Cost of Charger Installation by Electrician

[cjljr41]

Similar experience here. Paid $70 to get a quote of $1,400. Told him "no thanks". He called me back an hour later and said he made a mistake and that the cost was $1,200. Gave him a second "no thanks".

Second electrician gave me a more reasonable quote of $815.

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[KAustin]

Did everyone have an inspection done or only if it was specifically required?

 

[buffasnow]

Did everyone have an inspection done or only if it was specifically required?

I used a reputable outfit so I am pretty certain the work was done properly, but I had them get a permit anyway.
Some folks mentioned insurance perhaps having issues with unpermitted electrical work should there be some question about after a future event......so it seemed prudent to go ahead with the permit/inspection. This involves more power than anything else in the house. YMMV.

 

[dbsb3233]

Did everyone have an inspection done or only if it was specifically required?

No. I just hired an electrical service and let them do whatever they thought was required. They just did the whole job the same day they came out to do the estimate. They're a larger electrical service company here (website shows multiple vans, so it's not just one guy). In fact, 2 vans showed up to do mine, and 2 guys worked together to crank it out in about 3 hours. The conduit and outlet box looks more industrial grade rather than Home Depot-ish (if that makes any sense).

Anyway, I just assumed they knew what was required. Requirements might vary by state or county though.

 

[shutterbug]

No. I just hired an electrical service and let them do whatever they thought was required. They just did the whole job the same day they came out to do the estimate. They're a larger electrical service company here (website shows multiple vans, so it's not just one guy). In fact, 2 vans showed up to do mine, and 2 guys worked together to crank it out in about 3 hours. The conduit and outlet box looks more industrial grade rather than Home Depot-ish (if that makes any sense).

Anyway, I just assumed they knew what was required. Requirements might vary by state or county though.

I did the same. I did ask them if a permit or inspection was required, and they said no.

 

[ARK]

I have had a bit of a frustrating experience with my electrician. He is claiming a misunderstanding, saying he thought I wanted to hardwire my ChargePoint Home Flex directly on my 200amp main panel (which is about five feet away from the installation spot) - and that he would have charged $500 for this, $750 with permits.

I asked him about putting in a 60amp subpanel, he says there is no such thing, needs to be 100amp at least because that's the minimum size of subpanel that is possible, and that it is going to cost way more, but he has not given me a price yet.

As I've read about a million posts on on charger installation, this doesn't sound right, people talk about 60amp panels here all the time. Am I missing something or is it maybe time I look for another electrician?

 

[Maquis]

I have had a bit of a frustrating experience with my electrician. He is claiming a misunderstanding, saying he thought I wanted to hardwire my ChargePoint Home Flex directly on my 200amp main panel (which is about five feet away from the installation spot) - and that he would have charged $500 for this, $750 with permits.

I asked him about putting in a 60amp subpanel, he says there is no such thing, needs to be 100amp at least because that's the minimum size of subpanel that is possible, and that it is going to cost way more, but he has not given me a price yet.

As I've read about a million posts on on charger installation, this doesn't sound right, people talk about 60amp panels here all the time. Am I missing something or is it maybe time I look for another electrician?

They do make 60A subpanels, but they cost about the same as a 100A. A quick check of my local Home Depot has the 60A at $20.30 and the 100A at $18.98. Both are capable of 6 circuits. The 100s cost less because the volume is so much higher. The larger wire will be a few bucks more, but not much.

The "cost way more" comment sounds like the difference between simply running a single circuit from your existing panel vs installing a subpanel (not because of the 100A panel size).

Another comment from my perspective - I wouldn't install a 60A subpanel because you're going to use almost all of its capacity on your EVSE. I would either go with the 100A subpanel, or just run the EVSE circuit from your existing panel.

 

[ARK]

They do make 60A subpanels, but they cost about the same as a 100A. A quick check of my local Home Depot has the 60A at $20.30 and the 100A at $18.98. Both are capable of 6 circuits. The 100s cost less because the volume is so much higher. The larger wire will be a few bucks more, but not much.

The "cost way more" comment sounds like the difference between simply running a single circuit from your existing panel vs installing a subpanel (not because of the 100A panel size).

Another comment from my perspective - I wouldn't install a 60A subpanel because you're going to use almost all of its capacity on your EVSE. I would either go with the 100A subpanel, or just run the EVSE circuit from your existing panel.

Thanks for the post. He agreed to do it for $950 instead of the $750 I thought he was going to charge.

Surprised at the pushback I got from him, first claiming that a 40amp charger is the max for EVs, then claiming that even with a 48amp charger, I’d be OK with a 50amp panel/wiring which I know is no bueno thanks to this forum.

I don’t even know what exactly he will do now, seemed to say he would just run the wiring capable of handling 60amps to the main panel - he was saying no point of a subpanel because main panel still caps it at 200amps and it is close by, but all of this goes far beyond my understanding of all things electrical.

All I know is he promised the work would be done with permits and therefore safely allow for my ChargePoint Home Flex to operate at 48amps.

 

[Maquis]

Thanks for the post. He agreed to do it for $950 instead of the $750 I thought he was going to charge.

Surprised at the pushback I got from him, first claiming that a 40amp charger is the max for EVs, then claiming that even with a 48amp charger, I’d be OK with a 50amp panel/wiring which I know is no bueno thanks to this forum.

I don’t even know what exactly he will do now, seemed to say he would just run the wiring capable of handling 60amps to the main panel - he was saying no point of a subpanel because main panel still caps it at 200amps and it is close by, but all of this goes far beyond my understanding of all things electrical.

All I know is he promised the work would be done with permits and therefore safely allow for my ChargePoint Home Flex to operate at 48amps.

The main benefit of a subpanel is to be able to run multiple circuits from a location away from the main panel. It allows you to run one big wire to the subpanel locatiob instead of several smaller ones and it puts the breakers closer to the point of use, making for easier control of those circuits. He is correct that adding a subpanel does not increase the overall capacity of your electrical service.

If your main panel is relatively close to your garage, he is correct in saying that adding a subpanel does not provide much benefit. In my case, my garage is on the opposite side of my house from where my electrical service comes in, so a garage subpanel makes sense, especially since I have a fair amount of electric-powered shop equipment - table saw, compressor, dust collector, welder......

 

[226ra]

$440 for a 60 ft run - NEMA 14/50.

 

[dbsb3233]

I asked him about putting in a 60amp subpanel, he says there is no such thing, needs to be 100amp at least because that's the minimum size of subpanel that is possible, and that it is going to cost way more, but he has not given me a price yet.

As I've read about a million posts on on charger installation, this doesn't sound right, people talk about 60amp panels here all the time. Am I missing something or is it maybe time I look for another electrician?

Why a subpanel? About the only reason for a subpanel is if you don't have room in your main panel for a 240V breaker. Or you plan to add some other breakers later that there's not room for. In which case you'd probably want something like 100A in a subpanel anyway.

If there's room for a breaker in the main panel, just wire from that breaker direct to the ChargPoint.

 

[dbsb3233]

I don’t even know what exactly he will do now, seemed to say he would just run the wiring capable of handling 60amps to the main panel - he was saying no point of a subpanel because main panel still caps it at 200amps and it is close by, but all of this goes far beyond my understanding of all things electrical.

He's correct on that. Think of a subpanel as just being an extension cord (of sorts) plugged into the main panel. It's still just drawing from the main panel, and limited by the total amperage of the main panel.

Again, unless you have an unusual need, you shouldn't need a subpanel. Sometimes the talk here of special circumstances confuses what people need for a "normal" installation.

 

[TheVirtualTim]

My house was converted to a sub-panel (it was the main-panel). But that's because code (I think it's fire code and maybe not electric code) requires that ALL the power for the property has to be able to be shut off at one location so that, in the event of fire, the firefighters can go to ONE spot to kill the power and know that there are no remaining live circuits.

My house has a detached garage and had just a single 20 amp circuit from the house. I needed a new dedicated meter for EV charging (to get my utility company's EV Time-of-Use rate plan). But they wouldn't let me install the new meter on the garage due to that fire code rule ... they wanted it on the house next to the main meter with a wire running it back to the garage.

The city electric inspector told me that they don't care "where" the power comes in ... just so it all comes in at the same place. So he suggested I move BOTH my main meter & panel as well as the meter for the car onto the garage ... and then convert the house to a sub-panel off the garage ... running an underground conduit to it. So that's what I did.

The garage has a 200 amp "main" panel (and now 2x 20-amp circuit breakers for the garage) and then all the power goes underground to the house which is now a sub-panel. The line can handle 150 amps ... although my house panel is only 125 amp.

Wiring for a sub-panel is slightly different than for a main-panel in that a main-panel gets the 240v power from the utility company and creates two 120v halves by creating a "neutral". A sub-panel doesn't "create" a neutral ... it simply pulls the 240v lines *and* the neutral from the main panel.

This lets me power my house with just one beefy 150 amp line ... instead of moving all the breakers from my house to my detached garage.

As for my car ... there's a dedicated electric meter and panel just for the car (so that's really another main panel). In my case it's a 125 amp service panel because I had my electrician size to be able to offer two 60-amp circuits. If I owned two EV's (which I probably will someday) I can charge both at the same time.

Side note: You can share a single circuit between two cars *if* the EVSE's are designed for it. Both Enel X JuiceBox and Clipper Creek make chargers that know how to talk to each other to share power on one circuit. They'll divide the amps between both chargers if both are in use ... or send all the power to one charger if the second charger is not in use (or when it finishes charging before the other charger.)

I can't think of a good reason to want a sub-panel next to a main panel unless the main-panel was out of capacity.

If you want to take advantage of the full 48-amp charging for the Mach-E a minimum 60-amp Circuit Breaker is required. The ChargePoint can offer 50 amps... but the Mach-E wont pull more than 48 (that's the limit of it's internal charger).

Not sure where the electrician got the idea that a 50-amp circuit was ok for a 48-amp continuous load for EV charging ... or where he got the idea that EV's don't pull more than 40 amps (there are Tesla home chargers that can handle 80 amps).

 

[ARK]

He's correct on that. Think of a subpanel as just being an extension cord (of sorts) plugged into the main panel. It's still just drawing from the main panel, and limited by the total amperage of the main panel.

Again, unless you have an unusual need, you shouldn't need a subpanel. Sometimes the talk here of special circumstances confuses what people need for a "normal" installation.

That was a misunderstanding on my part, I thought a subpanel was I guess like a ‘supplemental panel’, where you increased the max amps coming into your house. But from what you and maquis said, plainly I don’t need a subpanel if my main panel is only several feet away from where the EVSE is going to go.

I should find out today how much of an electrician EVSE install premium I will be paying. As I understand it now, the permit cost would probably run $100-$150 and the materials would be what, $50 or so if it is just several feet of wiring capable of handling 48 amps. That puts his labor around around $750 to $800 from his $950 quote.

This same electrician was at my house a few years ago to troubleshoot an issue where half my house kept losing power. In the end, it turned out to be a loose connection in an outlet causing some problem, but it took over 3 hours form him to go through seemingly all the outlets in the house before finding it. He charged like $350 then, suggesting an hourly rate around $100. Somehow I doubt this EVSE install will this will take him anywhere near 7 to 8 hours to do!

 

[Maquis]

My house was converted to a sub-panel (it was the main-panel). But that's because code (I think it's fire code and maybe not electric code) requires that ALL the power for the property has to be able to be shut off at one location so that, in the event of fire, the firefighters can go to ONE spot to kill the power and know that there are no remaining live circuits.

The 2020 NEC now requires the external "emergency disconnect". The reasoning for it is exactly as you state.
Once your state adopts the 2020 code, this will be a requirement. Note that it is not mandatory to always bring installations up to new codes, but any major modifications to the existing service will trigger this requirement.

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