The Cost of Installing a Level II Charger at Home

[EasternSP]

Your WAY undersized on your cable. You said 12 gauge where it should be a minimum of 6/2. You could have saved the conduit by going with 6/2 MC. Also never use Romex cable to Wall Connectors.

Also for others reading this you should wire direct from the breaker panel to the Wall Connector. No intermediate J-boxes or anything, always direct - breaker to Wall Connector. Never wire to a plug and plug the Wall Connector into the plug. It's just another point of possible failure.

As I said in post #5, I "think" it might have been 12 gauge. I would trust the electrician to know what was best.

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[Ivessm]

As I said in post #5, I "think" it might have been 12 gauge. I would trust the electrician to know what was best.

For your sake and safety pull the cover panel off your breaker box and read the actual wire/cable size on the wire/cable jacket. Inquiring minds want to know.

If it is just a 12 gauge wire STOP USING it for risk of fire and get a real electrician in there to correct the error before you run into a problem.

Just a suggestion. Your house, thankfully not mine.

 

[kpanda17]

Got pics? I just ordered my first CT and was wondering if all i need is to install a 240v outlet in my garage

yes, but no
hardwire a 60/240 to a Tesla Universal Wall Connector, make sure wifi reaches the area for firmware updates
have an electrician do the work, insist copper and the right gauge typically 4-6 depending on the distance to the main panel
get a 1 year warranty

then subscribe to your utility's overnight wholesale electrical rate and schedule the truck for nightly charging top off during that lowest rate window,
mine is $0.12/kw 10pm to 6am

 

[Jimo]

Before I bought my Y Model a few years ago, I had prepped my garage for it with a level II charger.
I have a 15KW solar panel system which is still under warranty. I could wire the charger myself but I was concerned about voiding the warranty.
I bought the Tesla charging unit on-line then put out a solicitation for bids to install it to about 20 electricians in the surrounding area.
A few responded with a quote without even coming to my house.
Some never responded at all.
11 did respond and sent a rep to survey the job. The breaker boxes were right next to where I wanted the unit installed and I removed the drywall in advance. The material in addition to the charger was; 5' of conduit, 10' of 12 gauge wire, a 60amp breaker and a few conduit clamps.
The range of bids from those who surveyed the job went from $320 - $3500. Nothing really to warranty the job other than the breaker.
I gave the job to the lowest bidder and he was able to do the job in about 10 minutes.

12 gauge wire is good for 20 amp, NOT 60 Amp! You might want to get the fire department on notice!

 

[Mikec3399]

Got pics? I just ordered my first CT and was wondering if all i need is to install a 240v outlet in my garage

need is what you think, home charging is best on a 240V level 2 system. 60 amp breaker if you have room
if you have free lifetime supercharging, well not really a need, and no range anxiety.
if you have the white level 2 charger, start thinking about where you want it, inside or side, climate pending,
in your garage, or just outside. and CT has a port driver side rear, think about where you park and it you have to shuffle cars.
then look at your layout, is your service panel close to your charging point.
what will it take to get the wire to that point
I look at all that, I decided since i have 2 CT's i wanted a whip on my Level 2 charger, it just made sense for me. i installed a 20 FT line with a 50-amp male end, i just plug it upstairs garage or lower garage, if I want the truck inside or out i thought i calculated where i wanted the 240 receptacle in the back of my garage, however when i got my second beast it just made sense to add the whip!
I'm a General Contractor, i have been in the construction business for many years, an electrical supply house , home depot, or Lowes has everything you need.
i got tired of being ripped off by other installers, so i took on the job myself.
i have 3 homes that i travel too, i have doe the 240V install at all 3 locations, its a gamechanger and saves a lot if your paying for charging,
if you have solar, charge by day!
TESLA ABC's Always be Charging!
i am in the north with frigid temps, my trucks are away for the winter, i monitor them on my app, one in New Milford CT, 75% overnight charging, and one in Gainesville GA both in warm garages!
when i need to run the houses, i flip on power share, 12 breakers kick on, and i run the houses.
Power share with solar is almost perfected, its got its issues, but its almost corrected
Tesla is working on a solution and in Texas you can sell your power back to the grid.
i hope this helps

 

[Cybertruck2024]

NY cost versus rest of the country continues to blow my mind. First install cost me $1,800. Second install was close to $3,000. Got three quotes for both jobs.

 

[HaulingAss]

oh, that's nothin. You would love the games I play at Walmart.

Please share! Requesting for a friend (of course).

 

[EasternSP]

OK, I finally got around to pulling the front panel off and taking some pictures of the charger wiring to the breaker.
The first picture is the breaker and the wires.
The second picture is the panel to the charger.
The large cable coming through the wall at the bottom is the main power line coming into the house.
There is another panel to the right of this one that is powered by the battery back up system for the house.

 

[HaulingAss]

OK, I finally got around to pulling the front panel off and taking some pictures of the charger wiring to the breaker.
The first picture is the breaker and the wires.
The second picture is the panel to the charger.
The large cable coming through the wall at the bottom is the main power line coming into the house.
There is another panel to the right of this one that is powered by the battery back up system for the house.

That is a bizarro Wall Connector positioning (so close to the adjacent wall and down low).

 

[EasternSP]

It's fine in use. Actually, it's several feet off the floor. I think about waist high.

 

[mongo]

OK, I finally got around to pulling the front panel off and taking some pictures of the charger wiring to the breaker.
The first picture is the breaker and the wires.
The second picture is the panel to the charger.
The large cable coming through the wall at the bottom is the main power line coming into the house.
There is another panel to the right of this one that is powered by the battery back up system for the house.

Yep, definitely not 12 gauge. Can't quite read the printing, but looks like 4 or 6 either of which would be fine

 

[mongo]

I have a standard 2 car garage and im putting off charger install until I get the truck. I want to see how tight it's going to be parking it inside. If it's too tight for my liking then the truck will be parked in the driveway. I have a f150 crew cab and I dont park that inside.

I have a porsche carrera that park inside and Ideally I'd like to garage this thing next to it. but if I have to shoehorn it in everytime into the garage then I'd rather park it outside.

So, i was thinking I can install a 240 plug to use with the mobile charger til I figure out my situation. Im not doing powerwall or giving back to the grid or any of that. This is my 1st ev

You can oversized the cable run to the 14-50. Then if you decide you want a wall connector, replace the outlet and breaker (or get 40A charge rate with the 50A feed).

 

[CyberGus]

I knew I would be charging outside, because the garage is where I store all my worthless crap. Since I didn't want to back-in to park, and needed charging to be convenient enough to use daily, I bought the Tesla UWC Pedestal which I had mounted on a concrete pad:

The subterranean conduit runs to the corner of the house, then along the side to the main panel at the back.

This cost me about $1000, but was part of a $8k+ package that included the PowerShare 3V gateway, as well as replacing my vintage electrical service panel all the way back to the pole.

 

[CyberGus]

Any trepidation about having your charger/cable out on the street? I live in a nice neighborhood but still feel a little weird installing my charger outside. Maybe im being weird? There is a video on youtube where the guy comes out of his house and finds a lady charging her ev. He's telling her it's private property and she argues that she needs a charge and he has to force her out

It's true, probably anyone could pull in to my driveway and help themselves to a cup of electricity. But if a fellow EV traveler needs a charge that badly, I'm happy to help.

If I were concerned about an ongoing theft, the UWC can be configured to permit authorized vehicles only.

 

[CyberGus]

Hahahaha, I did find a number of Wall Chargers on PlugShare that probably shouldn't have been there lol. I suppose that's the nature of crowdsourced data.

For my recent trip across West Texas, ABRP had me supercharging at a B&B, which seemed odd. Sure enough, I went to the B&B website and they had a UWC for guests, but no SuperChargers. I guess if I had followed that route they would have let me charge for a fee, but at 11kW I'd have been there for several more hours than planned.

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