Home Charger Installation

[smartebiz]

I am getting my car soon so wanted to check which Home Charger is good to install. Appreciate for any feedback. Thanks!

 

[borski]

There have been a few threads on this; please search the forums for EVSE and “charger.”

Long story short, you’ll be fine with any of Chargepoint, Wallbox Pulsar Plus, JuiceBox, or any others. Lucid’s EVSE is also coming out “soon” and will be able to do 80A continuous charging; the others will do 40A continuous if plugged in, 48A if hardwired, assuming your wiring supports it.

 

[Tesla2.0]

You can hold off a little longer to get official Lucid home charger. Meanwhile, use 220 native charging cable comes with car on EA stations around town.

 

[smartebiz]

You can hold off a little longer to get official Lucid home charger. Meanwhile, use 220 native charging cable comes with car on EA stations around town.

Thanks!

 

[smartebiz]

There have been a few threads on this; please search the forums for EVSE and “charger.”

Long story short, you’ll be fine with any of Chargepoint, Wallbox Pulsar Plus, JuiceBox, or any others. Lucid’s EVSE is also coming out “soon” and will be able to do 80A continuous charging; the others will do 40A continuous if plugged in, 48A if hardwired, assuming your wiring supports it.

Thanks will keep watch on the thread EVSE and “charger.” and appreciate for quick suggestion and recommendation.

 

[Cosmo Cruz]

I took the advice on Lucid site and had electrician install 100 amp line to garage and he put a panel that has room for 6 breakers, which will charge 2 EVs at a time plus future needs. I have a hardwire Juice Box 40 on the way. Have been taking photos so will post the process soon. Cost was more than I expected. House built in '87 200amp service. Has had some upgrades ~10 yrs ago but inspection offered more: some circuits were moved from main panel to basement sub-panel to make room for 100amp garage panel tap. Several GFCI were added, extra grounding rod and ground straps revisited on H + C + gas line. Everything is permitted and inspected. I hired a premium company and the work / workers are excellent (you pay for it, but I'm kinda fussy). It's expensive, more than I expected, but it's trickle-down stuff and I am getting premium benefit to future proof my house. I am set-up for bi-directional charging when it's available. I see this as a necessary feature in all houses. My electrician says he used to work for Toll Bros. (regional home builder). New buyers need to "opt-out" if they don't want a charger circuit in the garage.

 

[smartebiz]

I took the advice on Lucid site and had electrician install 100 amp line to garage and he put a panel that has room for 6 breakers, which will charge 2 EVs at a time plus future needs. I have a hardwire Juice Box 40 on the way. Have been taking photos so will post the process soon. Cost was more than I expected. House built in '87 200amp service. Has had some upgrades ~10 yrs ago but inspection offered more: some circuits were moved from main panel to basement sub-panel to make room for 100amp garage panel tap. Several GFCI were added, extra grounding rod and ground straps revisited on H + C + gas line. Everything is permitted and inspected. I hired a premium company and the work / workers are excellent (you pay for it, but I'm kinda fussy). It's expensive, more than I expected, but it's trickle-down stuff and I am getting premium benefit to future proof my house. I am set-up for bi-directional charging when it's available. I see this as a necessary feature in all houses. My electrician says he used to work for Toll Bros. (regional home builder). New buyers need to "opt-out" if they don't want a charger circuit in the garage.

Thanks a lot it helps!

 

[Tesla2.0]

I took the advice on Lucid site and had electrician install 100 amp line to garage and he put a panel that has room for 6 breakers, which will charge 2 EVs at a time plus future needs. I have a hardwire Juice Box 40 on the way. Have been taking photos so will post the process soon. Cost was more than I expected. House built in '87 200amp service. Has had some upgrades ~10 yrs ago but inspection offered more: some circuits were moved from main panel to basement sub-panel to make room for 100amp garage panel tap. Several GFCI were added, extra grounding rod and ground straps revisited on H + C + gas line. Everything is permitted and inspected. I hired a premium company and the work / workers are excellent (you pay for it, but I'm kinda fussy). It's expensive, more than I expected, but it's trickle-down stuff and I am getting premium benefit to future proof my house. I am set-up for bi-directional charging when it's available. I see this as a necessary feature in all houses. My electrician says he used to work for Toll Bros. (regional home builder). New buyers need to "opt-out" if they don't want a charger circuit in the garage.

You are more than ready. I waited few months for Lucid Bi-Directional Charger, I gave up waiting and installed 60 amp circuit with Wallbox using Lucid recommended QMerit service. My 200 amp box is full, so electrician had to merge 4 slots to have them share 2 slots to create room for 60amp. I’m getting Solar Panel in process of paperwork. My estimate for Lucid HomeBox release is sometimes next year because I really don’t hear them tease much about the release.

 

[noobzilla]

Starting to look into EV charging installation and potentially solar panels + battery. Considering Lucid could be used for bi-directional I wonder if getting a battery would even be worth it.

 

[Boomer AZ]

Starting to look into EV charging installation and potentially solar panels + battery. Considering Lucid could be used for bi-directional I wonder if getting a battery would even be worth it.

Battery is there 24/7. When power drops out, transfer to battery is seamless and unnoticed. Battery can be used during peak TOU rate hours to greatly reduce your electric bill. Solar panels can still work during a power outage because the battery control box disconnects the house from the power grid.

Using the Lucid bi-directional charger is most like having a backup generator. During power outage, transfer will not be seamless. During severe power outage, do you really want to drain your Lucid’s battery? I’m not sure your solar panels will work without a special controller.

I don‘t know what peak or average AC power Lucid can generate.
I would hope that the bi-directional charger would disconnect from the Lucid when a preset SOC is reached.

I feel the Lucid and bi-directional charger replaces a whole house generator, not a solar battery. Personally if your house has natural gas, I’d get a NG generator. Has the potential to charge your EV too.

 

[Tesla2.0]

Battery is there 24/7. When power drops out, transfer to battery is seamless and unnoticed. Battery can be used during peak TOU rate hours to greatly reduce your electric bill. Solar panels can still work during a power outage because the battery control box disconnects the house from the power grid.

Using the Lucid bi-directional charger is most like having a backup generator. During power outage, transfer will not be seamless. During severe power outage, do you really want to drain your Lucid’s battery? I’m not sure your solar panels will work without a special controller.

I don‘t know what peak or average AC power Lucid can generate.
I would hope that the bi-directional charger would disconnect from the Lucid when a preset SOC is reached.

I feel the Lucid and bi-directional charger replaces a whole house generator, not a solar battery. Personally if your house has natural gas, I’d get a NG generator. Has the potential to charge your EV too.

If would only be ideal if house is black out for a few hours as temporary generator. Extended black out like winter storm is just bad to battery transferring electrify at low heat.

 

[cabood]

After multiple discussions with friends and family in south Florida following the hurricane I realize using the car as a backup energy source during a power outage isn't a great idea. Everyone who had a car in their garage that wasn't damaged knew exactly how much gas was left in their tank and was rationing their driving to make sure it would last.

Draining your car's battery to power your refrigerator will leave you stranded quickly. No thanks.

 

[digiboxer]

After multiple discussions with friends and family in south Florida following the hurricane I realize using the car as a backup energy source during a power outage isn't a great idea. Everyone who had a car in their garage that wasn't damaged knew exactly how much gas was left in their tank and was rationing their driving to make sure it would last.

Draining your car's battery to power your refrigerator will leave you stranded quickly. No thanks.

I don't have hurricane risk, but have had 18 hr (max) outages from Midwest storms (winter and summer). I've concluded the NG generator would be best ($30,000+ installed). Also looked briefly at battery (Powerwall)...12k? Im wondering if the Lucid bi-directional could replace the powerwall option for just the $1200 cost of the wall unit?

Also there will always be an ICE SUV in the same garage----but we gotta get the doors up...!

 

[Bunnylebowski]

I don't have hurricane risk, but have had 18 hr (max) outages from Midwest storms (winter and summer). I've concluded the NG generator would be best ($30,000+ installed). Also looked briefly at battery (Powerwall)...12k? Im wondering if the Lucid bi-directional could replace the powerwall option for just the $1200 cost of the wall unit?

Also there will always be an ICE SUV in the same garage----but we gotta get the doors up...!

People forget that ICE car fuel station pumps run on electricity, so unless your local gas station has a well fueled generator you’re not in any better shape with an ICE car than an EV. ICE car is less useful during a storm than EV because water is more likely to disable the vehicle, and in a snow storm situation idling when it’s cold burns more fuel, impacting ICE range more than “idling” in an EV. If you’ve got advance notice for a storm I’d just charge the car to 100% and drive to somewhere that’s not as likely to lose power/flood if you have time. Powerwall battery doesn’t make economic sense unless you’ve earned back the cost of the battery by using it to send electricity to the grid when it needs it, as a 9kW $10,000 powerwall will power your house for how long, 3 days max, probably likely less? So you paid $3,000/day to power your house? I guess if you have frequent outages it could make more sense but using the Lucid with V2H would by far be the more economical choice, 100kw battery vs 9kW powerwall. If for some reason you needed to go somewhere just use your ICE car or second EV.

 

[borski]

People forget that ICE car fuel station pumps run on electricity, so unless your local gas station has a well fueled generator you’re not in any better shape with an ICE car than an EV. ICE car is less useful during a storm than EV because water is more likely to disable the vehicle, and in a snow storm situation idling when it’s cold burns more fuel, impacting ICE range more than “idling” in an EV. If you’ve got advance notice for a storm I’d just charge the car to 100% and drive to somewhere that’s not as likely to lose power/flood if you have time. Powerwall battery doesn’t make economic sense unless you’ve earned back the cost of the battery by using it to send electricity to the grid when it needs it, as a 9kW $10,000 powerwall will power your house for how long, 3 days max, probably likely less? So you paid $3,000/day to power your house? I guess if you have frequent outages it could make more sense but using the Lucid with V2H would by far be the more economical choice, 100kw battery vs 9kW powerwall. If for some reason you needed to go somewhere just use your ICE car or second EV.

The other benefit of the Powerwalls in addition to the arbitrage you mention, is the seamless power transfer when paired with solar panels. We had a 7-8 hour random outage the other day, due to a PGE equipment problem, that affected 200 customers. Our Powerwalls kicked in immediately, and were supplementing solar. When the sun went down, if I didn’t use AC I had 15-16 hours of backup power left, and 9-10 with the ACs on. Nice part is the sun comes up sooner than that so solar would have powered the house and charged the Powerwalls if it lasted through the night.

With the EV, you wouldn’t get the benefit of using solar, as your grid connection would likely be severed since solar has nowhere to send the power to as it’s likely the solar and car wouldn’t be connected.

The EV is a great idea as a replacement for a backup generator, but the fixed battery packs are still beneficial for true battery backup. Plus, I get to keep my EV charged up and ready to go if I need to get somewhere. And with 451mi of range and 1111hp, I can really get places.

 

[Bunnylebowski]

Yeah I think I’ve never lost power where I live in Rhode Island, though some coastal areas like Narragansett and Hopkintown always seem to be losing power when the wind blows. So I can see how the powerwall setup would make sense for some if you get frequent blackouts. You have more than one powerwall though right? And I thought most solar setups can’t just go off-grid, where if the grid is down you can just use the panels to keep everything online while recharging the battery backups? Like if the grid needs juice you can just say “sorry you can’t use my battery or solar, I’m off grid now”? I know your setup is unique and it sounds like you’ve got it worked out, but with most solar/powerwall combos it just works that way?

 

[borski]

Yeah I think I’ve never lost power where I live in Rhode Island, though some coastal areas like Narragansett and Hopkintown always seem to be losing power when the wind blows. So I can see how the powerwall setup would make sense for some if you get frequent blackouts. You have more than one powerwall though right? And I thought most solar setups can’t just go off-grid, where if the grid is down you can just use the panels to keep everything online while recharging the battery backups? Like if the grid needs juice you can just say “sorry you can’t use my battery or solar, I’m off grid now”? I know your setup is unique and it sounds like you’ve got it worked out, but with most solar/powerwall combos it just works that way?

I have four, but that’s not actually the point. If you don’t have power you can’t talk to the grid to send them power. That connection is severed. If you don’t have battery backup, you also don’t have solar, as excess solar has nowhere to go, so you’re still out of power.

With both batteries and solar, when a blackout occurs, you are effectively “off grid.” As soon as power is restored, you can then contribute back to the grid.

With only solar, if your power goes out, so do your panels.

Good explanation here: https://www.solaria.com/blog/solar-power-outage

 

[joec]

The other benefit of the Powerwalls in addition to the arbitrage you mention, is the seamless power transfer when paired with solar panels. We had a 7-8 hour random outage the other day, due to a PGE equipment problem, that affected 200 customers. Our Powerwalls kicked in immediately, and were supplementing solar. When the sun went down, if I didn’t use AC I had 15-16 hours of backup power left, and 9-10 with the ACs on. Nice part is the sun comes up sooner than that so solar would have powered the house and charged the Powerwalls if it lasted through the night.

With the EV, you wouldn’t get the benefit of using solar, as your grid connection would likely be severed since solar has nowhere to send the power to as it’s likely the solar and car wouldn’t be connected.

The EV is a great idea as a replacement for a backup generator, but the fixed battery packs are still beneficial for true battery backup. Plus, I get to keep my EV charged up and ready to go if I need to get somewhere. And with 451mi of range and 1111hp, I can really get places.

This is the dream. As far as I’m concerned, all new construction should be required to be able to sustain itself without the grid, whether that be solar, or whatever works in that region, with battery backups.

I suppose the utility companies wouldn’t be too happy about that, though.

 

[Tesla2.0]

In last year Texas winter storm, we had 5 days blackout, basically all food in fridge has to be thrown out. I’m not the only one, there are 3.5M homes and businesses affected. Fortunately, my neighbor has Generac and share some power with me for my tropical fish tank and fridge.

 

[borski]

This is the dream. As far as I’m concerned, all new construction should be required to be able to sustain itself without the grid, whether that be solar, or whatever works in that region, with battery backups.

I suppose the utility companies wouldn’t be too happy about that, though.

It was pretty wild to be pretty much the only house on the street that had power; even our external lights were still on because we had plenty of battery left. Only the pool, spa, and garage (so EV chargers) are not backed up.