I have read a ton of posts on this subforum and am still confused. I have a Telsa SE+ purchased yesterday (yay) and might purchase a AWD3 in the future. At present I have a 14-50 installed in my house and plan to use the mobile Gen2 charger that came with the vehicle and awaiting the 14-50 adapter from Tesla
My question is for a house that we are building and has wiring for two 14-50 receptacles on either side but the receptacles are not installed. I plan to add a receptacle on one of them. For the other can I use the same wiring and install a Wall charger rather than a 14-50 receptacle. Is the wiring the same for a 50 amp and a 60 amp wiring. If the circuit breaker is a 50 amp can that alone be changed to 60 amp keeping the same wiring. This will help me in the future if the AWD is purchased and I can draw 48 amp and not be limited to 40 amp.
If that is not possible I may have to run a separate 60 amp wiring from the breaker box which is also in the garage and connect the wall charger to it but the electrician costs for that might be more.
Also, is the wall charger for the X, S and 3 the same. On Tesla site I see a silver WC for Model 3 sold out but the silver one for X available. Same with Gen2 and Black WC
Thanks
When you add the 14-50 receptacle on one side in the new house, make sure to use a high quality receptacle (i.e. NOT a Leviton). I personally think the Bryant is the most bang for your buck.
Definitive 14-50 NEMA Outlet Guide
So I can nearly guarantee you that in the US the cable run in new construction is Romex (NM-B) cable which is limited by code to the 60c insulating rating (which is lame). And the electrician most likely would have run 6 awg copper (or if they were really cheeping out then 8 awg). Or actually, I guess they could have run aluminum too which you really don't want as the Wall Connector does not allow it. Regardless, the 6 awg copper at the 60c insulation limit is rated for 55 amps, but then you can only use 80% of that for EV charging, so effectively you can only set a Wall Connector that is connected to that to the 40a setting. If it was 8 awg copper it would be a 40a limit, so that means the Wall Connector can only be set to 32a. This is legal on a 14-50 if the "load to be served" is only 40a (32a continuous) which is true for the Mobile Connector that comes with the car.
Two options if you want this to be greater: Upgrade to larger gauge NM-B (romex) wire. 4awg is good to 70a, so 56a max charging speed (all current model Teslas max out at 48a). Or if you run 6awg copper in conduit (THHN wire) then it is allowed to use the 70c insulation terminal rating which is 65a which then let's you do the full 48a to the car. If you go with 4 awg though, that is I think the max size that most 14-50 receptacles and their breakers can handle and it is likely pretty difficult to work with to bend.
This is a really tough discussion for me. New house construction for EV future proofing is currently a conundrum. The design patterns have not settled out yet. I would plan for a future of many manufacturers, not just Tesla (which means don't plan on Tesla proprietary Wall Connectors only). We don't even know where to locate the charge plugs in the garage... Will the standard be to plug in on the drivers side rear? Or drivers side in front of the front door (Ala BMW)? Or the front of the car (Ala the Leaf)?
If money is no object, then the most bullet proof solution would be a 1" conduit from the breaker panel to each of the two vehicle charging locations. Then a 1/2 conduit from one charging location to the other (for a future data cable for inter-charger comms). This would allow you up to a 100a circuit (3awg copper) to each charging location. If you need to "power share" (to stay below an overall power level) then you put in the wire between the two (currently the Tesla solution is a RS-485 shielded wire, but I would expect future stuff to probably just use CAT5e/CAT6/CAT6a network wire). You also would probably want network drops at the charger locations for a hard wire network connection just in case (run back to your structured wiring location). Also, if planning an install like that you like need/want a panel capacity over the standard 200a (so likely 320/400a or even a 600a service if a very very large house).
But to scroll it back to reality here: Assuming the existing wiring is 6awg copper NM-B (Romex). Doing the Wall Connector (or Corded Wall Connector) will give you 40a of charging on that 50a circuit (better than the 32a if using the Mobile Connector on the 14-50). That is shy of the possible max of 48a for a M3LR or S or X, but do you really need that speed? I have 48a capability, but I have only really needed the speed once or twice (quick turnarounds after work on a Friday when leaving town).
Good luck!
