4 ms·

I wish I could. I'm one of those city folk with street parking only. There is a free charger within walking distance of my home, but it's always in use :(

by grubbs 3y ago

zdragnar 3y ago
I am in a different boat, but also somewhat similar. I don't have a garage, and live in a cold climate. To get a home charging setup, I assume I would want it parked in a semi-heated space, or at least out of the snow and sleet. Rough back of the napkin math puts getting a home charger at around $20k... The payoff isn't even close yet.
- tnmom 3y ago
  You can charge outside without issues. Snow/sleet doesn't matter; the charging connections are water-tolerant. And you should probably find some better electricians to get a quote on the home-charger thing - sometimes "I want to put a dryer plug here" gets a lower quote than "I want an EV charger here" (the latter signals money-spending-ability). Also, do the math on what you really need for charging. Most people can charge at home overnight on a standard 120v outlet just fine - unless you're driving more than ~50 miles a day, every day, consistently.
  - zdragnar 3y ago
    Ah, the bulk of the 20k would be for a cover or garage. I still don't know how I feel about not having a heated space- leaving a car outside in winter means the stuck on road snow and slush doesn't melt off body panels, so they'll rust even faster. As it is, I have a spare 60 amp line out to where the garage used to be (it was rather dilapidated and I haven't had spare funds to put a new one up yet).
    - vel0city 3y ago
      > leaving a car outside in winter means the stuck on road snow and slush doesn't melt off body panels, so they'll rust even faster. So then its still ~$20k for a place to put an ICE car either way and not really connected to the cost for an EV. Since you already have a 60A line to where the garage was, the actual costs in the end for wiring up an EVSE is probably less than $1,000. An EVSE can be had for a few hundred bucks, a few dozen feet of romex and all the other odds and ends needed would be another couple hundred, and you'll have a charger that will last for decades. And chances are some of that cost can be subsidized with tax credits in the US.
      - zdragnar 3y ago
        My friend recently did something similar, and was told he needed 120 amp service minimum. I'm not sure if he just over-did the level of charging he needed or what, but that was where the rest of the cost came from. We've been getting on fine without a garage because our cars are used and not expensive. They also don't have massive battery packs that would cost more than a used car to replace, either.
        vel0city 3y ago
        The electrician was trying to make a buck if he recommended 120A to charge an EV. Practically no EV will even pull anywhere close to 120A on AC charging, most top out around 40-50A. And they're all designed to only pull whatever the Electrical Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) says its rated for, which is often a configurable setting on the EVSE. My car can pull up to 48A. At home my EVSE is set to 40A, but I can set it to 32A, 24A, and 16A with a little switch inside the box. Even at 24A, at 240V that's 5,760W of power going to the car. Even if in the cold I was getting 2mi/kWh, charging for 8 hours overnight gives 90mi of range. You should be able to install at least a 40A charger and still have a couple 15/20A circuits for lights, additional outlets, and a heatpump. 8 hours of charging at that amperage would get you >150mi of range. Putting it in a garage isn't going to stop the salt from the roads from rusting out the car. The car being outside isn't going to really put any additional wear on the battery, especially if it is plugged most of the time while parked at home. EDIT, somehow I was thinking it was an 80 amp line not 60. Still, a 60 amp line could run a 40A charger and some lighting in the garage, probably not a lot of heating though.
- gambiting 3y ago
  >>Rough back of the napkin math puts getting a home charger at around $20k... The payoff isn't even close yet. Like the other comment said, you don't need a covered or heated space - the connectors are water tolerant, you can plug them in in heavy rain/snow without any issues. You also have to think how fast you really need to charge - for a lot of people a basic 220V socket is fine, so you just need to pay an electrician to fit one in, then you can usually use the charger bundled with the car - as long as you only need about 20-30kWh replenished overnight then you're fine. You can fit a faster multi-kW charger, but the cost shouldn't be anywhere near $20k for that.
- vel0city 3y ago
  All you really need is like 20-30 amps at 240V and most EVs will go from 0 to 100% within a few hours. Which for most people its rare to even need to charge more than 50% every day, unless you're routinely driving over a hundred miles a day. It shouldn't cost $20k to install another 20-30A circuit, unless your home power is already pretty much maxing out your line to your house. The car can warm itself with the power, you don't need to put it in a semi-heated space.

I wish I could. I'm one of those city folk with street parking only. There is a free charger within walking distance of my home, but it's always in use :(

by grubbs 3y ago

I wish I could. I'm one of those city folk with street parking only. There is a free charger within walking distance of my home, but it's always in use :(

zdragnar 3y ago

I am in a different boat, but also somewhat similar. I don't have a garage, and live in a cold climate. To get a home charging setup, I assume I would want it parked in a semi-heated space, or at least out of the snow and sleet. Rough back of the napkin math puts getting a home charger at around $20k... The payoff isn't even close yet.

tnmom 3y ago
You can charge outside without issues. Snow/sleet doesn't matter; the charging connections are water-tolerant. And you should probably find some better electricians to get a quote on the home-charger thing - sometimes "I want to put a dryer plug here" gets a lower quote than "I want an EV charger here" (the latter signals money-spending-ability). Also, do the math on what you really need for charging. Most people can charge at home overnight on a standard 120v outlet just fine - unless you're driving more than ~50 miles a day, every day, consistently.
- zdragnar 3y ago
  Ah, the bulk of the 20k would be for a cover or garage. I still don't know how I feel about not having a heated space- leaving a car outside in winter means the stuck on road snow and slush doesn't melt off body panels, so they'll rust even faster. As it is, I have a spare 60 amp line out to where the garage used to be (it was rather dilapidated and I haven't had spare funds to put a new one up yet).
  - vel0city 3y ago
    > leaving a car outside in winter means the stuck on road snow and slush doesn't melt off body panels, so they'll rust even faster. So then its still ~$20k for a place to put an ICE car either way and not really connected to the cost for an EV. Since you already have a 60A line to where the garage was, the actual costs in the end for wiring up an EVSE is probably less than $1,000. An EVSE can be had for a few hundred bucks, a few dozen feet of romex and all the other odds and ends needed would be another couple hundred, and you'll have a charger that will last for decades. And chances are some of that cost can be subsidized with tax credits in the US.
    - zdragnar 3y ago
      My friend recently did something similar, and was told he needed 120 amp service minimum. I'm not sure if he just over-did the level of charging he needed or what, but that was where the rest of the cost came from. We've been getting on fine without a garage because our cars are used and not expensive. They also don't have massive battery packs that would cost more than a used car to replace, either.
      - vel0city 3y ago
        The electrician was trying to make a buck if he recommended 120A to charge an EV. Practically no EV will even pull anywhere close to 120A on AC charging, most top out around 40-50A. And they're all designed to only pull whatever the Electrical Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) says its rated for, which is often a configurable setting on the EVSE. My car can pull up to 48A. At home my EVSE is set to 40A, but I can set it to 32A, 24A, and 16A with a little switch inside the box. Even at 24A, at 240V that's 5,760W of power going to the car. Even if in the cold I was getting 2mi/kWh, charging for 8 hours overnight gives 90mi of range. You should be able to install at least a 40A charger and still have a couple 15/20A circuits for lights, additional outlets, and a heatpump. 8 hours of charging at that amperage would get you >150mi of range. Putting it in a garage isn't going to stop the salt from the roads from rusting out the car. The car being outside isn't going to really put any additional wear on the battery, especially if it is plugged most of the time while parked at home. EDIT, somehow I was thinking it was an 80 amp line not 60. Still, a 60 amp line could run a 40A charger and some lighting in the garage, probably not a lot of heating though.
gambiting 3y ago
>>Rough back of the napkin math puts getting a home charger at around $20k... The payoff isn't even close yet. Like the other comment said, you don't need a covered or heated space - the connectors are water tolerant, you can plug them in in heavy rain/snow without any issues. You also have to think how fast you really need to charge - for a lot of people a basic 220V socket is fine, so you just need to pay an electrician to fit one in, then you can usually use the charger bundled with the car - as long as you only need about 20-30kWh replenished overnight then you're fine. You can fit a faster multi-kW charger, but the cost shouldn't be anywhere near $20k for that.
vel0city 3y ago
All you really need is like 20-30 amps at 240V and most EVs will go from 0 to 100% within a few hours. Which for most people its rare to even need to charge more than 50% every day, unless you're routinely driving over a hundred miles a day. It shouldn't cost $20k to install another 20-30A circuit, unless your home power is already pretty much maxing out your line to your house. The car can warm itself with the power, you don't need to put it in a semi-heated space.