I've read that it costs roughly $1k to get a charger installed, however we live in a house from the 1800s and our breaker box is just as old as far as I know. Doing some research it would cost 2-3k to upgrade the breaker box on top of the installation. Does anyone know if this would actually have to be done?
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Really old house from 1800s plausability to only use superchargers?
- Thread starter Arimil
- Start date
Sandollars
I bleed Cardinal
How far is your commute? I know people who only use 110v and get along just fine, supplementing at SCs when they need to.
Ideally, home charging with 220 is where it's at but 110v is do-able.
Ideally, home charging with 220 is where it's at but 110v is do-able.
By 1925 only half of all US homes had electricity. I bet your place doesn't even still have the first panel.
As mentioned, any 220 is better than 110, but on 110, if you have 12 guage wire in a receptacle you might be able to use a 20A outlet instead of regular 15A.
As mentioned, any 220 is better than 110, but on 110, if you have 12 guage wire in a receptacle you might be able to use a 20A outlet instead of regular 15A.
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Home charging is the easiest and least expensive (from a cost per KWH) perspective. Unless you live or frequently go to a place near a supercharger and buy a used s or x that include free supercharging for life of course...
If you have a breaker box instead of fuses it is much newer than you think.
If you have a 200 amp box then you are golden as it has already been upgraded. There should be no problem running a 220 volts line to your garage or parking spot and charge at full capacity rate. You can add a 60 amps breaker and charge at the full 48 amps with the Tesla wall charger. That will fully charge a long range model in 6-8 hours from empty.
BoerumHill
not great not terrible
Solarman004
Member
One note on using 120 V standard socket- make sure your house has grounded sockets. Many older homes do not.
Visiting a relative in a 1950s home in an area without superchargers, I thought I was prepared with adapters and extension cord. The UMC kept throwing an error code with flashing red LEDs. When I looked up the error code, it was "ground not detected." Sure enough, on inspection, the house had 3-prong sockets, but all the wiring was ungrounded.
Visiting a relative in a 1950s home in an area without superchargers, I thought I was prepared with adapters and extension cord. The UMC kept throwing an error code with flashing red LEDs. When I looked up the error code, it was "ground not detected." Sure enough, on inspection, the house had 3-prong sockets, but all the wiring was ungrounded.
eladts
Member
Using this a regular charging method is not a good idea, especially in an old house. Who knows what's else on the two circuits you are using, so you can overload them while charging. Also, you can convert a 120V in a stand-alone circuit to 240V for much less cost than the Quick220.
That's something worth fixing anyway, unless you enjoy getting electrocuted..
Depending on how close the Superchargers are and how much you drive, living without daily charging is certainly possible, but it won't be nearly as much fun. A lot of folks have or arrange charging at work instead; I don't know if that's an option for you.
If you average less than ~30 miles per day, a typical 120V outlet may be all you need; you'll want to make sure the outlet pinches well, but the car is pretty smart. It monitors the voltage drop as it starts pulling a load, and if the drop gets to be excessive, it'll cut back how much current it is drawing.
You can watch the current and voltage drop on the screen for peace of mind, and the phone apps can show the voltage and draw at any time during charging.
If you average less than ~30 miles per day, a typical 120V outlet may be all you need; you'll want to make sure the outlet pinches well, but the car is pretty smart. It monitors the voltage drop as it starts pulling a load, and if the drop gets to be excessive, it'll cut back how much current it is drawing.
You can watch the current and voltage drop on the screen for peace of mind, and the phone apps can show the voltage and draw at any time during charging.
srs5694
Active Member
Although some people on this forum know a lot about wiring and might be able to give some ballpark advice based on photos, nothing will substitute for advice provided by a qualified electrician who can do an in-person inspection. Many will give free estimates. Tesla maintains a list of recommended electricians, but any competent electrician should be able to install either a NEMA 14-50 plug or an EVSE.
Broadly speaking, two things can drive up the price: A long run from your breaker box to wherever you want the plug or EVSE installed; and extensive additional upgrades required, such as a new breaker box or improved service level from the utility (say, an update to 200-amp service). When I had my EVSE installed, the electrician found that I needed a new breaker box (it didn't have any free spaces), and he also found some dodgy wiring (multiple circuits were run off of a few individual breakers), and the latter was worth correcting with or without the new EVSE.
Broadly speaking, two things can drive up the price: A long run from your breaker box to wherever you want the plug or EVSE installed; and extensive additional upgrades required, such as a new breaker box or improved service level from the utility (say, an update to 200-amp service). When I had my EVSE installed, the electrician found that I needed a new breaker box (it didn't have any free spaces), and he also found some dodgy wiring (multiple circuits were run off of a few individual breakers), and the latter was worth correcting with or without the new EVSE.
I agree with the others who have posted that you shouldn’t assume that your electric setup can’t support at least some level of home charging. Relying on supercharging is possible depending on your situation, but is far less convenient and my cost as much as gas. If you just want some basic ideas for what is possible, post pictures of your electric panel and the people on this forum will give you great information. If you are serious, get a few electricians to come bid on installing either a wall connector or 14-50. The 14-50 is likely to be a lot less than the HPWC. Like others have said, since you have breakers instead of fuses, it may be much less expensive than you are thinking.
Well at least it's a modern panel. You can shuffle some of the breakers around and make some room if they support slim breakers. Or you can install a subpanel. I went the subpanel route myself and did the install. Either way, yes you can get a 240v setup in there with some finagling.
eprosenx
Active Member
Nice!
So that is a fully modern panel. It is unfortunately only 100 amps however.
Can you post more pictures? Need to see the panel schedule (to see what all the breakers are used for), and then pictures of all the stickers with model numbers and specs on them. So inside door of the panel and that sticker we can see on the right under the wires if possible. Then there is likely a sticker on the left side of the main 100a breaker on the black piece of plastic to the left of the left lug. I think this is where square D hides the specs on what actual internal "guts" of the panel are. Basically I want to know if "tandem" breakers are allowed in that panel or not (I assume they are allowed since you already have a few). I also very specifically want to know what the 20a breaker above the stove breaker is (it is a 240v load). Is that AC?
You could for instance tandem up the upper right four breakers into only two "spots" in the panel and then it would give you a place to add a 240v breaker for EV charging. Then the question is what is the max charge rate you could support out of this only 100a panel. For that you (or an electrician) needs to do "load calculations". What is the size of the house btw?
Basically you can definitely support *some* kind of EV charging out of this breaker panel (even if it is just 120v at 12a on an existing circuit), but even the best case is probably a 20a 240v circuit (16a effective charge rate). Which might be enough for your driving habits...
FWIW, swapping that panel is likely a pretty easy job with a new one since it is in an exposed area. Though upgrading the main feed to 200a may be more work depending on where the main feed runs.
Oh btw, do you have natural gas? Getting a gas dryer might be a good way to free up some capacity to avoid upgrading your electrical service. ;-) Or something like the "Dryer Buddy" that will auto switch between a dryer and the EV charging could be another option (though I don't love it since it is not UL rated).
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