Is 30 amps enough for charging? (Condo Owner)

[dsm363]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

My daily commute will not exceed 50-60 miles total so it sounds like the 30 Amp circuit will be fine. I was concerned because I will also be doing several long trips a year (~350 miles one way MA to PA) and was worried about charging for work when I return.

My last questions:
1) Any specific outlet I should request from the electrician?
2) Can I buy an extra cable from Tesla or should I get it from another place? (I prefer to keep the charging cable connected at home and have one in the car for travel charging).

Thanks again for all the advice!

I think it's worth seeing what Condo association says about upgrading your service to see about the cost but charing at 24A should be ok for most of the time. If it's cold and you come home empty and need to turn around the next morning you should still have enough range to get to work and back.

Maybe get a second opinion from another electrician. Are they sure you can't put in a 14-50 outlet? It's very unlikely you'd be running your stove in the middle of the night. Could could set your car to charge at midnight with a 14-50 and have the car almost charge full if it were empty.

 

[tga]

A couple of thoughts to add to what's been said.

Yes, 30A should be fine with your commute. However, unless you're already having an electrician in to do work, you might want to wait until we get more info about the car, the outlet recommendation, charger capacity, etc. You are jumping the gun a bit by installing an outlet you won't need for 2+ years.

A couple of people have suggested trying to find the discontinued 14-30 adapter. The only problem with this is we don't know anything about the Model 3's UMC - they could completely redesign it and the old adapters could be useless (says the non-Tesla owner who's been hoarding discontinued adapters in his garage), but you could probably easily flip them on eBay or the for sale forum here.

personally, if I couldn't locate a Tesla UMC 14-30 adapter, I would still have an electrician pull 30A 4-wire so that I could easily upgrade my 6-15 set-up to a 14-30 at a later date should Tesla re-issue this wonderful adapter.

I think you "meant have an electrician pull 50A 4-wire," which I completely agree with. The cost difference will be minimal (just slightly more expensive wire, same labor), and the car will be happy (thicker wire == less voltage drop under load). Having said that, if you can get a 14-50, there's no reason not to.

Maybe get a second opinion for another electrician. Are they sure you can't put in a 14-50 outlet? It's very unlikely you'd be running your stove in the middle of the night. Could could set your car to charge at midnight with a 14-50 and have the car almost charge full if it were empty.

This. I call BS on the whole "you need a service upgrade" - I think what's more likely is you have a somewhat dishonest electrician who thought "Oh, you're buying a Tesla? You must be rich! I'm gonna soak you for all I can. Maybe I can even get a service upgrade out of this!"

Some discussions of MA electricians here, including my recommendation, Scott Mahaney:

recommendation for electrician in Metrowest Mass

I'm pretty sure I remember Scott telling me he's done a few HPWC's and 14-50's for Tesla owners now.

 

[jerry33]

1. I live in a house with a 200 amp service and have a 14-50 for the Tesla and a 40 amp for the 30 amp Clipper Creek that charges the Leaf (plus a large A/C here in Texas and a bunch of other electronics). The first thing I would do is get a different opinion from another electrician because you shouldn't have any problem with a 200 amp service.

2. You don't say whether the 30 amp is the breaker size or the charge rate. (EVs are a continuous load and so the charge rate is 20% less than the breaker size).

3. An HPWC has dip switches so that you don't necessarily need a 100 amp breaker to use it. If your parking area is in a public location, it's not a bad idea to have the hardwired HPWC rather than the removable UMC. The cable is also a bit longer which may give you more flexibility in where to install it.

 

[CuriousG]

You don't have to buy the Tesla UMC cable, or the Tesla 14-30 adapters. There are third parties that sell compatible cables and adapters as well.

Some Tesla stores may have the coveted 14-30 or 10-30 adapters but I think they're used as spares in case the original goes bad and they won't sell it to you if you're a new buyer. The advantage of using the Tesla adapters is they have circuitry that automatically dials down the amperage to 24A.

Using one of the many 3rd party adapters requires you to manually change the amperage from the screen. This is fine when you do it once from home and it remembers the setting, but traveling requires you to remember to do this for every destination (assuming you use that adapter). This may lead to a breaker tripping or worse fire, if the breaker doesn't trip.

 

[Doug4650]

I live in a condo, and even though it's relatively new (6 years), our unit only has 100 amp service. Therefore I got the same story and I am limited to the 30 amp service, 24 amp charging. I don't think it was BS. I got the same story from 2 different electricians. I also needed to have it permitted by the city. Electrical code apparently sets the limits. Anyway after 8 months I've never had a problem with my 30 mile commute and occasional weekend long trips. I only have the one charging cord. I haven't convinced myself it is worth the money to have two.

Mark Perry, Perry Electric did my installation and did a very professional job. It might have been one of his early ones as there was some miscommunication, but all was well in the end.

I also think that it is possible to get tax advantages to split the installation purchase and the car across two different years. Of course there are lots of personal circumstances that can impact that.

 

[jerry33]

I live in a condo, and even though it's relatively new (6 years), our unit only has 100 amp service. Therefore I got the same story and I am limited to the 30 amp service, 24 amp charging. I don't think it was BS.

That would be right for 100 amp. 200 amp is a lot more.

 

[GSP]

As others have said, a 30 A breaker (can charge at up to 24A) should be enough, unless you have a very long commute.

Since this is for a Model 3, I would wait until Tesla announces what the charging options will be for it. However if you want to get the federal tax credit for your install, you could just install a 14-30 outlet before the credit expires at the end of 2016. If the M3 does not have a 14-30 adapter, you can just change the plug, which should be inexpensive.

Another option is to install a standard J1772 EVSE, like the clipper creek LCS-30. You can get the tax credit, and charge other PEVs, as well as your Tesla. Personally, that is what I would do.

ClipperCreek, Inc. Announces 24 Amp Level 2 Charging Station for $499 - ClipperCreek Blog

GSP

 

[Tiberius]

Just stick with what you have and see how that works for you when you get the car. If you need more, then upgrade when you know for sure.

 

[SageBrush]

I was concerned because I will also be doing several long trips a year (~350 miles one way MA to PA) and was worried about charging for work when I return.

Perhaps you can stop by a supercharger on your way home so that you do not arrive with an empty battery.

 

[SageBrush]

You don't have to buy the Tesla UMC cable, or the Tesla 14-30 adapters. There are third parties that sell compatible cables and adapters as well.

14-30: I gather 30 is the rated amperage. What is the '14' ?

 

[TexasEV]

You don't have to buy the Tesla UMC cable, or the Tesla 14-30 adapters. There are third parties that sell compatible cables and adapters as well.

The third party adapters require manually turning down the amps on the car. The Tesla UMC adapters are one less connection and are much safer as they automatically set the correct amps.

 

[jerry33]

14-30: I gather 30 is the rated amperage. What is the '14' ?

14 means it is a four wire grounded device.

 

[S'toon]

14-30: I gather 30 is the rated amperage. What is the '14' ?

NEMA connector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[DrPhoton]

As others have said, outlets used for sustained power draw are de-rated to 80% of the rated amperage. This means that the recommended sustained current draw from a 14-30 outlet would be 24 A.

 

[DrPhoton]

Tesla has a pretty handy charging calculator for the Model S.The Model 3 will need less energy/mile, maybe 75% of what the Model S uses, but the calculator should help you to determine roughly how long different charging scenarios will take. You'll also note that charging at a lower current uses more total energy, presumably because the battery cooling system is engaged and using power during charging. Thus, it's actually less expensive to charge at higher current.

 

[Lex]

Just stick with what you have and see how that works for you when you get the car. If you need more, then upgrade when you know for sure.

Perhaps you can stop by a supercharger on your way home so that you do not arrive with an empty battery.

I am with these folks... get the car as soon as you can and figure it out, you will find a way.

Nearing my MS's 1st year anniversary and still plugged into my "temporary" 40A oven plug (14-50) drawing 32A, usually charges at 38 kph and I am delighted, no real interest in the HPWC anymore especially since learning my 70D lacks the 2nd charger and thus is capped at 40A for AC charging anyway.

And fortunately my nearest Supercharger is only 15 minutes away, just in case I've popped in once or twice.

 

[SolarUnderwood]

Hi All,

I have been looking into the charging options for my Telsa in advance (I know it's early, but I have to budget everything!)

I live in a condo and have 200 amp service - unfortunately, everything in my condo is run by electric (heat pump, water heater, stove, etc). The first electrician I spoke with said the best he could do is to provide a 30 amp outlet and the only way I could do more is to go to 400 amp service which will require dealing with my homeowner association - He is advising me against the hassle.

My questions are -
1) Is it worth the expense to increase the service to 400 amps for a Nema 15-50 connector or 80 Amp Tesla wall charger?
2) Has anyone dealt with this situation with a condo association?

Thanks!

I'm in exactly the same boat, but my car will likely be a ways away from my unit. I may ask the association to install a charge port or just try to use charging stations around town while I run errands.

My thinking is there are currently 410,000 plug in electric cars on the road in the USA and Tesla has 325,000 deposits for the Model 3, so charging options will be more available.

 

[DrPhoton]

...My thinking is there are currently 410,000 plug in electric cars on the road in the USA and Tesla has 325,000 deposits for the Model 3, so charging options will be more available.

I think we're also going to start seeing building owners discovering that by installing outlets they will be more easily able to rent their units and condo associations will start to realize that being EV friendly increases the value of their units and earns them good will in the community. Sure, there are details to be worked out, but once the motivation exists, I have no doubt the progress will be made.

 

[dhrivnak]

I have a 200 amp service for our all electric home and we easily accommodate a 70 amp service for my Tesla and charging for the Volt. So I would install a NEMA 14-50 and then limit normal charging to 30 amps.

 

[pmich80]

I live in a condo, and even though it's relatively new (6 years), our unit only has 100 amp service. Therefore I got the same story and I am limited to the 30 amp service, 24 amp charging. I don't think it was BS. I got the same story from 2 different electricians. I also needed to have it permitted by the city. Electrical code apparently sets the limits. Anyway after 8 months I've never had a problem with my 30 mile commute and occasional weekend long trips. I only have the one charging cord. I haven't convinced myself it is worth the money to have two.

Mark Perry, Perry Electric did my installation and did a very professional job. It might have been one of his early ones as there was some miscommunication, but all was well in the end.

I also think that it is possible to get tax advantages to split the installation purchase and the car across two different years. Of course there are lots of personal circumstances that can impact that.

where did they install the charger by the way? I live in a condo and my parking spot is 2 floors below ground. I know the situation is different but i'm wondering if you had to change spots or if they created outdoor charging stations.