5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
6160W/1hour / 240V = 25A... no where near 100A service max. You're good to go =P, just don't run all the heavy stuff all at once.
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How ridiculous is NOT installing a 240v service?
- Thread starter Bob_00
- Start date
6160W/1hour / 240V = 25A... no where near 100A service max. You're good to go =P, just don't run all the heavy stuff all at once.
That's what I thought, but seems low... I guess our house we are actually pretty efficient.
5_+JqckQttqck
Active Member
Well, look at it this way, most devices are 120V in the typical household. Even then... it'll be 50A at the peak. You're good to install a 40A line to the garage for 32A continuous load to the car.
I did 120/15 for about 3 months in Vancouver this fall/winter. I park outside most of the time. An extreme cold snap here is between -5 to -10.
My daily range is about the same as yours.
Basically, you cannot preheat your car/ batteries without creating a deficit.
Because my daily driving is never the same twice, it could take me several days to get back what I had used.
I found my stress level was high because of this never knowing. And as a result making a lot of extra stops at level 2 chargers in random places.
However, as your garage should never go below freezing this won’t be such a major issue. I found anything above freezing was considerably easier.
I don’t know how difficult this would be in your situation, but have you considered a 120/20a? It would increase your charge rate quite a bit. Otherwise, a 220/240 and 20amp is more then enough.
Long story short, I’m now charging at 244v and 24amps. It is more charge then I need. But, I now go for several days without charging because I can recover my range so much quicker.
My daily range is about the same as yours.
Basically, you cannot preheat your car/ batteries without creating a deficit.
Because my daily driving is never the same twice, it could take me several days to get back what I had used.
I found my stress level was high because of this never knowing. And as a result making a lot of extra stops at level 2 chargers in random places.
However, as your garage should never go below freezing this won’t be such a major issue. I found anything above freezing was considerably easier.
I don’t know how difficult this would be in your situation, but have you considered a 120/20a? It would increase your charge rate quite a bit. Otherwise, a 220/240 and 20amp is more then enough.
Long story short, I’m now charging at 244v and 24amps. It is more charge then I need. But, I now go for several days without charging because I can recover my range so much quicker.
ABC...always be charging. I was limited to 120V/15A for a year because I was moving in a year. Our 200A panel was already full of the thin breakers and the panel was as far away from the garage as possible on the other side of the basement. Cold winters near Pittsburgh, PA, not many electric car owning house buyers.
L2 is your friend when you are running errands during the week. 30 minutes of L2 charging while at the grocery store can keep you above your minimum state of charge.
If you’re able to plug into a 110V outlet at work do that too.
We made sure if we got down to 20% during the week we would come up with a reason to hit the Supercharger. Only needed to do that once a month or so when errands got crazy. We needed 10% to get to the nearest Supercharger at normal highway speeds.
For us it worked out. Our new house in South Carolina got a NEMA 14-50 the day I moved in. It’s like cheating now...we don’t see a Supercharger unless on long road trips now.
Bottom line, if you are staying in that house it would be worth getting a proper EV charging solution. Even with a 30A solution you can charge at 24A continuous. The wire is much less expensive and that would easily serve two vehicles if you charged each one every other night to 80-90%.
Best of luck. Many good solutions here. Let’s us know what you end up doing with pictures if able. It will help others.
L2 is your friend when you are running errands during the week. 30 minutes of L2 charging while at the grocery store can keep you above your minimum state of charge.
If you’re able to plug into a 110V outlet at work do that too.
We made sure if we got down to 20% during the week we would come up with a reason to hit the Supercharger. Only needed to do that once a month or so when errands got crazy. We needed 10% to get to the nearest Supercharger at normal highway speeds.
For us it worked out. Our new house in South Carolina got a NEMA 14-50 the day I moved in. It’s like cheating now...we don’t see a Supercharger unless on long road trips now.
Bottom line, if you are staying in that house it would be worth getting a proper EV charging solution. Even with a 30A solution you can charge at 24A continuous. The wire is much less expensive and that would easily serve two vehicles if you charged each one every other night to 80-90%.
Best of luck. Many good solutions here. Let’s us know what you end up doing with pictures if able. It will help others.
I am in Ottawa and since I got my 3 last week have been using 110vMy commute is around 40km round trip.
Charging rate is 7km per hour so I usually need around 8 hours charge.
A couple of times I have got charging interrupted.. not sure if it is a problem with my home circuits .. house is 35 years old and the garage socket doesn’t look the best.
Am considering upgrade to 240
Can anyone recommend good electricians in Ottawa?
Charging rate is 7km per hour so I usually need around 8 hours charge.
A couple of times I have got charging interrupted.. not sure if it is a problem with my home circuits .. house is 35 years old and the garage socket doesn’t look the best.
Am considering upgrade to 240
Can anyone recommend good electricians in Ottawa?
We used Lamarche Electric. They were extremely responsive and did a good job (at least according to the inspector who is a better judge than me
I actually got their name from Hydro Ottawa because they are their Flo installer - I opted not to go that route and just got the 15-50 outlet.
If you PM me I can send you contact details on who I worked with
I was getting interrupted on one of my 2 outdoor circuits when I first got the cars. Looks like the builder cheaped out and used a standard indoor GFCI outside so it was either faulty from the start, or it wore out early from the weather. Switched out for a weather resistant and it has been flawless since.
Sorry for the late reply, kind of busy with my retirement life lol.
I think you are more than fine, just get the 240V gauge 6 wire and 50 Amp breaker installed.
Call Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) to get inspector in, If you want to be on the safe side, request for a rough in inspection first, and you can ask all kind of questions when he/she shows up. Ask them whether it is okay for you to install a 240 outlet (chance is very high that you are okay). Once you get a okay from them, proceed to finalize the installation. Doing it that way may save you some money.
If you really want to be on the safe side, get the inspector in and explain to him what you want to do, and ask them whether it is okay to do it. You may piss him/her off because you haven't done anything physcially, but I think they understand your concern and erred on the safe side.
I was in the same boat and had the same worry. All the traditional online calculators showed I was over based on my appliances but they don't run at the same time. I pulled my hourly usage for the past year and this confirmed it. I had my electrician confirm my calculations and had them install a 240/60A circuit with a HPWC. My electrian arranged for ESA to inspect. I showed my hourly report to the ESA inspector. He approved and affixed his sticker to the panel...done deal!
Permit only costs less than $100, you can pull it yourself, just call ESA. Remember, as a homeowner, you can do the installation yourself if you are comfortable with it.
My situation is not having a garage. I charged my LR RWD on 110V with an extension cord for the first 3 weeks while I got quotes to install a 14-50 outdoor plug. On 110V, I was getting 7-8 kms/hr. Ended up getting a 14-50 plug installed on a post with around 60 ft of TEK wire run in a trench I dug myself. Running off a 40amp breaker. Now I'm getting ~48kms/hr. My daily commute is around 40kms so 110V was enough at least during summer. Haven't tried 110V in winter. It's just way more convenient charging on 240V. You never know when something unexpected pops up and you need to drive your car more than your regular commute. I can think of many worse ways to spend $700
Hi all,
Has anyone had recent success with the prior use history and approvals that can confirm if it is an actual electrical code consideration or a YMMV consideration of the inspector. I have gotten quotes from a couple electricians and the first was very high ($1500+ permitting) but said I am good to add a 40 amp service. Second was much more reasonably priced (800+ permitting), but said that even a 30 amp would require a panel upgrade. Neither electrician could confirm if the usage history would be considered, they just said 'oh yeah, I guess you could show that to the inspector'.
I am inclined to just go ahead myself, but I haven't been able to find any confirmation that the usage history can be used in lieu of the load calculations.
Has anyone had recent success with the prior use history and approvals that can confirm if it is an actual electrical code consideration or a YMMV consideration of the inspector. I have gotten quotes from a couple electricians and the first was very high ($1500+ permitting) but said I am good to add a 40 amp service. Second was much more reasonably priced (800+ permitting), but said that even a 30 amp would require a panel upgrade. Neither electrician could confirm if the usage history would be considered, they just said 'oh yeah, I guess you could show that to the inspector'.
I am inclined to just go ahead myself, but I haven't been able to find any confirmation that the usage history can be used in lieu of the load calculations.
Code changed fairly recently, before it was more about the installation rather than load testing, rule of thumb is if you have AC, electric heating, electric stove, electric water heaters and a hot tub you are probably going to need a 200A service. If you use gas for water/heating, cooking you can do a simple calculation and decide. You should check the code in your area but a load test is not as painful as it sounds.
Thanks, my issue is the on-line calculators seem to put me right at the limit (97-103 amps depending on the calculator) and I am not fully sure that the values they are giving me are 100% accurate. My historical usage indicates I have lots of capacity, but I can't confirm if this matters by code, or if it comes down to the individual inspectors.
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