might pay to size the circuit breaker to that thicker wire, as future-proofing.

 

[SSedan]

The breaker needs to be sized to the hardware on the other end.
If you oversize wiring bit use a 14-50 outlet you can not put more than a 50amp breaker on it. Swapping a breaker is super easy compared to pulling more wire.

 

[Electric Steve]

The breaker needs to be sized to the hardware on the other end.
If you oversize wiring bit use a 14-50 outlet you can not put more than a 50amp breaker on it. Swapping a breaker is super easy compared to pulling more wire.

Makes sense: the breaker needs to trip to protect the WC, not just the wires.

 

[Jeff Wa]

Hey folks...

Thanks for all the replies and information. I have yet to receive my VIN if anyone was interested; can the corded mobile connector be wall mounted are there holes to mount it?

 

[iamnid]

Hey folks...

Thanks for all the replies and information. I have yet to receive my VIN if anyone was interested; can the corded mobile connector be wall mounted are there holes to mount it?

There are NOT holes to mount it. Many people use a bicycle water bottle holder to hold it in place.