Second thoughts on Telsa charger installation

[HellsKitchen]

So after taking delivery of the LRMY last week, I've had an electrician over to give me a price on installing a Tesla charger on my detached garage. Without getting too in the weeds about the installation, I need to upgrade the electric, yadda yadda, and I got a fair price of 2300. I've researched quite a bit and have also gotten some preliminary prices from some other electricians, wo I know the price is in line.

It's going to be a little bit of a wait because 200 amp meter sockets are hard to find right now, and also getting the power company involved isn't exactly going to help things move along.

And I'm totally cool with that. Because, honestly, between the trickle charge at home now, and the 220v charger free at the monthly garage (where the car is parked for 10 hours at a time while I'm commuting and working), and the free level twos around town, I haven't been below 60% charge all week.

There is also a Supercharger ten miles away, which I'll use when needed. So I think I may easily get by without the charger. Does anyone else have a similar situation?

 

[Luvtoride]

HK, are you in NYC? I commute to NYC and have seen chargers in some parking garages there. I think that you should still pursue installing a level 2 charger at your home. You're not in a hurry since you have alternatives, but I think in the long run you will be glad you did. Also, many of the utilities, including PSE&G in NJ were I live, are subsidizing the cost of installation of Level 2 chargers so a chunck of that $2,300 could be covered by your utility. My Brother in Law has a detached garage at his home which made installation a bit more cumbersome also. It sounds like you should upgrade your electrical service anyway. Just my thoughts. Good luck.

 

[davewill]

Well, I've always had decent charging at home, but I've recently had free charging at work, and I could almost get by entirely on that. I do charge at home on the weekends, although I sometimes skip Sunday night if I've got plenty to drive to work on Monday morning. There's a Supercharger less than 5 min from the house, but it gets busy and costs more than home, so I virtually never use it. However, if I absolutely had to, I could pretty easily subsist on work, SC, and 120v charging at home.

I wouldn't, though. The convenience on having the car ready to go every morning is way too nice.

Did you check into installing a more modest charging circuit like 240v, 20 or 30 amps? It might allow you to skip the expensive upgrade, and would likely be more than sufficient, especially with the nearby SC to cover unusual needs.

 

[HellsKitchen]

Well, I've always had decent charging at home, but I've recently had free charging at work, and I could almost get by entirely on that. I do charge at home on the weekends, although I sometimes skip Sunday night if I've got plenty to drive to work on Monday morning. There's a Supercharger less than 5 min from the house, but it gets busy and costs more than home, so I virtually never use it. However, if I absolutely had to, I could pretty easily subsist on work, SC, and 120v charging at home.

I wouldn't, though. The convenience on having the car ready to go every morning is way too nice.

Did you check into installing a more modest charging circuit like 240v, 20 or 30 amps? It might allow you to skip the expensive upgrade, and would likely be more than sufficient, especially with the nearby SC to cover unusual needs.

Yeah, the problem is my house is maxed out at 100 amp service. Plus we have no gas in the area, so everything is electric. The house is pretty homeostatic—I never blow fuses. But if I try to run even a modest upgrade to the garage, I think we will.

But also, I like the fact that most of my charging is free. Anyway, I've got time to think about it.

 

[ColoradoMike]

Not entirely certain on what you want/need.

Like @davewill brought up you can get by.

I will readily admit your situation is different than mine. I will tell you that having a home charger is well worth it in the long run depending on your situation. With our CO OP we get $0.109 per kWh.....it doesn’t depend on time or season.

The super charger 1.5 miles away charges $0.43 per kWh.......

 

[davewill]

Yeah, the problem is my house is maxed out at 100 amp service. Plus we have no gas in the area, so everything is electric. The house is pretty homeostatic—I never blow fuses. But if I try to run even a modest upgrade to the garage, I think we will.

But also, I like the fact that most of my charging is free. Anyway, I've got time to think about it.

Makes sense, though I'll note that even a 6-15 (240v/15a) outlet will increase your charging speed by about 2.5x over a plain old 5-15 socket.

 

[HellsKitchen]

Makes sense, though I'll note that even a 6-15 (240v/15a) outlet will increase your charging speed by about 2.5x over a plain old 5-15 socket.

Ok, that's good to know. Option C. Thank you.

 

[240vPlug]

I totally understand your dilemma. I am assuming you need to upgrade from 100 amp to 200 amp service. While it’s not cheap it is a good investment (forgetting about the charger for a second). It gives you a lot more flexibility moving forward.

On the charger itself I would still do it in your situation. When you have your own charger your in control and it is more convenient to have it at your home. When you use public charging your relying one someone else to maintain the chargers and fix them when their out of order. In the case of the supercharger it’s a lot more expensive then home charging as I am sure you know.

Without know the specifics I would say 2300 is a very reasonable price. It was about $2,500 some 15 years ago when I moved from 100 to 200 on a property in Baltimore.

 

[HellsKitchen]

I totally understand your dilemma. I am assuming you need to upgrade from 100 amp to 200 amp service. While it’s not cheap it is a good investment (forgetting about the charger for a second). It gives you a lot more flexibility moving forward.

On the charger itself I would still do it in your situation. When you have your own charger your in control and it is more convenient to have it at your home. When you use public charging your relying one someone else to maintain the chargers and fix them when their out of order. In the case of the supercharger it’s a lot more expensive then home charging as I am sure you know.

Without know the specifics I would say 2300 is a very reasonable price. It was about $2,500 some 15 years ago when I moved from 100 to 200 on a property in Baltimore.

You're correct in essence. But that's the price to put 200 amp separate service in the garage. Upgrating the house 20 200 and the new run out to the garage would be considerably more money.

 

[boulder.dude]

There are federal tax rebates for installing an EV charger at home.

 

[Kouzman]

Yeah, the problem is my house is maxed out at 100 amp service. Plus we have no gas in the area, so everything is electric. The house is pretty homeostatic—I never blow fuses. But if I try to run even a modest upgrade to the garage, I think we will.

But also, I like the fact that most of my charging is free. Anyway, I've got time to think about it.

I have the same issue at my NYC house. Only 100amp service but I am considering cost to upgrade, rebates etc.

For now I am using the splitvolt switch on my 30amp dryer outlet with an extension cord. I can manage up to 34amp charge which works for me. I am making it a semi permanent solution enclosing the mobile charger and the extension cord outlet into a tesla outdoor box to protect from the elements until i decide what I want to do.

At my other house out east with a 200amp service I did the tesla home charger on the full 60amp breaker and I am getting the max 48amp charge or about 11-12kw.

Super happy with it.

 

[Yoshii]

You're correct in essence. But that's the price to put 200 amp separate service in the garage. Upgrating the house 20 200 and the new run out to the garage would be considerably more money.

I bought a splitter in Amazon. I share the same 30 Amp outlet for my dryer. As long as I don't run the dryer at the same time as charging Tesla. No issues.
With scheduled charging starting at 11pm it always works.

 

[Rocky_H]

For now I am using the splitvolt switch on my 30amp dryer outlet with an extension cord. I can manage up to 34amp charge which works for me.

What the hell? Don't DO that! It's a 30A circuit! You shouldn't be going any higher than 24A. For a 30A circuit, I would hope that the Splitvolt is offering a 10-30 or 14-30 outlet type for that. And if you use a real Tesla plug for 10-30 or 14-30, it will properly signal the car with the 24A maximum. What is your setup that is allowing you to dangerously do 34A?

 

[CaseyL]

For now I am using the splitvolt switch on my 30amp dryer outlet with an extension cord. I can manage up to 34amp charge which works for me.

Maybe your "34 amp" above is a typo and you really meant 24 amps. Otherwise, you are overloading the circuit and the 30 amp breaker should trip.

 

[dogmodes]

There are federal tax rebates for installing an EV charger at home.

Does the Build back/inflation bill have one? Because the old one expired last year, not sure there are any Federal rebates at the moment.

OP, I did the work charging thing and trickle charging at home for 6+ months and it worked. But there was definitely some times where it got annoying, also more EVs at work meant less free charges. It has made my EV owning experience much nicer having home charging.

 

[WindPower]

So after taking delivery of the LRMY last week, I've had an electrician over to give me a price on installing a Tesla charger on my detached garage. Without getting too in the weeds about the installation, I need to upgrade the electric, yadda yadda, and I got a fair price of 2300.

It's going to be a little bit of a wait because 200 amp meter sockets are hard to find right now, and also getting the power company involved isn't exactly going to help things move along.

.... Does anyone else have a similar situation?

I totally understand your dilemma. I am assuming you need to upgrade from 100 amp to 200 amp service. While it’s not cheap it is a good investment (forgetting about the charger for a second). It gives you a lot more flexibility moving forward.

So, I had a similar situation in my old house. It has 100 amp service. I was in the process of renovating a new house so I ask our electrical contractor to do a load analysis. It turns out that my biggest electric load was my A/C system, which peaked at 40 amps. I had installed LED lights in the house years ago so the total load was pretty modest (total under 60 amps). When charging at night (I have a Juicebox 40 scheduled to charge from midnight to 6am) I can easily use a 40 amp charger without having to upgrade my electric service to 200 amps.

So, here are my recommendations:
- first, do a load calculation of your home. You might find you have 30 or 40 amps at night spare which you can use for charging. While I agree that $2300 for a 200 amp service upgrade is reasonable, getting it done might be a challenge so looking at what you have now might be useful.
- when you are ready to get an electrician in to wire a NEMA 14-50 or a junction box in your garage, oversize the wires so that some day, if you do upgrade your service to 200 amps, you don't have to run new wires. Running wires might involve cutting up walls, installing conduit, spackle, paint, etc. all things you really don't want to do more than once. If you can, I like to use 6 gauge THHN wires, with 8 gauge THHN being the minimum I'd use if you are pulling new wires.
- temporarily, instead of running new wires, you can upgrade a 15amp 120v plug in your garage to 240v. This will double your charge rate. You'll need a new set of circuit breakers in your main panel (either GFCI if you have a plug in the garage or standard non-GFCI breakers if you are using a junction box), a new NEMA 6-15 plug in the garage (to prevent someone from plugging in a 120v appliance) and of course the work should be done by an electrician. 120v home wiring is good to 600v, the limitation being the current passed through the wires. So 15amp at 240v uses the same wires as 15amp at 120v but doubles your charge rate.

 

[HellsKitchen]

So, I had a similar situation in my old house. It has 100 amp service. I was in the process of renovating a new house so I ask our electrical contractor to do a load analysis. It turns out that my biggest electric load was my A/C system, which peaked at 40 amps. I had installed LED lights in the house years ago so the total load was pretty modest (total under 60 amps). When charging at night (I have a Juicebox 40 scheduled to charge from midnight to 6am) I can easily use a 40 amp charger without having to upgrade my electric service to 200 amps.

So, here are my recommendations:
- first, do a load calculation of your home. You might find you have 30 or 40 amps at night spare which you can use for charging. While I agree that $2300 for a 200 amp service upgrade is reasonable, getting it done might be a challenge so looking at what you have now might be useful.
- when you are ready to get an electrician in to wire a NEMA 14-50 or a junction box in your garage, oversize the wires so that some day, if you do upgrade your service to 200 amps, you don't have to run new wires. Running wires might involve cutting up walls, installing conduit, spackle, paint, etc. all things you really don't want to do more than once. If you can, I like to use 6 gauge THHN wires, with 8 gauge THHN being the minimum I'd use if you are pulling new wires.
- temporarily, instead of running new wires, you can upgrade a 15amp 120v plug in your garage to 240v. This will double your charge rate. You'll need a new set of circuit breakers in your main panel (either GFCI if you have a plug in the garage or standard non-GFCI breakers if you are using a junction box), a new NEMA 6-15 plug in the garage (to prevent someone from plugging in a 120v appliance) and of course the work should be done by an electrician. 120v home wiring is good to 600v, the limitation being the current passed through the wires. So 15amp at 240v uses the same wires as 15amp at 120v but doubles your charge rate.

Thank you for this. I will look into 240.

 

[Kouzman]

Maybe your "34 amp" above is a typo and you really meant 24 amps. Otherwise, you are overloading the circuit and the 30 amp breaker should trip.

Absolutely! Typo!

I meant 24 amps. The splitvolt wouldn't allow more than 24 amps to begin with.

 

[greatauror28]

So after taking delivery of the LRMY last week, I've had an electrician over to give me a price on installing a Tesla charger on my detached garage. Without getting too in the weeds about the installation, I need to upgrade the electric, yadda yadda, and I got a fair price of 2300. I've researched quite a bit and have also gotten some preliminary prices from some other electricians, wo I know the price is in line.

It's going to be a little bit of a wait because 200 amp meter sockets are hard to find right now, and also getting the power company involved isn't exactly going to help things move along.

And I'm totally cool with that. Because, honestly, between the trickle charge at home now, and the 220v charger free at the monthly garage (where the car is parked for 10 hours at a time while I'm commuting and working), and the free level twos around town, I haven't been below 60% charge all week.

There is also a Supercharger ten miles away, which I'll use when needed. So I think I may easily get by without the charger. Does anyone else have a similar situation?

You got a $2300 quote for upgrading your 100A service into 200A? Or that quote was the Tesla Wall Charger install in your detached garage?

If it’s the former I highly doubt it, especially adding 100A more into your service will require your trenching of your power provider which could costs $10K easy - I should know as I just had that quote about upgrading my 100A into 200A service as well.

If it’s the latter then $2300USD is about $2975CAD which is $400CAD more than what I paid for my EC that installed a 60A subpanel in my detached garage and installed the Tesla WC.

 

[HellsKitchen]

You got a $2300 quote for upgrading your 100A service into 200A? Or that quote was the Tesla Wall Charger install in your detached garage?

If it’s the former I highly doubt it, especially adding 100A more into your service will require your trenching of your power provider which could costs $10K easy - I should know as I just had that quote about upgrading my 100A into 200A service as well.

If it’s the latter then $2300USD is about $2975CAD which is $400CAD more than what I paid for my EC that installed a 60A subpanel in my detached garage and installed the Tesla WC.

The quote was for disconnecting the detached garage electric from the house, bringing in new 200 amp service, and wiring the charger.