Poll - how many charge at home?

[Pyre]

I am about to get my M3P and I will only have a 110v accessible at home, I also travel ~20-25k miles per year and remain local.

Curious how many people solely charge at home, those who charge at external locations and those who do both.

I assume most charge at home off a 240v and use the occassional external chargers.

 

[Dogs_In_A_Pile]

If it wasn't for home charging and excess photovoltaic capacity I wouldn't be buying any BEV. Closest Supercharger is 40 miles away.

 

[RayK]

I bought my Gen2 HPWC before I got my car (July 2018). It's still in the box; the HPWC, not the car (for you jokers out there ). I had free L2 charging at work for the first 15 months. Been Supercharging / ChargePoint DCFC (CHAdeMO) since then; both within two miles of home. Don't have much of an excuse for not getting the HPWC installed in the garage besides a lack of motivation (i.e., laziness). I've got solar on the roof but not enough to charge my car for free. It was sized 11 years ago to be a break-even proposition for our electrical usage. An EV was not planned for at that time. My retirement, the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and shutdown of the places we would normally visit has kept the mileage down on the car.

I have had intentions to install the HPWC along with a transfer switch to a 14-60 outlet but Newton's First Law being what it is...

 

[Jericho2414]

240v...1/2 at home, 1/2 at work

 

[minderbinder]

20-25k/year is a lot to go without 240V charging - at least it would be for me. I do about 20K/year (about 70/day during the work week), and 110 at home wouldn't be enough, especially in the winter (I see you're in roughly the same temperature zone as I am).

Do you have reasonable access to a supercharger, perhaps one you could stop at along your regular route? That would certainly help. If you have any way to get 240 access at home I'd certainly recommend it, though. I think you'll enjoy the car more that way.

 

[Pyre]

20-25k/year is a lot to go without 240V charging - at least it would be for me. I do about 20K/year (about 70/day during the work week), and 110 at home wouldn't be enough, especially in the winter (I see you're in roughly the same temperature zone as I am).

Do you have reasonable access to a supercharger, perhaps one you could stop at along your regular route? That would certainly help. If you have any way to get 240 access at home I'd certainly recommend it, though. I think you'll enjoy the car more that way.

Im about 15 mins away from a supercharger on my daily routine at one point or another.
Im actually going back to a trailer park to rent while I wait to build so I am living cheaply and assume they have never dealt with someone requesting a 240v install...

 

[minderbinder]

You should check! I don't have any knowledge about trailer parks, but I know RV parks use a 240V plug to connect, and I would guess they'd have something similar. You can find a bunch of threads on here about RV connections. The charging cable that comes with the car can plug into those with the proper pigtail, which you can purchase from Tesla.

 

[Rocky_H]

Im actually going back to a trailer park to rent while I wait to build so I am living cheaply and assume they have never dealt with someone requesting a 240v install...

You should check! I don't have any knowledge about trailer parks, but I know RV parks use a 240V plug to connect, and I would guess they'd have something similar. You can find a bunch of threads on here about RV connections. The charging cable that comes with the car can plug into those with the proper pigtail, which you can purchase from Tesla.

I know some of the wording sounds similar, but you are talking about something entirely different. This living in a "trailer park" is like where people have single wide or double wide semi-permanent housing, with the plastic skirting that goes down to the ground so you don't see underneath it. Those have real sized hard wired electrical service like 100-150A, and people lease lots there for a year or years. No one is pulling a cord out to plug into a 14-50 outlet there.
You are thinking of "RV parks" or "mobile home parks", which are just a bit longer than camping, like weeks, or a few months maybe. Those are the ones with the 14-50 outlets.

 

[Pyre]

Correct, I am talking trailer park living. I am moving up in the world LOL

 

[Kevy Baby]

My employer installed a NEMA 14-50 for me, so 90% of charging is there. I rent a condo (with only 120V) so I will only rarely charge there to top off the night before a trip. Superchargers on trips and occasionally around town.

I actually pass by FIVE superchargers on my 22 mile daily commute (and soon to be a sixth). Have actually only visited two of them. Not that anyone cares.

 

[minderbinder]

I know some of the wording sounds similar, but you are talking about something entirely different. This living in a "trailer park" is like where people have single wide or double wide semi-permanent housing, with the plastic skirting that goes down to the ground so you don't see underneath it. Those have real sized hard wired electrical service like 100-150A, and people lease lots there for a year or years. No one is pulling a cord out to plug into a 14-50 outlet there.
You are thinking of "RV parks" or "mobile home parks", which are just a bit longer than camping, like weeks, or a few months maybe. Those are the ones with the 14-50 outlets.

Got it. Learned something - thanks!

 

[tyuo9980]

I have free chargepoint at work, and use 120v at home. On roadtrips exclusively superchargers.

Now that im WFH, I find myself going on roadtrips more often. My overall Supercharge / slow charge is 60/40

 

[itscindy]

I am about to get my M3P and I will only have a 110v accessible at home, I also travel ~20-25k miles per year and remain local.

Curious how many people solely charge at home, those who charge at external locations and those who do both.

I assume most charge at home off a 240v and use the occassional external chargers.

I’ve had my M3 SRP for 2 months, I am a sales rep and drive every weekday, anywhere from 40-140km per day. I just plug into my 120v outlet in the garage when I get home - I rarely use the car in the evenings - and 10 hours gets it back to 80 or 90 percent. When I’m out and there’s a free charging station near my sales call I’ll plug in to top up a little. Maybe once Covid restrictions ease up and nightlife returns I’ll have to get a 240 installed but for now it works great for me.

 

[Pyre]

Im in a tough spot as for my job I have one week every month or two that I am "on call" which requires me to visit multiple crews at all times of the day (potentially middle of night when I wouls be charging) all across central NY. Thats the pickle. Could do over 200mi in one day

 

[KenC]

No way to increase the 120V to a 20A circuit? How about combine two 120V with an adapter.
220 and 240 Voltage Converters for Everyday Use

 

[Pyre]

No way to increase the 120V to a 20A circuit? How about combine two 120V with an adapter.
220 and 240 Voltage Converters for Everyday Use

I assume I would have to check if the individual dual 120v outlet is rated for the amp correct?

Even though I am a civil engineer I am electrically challenged...

 

[LoudMusic]

I personally would not buy an EV if I couldn't charge it where I park it overnight. Even a 110v15a charging source would be better than nothing. I did that for a little over a month at a rental house and it worked for us.

 

[Kevy Baby]

I personally would not buy an EV if I couldn't charge it where I park it overnight. Even a 110v15a charging source would be better than nothing. I did that for a little over a month at a rental house and it worked for us.

While I will occasionally charge at home (maybe once every couple of months), my primary charge is at work. There are people who survive solely on Supercharging.

There are plenty of ways to charge.

 

[Dmagyar]

I assume I would have to check if the individual dual 120v outlet is rated for the amp correct?

Even though I am a civil engineer I am electrically challenged...

@KenC, If you couldn’t ascertain which “leg” each 120 volt circuit was on prior to envisioning their combination, you might not end up with 240 volts at all. That said, you’ve also got regulatory hurdles to overcome “NEC” and local electric inspection to deal with, but not totally impossible. A new dedicated circuit “240 volt” circuit would be a cleaner install.

 

[Rocky_H]

If you couldn’t ascertain which “leg” each 120 volt circuit was on prior to envisioning their combination, you might not end up with 240 volts at all.

But that's why @KenC linked to the Quick220 product. It takes the guesswork out of it. It has detection and indicator lights, so you can try a few circuits around your house until it indicates that it has properly found opposite phases and does have 240V. I have one. It's rare to find situations where it truly is useful, but it's a good product.