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Multiple EV charging setup in Northern Calif? Can someone recommend an installer?

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h2ofun

Active Member
Aug 11, 2020
4,751
1,371
auburn, ca
I am looking for someone that ideally has more than one EV charger installed in their garage. Would love to see someone who has installed a neat nerdy charging setup. Trying to find an installer that would be in my area of Auburn, California.
 
I'm kind of curious to see what this thread produces. Everyone's idea of "nerdy" is a little different ;) I'd like to have the cable on a roll-up retractable mechanism on the ceiling.

I wonder if it's better to have each charger on its own ~50A circuit, or put them on shared ~100A circuit so that a single car could charge more quickly. Probably depends more on what your house's supply is because you could also possibly go to two 60A circuits and just max out both chargers :D
 
if one already has a 240v outlet, you can get this splitter (more like a 1 at a time auto switch) probably cheaper than running a new wire in most case

 
Optimum EV charging depends on a variety of factors including:
  • What cars need to be charged (max amps each can take)
  • How much capacity is available on the electrical service
  • What is the charging window available (Off Peak tariff hours)
  • How many miles typically need to be replenished each day

Personally, I have a really boring EV charging setup. Each side wall of the two car garage has a 50A 240V circuit. I have a Leviton 40A EVSE (from 2013) wall mounted over a 6-50 outlet in the left space. My RAV4 EV is parked there. I use the Tesla Mobile Connector (Gen2) plugged into a 14-50 outlet with the Model 3 in the right space. The cord is long enough to reach around the back of the car to the charge port without touching the car.
 
I'm kind of curious to see what this thread produces. Everyone's idea of "nerdy" is a little different ;) I'd like to have the cable on a roll-up retractable mechanism on the ceiling.

I wonder if it's better to have each charger on its own ~50A circuit, or put them on shared ~100A circuit so that a single car could charge more quickly. Probably depends more on what your house's supply is because you could also possibly go to two 60A circuits and just max out both chargers :D
Ev's that can use more than 48A continuous are not as common these days, so 60A breakers are most of what you will need.

A 100A subpanel, shared between 2-3 chargers sounds about right to me. Unfortunately, I don't have more specific recommendations. Circuit sharing is something the Gen 3 wall charger does, but that version has its own issues in other respects. I'm not even sure that circuit sharing currently works with those chargers, but maybe someone else who has it working can speak to this.
 
Ev's that can use more than 48A continuous are not as common these days, so 60A breakers are most of what you will need.

A 100A subpanel, shared between 2-3 chargers sounds about right to me. Unfortunately, I don't have more specific recommendations. Circuit sharing is something the Gen 3 wall charger does, but that version has its own issues in other respects. I'm not even sure that circuit sharing currently works with those chargers, but maybe someone else who has it working can speak to this.
There is firmware available for manual installation that supports Power Sharing on Gen3 Wall Connector now. For some reason, the automatic firmware update doesn't install that version.

 
Optimum EV charging depends on a variety of factors including:
  • What cars need to be charged (max amps each can take)
  • How much capacity is available on the electrical service
  • What is the charging window available (Off Peak tariff hours)
  • How many miles typically need to be replenished each day

Personally, I have a really boring EV charging setup. Each side wall of the two car garage has a 50A 240V circuit. I have a Leviton 40A EVSE (from 2013) wall mounted over a 6-50 outlet in the left space. My RAV4 EV is parked there. I use the Tesla Mobile Connector (Gen2) plugged into a 14-50 outlet with the Model 3 in the right space. The cord is long enough to reach around the back of the car to the charge port without touching the car.
So, you just have normal 240 plugs wired, and the charges just plug into these, so not hard wired?
 
So, you just have normal 240 plugs wired, and the charges just plug into these, so not hard wired?
That is correct. The Mobile Connector uses a NEMA 14-50 and the Leviton uses a NEMA 6-50.

Leviton Scene.jpg


EVB40 Install.jpg
 
Ev's that can use more than 48A continuous are not as common these days, so 60A breakers are most of what you will need.

A 100A subpanel, shared between 2-3 chargers sounds about right to me. Unfortunately, I don't have more specific recommendations. Circuit sharing is something the Gen 3 wall charger does, but that version has its own issues in other respects. I'm not even sure that circuit sharing currently works with those chargers, but maybe someone else who has it working can speak to this.
My panel setup for the solar, batteries is in a room below garage. So was thinking to just run one line up into the garage into a subpanel as you suggest. So, 100amp panel and breaker is enough? What size wiring is this? Guess much easier than trying to run 200 amp sub panel? I assume I would need a permit for this?

Then I could run stuff from this panel. Some say dedicated 60 amp breakers, or is this over kill and should use 50 amp?

Will have to look into the Gen 3 charger since others are using.

But, and I am green here, will a Gen 3 ONLY work with a tesla? Since I have SO much extra solar now, wonder is I could find a use EV for a fair price?
 
So, the only difference here is the connector at the end, all the wiring and breakers are the same. Any reason did not use a 60 amp? Weird different connectors are being used?
The electrical contractor installed 14-50 outlets by default during construction since I requested 50 amps. The Leviton came with a 6-50 plug, so I just changed the outlet myself when I installed it. I pulled a permit for the EVSE installation since it was wall mounted. The same inspector that did all the construction inspections came to sign off on the EVSE, so he didn't even look at the wiring since it was existing.

If I had a magical do-over, I would put a 100A or 125A sub-panel in the garage, then run the individual charging circuits from there.
 
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But, and I am green here, will a Gen 3 ONLY work with a tesla? Since I have SO much extra solar now, wonder is I could find a use EV for a fair price?
The Tesla Wall Connector comes with the Tesla proprietary connector handle. If you want to use it with a non-Tesla car, you need an adapter to J1772.

This one is a little expensive, but very compact and good for cars like the VW ID.4 that have 48A on-board chargers.
 
My panel setup for the solar, batteries is in a room below garage. So was thinking to just run one line up into the garage into a subpanel as you suggest. So, 100amp panel and breaker is enough? What size wiring is this? Guess much easier than trying to run 200 amp sub panel? I assume I would need a permit for this?

Then I could run stuff from this panel. Some say dedicated 60 amp breakers, or is this over kill and should use 50 amp?

Will have to look into the Gen 3 charger since others are using.

But, and I am green here, will a Gen 3 ONLY work with a tesla? Since I have SO much extra solar now, wonder is I could find a use EV for a fair price?

100A subfeed is a #3 Cu THHN/ or #1 AL SER.

Size the breakers for the largest load you want, smaller loads also work.

Gen 3 will work for others with the right adapter, but the adapter is not super cheap (thanks @miimura . Alternatively, you can install a charger with J1772 plug and use the adapter from J1772 to Tesla plug when changing Teslas.
 
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I am looking for someone that ideally has more than one EV charger installed in their garage. Would love to see someone who has installed a neat nerdy charging setup. Trying to find an installer that would be in my area of Auburn, California.
I thought you did not want an EV?

What are you looking at getting? If it is a non-Tesla you might want to get a J-1772 based charger. That can charge non-Tesla vehicles directly, and a Tesla with an adapter that I think still comes with every Tesla.

Also, really think about your vehicle usage to determine if are going to be charging 2 vehicles at once. We had, and will soon again have 2 EVs and never needed to charge both at the same time. We drive 20/30 miles a day and can easily get by with one charger. We plug in in the late morning every few days and dump the excess solar into a car rather than sending it back to offset the $0.21 rate. We make sure we are done well before 4 PM so we can get the $0.41 credit during the evening and avoid consuming any grid power.
 
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