Thinking about going 100% EV - quick question

[VindictivePantz]

Already a happy owner of a '21 Job 1 and will drive it until the wheels fall off.

The other car in the household is ICE, getting close to 100k in mileage, and will be a PITA to repair as it ages.

It's been nice to have the ICE as an option for the 1-2 odd destinations where the charging infrastructure is questionable. However, with gas prices going up, and 99% of the driving performed with the ICE vehicle not requiring much more than at-home charging, we're thinking about replacing the ICE vehicle with an EV.

Question: For those who have > 1 EV in your household, do you have more than one L2 charger?

On paper, I think we can get by with just one charger, though winter would be potentially challenging (despite what my profile says, I'm in a colder part of the country during winter.)

I have plenty of headroom (physical as well as amperage) for an additional electrical run but was not sure it was really needed since I only really need to charge 1-3x/week.

Thank you!

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[E90alex]

We share a Level 2 16A charger between two EVs. The other one plugs into 120V while the other one gets 16A.

We will either switch the chargers before bed or just alternate days on who gets the Level 2. In the summer sometimes it’s enough to recharge one on just 120V alone.

 

[MacherAWD]

We have 2 EVs, we have 1 charger, has never been an issue. We are in New England, the Mach-e plugs in to charge ever 2 or 3 days, but usually above 50% battery. Our Bolt is used more locally for commuting/errands, and only gets charged once a week.

We have a 2 car garage, but the charger can only reach 1 spot, or it can reach the driveway. We keep bikes/trash on one side and the car thats charging on the other.

If we cared about garaging both cars, or each having "our spot" it would be harder. I also WFH so its very easy for me to shuffle cars around.

 

[kdonnel]

We share a 24A L2 charger. Never needed anything faster or wished we had two.

 

[ddujnad]

It depends on how far you drive each day and your EVs' range. My wife and I both have fairly short commutes so having 1 L2 charger for 2 EVs hasn't been an issue for us in 3+ years.

 

[silverelan]

We got a second EV to use as a town runabout after we had the MME GT for a year or so. We just use a 120v wall outlet to charge it. The little EV now does about 90% of the trips but the MME does the majority of miles.

 

[KennyMc]

2 EV's here and 1 charger. Has never been an issue.

 

[RickMachE]

So...

You have to include the CONDITIONS that exist at your setup.

At our house, to move the charger between vehicles would be CUMBERSOME. Garage is 20 feet deep. Truck fits with zero room on either end. Mach-E, pulled in, gives you zero room in front to pass a charging hose across to truck (Mach-E on the left). Mach-E can't be backed in due to driver not being comfortable doing that. AND, when we bought our chargers, our utility was providing $500 rebate AND the government gave 30% tax credit.

2nd charger cost - ~$625 including supplies
- $500 rebate
=====
$125
- $37.50 tax credit
=====
$87.50 out of pocket cost

No brainer.

 

[ddeluce]

Already a happy owner of a '21 Job 1 and will drive it until the wheels fall off.

The other car in the household is ICE, getting close to 100k in mileage, and will be a PITA to repair as it ages.

It's been nice to have the ICE as an option for the 1-2 odd destinations where the charging infrastructure is questionable. However, with gas prices going up, and 99% of the driving performed with the ICE vehicle not requiring much more than at-home charging, we're thinking about replacing the ICE vehicle with an EV.

Question: For those who have > 1 EV in your household, do you have more than one L2 charger?

On paper, I think we can get by with just one charger, though winter would be potentially challenging (despite what my profile says, I'm in a colder part of the country during winter.)

I have plenty of headroom (physical as well as amperage) for an additional electrical run but was not sure it was really needed since I only really need to charge 1-3x/week.

Thank you!

We have 2 EV's (Mach-E and i4). We have two chargers, one on each side of the garage near the garage door. Having two chargers is much easier for us as we need to charge each car a couple of times per week. Just plug the car in without having to worry about what the other car needs, and we don't have to move cars around in the garage or driveway to plug in.

 

[DugthePug Dad]

We have two EV's and one charger. It's never been a problem for us. We don't need to charge every day and just charge when we need to.

If you both drive 200 plus miles a day, then I would say get a second charger.

We have a Mercedes EQS and the Mach.

 

[Sikkun]

1 charger took the cord to the middle of the garage along the ceiling and have a retractable cord holder. Pull it to whichever I want to charge easy.

 

[VindictivePantz]

So...

You have to include the CONDITIONS that exist at your setup.

At our house, to move the charger between vehicles would be CUMBERSOME. Garage is 20 feet deep. Truck fits with zero room on either end. Mach-E, pulled in, gives you zero room in front to pass a charging hose across to truck (Mach-E on the left). Mach-E can't be backed in due to driver not being comfortable doing that. AND, when we bought our chargers, our utility was providing $500 rebate AND the government gave 30% tax credit.

2nd charger cost - ~$625 including supplies
- $500 rebate
=====
$125
- $37.50 tax credit
=====
$87.50 out of pocket cost

No brainer.

One car inside the garage, one car outside.

I'd need to pay for a partial run of new wire to get a charger setup outside. The good news is that 80% of the run is already there; it'd be pulling through wire with the addition of a bit more conduit + an outdoor plug (or direct wire.)

I'm trying to avoid another charger + the ~$500-$1000 to get an outdoor setup installed. I believe the tax credits are no more, correct?

I was hoping it was not necessarily a "day one" issue (thanks to everyone on the thread who validated that you can work with one charger,) but looking at the overall costs, I wanted to factor it in if it made life difficult without that second charger.

 

[B177y]

As of 2 weeks ago, we went 100% EV. A '24 Lightning for me, '23 MME for the wife, and a '20 Chevy Bolt for the kid(s). The MME replaced our last ICE which was a 2021 Toyota Highlander. We live somewhat in the sticks, and do quite a bit of driving as part of our daily lives.

My house was built in the early '90s and is all electric. The electrical capacity of my house is quite high as at the time it was built there was no LED lighting and every room has one or more forced air electrical resistance heater in it. All of that has been replaced with LEDs and two mini split heat pumps, so I have lots of available capacity for EV chargers.

I also have a little bit of electrician experience, so it was easy for me to install three level two chargers, one for each car as the car was added to our family fleet. Each charger is in a garage and is quite close to an electrical panel.

 

[ShaggySS]

Dual EV family here, and while I am probably a bad example because I charge at work typically I would go with 1. If it become a challenge add another. The long breaks where we both have to charge it has never been an issue but as always you results may vary.

 

[Blue highway]

3+ years with two EVs and one Charger. Never a problem. The charger is in the garage and easily reaches either car. It is set to run at 32A.

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