Challenges to Level 2 Charging

[JamesS]

I thought I'd share my recent experience on trying to get wired for level 2 charging...
3 weeks ago I bought a Kia Niro EV, so I'm pretty new to EV's. I figured I could limp by with the included Level 1 charger, but thought life might be easier with a Level 2 added to my garage. I live in So. California in a 25 year old home. Not too old, but the breaker panel became full after I got solar last year. I figured there'd be ways an electrician could work around this. It turns out - not really. I spoke with an electrician this morning and he looked at the panel. Apparently the home is only 100A. So if he tied in another 50A breaker I was told I
couldn't charge my car and and run the A/C at the same time for danger of overloading. The A/C runs on 50A. I don't think that's very practical, running around and making sure the A/C is off so I can charge the car. The other option getting a whole new circuit box running higher Amps which would cost around $3000. Luckily I work from home and have time to trickle-charge during the work-week.

 

[craze1cars]

Level 2 charger draws 32 amps, not 50.
4 ton central A/C and fan draws around 20 amps, not 50. How big is your A/C? Maybe it has supplemental electric heat within...that could possibly account for the large breaker. But understand that just because an appliance is installed on a 50 amp breaker, this does not mean it draws anywhere near 50 amps. If it does, the breaker is too small.

I don’t know your specifics, but if you have 100 amp service and those are your two big amp pullers, they will only draw about 52 amps when running at the same time. So you have 48 amps left over to run the rest of the house without tripping the main.

Water heater? Range? Dryer? house heat? Are these gas or electric? If gas, you should have excess capacity sufficient to just run the L2 charger as you choose to. If they are all electric, then indeed maybe you don’t...

You also have the option to go with a smaller L2 charger. 16 amp 240v chargers are not uncommon and will be at least 3 times faster than 120v charging.

Just be sure the electrician wasn’t trying to give you an unnecessary upsell. Get another opinion. I believe you have more economical options.

 

[Fastnf]

You could also put in a 20 amp level two charger. It will give you 3.8 kw of charge. That will easily give you a full charge over night. I have a Hyundai Kona and rarely set my level two charger over 16 amps (20 amp breaker) even though it capable of twice that. Also if you have a electric dryer out let you can charge from that as well.

 

[JamesS]

Thanks Fastnf and Craze1cars! You bring up some good points for me to look into. I didn't get a feeling that the electrician was looking to upsell at all. Maybe the opposite - maybe he didn't want the job. Since the breaker box is full, I assume that the new outlet would need to piggyback off of an existing breaker. The A/C is on the 50A, but don't know how much it actually draws. If no more that 30A, then it seems reasonable to get a lower Wattage charger. I will reach out to the same electrician with that suggestion and try to get a 2nd opinion. BTW - Oven/Stove and dryer are gas. Thanks again for the advice!

 

[gooki]

Have you switched to LED lighting? If yes, I'd be looking to combine your lighting circuits to free up space in the switch board.

 

[Paul K]

I had a similar situation. I have a 120amp service panel. I live in a semi-detached heated by baseboard electric. The basement is unfinished and serves as my
work shop and parts storage area. The charging dock I bought draws 30amps. A licensed electrician determined that with the dock I would have exceed ESA (Electrical Safety Authority) limits for potential load and suggested I get a gas stove and water heater.

Instead I had the baseboard heaters removed from the basement which brought me into compliance. I Then purchased a 220V "garage heater" and put a dryer
plug on it. I can't use the dryer and the heater at the same time so I'm not breaking any regulations. Problem solved.