Shopping for a Home Charger

[eltonlin]

Hi SNB.....

I have a question - maybe somebody can help.

I want to use all available 2020 incentives for EV a home charging station. But, my Mach e will arrive in mid-January 2021. Note: Live in Maryland and my utility company is BGE.

Question: Is there any law/rule/policy or restriction which says that I have to have the car before receiving the charging station tax credits? If the answer is "no" I am going to have a Juice Box unit installed.

If anybody knows - please chime in.....

Nope - the charger installation is independent of ownership of the car.

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[SnBGC]

Nope - the charger installation is independent of ownership of the car.

Agree.

For the federal credit, you may not even need to buy a charging station. If you already have an EVSE or you plan to use the mobile charger that comes with the car then you could still hire an electrician to run the circuit and install the receptacle and get reimbursed for that cost up to $1000.

There are sometimes incentives from your city, state or utility so those would have their own conditions but still worth checking out.

 

[eltonlin]

Installed mine a couple weeks ago. It’s lonely.

 

[Frank Katz]

Installed mine a couple weeks ago. It’s lonely.

Need to install the engine on the bike.

 

[zhackwyatt]

Got mine

 

[JCHLi]

My local utility Detroit Edison (DTE) will give a $500 rebate if I install one of the chargers listed below. I'm thinking about the ChargePoint Home Flex, NEMA 14-50 Plug. It's $699 - $500 DTE rebate = $199 net cost.

So I'll have an electrician install a NEMA 14-50 plug on a 50 amp circuit (#6 copper) so I have some flexibility with installing either the wall unit or mobile charge cord.

https://www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/chargepoint-home-flex/

The DTE rebate seems to be the same as the one from Consumers. Both require enrollment in the time of use rate billing.

Just curious if you've switched over yet and seen any difference in your bills?

 

[hybrid2bev]

The DTE rebate seems to be the same as the one from Consumers. Both require enrollment in the time of use rate billing.

Just curious if you've switched over yet and seen any difference in your bills?

I have not made any billing changes yet, just the hardware preparation. I’m only having the charger be on the TOU rate. That’s what my second meter is going to be for, so I don’t have my whole home on TOU rates. Once my Mach-E arrives in Jan I‘ll have DTE come out and plop in the meter and get the billing situated.

 

[shutterbug]

I've been following this thread with interest. What I'm trying to understand is this: If you don't already have a 240V outlet available and are getting Chargepoint EVSE, why would you not get a 60A circuit with a hard wired install and charge at 48A? Based on the quotes I got from electricians, the installation cost is about the same as getting a 50A circuit and charging at 40A. Is there a downside I'm not seeing?

 

[DaveQ]

I've been following this thread with interest. What I'm trying to understand is this: If you don't already have a 240V outlet available and are getting Chargepoint EVSE, why would you not get a 60A circuit with a hard wired install and charge at 48A? Based on the quotes I got from electricians, the installation cost is about the same as getting a 50A circuit and charging at 40A. Is there a downside I'm not seeing?

Nope, just harder to take a hard-wired with you when/if you move.

 

[bshaw]

I've been following this thread with interest. What I'm trying to understand is this: If you don't already have a 240V outlet available and are getting Chargepoint EVSE, why would you not get a 60A circuit with a hard wired install and charge at 48A? Based on the quotes I got from electricians, the installation cost is about the same as getting a 50A circuit and charging at 40A. Is there a downside I'm not seeing?

You can put a 14-50 outlet on a 50A circuit and connect your EVSE with a plug (instead of hardwire).
That way, if anything goes wrong with your EVSE, you could quickly plug in your mobile charger at home.
Or, you could easily switch to a different EVSE without hiring an electrician to change the hardwiring.

48A max charge rate sounds good, but will you really need that at home? Once the MME is above 80% charge, it will charge much more slowly to preserve battery life.

40A will get you from a low charge up to nearly full if you plug in for the evening + overnight.

 

[codeGR]

I've been following this thread with interest. What I'm trying to understand is this: If you don't already have a 240V outlet available and are getting Chargepoint EVSE, why would you not get a 60A circuit with a hard wired install and charge at 48A? Based on the quotes I got from electricians, the installation cost is about the same as getting a 50A circuit and charging at 40A. Is there a downside I'm not seeing?

I think it might depend on what kind of electrical load you have at your disposal versus what you are drawing now. For instance, my home's electrical panel is 100 amps. While there is physical space for a 60 amp breaker, I'm probably already approaching the 100 amps that are available, thus, it probably wouldn't be wise to install a breaker that large.

 

[dbsb3233]

I've been following this thread with interest. What I'm trying to understand is this: If you don't already have a 240V outlet available and are getting Chargepoint EVSE, why would you not get a 60A circuit with a hard wired install and charge at 48A? Based on the quotes I got from electricians, the installation cost is about the same as getting a 50A circuit and charging at 40A. Is there a downside I'm not seeing?

• Some people don't have that much spare capacity in their electrical service.
• Some people have longer runs from their breaker box, where the heavier wire gets more expensive. Or might require a subpanel.
• Some people prefer to have a 14-50 outlet so they can plug in the included Ford Mobile Charger as backup, or to test it.
• For most people, 48A is overkill for overnight charging. Although it depends on your situation.

 

[dbsb3233]

Once the MME is above 80% charge, it will charge much more slowly to preserve battery life.

That's true on DCFC (L3) charging, but not sure it will do that on 240V (L2) as I suspect the power rate is still below the lowest taper levels. 48A x 240v = 11.5 kW. Most charge curves (that start at 150 kW) taper down to around 50 kW, or maybe even 25. But 11.5 should be safely below any taper amount, thus probably just remain constant.

 

[Davedough]

• Some people don't have that much spare capacity in their electrical service.
• Some people have longer runs from their breaker box, where the heavier wire gets more expensive. Or might require a subpanel.
• Some people prefer to have a 14-50 outlet so they can plug in the included Ford Mobile Charger as backup, or to test it.
• For most people, 48A is overkill for overnight charging. Although it depends on your situation.

I tick most of those boxes. My installation is going to be EXPENSIVE. I have a 75' run from the breaker box to my garage and I already have one sub panel powering a pool. I'm not exactly sure if I can put another subpanel or if I have to get an entirely new meter. Either way, its going to be a hurtful installation cost.

 

[Thevanin]

The Grizzl-E comes in white now. I think this would look good outside, but for garages I'm glad I stuck with black.

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