Not Sure If Smoke Is Being Blown Up My...

The Leaf takes a Chademo plug.

 

There's been general worry over the years that our electrical grid may not be able to handle a large influx of EVs, but I don't know that this concern has ever manifested in the real world (at least not yet).

If your breaker is tripping, that's a local problem, not an upstream problem. If it's tripping with both EVSEs, and if it trips with multiple cars, then it's probably not an equipment issue. It could be the breaker isn't appropriately-sized for the load, or it could be some other more serious problem. The breaker is safety equipment, and should be trusted until proven otherwise; you should get someone out to take a look.

 

The dealer is serving up a giant heap of FUD. Not only FUD, but meaningless gibberish. "...the draw on the amps..." makes it sound like they once watched a youtube clip & now they think they know everything a master electrician knows. It's literally a mash of electricity-related terms that means nothing.

Moving on to "a lot of EVs charging at night" part...No. Peak demand on any grid is during the daytime when every building on the grid is using a lot - like when HVAC systems are working the hardest, factories/C&I customers are running machinery that dwarfs your 7 kW charger, businesses are open - & overnight is the bottom of the demand curve. Your neighbors will never & can never trip your breakers with their usage.

I'd be on the phone with the electrician who was the runner-up when you got your EVSE installation quotes, not the Mini service dept.

 

Should be CHAdeMO for DC fast charging plus J1772.

If the residential pole-mounted transformer was that much overloaded, it would probably be on fire. You probably need to provide additional details on your situation (main panel, breaker size, wiring to sub panel, sub-panel breakers, wiring to NEMA 14-50, etc.).

 

Sure sounds like a bunch of bull to me. It the local grid was indeed stressed the entire neighborhood would know.... not just one appliance of one household. Complete ignorance by the sounds of it, or someone trying dictate their own narrative.

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But as previously mentioned, sounds local to the circuit from the box if you're getting trips.

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Tell us about your wiring, and we can suggest diagnostic steps to identify the actual issue.
Guessing and throwing parts at something is slow and expensive.

 

They are talking nonsense. You just need a good electrician.

 

Look for the common problem.

If your car can successfully charge elsewhere, then it's not likely the car. If your breaker trips regardless of the charger you're using, then that's the likely issue.

It may be easier to blame other stuff, but from your posts it sounds like the issue is with your house wiring.

 

Just a note that grid power, or house loads (air conditioners, heat pumps, big TVs, pool heaters) combined with lossy connections can bring down the panel voltage a bit as well as outlet voltages, especially those at the end of a long run. Less voltage for a given load means more current flows which can trip a breaker on the margin that otherwise doesn't trip.... so there may not be as much smoke as you think... yet This may not be applicable in this case, but measuring the actual current flowing through the cable and the voltage may give you a clue and may show that charging the new SE is drawing more current than the red one. It gets complicated when at the margins and then the devices connected have different characteristics.

Was the electrical loading within the house less a few months ago?

 

I'm confused - I don't see an 80 amp breaker.

 

Um...I may be wrong here but your "80 Amp" breaker is a 40 Amp breaker. This is an 80 Amp breaker for a GE panel: https://www.simplybreakers.com/products/thql2180?currency=USD&variant=29143773184080&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9uD6ldXQ-QIVosLCBB3XyglWEAQYASABEgKLm_D_BwE

And it looks like the wire gauge being run to that sub panel is only 6 gauge based on your photos. If you truely had an 80 Amp breaker feeding that sub panel you would need to use 4 gauge wire.

As others have said, you really need to get a licensed electrician out to look at all of your wiring.

 

PLUS - the panel with the 50 amp breaker - there is no main breaker on that panel. The feed wire is coming into that panel from the middle correct? That feed wire looks smaller. Are you saying the panel with the 50 amp breaker is being fed by a 40 amp breaker?

 

Unfortunately that is not how 240V breakers work. A 240 service uses two 120V feeds that are offset in phase by 180 degrees. That means the total voltage differential between the legs is always 240V. The breaker is rated at the maximum current draw on each phase. If you are drawing 80 amps on a 240 you need a breaker that feeds 80 amps on each phase. The breaker you have feeding that sub panel is only able to provide 40 amps per phase.

Please ensure your expert really knows his stuff here. I am very concerned about the feed wire you have going from your main box to that sub panel. If it is only 6 AWG copper wire that maximum breaker you can feed to the sub panel is 50 amps. If you install an 80 amp breaker and feed the sub panel with the existing wire you have a high risk of an electrical fire in your walls as that 6 AWG wire is not rated for that current draw. If you replace the current 40 amp breaker with a 50 amp breaker you will probably need to re-evaluate the breaker size for your EVSE given the number of other circuits you have in that sub panel.

 

What's the feasibility of feeding the 240v charging outlet directly from the main panel? Is there any room in the main panel and whats the distance / run path like? What's the main breaker for the house? If no room in main panel, maybe an electrician could add a sub panel close by and move some circuits from main to sub. Panels are cheap if they can just move some circuits over without running new wire. My panel has a 200 amp main but was full when house was new. Its the least amount of breakers I've ever seen in such a large panel. Builders love to save pennies and don't care about your ability to upgrade.

 

Wanted to chime in to agree with folks here - you really need a certified electrician visit to inspect what you have going on.

That sub-panel is obviously overloaded. Probably best to replace it with an 80-100A sub-panel with appropriately sized wiring from the main panel. I'm curious who thought throwing a 50A breaker in a 40A sub-panel was okay? Glad your 40A breaker is doing it's job though!!