Challenges To Charging During The Summer Months On Our Home EVSE

[DeaneG]

I am still a bit confused:

> if the EVSC is hardwired to the breakers, is a GFCI still necessary? I though GFCI is there to protect faults when people plug/unplug the equipment (EVSC, in this case).
> If so, why is a GFCI necessary for a hardwired EVSC? It is no different than your oven, right?
> My JuiceBox (at a different house) is 40A and plugs into a NEMA 14-50 plug without GFCI. The installation was done in 2019, before the 2020 NEC that mandates the GFCI.
> when I installed the NEMA 14-50 in my CA house in 2024, GFC was a requirement.

GFCI isn't required for a hardwired EVSE installation, because GFCI is required only for receptacles in garage, kitchen, bathrooms, outdoors. Hardwiring the EVSE eliminates the receptacle, and so eliminates the need for the GFCI.

It's easy to convert a plug-in EVSE installation to hardwired (switching to a non-GFCI breaker) if you do experience nuisance tripping due to the GFCI breaker mandated by the use of a receptacle.

 

[BS8899]

I am still a bit confused:

> if the EVSC is hardwired to the breakers, is a GFCI still necessary? I though GFCI is there to protect faults when people plug/unplug the equipment (EVSC, in this case).
> If so, why is a GFCI necessary for a hardwired EVSC? It is no different than your oven, right?
> My JuiceBox (at a different house) is 40A and plugs into a NEMA 14-50 plug without GFCI. The installation was done in 2019, before the 2020 NEC that mandates the GFCI.
> when I installed the NEMA 14-50 in my CA house in 2024, GFC was a requirement.

The way I read your ChargePoint wiring instruction is to avoid having "tandem GFCIs" (since the ChargePoint has a built-in GFCI) as it causes confusion as to which GFCI tripped when there is a fault. That, of course, is a valid point.

 

[DeaneG]

The way I read your ChargePoint wiring instruction is to avoid having "tandem GFCIs" (since the ChargePoint has a built-in GFCI) as it causes confusion as to which GFCI tripped when there is a fault. That, of course, is a valid point.

It's because the Chargepoint, and other EVSEs, can cause the GFCI breaker supplying them to trip with no fault present - a "nuisance trip".