Which home charger?

[dtbaker61]

And I cringe when I see electrical boxes mounted with drywall screws! ?

mmm, definite after-thought by the builder. Pretty weird/useless that they didn't run ANY wire to it... Probably a local building code requirement to be 'EV-ready', and the Inspector never pulled the cover off or it was added by the builder after Electrical rough-in was done.

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[rohankumar]

mmm, definite after-thought by the builder. Pretty weird/useless that they didn't run ANY wire to it... Probably a local building code requirement to be 'EV-ready', and the Inspector never pulled the cover off or it was added by the builder after Electrical rough-in was done.

So I guess what you all are telling me is I might as well have had a sticker on the wall saying EV junction box. I could probably touch base with the builder since it's a new unit to ensure that they were meeting code. It was offered up as an additional features at the time of.purchase.

 

[Motomax]

I was able to open up the slot and not sure if it gives me any more insight. Do I need to take this base plate off to understand which kind of plug the builders set me up for?

Also looking outside at the junction box for the garage I think I am only seeing 20 - 30 A setups.

You might have a conduit ran from that box to your breaker panel, anything connected to the top section?
my garage came with one empty box with Smurf tube ran to the panel and another empty one ran to the attic for solar.

 

[rohankumar]

You might have a conduit ran from that box to your breaker panel, anything connected to the top section?
my garage came with one empty box with Smurf tube ran to the panel and another empty one ran to the attic for solar.

So I've scoped out the job with 4 electricians in my area in NorCal. There is conduit running from my outside junction box to the EV junction box. I am looking at running ~20 ft of copper wire into a 14-50 Nema plug and a 50A breaker to get this completed. However the 4 quotes I have been provided range from $350 to $975 (the other two were $750 and 950). These are all from licensed electricians so I am very confused why the costs vary this much. I was thinking this should be no more than $300-400, but I am also hearing that copper has gotten expensive recently.

Any help or insight on this would be appreciated. I am getting 2 more quotes shortly.

 

[Maquis]

So I've scoped out the job with 4 electricians in my area in NorCal. There is conduit running from my outside junction box to the EV junction box. I am looking at running ~20 ft of copper wire into a 14-50 Nema plug and a 50A breaker to get this completed. However the 4 quotes I have been provided range from $350 to $975 (the other two were $750 and 950). These are all from licensed electricians so I am very confused why the costs vary this much. I was thinking this should be no more than $300-400, but I am also hearing that copper has gotten expensive recently.

Any help or insight on this would be appreciated. I am getting 2 more quotes shortly.

Ballpark costs, $90 worth of wire, $100 GFCI breaker, $20 worth of other stuff. That will get marked up by the contractor. Add the cost of a house call / travel time and and hour of labor. Permit cost, if any?
The 350 bid seems too close to cost - maybe he has wire on hand he’s had before prices went nuts and is doing you a favor? Maybe he’s not planning on a GFCI?

Other than that, often the price depends on whether or not he really wants to do the job. Were your bids itemized so you can compare the differences?

 

[babgvant]

I wrote a blog post about common Q/A I had and found on this topic: https://www.missingremote.com/blog/2022/02/choosing-a-level-2-evse-aka-electric-car-charger

 

[Old Guy]

Thanks for the write up. I’ve had an electrician install a NEMA 14-50 In my garage. I live in costal southeast SC. Cold is almost never an issue. The NEMA was installed with 8 gauge wire. Does this present a problem if I want to install a permanent EVSE?

 

[Motomax]

So I've scoped out the job with 4 electricians in my area in NorCal. There is conduit running from my outside junction box to the EV junction box. I am looking at running ~20 ft of copper wire into a 14-50 Nema plug and a 50A breaker to get this completed. However the 4 quotes I have been provided range from $350 to $975 (the other two were $750 and 950). These are all from licensed electricians so I am very confused why the costs vary this much. I was thinking this should be no more than $300-400, but I am also hearing that copper has gotten expensive recently.

Any help or insight on this would be appreciated. I am getting 2 more quotes shortly.

I’m assuming you mean there’s conduit from the breaker panel to the outlet box. If so, the hard part is already done. Should be a super easy job. Wouldn’t be too hard to knock it out yourself.
is the conduit 3/4 Smurf tube (blue/orange plastic)? If so that will limit your wire size a bit.

 

[rohankumar]

I’m assuming you mean there’s conduit from the breaker panel to the outlet box. If so, the hard part is already done. Should be a super easy job. Wouldn’t be too hard to knock it out yourself.
is the conduit 3/4 Smurf tube (blue/orange plastic)? If so that will limit your wire size a bit.

Running the wire and installing and installing the plug isn't the hard part. I have no clue how to put in the 50A breaker.

I got the first itemized quote in earlier today and the guy is trying to charge me $695 for 25' run of 6 gage THHN copper. I went back to Amazon and Home Dept and this should no more than a $100. I am really thrown off by the sticker shock and discrepancy in the pricing. Attaching a copy of the quote below, any insight is appreciated again.

 

[EMachE]

Hey everyone,

So I'm the market for a home charger and wanted to see what people around here are getting. I'm looking at the Grizzl-E, Chargepoint, or Juicebox. I seem to go back and forth between a smart charger and a "dumb" charger. Any thoughts?

I use a FLO X5 , but I’m also in Canada.

 

[Motomax]

Running the wire and installing and installing the plug isn't the hard part. I have no clue how to put in the 50A breaker.

I got the first itemized quote in earlier today and the guy is trying to charge me $695 for 25' run of 6 gage THHN copper. I went back to Amazon and Home Dept and this should no more than a $100. I am really thrown off by the sticker shock and discrepancy in the pricing. Attaching a copy of the quote below, any insight is appreciated again.

Well they always overcharge on parts. You could buy the wiring and the wire puller for less than $100 then pay someone to just make the final connections. Does he plan on using the conduit as a ground since he only mentions 3 wires.
breakers just snap into place, assuming you have ample room in the panel. Usually you try to even out the loads on both sides.

 

[rohankumar]

Ballpark costs, $90 worth of wire, $100 GFCI breaker, $20 worth of other stuff. That will get marked up by the contractor. Add the cost of a house call / travel time and and hour of labor. Permit cost, if any?
The 350 bid seems too close to cost - maybe he has wire on hand he’s had before prices went nuts and is doing you a favor? Maybe he’s not planning on a GFCI?

Other than that, often the price depends on whether or not he really wants to do the job. Were your bids itemized so you can compare the differences?

That's the amounts that I had in mind. I did post the first itemized bid I got above here, labor's only about $100. A couple of ppl that swung by also referred to this a small job, so I would think timewise this should only 1-2 hrs.

 

[Maquis]

That's the amounts that I had in mind. I did post the first itemized bid I got above here, labor's only about $100. A couple of ppl that swung by also referred to this a small job, so I would think timewise this should only 1-2 hrs.

My ballpark numbers are costs. You should expect any contractor to mark these up by some amount.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

Does he plan on using the conduit as a ground since he only mentions 3 wires.

25 feet of 6-3 THHN, the 3 means 3 wires plus a ground = 4 wires.

 

[Motomax]

25 feet of 6-3 THHN, the 3 means 3 wires plus a ground = 4 wires.

I took THHN to mean single wires because that’s what you pull through conduit. I guess I should have read the top part. A 6-3 THHN complete cable makes no sense for conduit.

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