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Would it be dumb to NOT install a charger at my house? (Dallas)
- Thread starter Nguyenning
- Start date
dhrivnak
Active Member
It is VERY convenient to be able to charge at home. For me that is a HUGE benefit of an EV. Now you may be able to get by with 120v charging but I would really look to adding a NEMA 14-50 plug. It can be done by anyone handy for not that much money.
Xenoilphobe
Well-Known Member
Joelc
Member
Also need to consider how much your time is worth because you now have to allocate time out of your day to charge.
As others have said, at least consider plugging into 120v at home so you can charge.
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Xenoilphobe
Well-Known Member
Lasttoy
Active Member
I believe it would be a poor choice to install a 240v plug in your situation as long as you have a 120v plug you can use. I believe many people have charge anxiety. Many feel they have to be able to charge from 0% to 100% every night. Like range anxiety you get used to what the car can do. I suggest trying to charge using 120v and see how that works out. You might surprise yourself and see how easy it is to keep your car charged.
No one has pointed out yet that that the premise of the OPs question is wrong. You don’t install a charger at home. The charger is in the car. You just install a 240V electrical outlet. If you want to be fancy and spend more money, and have a higher charging rate that’s not necessary for most people, you could install a Wall Connector instead of an outlet. But you’re not installing a charger.
Just consider the price of installing a 240V outlet to be part of the price of buying the car.
Just consider the price of installing a 240V outlet to be part of the price of buying the car.
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Yes, it would be dumb.
As others have said, if you have charging at home, you rarely have to go “charge” your car. You merely plug it in as a part of parking. Car always starts the day with a full charge.
Put another way, if you could add a gas pump to your house (absent the tanks, fumes, fire risk, etc.), wouldn’t you do it? Especially, if the pump would magically pump in gas overnight, when prices were cheapest ... say 60 cents a gallon?
SpiceWare
Member
No, it wouldn't. Based on "20 mile commute" and "Don't think I'm going to be in my house for that long" it doesn't make sense to spend the money on a 240V connection when an existing 120V outlet will work just fine. Save that money to install 240V in the new place.
No, it's not just about semantics. I'll give you two reasons:
1. People think of installing a "charger" , even if they mean EVSE, and they think $$$. Some may not realize they only need to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet to be able to fully charge overnight, and that is relatively inexpensive in most situations. We're talking less than $500 in most modern houses.
2. You probably haven't seen the threads here where someone posts that their charger isn't working, and half the responses assume he's talking about the thing in the car, and the other half assume he's talking about the thing on the wall, and neither group realizes the other answers are talking about something else. It's like "Who's on first?" Using the correct term can be helpful when you're trying to communicate.
I would be with you, except:
- No one else answering was confused and many before you proposed installing 240V for charging in addition to other solutions providing access to power for charging.
- I did a search for the kind of confusion you are pointing out as common and while I found many, many people referring to the HPWC as a "charger", it never lead to the confusion you are referring to.
Graffi
Member
I am sorry to say you have an incorrect answer. Everyone knows that the correct answer is: 42
Charging off of 120V is often quite sufficient. All I saw your location as was Texas, so I can't tell any more. But if charging off of 120V, you probably want to have a Supercharger near you, or at least a Destination Charger or J-1772 really close to you, in case you come back from trip close to empty.
The higher current 220V chargers will allow you to go from low to charged in a reasonable time, 120V takes a LONG time.
The higher current 220V chargers will allow you to go from low to charged in a reasonable time, 120V takes a LONG time.
Jedi2155
Model 3 has Arrived.
This. I dislike 120v charging because you waste energy on auxillary losses. Using the Tesla provided tables (I know this isn't exact but its a reference point):
And 80% of rated load you'd see the following:
40A*240v = 9600w
9600w /30 mi = 320w / mile
12A*120v = 1440w
1440w / 3 mi = 480w / mile
480/320 = 150%
It costs significantly more to charge via 120 than a high speed charger (the optimal someone mentioned was actually around 25A but thats a different story) because you waste a lot more energy keeping the car on while charging.
So yes, its doable, but its not recommend for long term due to the higher cost.
boriszima
Member
Try with it out and see how it goes. Very likely you will find yourself in a situation where you want to take your car out, but it is not charged enough. Depending on the job, its roughly $500 to install NEMA 14-50. Who knows, might be a bonus if you want to sell your house, as there are a lot more BEV and PHEV that can make use out of it.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
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