Over on Reddit a discussion arose regarding the necessity and expense of installing an L2 charger. I suggested that at $1000 it was comparable to any major appliance. I recall my first apartment with a dedicated washer and dryer. I missed the laundromat "experience" the way I miss gas stations.
I considered installing a L2 charger to be a home improvement, not a vehicle expense. If I ever sell my house, I can add "Level 2 EV charging" as an amenity that will become more important in a few years.
Having a 200A main panel or greater is probably more important than a L2 charger. Main panel upgrades are certainly not cheap. If $1,000 meant I could charge my 131kWh F-150 Lightning ext. range 0-100% in 17.1 hours at 32A Level 2 versus 91 hours at Level 1, maybe I'd rather put the money towards a lift kit or fake chrome accessories for better value.
When I moved to my current location over 40 years ago it was semi-rural. Now I'm surrounded by big box stores and major arteries. It takes forever to go anywhere during peak periods just to get through the gauntlet of traffic lights. I still have some gassers and not only is it inconvenient to use a filling station but it can be a little dangerous just trying to get back out into traffic. I've had an Aerovironment L2 on the side of the house since 2017 and love the convenience. I'm on all electric heat with a 125 amp panel. The electrician who audited the house said I'd need a panel upgrade or have to take some items off the circuits and suggested my smooth top electric stove. No way! My basement is unfinished, used for only storage and a workshop. So I had the baseboard heaters removed and I was good to go with the existing panel. I got a 220 volt garage heater, put a dryer plug on it and that supplies heat when needed without breaking any rules. I don't know why you can't add a sub-panel to the mains just for the charging dock. As long as the main panel and sub don't exceed the 200amp max feed it wouldn't be a problem. Apparently the code doesn't allow that. That being said, I won't be living here forever and at some point I'm going to have to do the panel upgrade and have heaters reinstalled to make the house saleable. I agree with Jim that an installed charging dock adds to the resale appeal of the house.
Electric vehicle charging is 100% demand and added to the total calculated load regardless of how you feed it. From my experience, it is better to have larger loads protected by the larger main breaker rather then a smaller overcurrent device feeding a sub panel, the demand while charging would reduce capacity of that sub-panel. Utilizing table 39, the CEC does provide a reduction in the size of the service conductors for single dwellings also for feeder conductors or cables supplying single dwelling units of row housing, apartment, or similar buildings providing the equipment is labelled for the maximum calculated load accordingly and the supply voltage is 3 wire 120/240 or 120/208 -see rule 4-004, sub-rule 22
For my first 2 years as an EV owner I did fine with a plain old wall socket. I wasn't driving much, and an L2 would have been a complete waste. Now I've moved and am driving a bit more in an area where public charging is somewhat less available, so installing a charger was a no-brainer.
But it's usually not $1000. My Chargepoint CPH50 installed ended up costing me $60 out of pocket after the PUD rebate and federal tax credit. Sent from my Pixel 6 using Tapatalk
