Cost of Charger Installation by Electrician

[jlamarca73]

Holy cow. Sounds like they did not really want the work?

I got 100 ft of 4 ga metal clad run across basement, through garage wall, up through garage crawlspace and back down to new 14-50, EVSE install, including $75 permit and 50A breaker, for $900. Amazing the variation.

Orange County, CA is overpriced for everything.

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[jksu]

that $500 is reasonable for sure

i paid $3500 here in la canada (town just outside la) for permitted work.

- heavy gauge conduit run under the entire length of the house/property (aaplrox 200ft) since our main panel is opposite end of the detached garage.
- trenching under walkway between house and garage,
- a sub-panel in the garage,
- two 14-50 outlets. one inside (60amp) and outside (50amp) for future proof and when friends visit
- routing conduit up through garage attic
- installing my grizzly-e.
- permit fees
- 2 guys 2 full days of labor

 

[Maquis]

- two 14-50 outlets. one inside (60amp) and outside (50amp) for future proof and when friends visit

A 14-50 protected by a 60A breaker is a violation of the NEC. The 60A is also unnecessary. Any EVSE with a 14-50 plug will not utilize more than 40A (80% of 50A).

 

[dbsb3233]

Mine was ~$900 for a 50A 14-50 install in the garage. Maybe 45' of 6 gauge wire run through the crawl space into the garage from the panel on outside of the other side of the house. Had to rearrange a few breakers in the main panel as I only had 1 single-pole space left on the bottom of each side.

Seemed pricey, but they were available to go ahead and do it the same time they gave me the quote, so I just went ahead and went with them. Getting 30% back via tax credit helps ease the pain a little. Wouldn't surprise me if they build some of that into their prices when they know it's an EV install eligible for the tax credit.

 

[Ciero]

This was mine...maybe a 40-45 foot wire in the basement to the garage. I went with 60amp wire, 14-50 outlet, and a 50 amp breaker with the thought that any upgrades down the road to a slightly bigger charger than my 40amp grizzl-e shouldn't be too problematic.

Services

TRIP CHARGE	$50.00​
- travel time - set up time - clean up
Dedicated 50 Amp Circuit For Future Car Charger	$712.09​
- install new wiring rated up to 60 amp - install new breaker - install new plug - make connections and test

Subtotal

$762.09​

 

[jksu]

A 14-50 protected by a 60A breaker is a violation of the NEC. The 60A is also unnecessary. Any EVSE with a 14-50 plug will not utilize more than 40A (80% of 50A).

yeah sorry my mistake, it was 50amp inside, 40amp outside

 

[ARK]

A 14-50 protected by a 60A breaker is a violation of the NEC. The 60A is also unnecessary. Any EVSE with a 14-50 plug will not utilize more than 40A (80% of 50A).

Is this for safety, i.e. NEC standard there to cap how much electricity can flow through something that someone can unplug, or some other reason?

Do you think hardwiring is a safer option than using a plug?

 

[TheVirtualTim]

If your existing electric meter and service panel have enough capacity (amperage) to add a new circuit for charging (e.g. 50 amps) and you have an attached garage then the install could be a simple matter of adding a breaker, running appropriate gauge wire (hopefully not a great distance), and either installing a NEMA 14-50 outlet or hard-wiring the charger. Those are usually not particularly expensive installs (e.g. several hundred dollars).

If your existing electric meter and service are NOT sufficient, they'll need to be upgraded. And if you have a detached garage, some means of getting the power out to the garage will be needed. This can get expensive. These installs can cost several thousand dollars.

My (very expensive) install involved moving the meter from my house to my garage ... and upgrading it (old meter was much too small) installing a new main service panel, converting the house to a sub-panel, installing a second meter dedicated to EV charging -- and a service panel for that. And since the garage is detached it also involved a lot of trenching, plus cutting through the driveway. The project was complicated enough that the first two electricians who agreed to take it, later decided to back out as they realized it was more work than they really wanted to take on.

The city inspector was awesome ... he was the one that really made the project easier and gave both us and our electrician the ideas to move everything to the garage, put in the underground conduit to clean up the 5 overhead wires (which was about to become 6 overhead wires), move all the services underground (cable, internet, etc.) and also suggested that since we had to cut open the driveway for the trench ... we may as well add in an irrigation line to add a sprinkler zone so we could finally water the grass on the far side. The underground power to the house sub-panel is beefy enough that it can run 150 amp service (the service panel in the house is still the original 100 amp panel ... but nice to know that if we have the ability to upgrade it without re-opening the trench).

It was expensive, but we now have enough power to run two 48 amp chargers (2x 60 amp breakers), our patio no longer has any overhead lines and there are no meters or any other cables attached to the back of our house. It looks a LOT cleaner.

 

[tomterky]

I had a separate EV meter installed, a new 100 amp panel for EV only created, and got a Clipper Creek HCS-50 Charger from my electrician, $3900 in all. Got it done in November last year to get the 30% tax rebate, max $1000 back. Then only pay $.04 per kw between 2100-0900 M-F and anytime on weekends/holidays.

 

[DBC]

Is this for safety, i.e. NEC standard there to cap how much electricity can flow through something that someone can unplug, or some other reason?

Do you think hardwiring is a safer option than using a plug?

Think of this as a three part system. You have the breaker, you have the wire, and you have the appliance. You absolutely do not want the breaker to be rated higher than the wire. In this case the wire could get overloaded before the breaker tripped. You can have it the other way where the breaker is rated lower than the wire. That's fine. This isn't exactly the case but you can think of it as the breaker protecting the wire.

In a perfect world the breaker would also match the outlet. This is the code at issue. In practice this is not a big deal because it's trivial to change out the breaker and you want the breaker and outlet to match.

Your second question is more pertinent. It would be fine if you have an EVSE which plugs in which is rated for outdoor use. I don't think you'll find one. If you do then not a problem. If you don't then you'll need to hardwire, which probably seems more permanent than it is.

Again, the issue is that for future use you don't want to rerun the wire, so if in doubt go with a wired rated for a heavier load.

Not sure if the tax credit has been extended. I think it has. That should help with costs.

 

[Maquis]

Is this for safety, i.e. NEC standard there to cap how much electricity can flow through something that someone can unplug, or some other reason?

Do you think hardwiring is a safer option than using a plug?

Yes, a single receptacle outlet must be protected at a value not to exceed it's rating. Operating above its rating can result in unsafe conditions, usually overheating.

Plug connections are not in themselves less safe as long as quality (UL listed) devices are properly installed. Plug connected devices are normally used instead of hard-wired for portability. There is a 60 amp NEMA receptacle design (14-60) but I have never seen one in real life.

I have a NEMA 14-50 receptacle in my garage that I will use when I get my MME. I also have a Ford Connected Charge Station on order that will be hard-wired.

 

[TheSteelRider]

Mine was ~$900 for a 50A 14-50 install in the garage. Maybe 45' of 6 gauge wire run through the crawl space into the garage from the panel on outside of the other side of the house. Had to rearrange a few breakers in the main panel as I only had 1 single-pole space left on the bottom of each side.

Seemed pricey, but they were available to go ahead and do it the same time they gave me the quote, so I just went ahead and went with them. Getting 30% back via tax credit helps ease the pain a little. Wouldn't surprise me if they build some of that into their prices when they know it's an EV install eligible for the tax credit.

Similar here. I just had an electrician over and was quoted $750 for a 50A 14-50 outlet in the garage. It is located within a couple of feet of my main 200A breaker panel, and I had two open 240V breaker slots, so this is probably a very easy install. I could have gone a slight bit cheaper for a slightly less clean install, but I they offered to do it all cleanly (e.g., I don't have to separately callout drywall repair after) and I handily accepted.

 

[TheSteelRider]

Similar here. I just had an electrician over and was quoted $750 for a 50A 14-50 outlet in the garage. It is located within a couple of feet of my main 200A breaker panel, and I had two open 240V breaker slots, so this is probably a very easy install. I could have gone a slight bit cheaper for a slightly less clean install, but I they offered to do it all cleanly (e.g., I don't have to separately callout drywall repair after) and I handily accepted.

I went ahead and had this work done, and I just ordered a Juicebox Enel X. I like having the NEMA instead of hard wiring so I can more easily change out in the future or take my Juicebox with me if we move. I'm ok with "just" 40A ?

 

[MrRossKeys]

Paid $89 for the electrician to show up and tell me it would cost $1999. This is for a 14-50 240v outlet to run about 20 ft along the outside of the house.

I won’t be calling them back.

 

[malba2366]

I paid $500 for a nema 14-50 outlet on a 50 amp breaker. Also required upgrading the wire/breaker to an existing sub panel to handle the load. The outlet is relatively close to the panels. (about 15 feet away). I don't know why people are getting building inspectors involved in this, as this is a huge waste of time/money provided you are using a licensed electrician to do the work.
This did not include drywall repair, which I did by myself.

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