Home Charger Installation

 Getting my EVSE installed:

One of the key advantages of owning an electric car, being able to charge at home with low cost electricity.  Electric Vehicle Service Equipment(EVSE), better known as a charger, used to connect the vehicle to the electrical service for charging.  For level 1 and level 2 charging, the electronics to take the power and charge the battery are built into the car.  The EVSE simply connects the vehicle to the electrical service and lets the car know how much power it can draw.  In order to do level 2 charging at home, I need to get an EVSE installed.  Setting up a home EVSE takes at least two steps.  First you need to get the electrical service to the location that you want to install the EVSE.  Then, you need to decide which EVSE to buy.

A little about my install:

I don’t have 220V in my garage, and with a completely finished basement there is no easy way to get 220V routed there.  I do have an unused existing 50A 220V circuit to the exterior of my house.  This was originally used to support a hot tub.  My idea is to take from this existing location and extend it about 50 feet to the end of my driveway.  There I can install a post, and mount to it a standard NEMA 14-50 exterior outlet.  This way I can mount whatever EVSE I want to the post.  The post location will also allow easy access to plug into a vehicle parked at the end of the driveway.

How to find and select qualified electrician to route my electrical service:

 I started my search in several places.  I looked on Yelp for highly rated local electricians.  Then I called local car dealerships to see if they had recommended installers.  The dealers that knew anything about electric cars referred me to the local electric utility company.  The local electric utility company did have a nice list of companies that were offering this service, and a list of their ‘standard’ install prices.  (Since every install is going to be different, I don’t know what a ‘standard’ price covers).  Lastly, I used a service such as Home Advisor to connect with multiple options.

With all this research, I was able to come up with 7 potential companies to do the work.  Of these 3 scheduled appointments for estimates 1 to 3 weeks out in the future.  3 were able to come within 48 hours to check the project.  One company simply provided me a quote over the phone without even seeing the project.  For the 3 that came out within 48 hours, the first quote was $400 over the ‘standard’ cost average.  The second declined the project as too complicated, after I accepted deviations to make the project as simple as possible.  The third never even sent a response, even after I followed up by e-mail a couple of days later.  For the 3 companies, in the 1 to 3 week window, one was not available.  Both of the other companies came at the scheduled time and provided prompt quotes.  Both of these quotes were with $100 of the first quote I got.  In the end I decided to go with the first quote, as they seemed to best understand the project and work with my vision for location and mounting.  Install is scheduled for one month from now.  I will update this post once the work is completed

Selecting the EVSE:

My planned location for the EVSE became the primary consideration.  Since I live in a cold climate and decided to go with an outside install;  robustness to all weather conditions was at the top of my list for considerations when selecting an EVSE.  I checked Amazon reviews, watched many YouTube EVSE reviews.  Based on my research, I felt I didn’t need any fancy smart charger features, although the ability to track the amount of electricity used by the car was very tempting.  Based on my research, I opted for a Grizzl-E EVSE.  Since for my install I chose to go with a NEMA 14-50 outlet over a hardwire install, I can easily change the EVSE equipment I am using if my needs change, or I find something in the future that better matches how I am using the equipment.

Update 5/1:

Couple of updates to share:

1. The install is complete, and looks very nice. Thank you to Noonan Electrical Sevices. (https://noonanelectricalservices.com/)

2. I changed my mind on which charger to get.

    When I went to buy the Grizzl-E, I could not find the specific plug/cord combination I was looking for. I then found GoPlug (http://www.goplug.com/). Based on the very popular OpenEVSE smart charging platform, but also safety rated. I originally tried to order the 40A model, but this ended up being out of stock, and I swapped my order to the 32A model. Not a big deal since the most Elektra can charge at is 32A anyway. If I upgrade to a vehicle with faster charging in the future, I can upgrade the EVSE as well. Now, I have a smart charging platform and can track all the charging I do at home.