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Wall charger placement?

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Rhinoww

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Electrician coming soon to 1 confirm my subpanel can handle a wall charger (I think yes at 80A as 100A sub panel basically only also powers 4 40A circuits for IR heaters that rarely get used and when they do usually only one element on one circuit…) and 2 give me a quote as I generally shy away from electrical DIY and given 80A….

Assuming electrician agrees install is feasible, I was wondering if there were any “best practices” for mounting the charger. I was planning on mounting on the drivers side wall. Was thinking that it would be nice to have range of at least 10 feet outside of the garage, but curious if folks think more range for the cable would be necessary- which would also have more of the cable unwound for charging in the garage

Any advice ?
 
I installed mine on a post between my cars, which is the right side of my AGT. Although this requires running the cable around the front of my car to charge, it allows me to conveniently charge a second EV in the other bay should we get one in the future.
 
Really depends on your garage layout, and whether you ever envision getting a 2nd EV. I had mine mounted on the wall in the front of the garage. The 25' cable reaches both our Gravity and our Macan (both ports in the same rear spot). What I didn't want was to mount it in the rear side of the garage. Tempting as that is for one EV, it means laying the cable on the floor behind the 1st EV to get to the 2nd EV, where it could get run over.

I thought about relocating it to a place where it would reach using a spring-loaded cable pulley from the ceiling, but that looked like more trouble that it's worth.

Remember that any 2nd EV you might get could have the port in just about any place, so it's tricky to plan for. You can also pop for a dual EVSE, although we never need to charge 2 at the same times so we don't need it. We just alternate nights as needed.
 
I'd expect that all EVs will be moving to a left rear charge port location.
In general, installing the wall charger (EVSE) closest to the left rear corner of your car will be the correct move for the future.

It is extremely convenient to have an EVSE located next to the charge port of each EV that you own, if you have more than one. Many brands of EVSEs can share one circuit if needed.

I hope your subpanel can support an 80 amp circuit, but a load calculation will inform the electrician. The type of load used on each circuit determines the result of the load calculation, not how often you actually use that load.
 
The load calculation would be a bummer. The IR heaters are a big draw, but also are isolated on a 100A sub panel so if everything were to be on for some reason, that circuit would trip. The IR heaters don’t get a lot of play and can easily be circumvented with a timed charged, but I get it. Will see shortly
 
Rhinoww said:
The load calculation would be a bummer. The IR heaters are a big draw, but also are isolated on a 100A sub panel so if everything were to be on for some reason, that circuit would trip. The IR heaters don’t get a lot of play and can easily be circumvented with a timed charged, but I get it. Will see shortly
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If you feel like you really need an 80A EVSE, which is overkill for most people. Some people may have a need to charge in just 3-4 hours, but that's rare. Most people are just plugging in when they get home in the evening and it stay plugged in for like 12 hours. In 12 hours, a common 32A EVSE should add over 80 kWh. Way more than most overnight charges are gonna be. A 40A EVSE would add 100 kWh.

Some people are on a TOU plan from their power company and might want to squeeze it into a 6 or 8 hour window, thus charge a little faster. But for most, 32A or 40A is more than sufficient.
 
Turns out the electrician that came is Tesla and ford certified. He did not see an immediate load issue but also mentioned some of the circuits might need to be moved around between panel and sub panels.
Interestingly he thought code might require 100A wiring even if it will be coded for 80 or even 60a depending on load calculation.
Initial cost estimate range was 2200 plus minus. Seems a bit high given how close box is to panel?
 
Unsure where you are in the country, $2200 seems steep. This is my set up, one charger for our Tesla and one for the Lucid. My panel is on the opposite side of that wall. I believe I paid around $5-600 each to have them installed. Lucid is backed in and plugs in normally, Tesla is nose in so the other cable reaches. This was in SoCal in….2023 I think.
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I thought the number was steep as well for an urban Ohio location, and am getting another quote. Center wall placement seems like the best bet for now. Can grab the charger right when I get out, close the door walk a step and plug in
 
Yeah, the convenience is hard to beat! I’m on a TOU plan also, so both vehicles start charging at 10 pm. I believe it’s 48 amp. Takes quite awhile for the Lucid to charge up. When I’m running errands during the day, I usually come back and top it up in between to 80% before 4pm. (When rates spike).

Even at my highest TOU cost I still think it’s cheaper than most of these superchargers and EA chargers are nowadays.
 
Circuits which carry a "continuous" load like EV charging can only carry 80% of their rated capacity per our national electric code. So an 80-amp wall charger would need 100-amp wiring and breaker.
 
Rhinoww said:
Electrician coming soon to 1 confirm my subpanel can handle a wall charger (I think yes at 80A as 100A sub panel basically only also powers 4 40A circuits for IR heaters that rarely get used and when they do usually only one element on one circuit…) and 2 give me a quote as I generally shy away from electrical DIY and given 80A….

Assuming electrician agrees install is feasible, I was wondering if there were any “best practices” for mounting the charger. I was planning on mounting on the drivers side wall. Was thinking that it would be nice to have range of at least 10 feet outside of the garage, but curious if folks think more range for the cable would be necessary- which would also have more of the cable unwound for charging in the garage

Any advice ?
Click to expand...
FWIW, our household went from a Kia EV 9 with a ChargePoint on a 60 amp circuit to a two EV family by adding my Gravity GT. I wanted another 60 amp circuit for the second EVSE but was concerned about 120 amps on a 200 amp panel. I did some research and found Emporia chargers. Each includes a in panel box (or adjacent if you don’t have room in it) that includes clamps that go around the mains, monitoring whole house demand. When it gets close(adjustable) it will dynamically reduce power to the wirelessly connected EVSE , or in my case both EVSEs. I was happy with our ChargePoint and even happier with the two Emporias. We have two, each one mounted on opposite walls near the garage door of our double car garage. It has worked great for us, with no main breaker pops even when occasionally charging both vehicles. This in Texas with three HVAC systems.
I understand the Emporia was designed so households with lesser electrical service could use a level 2 EVSE. But it is designed to accommodate households with more than one EVSE like ours. I’m not affiliated with either company but I do like elegant solutions that once installed are low friction.
Now if Lucid can get hands free driving to work I’ll be a happy camper.
Enjoy your vehicle.
 

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Rhinoww said:
Electrician coming soon to 1 confirm my subpanel can handle a wall charger (I think yes at 80A as 100A sub panel basically only also powers 4 40A circuits for IR heaters that rarely get used and when they do usually only one element on one circuit…) and 2 give me a quote as I generally shy away from electrical DIY and given 80A….
Click to expand...
To pass inspection/code, you may need some sort of intelligent load management so that your panel is not overloaded. See this great video by StateOfCharge that explains the concept (32:57 minutes in).

Does anyone know of an 80 A charger that does everything the Emporia Pro or Wallbox Pulsar Plus does?
 
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Saksak said:
To pass inspection/code, you may need some sort of intelligent load management so that your panel is not overloaded. See this great video by StateOfCharge that explains the concept (32:57 minutes in).

Does anyone know of an 80 A charger that does everything the Emporia Pro or Wallbox Pulsar Plus does?
Click to expand...
Very interesting. I wonder if this could work off of a dedicated 100A sub panel rather than the main panel (which in my case is full).

If the lucid charger set up is forced to the 60A circuit, I may very well circle back to this option. Really appreciate you bringing this to my attention
 
Rhinoww said:
Very interesting. I wonder if this could work off of a dedicated 100A sub panel rather than the main panel (which in my case is full).

If the lucid charger set up is forced to the 60A circuit, I may very well circle back to this option. Really appreciate you bringing this to my attention
Click to expand...
If you are speaking about the Emporia, yes, I believe you could use the clamps on a sub panel as long as you had access to the feeder conductors. There shouldn’t be any issues with using this with a higher amp breaker. I considered a higher amp breaker but was convinced that unless one is a special case such as long daily drives, there is diminishing returns. If a 60 amp breaker can easily charge your vehicle overnight then what is the value in spending more money on copper?
I did call Emporia- based in Colorado- and found they were able to answer all my questions.
 
Chompy4u said:
If you are speaking about the Emporia, yes, I believe you could use the clamps on a sub panel as long as you had access to the feeder conductors. There shouldn’t be any issues with using this with a higher amp breaker. I considered a higher amp breaker but was convinced that unless one is a special case such as long daily drives, there is diminishing returns. If a 60 amp breaker can easily charge your vehicle overnight then what is the value in spending more money on copper?
I did call Emporia- based in Colorado- and found they were able to answer all my questions.
Click to expand...
Very helpful. First quote was to wire for 100A and then dial the charger back based on the load calculation - which he did not do. Estimate was for $2400. Seems like I’ll wait to see other bids and then ask about this system. My guess from the last work that was done is that a 60A circuit addition may be a stretch.

The Touring I was going to buy turns out has some sort of issue the VW dealership didn’t want to explain, but they are sending that car back to the wholesale auction. Seems I may have dodged one there even before I had my own inspection. So no hurry for a bit as I will be starting my search again.
 
Rhinoww said:
Very helpful. First quote was to wire for 100A and then dial the charger back based on the load calculation - which he did not do. Estimate was for $2400. Seems like I’ll wait to see other bids and then ask about this system. My guess from the last work that was done is that a 60A circuit addition may be a stretch.

The Touring I was going to buy turns out has some sort of issue the VW dealership didn’t want to explain, but they are sending that car back to the wholesale auction. Seems I may have dodged one there even before I had my own inspection. So no hurry for a bit as I will be starting my search again.
Click to expand...
This might be helpful: a photo of my panel with the clamps installed on the mains, and the control box at the bottom . You can also see its antenna for communications with the two EVSEs poking out below the panel.
 

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I have my LHCS right next to my panel, right next to the entrance to the garage (ie, abeam the back of the car once it's parked). This gives me tons of room to charge in the garage, or to park the car outside of the garage and easily reach it if I want to charge outdoors for any reason. It was around $600 to get it installed because it's about 2ft from the panel.
 
Chompy4u said:
This might be helpful: a photo of my panel with the clamps installed on the mains, and the control box at the bottom . You can also see its antenna for communications with the two EVSEs poking out below the panel.
Click to expand...
Thanks so much!
 
L-Dude said:
I installed mine on a post between my cars, which is the right side of my AGT. Although this requires running the cable around the front of my car to charge, it allows me to conveniently charge a second EV in the other bay should we get one in the future.
Click to expand...
I did similar and then got tired of wet dirty charging cable and strung it via bungee cords to go over the car and drop down net to the charge port.
I currently have a sheep halter hanging down until I can find some nice holster
 
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