I wondered why a private company would provide 'incentives' to install a charger. I understand it ZapBC is selling carbon credits based on your use of electricity instead of gas. I am not sure how I feel about that. Guess it is no different than Google, Facetime or the others that provide 'free' stuff these days...
Which home charger will you choose for your new Kona or Niro
- Thread starter EnerG
- Start date
- Replies 246
- Views 56K
BC-Doc
Member
@GaryB— I passed on ZapBC once I read what the program was and saw how it worked. I didn’t want to allow a private company ongoing access to my garage, data, and ownership of my carbon offset. Signing on with ZapBC means signing on for a long-term relationship— it wasn’t for me. I ended up buying a 32amp Sun Country charger from Costco online for $850Cnd. Installation by the electrician was straightforward and cost me $500.
Brennan Raposo
Well-Known Member
I would absolutely recommend against putting it inside a box. On a hot day you're essentially creating a greenhouse. The box is black and without any ability to regulate it's heat you run the risk of damaging internal circuitry including solders even when not in use. Just imagine the electronics inside of your car on a hot summer day - now put that same car inside of a clear box with no airflow.
The unit is VERY well built and completely designed to work in extreme weather outdoors. You're essentially negating the engineering that went into the design of the box.
XtsKonaTrooper
Well-Known Member
With these DCC Demand Control Chargers, will it pass an ESA inspection?
GL Ontario
Member
It passed the inspection. It's added security in case I decide to run the dishwasher and the washing machine and the dryer while I charge the car over night. 
Had to either install the DCC or upgrade my panel. This was a lot cheaper.
Had to either install the DCC or upgrade my panel. This was a lot cheaper.
XtsKonaTrooper
Well-Known Member
I think i might have to go this route as i only have 100amp service and being the house is super old, im sure the feed coming into house might have to be upgraded too.It passed the inspection. It's added security in case I decide to run the dishwasher and the washing machine and the dryer while I charge the car over night.
Had to either install the DCC or upgrade my panel. This was a lot cheaper.
Logically i know not to run power intense stuff at once but ESA doesnt look at it that way.
I was going to swap out dryer hookup each time i needed to charge but that would be a pain in the butt everytime.
1st-KonaEV-in-FL
Member
1st-KonaEV-in-FL
Member
We got our Kona EV from N.Y. had it shipoed to us here in Florida this past March. Got the Juice Box Pro JuiceBox Pro 40 Smart Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Station with WiFi - 40 amp Level 2 EVSE, 24-foot cable, NEMA 14-50 plug, UL and Energy Star Certified, Indoor / Outdoor Use, from Amazon https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UB9R4KO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
We have solar PV for the house that over produces, so we use that for tge car charging. Do wish I had more monitoring of what is pulling from grid vs solar, have to manually figure it out.
Anyone else have a best way to maximize using solar?
We have solar PV for the house that over produces, so we use that for tge car charging. Do wish I had more monitoring of what is pulling from grid vs solar, have to manually figure it out.
Anyone else have a best way to maximize using solar?
Reply to 1st-KonaEV-in-FL: I looked into solar here in British Columbia. We can add solar and connect to the grid, thereby effectively using BCHydro as the battery. They don't buy power from households, but do allow us to offset our usage in the cloudy winter by summer excess production. My roof would allow 36 panels generating 11kWh - I expect you generate much more than that in Florida! I calculated that driving the Kona locally about 12000 km/yr (we are retired), the charging would be about 2kWh/yr at about 2 cents/km (1 cent/mile) - roughly 10 times less than our VW Tiguan gasser. We have ordered a Kona, but postponed the solar because while it currently seems to be at least a pretty good, 6% return on a 25 yr investment, my roof won't last that long. Neither will I. Maybe once they manage to increase the efficiency of the panels...
I expect you are connected to the grid. How does your Florida hydro supplier handle your solar production?
Nice EVSE installation. I have more or less decided to buy a JuiceBox. How is it working for you?
I expect you are connected to the grid. How does your Florida hydro supplier handle your solar production?
Nice EVSE installation. I have more or less decided to buy a JuiceBox. How is it working for you?
12,000 km/ year at 150 wH/km (super efficient driving) = 1800 kWh (or 1.8 mWh)
Net metering in B.C. got phased out somewhere around 2013 but is still grandfathered in (to my understanding) so correct on the buy back of energy.
Solar is in transition right now (increase of module density) so good deals are available , but best to wait a bit.
XtsKonaTrooper
Well-Known Member
This whole Solar panel crap, blows me away.
I remember back in the 70's watching W5 and them saying, in the future the price of panels will come down.
Pretty well 50 years later, still not super cheap.
In SoCal, Solar was a great investment 7 years ago, even better now. I purchased my panels/installation and it yields me about 7% tax free and risk free return on my investment. Pretty smart investment I think. Now that I have a Kona, I am thinking of adding a few panels to bring my net usage back down to zero over the year. Recently went to Time of Use plan with power company, run pool filter pump at night and also night time EV charging set up on my programmable JuiceBox. First month, I actually got a net credit $ even though I had a net use of about 100 kWh. My solar covers my house usage, stores the daytime production in a couple of Tesla batteries for use during the high cost afternoon/evening hours.
eastpole
Active Member
Actually from 1970 to 2018, the price of solar panels came down by about a factor of 100x. I.e. you are paying $1.50 a watt where your grandparents would have paid $150 a watt. What has not come down in price is the labour and expertise to put it on a roof, the racking to keep it there on a wind day, or the permits etc. from your electrical authority. And I guess the mark-up taken by the importers and installers hasn't come down, either.
Reference: https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/1...ing-quicker-expected-cleantechnica-exclusive/
I'm participating in a "smart-home" study in Southern California, and the program installed an AeroVironment L2 charger at my home last year. It seems to work very well. At the time I was driving a Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid, but my lease expires in a couple of weeks. I got my Kona EV two days ago and am completely sold on this car.
In the San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) territory we have a new TOU rate (TOU-EV5) that has a "super off-peak" rate of $0.09/kWh between midnight and 6 am on weekdays and between midnight and 2 pm on weekends and holidays. This is equivalent to $0.90/gallon gas if you assume 4.0 kWh/mile for the EV and 40 mpg for the ICE. Even better if you use 4.3 (which is my average so far) and 30 mpg. It's equivalent to something like $0.63/gallon. Really a no brainer.
I would imagine that the other California utilities are doing something similar to help alleviate the "duck curve" caused by having so much PV in the state.
In the San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) territory we have a new TOU rate (TOU-EV5) that has a "super off-peak" rate of $0.09/kWh between midnight and 6 am on weekdays and between midnight and 2 pm on weekends and holidays. This is equivalent to $0.90/gallon gas if you assume 4.0 kWh/mile for the EV and 40 mpg for the ICE. Even better if you use 4.3 (which is my average so far) and 30 mpg. It's equivalent to something like $0.63/gallon. Really a no brainer.
I would imagine that the other California utilities are doing something similar to help alleviate the "duck curve" caused by having so much PV in the state.
R P
Well-Known Member
I bought this Morec L2 charger for my Kona EV. Portable 26' cable plugs into 14-50 receptacle. Works great. Lot cheaper than most others.
https://www.amazon.ca/Morec-Upgraded-Portable-220V-240V-Compatible/dp/B07DHFH8LW
https://www.amazon.ca/Morec-Upgraded-Portable-220V-240V-Compatible/dp/B07DHFH8LW
eastpole
Active Member
Nice -- let us know how the Aerovironment charger works for you. They are a big player.
$0.09/kWh is a good price for California. But that does make me feel pretty good about charging at $0.065 (CAD) overnight in Toronto.
Duck curve has been a "problem" here in Ontario for quite a while, despite the fact that we have much less PV than you. For those who wouldn't have previously thought about the regional electrical grid's problems before they bought an EV: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_curve
I have had the Aerovironment (JuiceBox) L2 charger for a couple of years, install was heavily subsidized by SCE as part of their study program. Has worked flawlessly since. I still have a CMAX Energi on lease for a while longer, just took delivery of my new Kona Electric Ultimate, which my wife will drive until my CMAX lease is up and I take over (if she lets me...). My charger is in an very exposed location outside, full sun half the day, exposed to rain (which it has a lot this year). I charge my CMAX for a couple of hours each night (energi has only a 3.5 kW on-board), and charge the Kona on weekends. Since the Kona lasts all week with a 40 mile daily commute, weekend charging is convenient. JuiceBox has a pretty decent phone app that allows me to have a record of when and how much charging occurs. The Tesla PowerWall battery app is really great, too, shows net in/out to the grid, the battery, household usage (including charging overnight), and solar production, with net totals for each 24 hour period. Also shows a weekly and YTD report.
Last edited:
EnerG
Active Member
Does it give you the full 32Amps? My biggest concern about these Asian units is the of lack of safety certification. I am not sure what the American home insurance requirements are, but here in Canada if your house burns down and non-compliant device is the cause you will find yourself without a houses and no insurance. It may even be possible that if the car goes up in flames, your auto insurance might not cover the car either.
Last edited: