Which home charger will you choose for your new Kona or Niro
- Thread starter EnerG
- Start date
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GPM432
Active Member
Well as far as ZapBC is concerned if you are happy with the install and paying that amount for the install which is probably the going price great. My landlord is qualified electrician and will install it for free with the plug already on the outside. wall. It's code now in new homes mostly
Aaron Cruikshank
New Member
My electrician is going to pull permits for me and run a line to the outside near the garage and is installing a Bosch Level 2 charger. Not sure what size or specs.
CJC
Well-Known Member
We were pleased with the install by ZapBC. They got the permits, and booked the city inspector for us to come after the completion. Their quality of work was excellent. We live in a new house with our breaker panels in the basement and wanted our install in the garage. They did some precise measuring to avoid having to drill through concrete. Looks tidy and works well.
Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
Just picked up my new JuiceBox Pro 40 on sale on Amazon Canada $100 off. Super easy set up. Wired the NEMA 14-50 myself and just plugged it in!
Attachments
Looks like a great install!
Few long loops on the J1772 handle cord will be better in the long run rather than many small ones
Wildeyed
Well-Known Member
I envy all of you with garages and dryer plugs. Talk about trouble free installation!
Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
I couldn’t agree more!
The cable is just so stiff right now as it’s still rather cold out. Once it warms up a bit I’ll strech it’s full length out and do just a few loops!
Aaron Cruikshank
New Member
So for those of you looking to install home chargers that are more than 20 amps, you may run into the issue I ran into - my panel wasn't big enough. I live in a relatively new 3400 sqft house (built in 2011) but for some reason, the panel was only installed with 125 Amps max. That means we were already right at the limits of the recommended load for the house with mostly electric appliances and an electric hot water tank.
What should have been a $2500 install (Bosch 30 amp level 2 charger + labour and materials) is now coming up on $6000 because they have to not only upgrade my panel to a 200 amp panel but BC Hydro has to come in and bring upgraded service to the house. That's another $1200 on top of the higher quote from the electrician.
I don't have much of a choice. The wiring upgrades are labour intensive but necessary. They said I could get away with a 20 amp charger but that would take 14 hours to charge up the car and with the mileage I put on my work car, I wasn't sure I would be able to get away with that regularly so this feels like a necessary upgrade.
That and if we ever need to add a second charger, the increased amps will be 100% necessary. My wife intends to get a plug in electric in the next 3-4 years as well.
So... if you're like me and have a low-amp panel for a larger house, you may end up getting an asshole-shriveling quote from your electrician.
What should have been a $2500 install (Bosch 30 amp level 2 charger + labour and materials) is now coming up on $6000 because they have to not only upgrade my panel to a 200 amp panel but BC Hydro has to come in and bring upgraded service to the house. That's another $1200 on top of the higher quote from the electrician.
I don't have much of a choice. The wiring upgrades are labour intensive but necessary. They said I could get away with a 20 amp charger but that would take 14 hours to charge up the car and with the mileage I put on my work car, I wasn't sure I would be able to get away with that regularly so this feels like a necessary upgrade.
That and if we ever need to add a second charger, the increased amps will be 100% necessary. My wife intends to get a plug in electric in the next 3-4 years as well.
So... if you're like me and have a low-amp panel for a larger house, you may end up getting an asshole-shriveling quote from your electrician.
Wildeyed
Well-Known Member
Yikes! You can't imagine how thrilled I was when the electrician came to spec the charger installation job and confirmed that I had a 200amp panel already installed with 2/3 of the breaker spaces still available!
CJC
Well-Known Member
Sorry to hear that Aaron. I worried about our electrical system too before we had ZapBC out. We have a house built in 2012 in an area with many builders of poor reputation. I was relieved when we heard our system was good. One has to wonder how the local electrical inspectors pass these homes.
Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
Hey Aaron,
I don’t want to sound rude at all and I hope this doesn’t come off that way. But are you certain you didn’t get taken for a ride? Did you have a second opinion done? A standard 100 amp service can have total amperage of each breaker exceeding well over 250amp. Meaning your 125 amp service would be approaching or exceeding 300 amps total allowance.
It seems extremely odd that you couldn’t include an addditional 40 amp breaker. Especially considering the higher-utilization breakers would likely be used extremely little ie. your washer, dryer, stove etc. Especially being as you’re out in BC and likely rarely use AC in your home throughout the summer.
I have a home of roughly 2500 square feet outside of Toronto. I have an electrically heated garage and crank my AC in the summer. My electrician told me I had plenty of room for growth and I only have a 100 amp service.
I could see this being a problem if you were running a hot bath, a load of laundry, baking a cake and had every light on in the house. Other than that I don’t see how it would be a problem, especially when charging off-peak through the night.
This is simply my observation and I do believe if you were to sell the house in future you could recoup the $6k as many people actively search for homes with 200amp service. But I fear that perhaps it may not have been necessary.
GL Ontario
Member
My panel was full as well. My electrician recommended a DCC- demand charge controller for electric vehicles that attaches to the panel. The cost of the unit, install of unit, install of 240v plug in garage and install of Charge Point was $2,000 + HST (Charge Point was purchased separately). I will send a picture shortly
GL Ontario
Member
Wildeyed
Well-Known Member
This sounds pretty legit. Brennan is correct that there is a fair bit of wiggle room with loading particularly if you are willing to be mindful of what's on and what's off. Also, having gas heating and appliances gives a lot more flexibility with regard to managing electrical loads. Everybody has a different situation.
This is an new application in the 2018 24th edition of the Canadian Electrical Code Part 1.
"For existing buildings, the addition of EVSE can result in the total load exceeding the existing service capacity. In this case, the fist option is to increase the service size. A second option is to install a system to monitor the power being drawn by EVSE's and other building loads, and control the EVSE loads such that the overall load does not exceed the limits of the existing service, feeders and branch circuits. In combination with new rule 8-500 and new sub-rules 8-106()11) and (12) such systems are now recognized in the Code as Electric Vehicle Management Systems (EVEMS). Complementary to the introduction of EVEMS, a new Table of loads and demand factors has been added specifically for EVSE."
As you can see the cost is less than changing the service, but still limits the charge rate.
The best is to upgrade service to 200A (or higher if the calculated load demands it)
I am not going to get into specifics on upgrade costs as they vary with individual circumstances.
EnerG
Active Member
Which charger did you have installed with the DCC ? Will your setup support a full 32Amp (7.2kW) charge for the Kona, assuming no clothes dryers or ranges are in use ?
Misspelled, sorry should be "first option" not fist
