Home charging two cars, stupid or cool?

[sbradbury]

I've had my S for years, added a Model 3 for my Wife and didn't like having cables laying on the floor behind my car so I threw this thing together.

Pay no attention to my dirty car

Now I can pull in and out while leaving her car plugged in, and the cable never hits the ground.

 

[ChadS]

That does look kind of cool, although I'd be worried if you ever replace your S with an X.

My solution was a little more traditional; I had an electrician mount one on a different wall. They did daisy-chain them though, so both are sharing a single 60A circuit. It works great:

 

[sbradbury]

That does look kind of cool, although I'd be worried if you ever replace your S with an X.

My solution was a little more traditional; I had an electrician mount one on a different wall. They did daisy-chain them though, so both are sharing a single 60A circuit. It works great:

View attachment 393656

That is absolutely the way to go with a nice middle wall there and single car doors.

 

[ChadS]

My last house also had single car doors, but the middle wall was too narrow for an EVSE. So I put one EVSE on each side wall; obviously this meant that for one car, it was on the wrong side.

But as your solution demonstrates, the cable is quite long which allows a lot of flexibility. I took the cheap, easy way out and bought 5 $1 vinyl-coated bicycle hooks. I just screwed them in to the ceiling and ran the charging cable along there; then it hung down by the car in just the right spot. I don't have a picture, but the hooks I used are HERE.

 

[abasile]

Pay no attention to my dirty car

For many of us, a dirty car is a car that's being used - it's no garage queen. Our family's Teslas get driven in all conditions, including dirt roads a couple of days ago to see some wonderful desert wildflowers.

I like the simplicity of your setup and can appreciate your efforts to keep installation costs down.

 

[aerodyne]

Actually, pretty cool approach, and I was planning something similar. However, was concerned about stiffnesss and afraid DW (Mechanically disinclined) would snag it on her car.

I opted for a fixed cord routed over her ICE. When I get the model Y, I will just plug it in directly.

I used Eaton 50A GFCI breaker, 2 feet of 2/6ga Romex to NEMA 6-50, then 20' welders ext cord rated 50A continious, to 20 ft Gen 2 MC.

Cords secured with MS21919-9 and -17 Adel clamps, but did use bike hooks for the MC box.

 

[Missile Toad]

I've had my S for years, added a Model 3 for my Wife and didn't like having cables laying on the floor behind my car so I threw this thing together...

The hinges of this apparatus appear to be attached (directly or indirectly) to a 2x4 wall stud. Many of these studs extend from foundation to roughly the ceiling of the room that they form.

My first reaction, is that the swiveling support operates as a lever, magnifying the force at the 'plug end' at the wall where it attaches. Over years of use, somebody might casually rest a hand on the swivel, pulling it downward at its farthest extreme. The weakest link might be the nails that hold the 2x4 to one or more 2x4s inside the wall. That 2x4 must be able to withstand two forces that seek to pry it out of the wall:

1. Potentially, in the 'stowed' configuration, the swivel lies against the wall, and might be used to pull the 2x4 in rotation within the wall itself;
2. In the 'extended' configuration, the torsion could operate to pull the 2x4 out, and away from the wall, making the 2x4 rotate like a hammer, with a Tesla potentially, operating in the role of a nail.​

Hopefully, you aren't going to be visited by nephews, nieces, children under the supervision of a babysitter, etc., who might use the device for any form of entertainment. Now this could be remedied by applying an electric potential to the bare metal of the device, to prevent small humans and animals from persistently grasping the device?

 

[aerodyne]

I did not mention it, but as MT reminds me, the "Gorrilla loads" of grand niece/nephew were a concern.

I still like the OP's design. It could be modified to place a dock or latch at the ends of travel, should it be used by said offending children as a gym bar, reducing the out of plane loads at the wall, Also, highly suspect OP has used lag bolts, not nails into the studs...and said studs could be reinforced outside of the drywall if needed.

If I had the need for the charging speed of a WC, definitely would have done something like this. However, perfectly OK with my 20 mi/hr charge speed and 90% efficiency.

 

[sbradbury]

The hinges of this apparatus appear to be attached (directly or indirectly) to a 2x4 wall stud. Many of these studs extend from foundation to roughly the ceiling of the room that they form.

My first reaction, is that the swiveling support operates as a lever, magnifying the force at the 'plug end' at the wall where it attaches. Over years of use, somebody might casually rest a hand on the swivel, pulling it downward at its farthest extreme. The weakest link might be the nails that hold the 2x4 to one or more 2x4s inside the wall. That 2x4 must be able to withstand two forces that seek to pry it out of the wall:

1. Potentially, in the 'stowed' configuration, the swivel lies against the wall, and might be used to pull the 2x4 in rotation within the wall itself;
2. In the 'extended' configuration, the torsion could operate to pull the 2x4 out, and away from the wall, making the 2x4 rotate like a hammer, with a Tesla potentially, operating in the role of a nail.​

Hopefully, you aren't going to be visited by nephews, nieces, children under the supervision of a babysitter, etc., who might use the device for any form of entertainment. Now this could be remedied by applying an electric potential to the bare metal of the device, to prevent small humans and animals from persistently grasping the device?

There will be absolutely no children using it as a jungle gym

But I will keep an eye on the condition of the stud over time. I may add some horizontal bars to the wall to spread the load cross two studs instead of the one.

 

[sbradbury]

I did not mention it, but as MT reminds me, the "Gorrilla loads" of grand niece/nephew were a concern.

I still like the OP's design. It could be modified to place a dock or latch at the ends of travel, should it be used by said offending children as a gym bar, reducing the out of plane loads at the wall, Also, highly suspect OP has used lag bolts, not nails into the studs...and said studs could be reinforced outside of the drywall if needed.

If I had the need for the charging speed of a WC, definitely would have done something like this. However, perfectly OK with my 20 mi/hr charge speed and 90% efficiency.

Yep, working on a latch/hook to keep it against the wall when not in use and used 4 lag bolts into the stud.