home charging station for EV

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at purchasing either a plug-in hybrid or, more likely, an EV. We live in the suburbs in a house with no driveway or garage, and about a 22-foot distance from the home down to the curb where we park. Before buying the car, my husband wants to investigate installing a charging station out front. He doesn't like the look of a cord running from the house all the way down through the yard to the street, and says he's worried he'll run it over with the lawnmower or something. What he is envisioning is a buried line (or actually, maybe two, since we will need to replace a second car in a couple of years and may end up with a second plug-in) that goes to a little pillar or something that contains the charging cable coiled and hidden when not in use. We are overdue for landscaping our front path anyway, so this could be something decorative that is also functional.

Has anyone installed something similar, and if so, did you use just an electrician or an all-around handyman? And does anyone have idea how much something like this would cost? I'm guessing a couple thousand dollars at least. And I think there's a tax incentive we could use toward the cost (but it wouldn't cover all of it, of course).

Thank you!

If you buy/lease the Chevy EV, then part of the package is a Level 2 charger installation (I'm sure there is an installation cost).

You can't buy or lease a Chevy EV right now. The entire line is under recall.

It is unfortunate, they are a great car.

I am a real electric car booster (who charges with the level 1 inside our garage), but now is a bad time to buy an electric car due to shortages. If it's just a commuter car, I'd look at a used Leaf, anything 2018 and on. We have been driving electric since 2015 and despite many promises, no car manufacturer has gone all-in. Chevy did well with the Bolt... But then they started to catch fire. Hyundai and Kia electric cars have the same LG battery and the same recall. Vw might be a good bet, but it's battery mirrors the same tech. Only Tesla and Nissan have different battery configurations. Nissan currently has no climate control for its batteries and they tend to lose range (although not as quickly as they once did.) I still highly recommend Nissan's Leaf, but the quick charger on it, the one you'd be using for trips out of town, has the betamax of car chargers. It's being phased out and is harder to find. There are no adaptors to switch to the dominant CCS protocol.

Tesla is the most foolproof way to go. But they have shortages and their used market is pretty inflated right now.

We are looking to replace our recalled Bolt and I've been over the choices a ton. None of them thrill me. Hoping in six months or so to see some change in the options.

Sol Terra or BZ4x?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is definitely doable. Basically, imagine a structure like a mailbox but with the car charger attached to it and the wires running underground. Obviously, will be more expensive than mounting on the exterior of your house or inside a garage.

This. And you will need an electrician. We recently bought a Tesla and had the charger installed in the garage. You need a qualified electrician to install the 240V charger and run the cable from the breaker. Our garage is pretty close to the breaker and it was still around $700 to install. It's not cheap.

Question for the last PP:

You put a charging station in your garage.... are you actually charging the car in the garage? Or do you leave the car outside when charging?

I ask b/c DH wants a Tesla and we always keep our cars in our garage. BUT, my DD's bedroom is above the garage and I'm worried about a fire. I've heard that you aren't officially supposed to charge them inside... but since we keep our cars in the garage over night, charging an EV overnight in the garage was supposed to be the convenience of it.

Do you feel comfortable charging your EV inside the garage?

NP here. We've had three Teslas since 2015 and have always charged them in our garage. Our DD's bedroom is also above the garage - we've never had any problems. I think the fire risk is extremely low. But if you're worried, the charger cord is long enough to run it out to the driveway far enough from the house to charge. We currently have two Teslas and charge them frequently in the garage.

[Anonymous]

My neighbors have a charging station next to the curb because they park on the street. No one that I’ve seen ever parks there but them / the EV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you only installed a 240 volt outlet on the side of your house, like the one that I have for my clothes dryer? An electrician said he'd do that for me for a couple hundred dollars.

You still need an EVSE (what everyone calls a charger, though technically the charger is inside the car) that plugs into the outlet, and then a cable to connect that to the car. Depending on how far it is from the car to the outlet, you might need a very long cord. Don't think a regular extension cord will work with 30 or 40 amps of electricity, either, if you wanted to, say, run that to the car and then plug the EVSE into it there.

[Anonymous]

Someone in my neighborhood has a curbside charger with the brand name "Juice Box."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are looking at purchasing either a plug-in hybrid or, more likely, an EV. We live in the suburbs in a house with no driveway or garage, and about a 22-foot distance from the home down to the curb where we park. Before buying the car, my husband wants to investigate installing a charging station out front. He doesn't like the look of a cord running from the house all the way down through the yard to the street, and says he's worried he'll run it over with the lawnmower or something. What he is envisioning is a buried line (or actually, maybe two, since we will need to replace a second car in a couple of years and may end up with a second plug-in) that goes to a little pillar or something that contains the charging cable coiled and hidden when not in use. We are overdue for landscaping our front path anyway, so this could be something decorative that is also functional.

Has anyone installed something similar, and if so, did you use just an electrician or an all-around handyman? And does anyone have idea how much something like this would cost? I'm guessing a couple thousand dollars at least. And I think there's a tax incentive we could use toward the cost (but it wouldn't cover all of it, of course).

Thank you!

If you buy/lease the Chevy EV, then part of the package is a Level 2 charger installation (I'm sure there is an installation cost).

You can't buy or lease a Chevy EV right now. The entire line is under recall.

It is unfortunate, they are a great car.

I am a real electric car booster (who charges with the level 1 inside our garage), but now is a bad time to buy an electric car due to shortages. If it's just a commuter car, I'd look at a used Leaf, anything 2018 and on. We have been driving electric since 2015 and despite many promises, no car manufacturer has gone all-in. Chevy did well with the Bolt... But then they started to catch fire. Hyundai and Kia electric cars have the same LG battery and the same recall. Vw might be a good bet, but it's battery mirrors the same tech. Only Tesla and Nissan have different battery configurations. Nissan currently has no climate control for its batteries and they tend to lose range (although not as quickly as they once did.) I still highly recommend Nissan's Leaf, but the quick charger on it, the one you'd be using for trips out of town, has the betamax of car chargers. It's being phased out and is harder to find. There are no adaptors to switch to the dominant CCS protocol.

Tesla is the most foolproof way to go. But they have shortages and their used market is pretty inflated right now.

We are looking to replace our recalled Bolt and I've been over the choices a ton. None of them thrill me. Hoping in six months or so to see some change in the options.

Sol Terra or BZ4x?

Just posted about this. Would love to see how these two pan out.

[Anonymous]

A couple of people in my Bethesda neighborhood have done this. It's not a big deal. If you don't lock it up, though, someone else may use it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is definitely doable. Basically, imagine a structure like a mailbox but with the car charger attached to it and the wires running underground. Obviously, will be more expensive than mounting on the exterior of your house or inside a garage.

This. And you will need an electrician. We recently bought a Tesla and had the charger installed in the garage. You need a qualified electrician to install the 240V charger and run the cable from the breaker. Our garage is pretty close to the breaker and it was still around $700 to install. It's not cheap.

Question for the last PP:

You put a charging station in your garage.... are you actually charging the car in the garage? Or do you leave the car outside when charging?

I ask b/c DH wants a Tesla and we always keep our cars in our garage. BUT, my DD's bedroom is above the garage and I'm worried about a fire. I've heard that you aren't officially supposed to charge them inside... but since we keep our cars in the garage over night, charging an EV overnight in the garage was supposed to be the convenience of it.

Do you feel comfortable charging your EV inside the garage?

NP here. We've had three Teslas since 2015 and have always charged them in our garage. Our DD's bedroom is also above the garage - we've never had any problems. I think the fire risk is extremely low. But if you're worried, the charger cord is long enough to run it out to the driveway far enough from the house to charge. We currently have two Teslas and charge them frequently in the garage.

This is PP. Yes, we charge it in the garage. Like the poster above the risk of fire is pretty low. The cord is long enough as PP mentioned that you could keep the car in the driveway overnight to charge but no way my DH would leave it out in the driveway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you only installed a 240 volt outlet on the side of your house, like the one that I have for my clothes dryer? An electrician said he'd do that for me for a couple hundred dollars.

we did this - cost us $150. we can get a full charge on our Teslas in about 7 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anyone done this in DC? Recs for chargers and also placement for a rowhouse (backyard) set up appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone done this in DC? Recs for chargers and also placement for a rowhouse (backyard) set up appreciated.

We have a Wallbox (https://wallbox.com) just outside our garage, so we charge in our driveway in a single family home. For a rowhouse, setup should be about the same -- put the plug on the back of the house somewhere. If you've got private parking back there, you'll be fine -- the cords on most home chargers are about 25 feet.