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It's essentially impossible to upgrade existing residential neighborhoods to 200A service at every home. Nobody's going to pay for that infrastructure. This alo

It's essentially impossible to upgrade existing residential neighborhoods to 200A service at every home. Nobody's going to pay for that infrastructure. This alone is going to limit the scale of adoption. Never mind the millions who will never have access to a dedicated charging station.

polpo 4y ago
Our house has 100A service and we use a 30A car charger and have never popped our main breaker. On a hot day when the AC is likely to run, I'll hit the button on my car charger to delay charging to the middle of the night when we won't be running the electric dryer or stove.
dymk 4y ago
You don’t even need 200 amp service for the 50 amp chargers that most EVs come with
- twblalock 4y ago
  Depends on what else is in your house. What you need is enough headroom in your panel to pass inspection. That's generally more than you really "need" at any given time, but good luck convincing the inspector that you will be fine because you won't charge your EV and use your dryer at the same time. Most homes were built with enough headroom to power all the appliances that were present when the home was built, and that may not be enough if you add a 50-amp car charger. This is often the case for older homes that had air conditioning installed at a later date -- there goes your headroom! As a homeowner trying to own an EV this sucks, but as a home buyer this is good -- people should be able to have confidence that electrical systems can handle the load the appliances in the home are capable of drawing, and it's not unusual for people with families to do laundry, cook, and charge their cars at the same time.
  - timbit42 4y ago
    You can get circuits to shut off or reduce the car charging until enough headroom is available to charge the car.
seanmcdirmid 4y ago
I've got a 125A panel and am just using L1 charging. I thought it was going to be an issue but it turns out I drive less than 40 miles a day so it isn't a big deal.
lagadu 4y ago
Just don't charge the car while your oven is on. No change in power needed: Problem solved.

polpo 4y ago

Our house has 100A service and we use a 30A car charger and have never popped our main breaker. On a hot day when the AC is likely to run, I'll hit the button on my car charger to delay charging to the middle of the night when we won't be running the electric dryer or stove.

dymk 4y ago

You don’t even need 200 amp service for the 50 amp chargers that most EVs come with

twblalock 4y ago
Depends on what else is in your house. What you need is enough headroom in your panel to pass inspection. That's generally more than you really "need" at any given time, but good luck convincing the inspector that you will be fine because you won't charge your EV and use your dryer at the same time. Most homes were built with enough headroom to power all the appliances that were present when the home was built, and that may not be enough if you add a 50-amp car charger. This is often the case for older homes that had air conditioning installed at a later date -- there goes your headroom! As a homeowner trying to own an EV this sucks, but as a home buyer this is good -- people should be able to have confidence that electrical systems can handle the load the appliances in the home are capable of drawing, and it's not unusual for people with families to do laundry, cook, and charge their cars at the same time.
- timbit42 4y ago
  You can get circuits to shut off or reduce the car charging until enough headroom is available to charge the car.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

I've got a 125A panel and am just using L1 charging. I thought it was going to be an issue but it turns out I drive less than 40 miles a day so it isn't a big deal.

lagadu 4y ago

Just don't charge the car while your oven is on. No change in power needed: Problem solved.