Hey all,
Just purchased a new 2022 Bolt EUV, and am now looking to get a stronger home charger so I don’t need to wait a week to fully charge my car.
So far, a buddy has recommended the Juicebox line, but looks like they’re all sold out for a while.
Any recommendations from current EV owners on what kind of home set up they got?
Any and all recommendations and suggestions appreciated.
Thanks!
Whatever you do, make sure it’s installed by a qualified electrician!
There’s a lot of power on the line when it comes to EV charging, and safety is your number 1 priority!
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Just any 32amp EV charger on Amazon with a standard NEMA plug. Either hire a electrician or install a 240v 35 amp breaker in your breaker box and wire it to a NEMA plug in your garage. Plenty of instructions on YouTube, but if you’re not comfortable playing with electricity, hire an electrician. I used to hire electricians for everything, but my wife has electrical work like every week so I just learned to do it myself.
But plan ahead. The EUV has a max level 2 rate of 32 amps, but what if you get a Taycan or something in the future? I have a 16 amp Bosch charger from when I had another EV, but Kona chargers at 32 amps, but I don’t drive a lot so I just charge at 16 amps.
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I think there’s a very important question to be asked when looking at chargers that potentially rules out just any charger.
Does your power utility give a rate discount for time of charge or use of charge? There are many that will give a discount if the power is used for charging an ev, but they require the use of a charger that will record that. Likewise, many give discounts if charging occurs at certain times, and many vehicles don’t have good control over when they charge. If you fall into either of those categories, you’ll want to be sure to get a charger that maximizes your savings appropriately.
From there, the follow up question is if you want to buy a charger for now or a charger to future proof as much as possible. A lot of that has to do with if you’re running wiring for the charger or if you’re plugging in to existing electrical infrastructure. If was running wires/a sub panel now, I’d hard wire in a 48amp charger to a 60 amp breaker with 4-6 gauge wire because I’d want as much headroom as possible, even if the bolt can’t take full advantage of it (I don’t actually know what the bolt can or can’t do). Likewise, if you’re going into a garage that already has a 15-30 plug, you’re much more limited.
Bolt EUVs comes with a dual 120/240 volt charging cord. Along with either a paid for* installation for a 240v plug OR $1,000 towards an install (and up to $250 to cover permits).
*for “simple” installations
https://www.chevrolet.com/electric/living-electric/home-charging-installation
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This is the most basic and lowest cost 7kW charger I am aware of. Ive had one for a number of years and it works great.
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I chose the Chargepoint Home Flex for this reason. https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/
Had it hardwired to get the full 50amp capability for the future, even if I don’t need it all now. I’ve been very happy so far. Installed it outside and durability has not been an issue.
In addition to that, you should be able to claim 30% of the cost of the charger itself as a credit on your federal taxes.
I wouldn’t go nuts with futureproofing too much outside of wire sizes that feed the charger itself if you are running new wires. Think about cell phones and all of those outlets that had built in USB ports for future proofing. While the plug sizes for usb-a is standard, the power rates required by newer devices is much higher, there are different fast charging standards at play that require different electronic components to operate, and the point is all of those older outlets are now useless and need to be replaced.
While you can certainly look up what’s coming up in the near future and try to future proof assuming the devices exist, don’t obsess too much with trying to future proof.
I would be very surprised to see a complete change in plug architecture anytime soon. The current standard has been around for 20+ years and is legally required in many countries. Unlike your USB example, changing plug standards would require uprooting the entire ev infrastructure across the country.
Really, the point is if you’re going to buy a 30 amp charger and have it installed, the price delta to buying a 60 amp charger that will last you much longer is fairly minimal, especially when compared to installing the 30 amp now and ripping it all out in 3 years for the next lease.
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The usb plug didn’t change either and old outlet will still charge your phone in about 5 time the time of a new one. I’m not saying to go cheapest, I’m saying it’s probably not a good idea to ridiculously overbuild right now. If as you say 30 and 60 are basically the same price, then sure. But if we are talking multiplier price increase for future proofing it makes no sense.
Unless one is running a really long distance, the cost between wire required for a 30 amp circuit and that required for a 60 amp circuit is going to be pretty minimal. If it was me, I wouldn’t even bother installing a 30 amp circuit, jump right to something higher whether or not your car can even use it.
That said, for the typical residential electrical service size (old houses may be 100A and newer 150-200A) so theres going to be a practical limit to the home charging rate anyway.
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Ok chargers
- Are you using up more than 50% of your charge each day. If no, then you might not need a high speed charger.
- Do you have 4 channels in your panel open? If not, then a new panel is $$$$ (Yes 4)
- The difference between a slow 240V charger vs a fast one is almost double (63% better)
- If you have an unused Large Dryer plug, the slow 240V is easy to install.
Costco sells both kinds if you want to try / return. And Costco has the Juicebox in stock as well.
4? All you need is two next to each other for a single 240v breaker.
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Correct, but my electrician said I could only get a 20amp with that way, he didn’t want to put in 40amps.
Wait, your electrician wired up a 40 amp load to two 20 amp 240 breakers in parallel?
No, he said he could not give me a 40amp circuit with only 2 slots open on my panel.
That makes no sense at all. You need two open slots next to each other for a single 240v breaker. You would never run 4 open slots to the same charger.
I purchased the Wallbox from Amazon, partly because I needed something that has a built in timer for TOU off-peak usage and because the Chargepoint was sold out and overpriced by resellers.
So far I like it a lot. I went with the 14-50 plug and it delivers 40a at whatever time I set it to. The app can be a bit buggy, but it’s a vast improvement over the MyAudi app.
Cost was $650 less $50 coupon. Deduct the 30% Federal tax credit and net is ~$420+ tax.
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Me too. No issues with Wallbox so far.