I've been getting quotes to be able to charge in my garage and given the run and the complexity of where my panel is in relation to my garage, quote are getting fairly high - so I'm leaning towards putting a 14-50 outlet and just saving some $$ on getting the wall charger. i've seen some people installing 6-50's instead - any reason not to? I haven't seen if it will affect the quotes (1 less wire in the 6-50) but wanted to see what people thought
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NEMA VS WALL CHARGER
- Thread starter ZapCarM3
- Start date
14-50 gives you a bit more flexibility long term. For example RV use. The 14-50 can give you a 120v circuit. A 6-50 cannot.
If cost difference is small, I’d get the 14-50.
The cost of the materials (6-2 versus 6-3) wire will be slightly lower if you install 6-2; the cost of permits, the electrician's time and other materials would be the same. In the future updates to the National Electrical Code may change to require both a neutral connection and a ground connection for EV charging. This is just speculation but the NEC tends to add wiring requirements not delete requirements over time. Example: Beginning in 2017 the NEC was revised so that a GFCI is required on new installations of 50 amp circuits that terminate at NEMA 14-50 receptacles that are used to charge an EV. Before 2017 the GFCI was not required (the EVSE already has built-in GFCI protection), the additional GFCI is to protect the user from potential electrocution while plugging in the 14-50 plug. Campground RV parking spaces more and more support the 14-50 receptacle for the larger RV motor homes. The same cannot be said for the 6-50 receptacle. You can find a good selection of EVSE that come with either the 14-50 or the 6-50 plug.
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Great. Just please make sure to install a high quality NEMA 14-50 receptacle like a Hubble or a Bryant brand costing at least $50. The cheap $10 Leviton receptacles available in stores and online are dangerously under built. Same applies for NEMA 6-50, 14-30 and other 240 volt receptacles.
thread: NEMA 14-50 Plug Meltdown / Near Fire
No. That will never ever be a thing. The only purpose of the 14-XX type of outlets is to have two different voltage levels available. And the purpose of electric car charging is just to deliver high power, so the higher voltage is all that it needs. And there will always be general purposes in the code for regular 240V only kinds of outlets like 6-30 and 6-50. Those will not be done away with.
Ok. What if it is decided that receptacles without a neutral connection such as the 6-50 are not to be used for EV charging? What changed such that the 10-30 is no longer allowed for new dryer circuits; new circuits must have a ground?
I don't know but looking ahead perhaps 10 years all new construction will likely require smart wiring that is so different from today's residential code that the home won't use any of the old receptacles or plugs without some sort of adapter; GFCI required everywhere.
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There is a different reason for the 10-30. In the case of the dryer, the device used the neutral. In many cases the heat element was 240v, but the motor and controls was 120v. The current in the neutral wire from the 120v current caused a slight voltage differential between that and the ground (which does not exist in that outlet), so you can get a shock (typically very slight) if you touch the case of a dryer using a 10-30 with one game and something properly grounded with the other.
the 10-30 went away due the same reason ungrounded 120v outlets are no longer a thing.
Why would someone decide that? The neutral wire isn’t even connected in most EVSEs; it serves no purpose.
Ok. I think having an extra wire available for future use is not a bad investment. A different application, to be sure but all the furnaces and HVAC that were installed without a Common (C) wire going to the thermostat now cannot readily be used with today's smart thermostats. You either need to run a C wire or install a simulated C wire kit (not always possible.) In the future an extra wire could be used for energy management, etc.
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Hello Everyone. I will getting my first tesla (Y) in about a week. I want to install the wall charger and i will be getting quotes but ill be honest i dont know much about what has been said in this thread as far as what the capacity of my panel vs what is best charge I can get. The Y will be a daily driver with about 30 miles roundtrip per day. I do plan on getting the Cybertruck as well but that will just be a weekend vehicle.
Thanks in advance for all the guidance. I have attached some pics of my panel for reference
First step in these is always to do a load calculation. There are plenty of them available online, and maybe other people have one they would recommend. What that does is figure in all of the circuits and loads that are in use in your house's electrical system to see how many of the amps are considered "used up", and then see how many "free" amps are still available to add a new circuit. So that would be the first thing you would need to find out to know if you have 20 amps free or 100 amps free or somewhere in between, and then that will determine what kinds of options you will need to look at for your install.
Done. Electricians recommend installing a 60 amp circuit.
on a duff note is there any downsides with doing this myself from a Tesla perspective?
No, nothing wrong with doing it yourself as far as the car is concerned. It is pretty straightforward work itself, depending on meeting all of the code specifications, so if you're comfortable with doing that, go ahead.
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