Would Like Your Feedback

julianevjourney

Active Member
Verified Owner
Joined
Apr 24, 2022
Messages
113
Location
Los Angeles
Cars
Air Touring
I am actually a renter of a townhome and this is my first EV. Awhile ago I received permission from the landlord to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in the garage. After engaging a Qmerit electrician and another electrician for a second opinion, I have found I am unable to install this outlet. The reason being is the townhome only receives 100 amps, 50 of those amps are allocated to the A.C. unit so the rest of the townhome only receives 50 amps. Simply put, my home doesn’t have enough amperage to support level 2 charging.

I work out of my home and only drive around 10-12k miles per year on average. So, without purchasing a home (I actually chose to sale the home I built in MN, and move to LA where I downsized to living in a townhome that I rent and that works for me for now) or moving to a different rental property more suitable for EVs, here is my plan:
  • I will trickle charge using a standard outlet overnight and during the day while I’m working. This should hopefully replenish a few miles an hour and should handle how much I typically drive per day during the weekdays.
  • On average, I drive 200 to 250 miles per week. So, obviously trickle charging will not be enough. I am expecting to get somewhere between 250 and 300 miles of real world range with a Touring at 80% SOC. So, when I get down around 20% SOC I will use an EA fast charger near me. I’m expecting to have to do this biweekly. I know this is fast charging too frequently but I think I will have to do this until I move which might be a couple years.
  • As a backup/alternative I will use the public Flo charger right in front of my home. Because I would have to park on the street and because it costs 2/hr for the first 4 hours and then jumps to 4/hr after that, it’s not something I want to do regularly.
So, that is my plan once I get my Touring. I would like to get your feedback on this plan. Are there other options I might want to consider? Are there some downsides or cons I may not be considering?

Thanks all in advance for your constructive feedback.
 
I’d ask the landlord to do a heavy up. It shouldn’t cost more than $3K.
 
I’m expecting to have to do this biweekly. I know this is fast charging too frequently
I don’t think this is too frequent assuming you meant every 2 weeks. One of the YouTubers that specializes on Tesla showed the results from an app that tracked charging and found that “frequent” supercharging did not impact battery degradation in a meaningful way
 
I don’t think this is too frequent assuming you meant every 2 weeks. One of the YouTubers that specializes on Tesla showed the results from an app that tracked charging and found that “frequent” supercharging did not impact battery degradation in a meaningful way
+1 on this. I exclusively charged my 2019 MS for 3 years on superchargers. Degradation was only about 10 miles off a full 100% charge after 36k miles.
I charge my AGT 95% on EA stations as I have one 5 miles from home. I end up charging every 10 days or so. I do not anticipate a noticeable drop in battery capability, after 8500 miles I have none.
 
I am actually a renter of a townhome and this is my first EV. Awhile ago I received permission from the landlord to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in the garage. After engaging a Qmerit electrician and another electrician for a second opinion, I have found I am unable to install this outlet. The reason being is the townhome only receives 100 amps, 50 of those amps are allocated to the A.C. unit so the rest of the townhome only receives 50 amps. Simply put, my home doesn’t have enough amperage to support level 2 charging.

I work out of my home and only drive around 10-12k miles per year on average. So, without purchasing a home (I actually chose to sale the home I built in MN, and move to LA where I downsized to living in a townhome that I rent and that works for me for now) or moving to a different rental property more suitable for EVs, here is my plan:
  • I will trickle charge using a standard outlet overnight and during the day while I’m working. This should hopefully replenish a few miles an hour and should handle how much I typically drive per day during the weekdays.
  • On average, I drive 200 to 250 miles per week. So, obviously trickle charging will not be enough. I am expecting to get somewhere between 250 and 300 miles of real world range with a Touring at 80% SOC. So, when I get down around 20% SOC I will use an EA fast charger near me. I’m expecting to have to do this biweekly. I know this is fast charging too frequently but I think I will have to do this until I move which might be a couple years.
  • As a backup/alternative I will use the public Flo charger right in front of my home. Because I would have to park on the street and because it costs 2/hr for the first 4 hours and then jumps to 4/hr after that, it’s not something I want to do regularly.
So, that is my plan once I get my Touring. I would like to get your feedback on this plan. Are there other options I might want to consider? Are there some downsides or cons I may not be considering?

Thanks all in advance for your constructive feedback.
You can also install a smaller line and breaker and get a hardwired EVSE like Wallbox, because then you can just lower the amperage on the actual EVSE itself. It wouldn’t be as fast as a 14-50, but you could max out the amperage as much as you could and it would be magnitudes faster than the 110v trickle.
 
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I will second @borski suggestion. Put a lower amperage 240v connection in and use something like a Wallbox, ChargePoint etc that you can set the amperage to a lower setting. That way you can get a decent charge. I am worried that the 110v trickle charge, while it might work on something like a Leaf, will be underpowered on the Lucid. The Lucid tends to consume a bit of power during the charging - something like 1kW. A 15 amp 110v outlet will only deliver 1.65 kw. I have heard stories on this forum that in the summer heat, you may get negative charging.
 
I am actually a renter of a townhome and this is my first EV. Awhile ago I received permission from the landlord to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in the garage. After engaging a Qmerit electrician and another electrician for a second opinion, I have found I am unable to install this outlet. The reason being is the townhome only receives 100 amps, 50 of those amps are allocated to the A.C. unit so the rest of the townhome only receives 50 amps. Simply put, my home doesn’t have enough amperage to support level 2 charging.

I work out of my home and only drive around 10-12k miles per year on average. So, without purchasing a home (I actually chose to sale the home I built in MN, and move to LA where I downsized to living in a townhome that I rent and that works for me for now) or moving to a different rental property more suitable for EVs, here is my plan:
  • I will trickle charge using a standard outlet overnight and during the day while I’m working. This should hopefully replenish a few miles an hour and should handle how much I typically drive per day during the weekdays.
  • On average, I drive 200 to 250 miles per week. So, obviously trickle charging will not be enough. I am expecting to get somewhere between 250 and 300 miles of real world range with a Touring at 80% SOC. So, when I get down around 20% SOC I will use an EA fast charger near me. I’m expecting to have to do this biweekly. I know this is fast charging too frequently but I think I will have to do this until I move which might be a couple years.
  • As a backup/alternative I will use the public Flo charger right in front of my home. Because I would have to park on the street and because it costs 2/hr for the first 4 hours and then jumps to 4/hr after that, it’s not something I want to do regularly.
So, that is my plan once I get my Touring. I would like to get your feedback on this plan. Are there other options I might want to consider? Are there some downsides or cons I may not be considering?

Thanks all in advance for your constructive feedback.
I daily drive my AGT and have an electrician set out to install my 80A hardwired this next week.

But I've been trickle charging just fine for the last month. It would take like 5 days to go from 0-80 if left in 24/7.
I usually charge 30-50 miles per day on trickle right now.

But if you do like 30-50 miles per day and plug it in whenever you're home, I think it's doable and that's what I've been doing.

And if I really need to, I could take it to my local EA charger, but haven't had the need to.

Hope that helps
Screenshot_20221219_013736.jpg

(have a screen filter on for 2 am forum viewing, sorry of its too dark)
 
btw, @borski and @Sandvinsd I did take a look at a Wallbox. I went through the process of getting an estimate through Coil who is the company they recommend. After reviewing everything they told me,,

Unfortunately, the Team's review determined that you do not have enough available Amp space to safely install a Charger circuit, without a Panel upgrade.

I‘ve reached out to my HOA but this significant of an upgrade is not something being considered at the moment so I think I’ll have to plan on using the approach I outlined. Hopefully, it works for me as it has for @Volund.
 
If using an existing 120V outlet to trickle charge, plug in the car and let it charge for 20 minutes or so. Pull he plug out of the wall socket and feel the plug's prongs. They should be warm, not hot. If hot, have the outlet replaced before using it to charge any more.

The same test works well on a 14-50 outlet for those in that situation.
 
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