HPWC vs 15-40 charging

[N4HHE]

Waiting on my car (factory delivery scheduled for 12/21) but I am going with the electrician installing two NEMA 14-50 outlets on either side of the garage to service my new Model S and future-proof for another EV when we replace my wife's Prius in a few years. I do worry that plugging the UMC in and out all the time would lead to wear and tear on the device and I'd prefer to just leave it in the car. I think that Tesla could sell quite a few permanent-mount UMC-like devices, i.e., same form factor as the HPWC but with the guts of the UMC for a permanent wall install. Doubt they'd sell it for less than the UMC, but they wouldn't need all the adapters...

I don't think the plug on the UMC will ever wear out unless you yank it from the cord rather than pull on the plug.

The 14-50R outlet was under $9. If it wears out I'll spend more time driving 3.1 miles to and 3.1 miles from Lowes than it will take to swap. And hey, if you are worried about wearing it out then don't unplug things. Believe someone said the UMC kit was $650 but just the bare essentials w/o adapters was $450. That makes it an HPWC-lite.

I worry more about that heavy plug and the forces required to insert and remove yanking my box from the wall than I think about wearing the thing out. I will affix plywood to the wall straddling my studs and secure the service box and 14-50R to that. Doofus who wired my house 26 years ago used a "flush mount" external assembly for my dryer. Two screws into the wall, drywall, missed anything solid. Essentially that outlet was hanging by its wires until I put a solid piece of plywood behind it very similar to what my Tesla will be getting. And perhaps thats one of the reasons I wire these things myself. I'm having to juggle circuits in my distribution box to get two poles for the Tesla, only have one available, but one circuit is only 2A for a blower in the fireplace so it can double up with something else.

 

[linkster]

But, my "at home" charging is someone else's "away" charging. The more of us that choose to install an HPWC, the more we create a charging infrastructure to everyone's benefit.

Agree Rock, I have used a 14-30 for an 80 mile round-trip commute for almost a year now. My HPWC is for guests and is for supplementing the Supercharger network. I keep one UMC docked in the garage and a spare UMC in the trunk along with every adapter (still undecided on the CHAdeMO though).

 

[islandbayy]

Agree Rock, I have used a 14-30 for an 80 mile round-trip commute for almost a year now. My HPWC is for guests and is for supplementing the Supercharger network. I keep one UMC docked in the garage and a spare UMC in the trunk along with every adapter (still undecided on the CHAdeMO though).

I sorta do the same thing. No HPWC here, but my 14-50 is on the outside of the garage and available to guests.

I have 2 UMC's though. One I keep coiled up in the carry bag in the car, and the other I sue daily. Though, I take my Daily one with me as well. 2 weeks after getting my car, the UMC failed, and I was almost stuck. I realized, if It ever fails again, and I have no J1772 or SC to charge up on, I'm getting towed. So that is why I keep a second. I do a lot of driving, especially to places where their are no J1772's.