Need Advice for home charging

[house9]

Need Advice for home charging

Main panel has one switch which says 100W

I think sub-panel is maxed out? see pics below

Oven and Dryer are electric.

Currently getting 1kWh on standard plug in the garage which isn't great but not the end of the world.
I do have superchargers nearby, 20 minute drive in any direction.
Would be nice to have something just a little bit faster than 1kWh at home.

Is it possible to add a 220 to this sub-panel? (blanks at the top make me think so?)
If so, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to use it while the Oven or Dryer were on.

Maybe I could get away with installing NEMA 6-15 240 volt / 15 amp breaker ?

Thanks

 

[GenralSpecific]

You must have an electric range top too; this seems a bit tight. you could add another breaker since there is space there but your appliances seem to have high draws. Maybe you could use scheduled charging so it’s in use while the oven and rangetop aren’t (?)
You just really don’t want to overdo it and have the whole house shut down!

 

[jeremymc7]

I’m was in nearly an exact same situation.

I had some of the breakers switched to the slim type. I charge the car mainly at night when sleeping or at least when I’m just watching TV without the appliances on.

 

[1.21Jigawatts]

I'll explain what I did because you might have something similar. Since you live in CA, I'm going to assume you have some whole-home A/C in your house, yet I don't see a breaker on this panel for it.

In my case, the house had a main panel on the outside of my house by my A/C units that had 300amps from the street. My sub-panel in the garage (which looked like your picture) had 90 amps run to it. I had about 45-50 amps used from that panel in a dryer, a stove/microwave combo unit, and a whirlpool tub - plus all lights/outlets for the house. I could have pulled 40-50 in an outlet from this panel and used the portable charger, but I really wanted the wall charger. I had the electrician run 60 amps off the main panel, under the house, thru conduit in the garage to the wall where I park. With the wall charger, I get 49 mi/hr charging and it's awesome, no matter what is running in the house at the same time.

Bottom line, this looks like a sub-panel. You are going to want to find the main panel (might be on the outside of the house) and get an electrician for sure. I don't understand the folks who say they wont run the dryer when they charge. IMO this is a band-aid that is going to be frustrating long term.

 

[house9]

Since you live in CA, I'm going to assume you have some whole-home A/C in your house, yet I don't see a breaker on this panel for it.

No A/C, live near the coast with very mild climate.

I had the electrician run 60 amps off the main panel

Yeah, I was thinking about this too, see pic below of main panel, not sure if this is easily 'expandable'?

I will definitely get an electrician for any of this work, just want to go into that discussion with a vague idea of what is possible and there are a lot of smart experienced people on here.

 

[alexgr]

You have a perfectly fine space for something like a 50A fuse for a NEMA14-50 240 V outlet. If you are concerned about your main fuse then you have 2 options: (1) replace it with a 150 A fuse wires coming to your house allows that and if not then (2) try not to use the Oven, the Dryer, the Range, and the Car Charger all in the same time (or your main fuse may go off).

And yes, all this must be done with a professional and properly insured electrician.

I paid $225 for the fuse and NEMA 14-50 install.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Electrician will do a load survey of your property. If there is capacity an new breaker can be easily installed.

If you do not have capacity to add the charging circuit, the electrician will offer options.

 

[F14Scott]

You have a perfectly fine space for something like a 50A fuse for a NEMA14-50 240 V outlet. If you are concerned about your main fuse then you have 2 options: (1) replace it with a 150 A fuse wires coming to your house allows that and if not then (2) try not to use the Oven, the Dryer, the Range, and the Car Charger all in the same time (or your main fuse may go off).

And yes, all this must be done with a professional and properly insured electrician.

I paid $225 for the fuse and NEMA 14-50 install.

And a great way to use all 40 continuous Amps that a 14-50 will allow would be to to set your car to charge only between, say, 2200 and 0600. You'll likely not be simultaneously cooking, baking, and drying, and 8 hours at about 35 MRpH is over 250 miles of range added each night.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Problem with work arounds like this is that when you sell your home, the new owner will not be aware that this circuit could be overloaded.

Get the recommendation of a professional electrician after a load capacity survey.

 

[Big Earl]

If it were my house, I'd install a 40 amp circuit and not use the oven or the cooktop while charging the car. If a future owner is a concern, remove the circuit when you sell the house.

Not advice.

 

[alexgr]

Problem with work arounds like this is that when you sell your home, the new owner will not be aware that this circuit could be overloaded.

Get the recommendation of a professional electrician after a load capacity survey.

If you add up all the fuses, the total will be way over 100 A. So, it never designed to run at the maximum of the fuse load anyway. A good electrician may provide more details on this. is there an electrician here on TMC?

 

[alexgr]

If it were my house, I'd install a 40 amp circuit and not use the oven or the cooktop while charging the car. If a future owner is a concern, remove the circuit when you sell the house.

Not advice.

It could be a good idea because then he may safe on inspection. Inspections may cost as much as installations sometimes, but generally maybe avoided if the house is not preped for sale.

 

[mrau]

If your electrician thinks a 30 or 50 amp circuit is too much for your panel (or too much money to upgrade), you may inquire about installing a 20 amp (240 volt) circuit with a NEMA 6-20 outlet. Once you are doing any 240 volt charging you are at Level 2. A 20 amp/240v circuit will add about 15 miles of range every hour. In 10 hours you add 150 miles. For many folks that will give them a "full" charge by the time morning rolls around......which is the goal for most home charging.

Here is a chart form Tesla to compare charge rates.

 

[davewill]

Adding up the breakers doesn't really tell much of the story, it really depends on the actual rating on the appliances, the size of your house, etc... You can find worksheets online to do a load calculation, but best to have an electrician do it. I would think you could put in a 240v circuit of some type, even if it's just the 20a circuit suggested above (even 15a would be useful). Be sure to ask about the lower amperage options as many electricians will simply assume EV charging means 40a or 50a and won't automatically suggest a smaller circuit.

If the electrician says there's absolutely no room for it in your panel, you're choices become either upgrading the panel, or installing something like the DCC (dccelectric.com)

 

[SageBrush]

This is a question -- not advice !!

The center diagram says '100 Amps' on top and '125 Amps' below.
How should that be read in terms of allowable load ?

It also made me wonder when a sub-panel gets a 100 Amp feed -- is that 100 Amps on each 120V hot wire, or 100 Amps total ?
If the former, then 24 kW max load ?

 

[davewill]

This is a question -- not advice !!

The center diagram says '100 Amps' on top and '125 Amps' below.
How should that be read in terms of allowable load ?

It also made me wonder when a sub-panel gets a 100 Amp feed -- is that 100 Amps on each 120V hot wire, or 100 Amps total ?
If the former, then 24 kW max load ?

It's 100a at 240v. Looking at the OP's photo of the main breaker, it's a 100a double breaker, so it's two 100a breakers, one on each leg.

 

[cali8484]

Need Advice for home charging

Main panel has one switch which says 100W

I think sub-panel is maxed out? see pics below

Oven and Dryer are electric.

Currently getting 1kWh on standard plug in the garage which isn't great but not the end of the world.
I do have superchargers nearby, 20 minute drive in any direction.
Would be nice to have something just a little bit faster than 1kWh at home.

Is it possible to add a 220 to this sub-panel? (blanks at the top make me think so?)
If so, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to use it while the Oven or Dryer were on.

Maybe I could get away with installing NEMA 6-15 240 volt / 15 amp breaker ?

Thanks

View attachment 641509 View attachment 641511

I am in CA and have the same panel (125A Murray) with 100A service. Electrician installed NEMA 14-50 outlet with 50A wiring and 40A breakers without any issue.

 

[Rottenapplr]

I am in CA and have the same panel (125A Murray) with 100A service. Electrician installed NEMA 14-50 outlet with 50A wiring and 40A breakers without any issue.

You know I think that's my setup. I remember 100a was my panel. Initially he though he needed to upgrade the panel for 2k, but after several calculations, he out 125A and then put a NEMA 14-50 with 40a breakers.

 

[Dmagyar]

Need Advice for home charging

Main panel has one switch which says 100W

I think sub-panel is maxed out? see pics below

Oven and Dryer are electric.

Currently getting 1kWh on standard plug in the garage which isn't great but not the end of the world.
I do have superchargers nearby, 20 minute drive in any direction.
Would be nice to have something just a little bit faster than 1kWh at home.

Is it possible to add a 220 to this sub-panel? (blanks at the top make me think so?)
If so, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to use it while the Oven or Dryer were on.

Maybe I could get away with installing NEMA 6-15 240 volt / 15 amp breaker ?

Thanks

View attachment 641509 View attachment 641511

Unlike the comments attesting that they’ve assessed that this is a sub panel, not everyone who posts actually knows *sugar* about what they’re about to post. That said with the help of a licensed electrician/contractor I’m sure they could come up with a few ways to get you at least a 240 volt circuit for you to charge at a higher speed than you’ve gotten so far...(retired NECA/IBEW contractor)...

 

[Rottenapplr]

Unlike the comments attesting that they’ve assessed that this is a sub panel, not everyone who posts actually knows *sugar* about what they’re about to post. That said with the help of a licensed electrician/contractor I’m sure they could come up with a few ways to get you at least a 240 volt circuit for you to charge at a higher speed than you’ve gotten so far...(retired NECA/IBEW contractor)...

agreed, someone on here was criticism my setup for home charging that a licensed and 30 yr experience electrician who ran load test and calculated deemed was fine to install. Yet they're saying its a fire hazard okkkk