Newbie Questions on Upcoming Delivery

[VulcanDragon]

1. Ordered Model 3 on 8/28, delivery is scheduled for 9/27...but I don’t have a VIN, and I can’t do the trade-in and financing stuff on the web site yet. Normal? Seems like everyone gets their VIN before delivery is scheduled...

2. Need to get the wall charger ordered, but the web site “strongly” advises to have an electrician check you out before ordering one. Is that really necessary? Given how long it can rake to her a wall charger, I’m thinking I need to order it ASAP.

3. Because of #1, I don’t have my exact financing amount to finance yet. I’ve never not financed a car without using the car dealership before...does Lightstream and credit unions need me to be at that stage, or can/should I start the process now even without an exact amount?

Thanks for any advice, looking forward to joining the club!

 

[VulcanDragon]

Given how long it can rake to her a wall charger

Boy, autocorrect did a number on me there...that should be “given how long it can take to orde a wall charger”.

 

[suwaneedad]

Need to get the wall charger ordered

I'm not aware of a good reason to buy a Tesla-branded home charger (vs another manufacturer's, such as Siemens).
These things are not hard to locate (HD/Lowes) and any electrician can drop it into your garage within an hour assuming your panel has capacity.

 

[MikeATL]

Need to get the wall charger ordered

It took me only 7 days from order to delivery of the Wall Connector.... though in the meantime, I learned I don't have capacity in my electrical panel.

Not a bad idea to get the panel checked out if you're not already very knowledgeable on what you have. If you have limited capacity then you might be just installing at NEMA 14-30 at 30A (which will still charge the car at 22 mph.) You don't really NEED the Wall Connector unless you're coming home in the middle of the day to charge and go right back out or are charging two Tesla's with it.

I got the Wall Connector for (1) aesthetics and (2) the extra 4 feet on the cable which will let me part my car in either orientation in the garage and still charge. Its possible my Wall Connector might just end up on a 30A breaker after making some room in the panel.

 

[VulcanDragon]

It took me only 7 days from order to delivery of the Wall Connector.... though in the meantime, I learned I don't have capacity in my electrical panel.

Not a bad idea to get the panel checked out if you're not already very knowledgeable on what you have.

I'm trying to get an electrician to come out and give me a quote on doing the wiring. I know I have a few spots available in my panel, I remember that from when I built the house.

I hadn't even considered a non-Tesla wall charger, but I guess I should take a look...but I agree, the aesthetics are a part of it. I've drunk some Tesla Kool-Aid here, getting the Tesla wall charger seems like a logical step.

 

[MikeATL]

I hadn't even considered a non-Tesla wall charger, but I guess I should take a look

Technically, none of these are a charger. The charger is in the car itself. These are simply connections to get AC electricity to the onboard DC charger.

The simplest solution is a standard NEMA 14-30 (30A Dryer outlet) or NEMA 14-50 (50A outlet) on a dedicated breaker. The Mobile Connector that comes with the car will connect to either (you need to order a 14-30 adapter, but a 14-50 adapter is included by default.) Note that although most people seem to do the 14-50 outlet, the mobile connector will not recognize more than 40A (which is really 32A because it uses 80% of the max.)

The Wall Connector is the only way to use more than 40A which will let you charge at over 30 mph of range.

Keep in mind you don't charge to more than around 80% except before a road trip, so you're probably not putting more than 200 miles back on the car in any one night. With a simple 240V 30A outlet, you can do that in 10 hours.

Be sure you've reviewed everything on the charging page on Tesla.com