So I've been wanting an EV for awhile now, and am in the beginning stages of looking at replacing my old ICE car. Thing is, it seems like a garage is a pretty mandatory thing for an EV owner, after all, a garage likely has a ready supply of power and it's a convenient place to put your charging station. Also, it seems like you wouldn't suffer as much of a cold weather range penalty with the car parked in a garage vs. outside. My house doesn't have a garage, but it does have a driveway. Would it be realistic to assume I could install a charger outside in order to charge my car overnight, or is that a no go? Does anyone here who owns an EV have a similar situation? If so, has it been an issue for you? Thanks!
It is not a problem. Have an electrician install a NEMA 14-50 in an all weather box. I went with a full, 50A circuit. The EVSE (chargers) are weather proof. Just get one that can be WiFi managed. Bob Wilson
What is the climate like there, Tribeless? Is it a mild climate, as in California or Florida or New Orleans, or do you experience some bitterly cold winter weather most years? Certainly if you regularly experience sub-freezing weather in Winter, then it would be better to have a garage; but then, that's true for gasmobile owners too. I can't do better than echo what Bob Wilson said. Get a licensed electrician to install a weatherproof EVSE (EV charger) beside your driveway, or on the outside of your house; preferably a 220 volt unit (aka a "Level 2 charger"), and you should be fine. See: "Ask This Old House: How To Install A Home EV Charging Unit – Video"
It won't be a problem at all. I live in New England and have only a driveway. I had an electrician install a 240v weatherproof outlet on the side of the house next to the driveway, and then added a weatherproof Clipper Creek unit on the side of the house, and it works fine in all weather. To keep ice and snow from accumulating in my EV's charging port, I also got one of these: https://ecosolaris.com/en/produit/electric-car-eco-dome-xlc-charging-port-protection/.
Of course you should hire an electrician if needed, but if you are already familiar with doing your own home electrical work, this isn't any different. Installing a new 240v circuit is actually easier than installing a new 120v because you don't have to worry about balancing your circuit breaker. There's plenty of videos and tutorials to walk you through it, YouTube is your friend. I'm not sure I would take this on as your first home electrical project, but with some experience it is reasonable (and legal) to do it yourself. Where I live a $10 county permit is required, but that's it. Also, depending on your transportation needs, you may not need a 240v circuit at all. For over 6 months I've been charging my Leaf from a 120v outlet (a.k.a. Lvl 1 charging). It is set to charge 6 hrs per night in the summer and 8 hrs per night in the winter. And we skip days sometimes. That's enough to cover 95% of our driving needs, and keeps the battery in the healthy 20% to 80% state of charge. You only need a 240v circuit (a.k.a. Lvl 2 charging) if your driving needs are higher. If you are a daily commuter, then I do recommended Lvl 2. I work from home, so I don't drive everyday. If you want to use an existing 120v circuit for charging, here's a few things to check: 1) know what else is on the circuit. In my case, my EV charging circuit is also shared with the power tools in my woodshop. I never use my woodshop at night so this isn't a problem, and I know not to try to run a big saw while my car is charging. If I did it would pull too much amperage and trip a GFCI or possibly the circuit breaker. 2) make sure the romex wires and outlets are in good condition and relatively recent. Don't charge a car on 60 year old wires. Ancient wires can get hot and start a fire inside a wall under extended load. Charging a car at Lvl 1 pulls 12 amps for 6+ hours. Same as running an electric kettle or power tool for hours straight. 3) have at least one GFCI on the EV charging circuit. You can place it at the beginning of the circuit to protect the whole circuit if it is shared with other things (like my power tools), or you can have the GFCI be the outlet that you charge from directly, which is especially a good idea for you since your circuit will be outside and potentially exposed to moisture. As others said, it should be in a all-weather outlet box that seals properly with the EVSE (charging cable) plugged in. Installing your own GFCI is fairly easy to do, and you can get a $5 outlet tester to make sure you wired it up correctly and to ensure the GFCI will trip properly. 4) make sure your circuit breaker is working properly, and is big enough. A car charging at Lvl 1 pulls 12 amps, so a 20 amp circuit breaker gives you some headroom to pull more amperage for a short duration if needed. In my case, my circuit breaker and GFCIs are all 20 amp, which is plenty. A 15 amp breaker is fine if the circuit is dedicated to Lvl 1 EV charging, but is too small if the circuit will be shared. Upgrading a circuit breaker yourself is very easy and inexpensive. If your house uses fuses instead of circuit breakers then the whole electrical infrastructure may be too old to support EV charging, and at that point I would recommend hiring an electrician. And if all of the above is Greek to you, then perhaps hire an electrician I've used my EV journey to learn a lot more about home electrical, and at this point I feel confident that to do most anything. I'll be installing my own solar panels later this spring and saving about $7k in labor costs by doing so. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
I'll second everything TheMagster said. Installing and using a weatherproof Level 2 charger outside is common and safe. The 240V circuit needed is the same as what runs a typical clothesdryer. The shape of the outlet depends on the charger. NEMA 14-50 is popular, but there are plenty of options. If you have an existing dryer outlet or RV outlet, you might be good to go. https://store.clippercreek.com/level2 If you want to hire an electrician for the installation, get two quotes. Some people report getting ripped off on the price. https://www.homeadvisor.com/cost/electrical/install-an-outlet/ https://www.angieslist.com/articles/how-much-does-it-cost-install-outdoor-outlet.htm https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/cost-electrician-240-volt-outlet-installation Definitely figure out if you actually need a Level 2 charger. ClipperCreek has a handy guide (link below) to tell you how long a full charge takes. For most cars, an overnight Level 1 charge will get you ≈50 miles of range, enough to cover your daily commute, and enough to recoup from longer trips over several charging sessions. I use a Level 1 charger exclusively for my driveway-parked 2018 Clarity, and it does the trick. https://www.clippercreek.com/level-1-level-2-charging-stations/ If you're worried about temperature, keep in mind that most electric cars have pre-conditioning, so you can warm up your battery and cabin while still plugged in. I don't use preconditioning myself, but it's nice to know there's the option. https://driveev.net/2016/10/24/what-is-pre-conditioning/
I'm in Canada and I don't have a garage. I mounted my level II charger on the outside wall myself and drilled the access holes for the wiring. I then had a licensed electrician do the wiring. Yeah I could have done the wiring myself but you have to get a permit and ESA ( Electrical Safety ***'n) inspection so using the electrician sped up the process. Also, if DIY uninspected wiring causes a fire you'll be SOL with your home insurance. The car (2018 40kwh Leaf S) has always worked well even after the coldest nights and not always being plugged in. Also, unless your car is oil sprayed (Krown or Rust Check) it will rust worse in a garage than outside in the bitter cold as the salty brine on the car's under carriage and framework is more corrosive at higher temps. Make sure your charging dock is rated for outdoor service and you'll be fine. Do let us know when you go for it.
In case you park a bit of distance from your house, so an EVSE mounted on an exterior wall is a bit too far and lead to trip and fall hazards, one could consider installing it on a post, with the wires leading to it buried in a pvc conduit. Here are a couple images I found.
I used to think that as well, but it turns out to vary from place to place. Where I live (Oregon, USA) I'm allowed to do all of my own home electrical and it doesn't void my home insurance. I verified this with the county electrical inspector, regarding my DIY solar panel install. The only requirement is that I get a $10 electrical permit if I'm adding any new circuits to my house. Again, it varies depending on where you live and your local zoning. That said, if you don't know what you are doing, spending a bit on a licensed electrician is probably worth it. Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
No problem whatsoever, mine has over-wintered frequently below -20C in Quebec, Canada. It helps to keep the weather out of the charge port, I simply use one of those resealable freezer bags with a hole in one side to pass the charge cable through and hook the bag opening over the charge port door. Otherwise what is useful is an EV with a remote app capability to warm the battery and preheat the cabin, this has made winter very easy, no scraping ice of the windows, no waiting to warm up the car and no worries about the engine starting.
I would add to the other here if you are putting an outside charger you might consider motion activated floods and a camera as deterrents. The trouble with a 14-50 receptacle is that a thief could make off with the charger without having to un-wire the unit. If I were installing a Juicebox I would opt for the hardwired version. If a 14-50 receptacle were my only option, I would use a portable charger like the one below and keep it in the car or house when not in use. Note I am not endorsing this particular charger as it does not have ULC or CSA approvals but does have TUV and CE approvals so I would not completely discount it for outdoor use. Morec Charger by EnerG posted Mar 24, 2019 at 10:17 AM
We have a 2019 Nissan Leaf that charges in the car port (roof, house on north side, open on east, west, and south sides) on a Level 2 Clipper Creek 3.3 kW unit, and a 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander that charges on a portable charger (level 1, 120v) in the driveway. The Outlander uses the same circuit as our Christmas lights. I second the ecosolaris recommendation from manybees. It was the first accessory I bought for the 2019 Leaf because I had loved it for the 2012, and since the Outlander doesn't have a roof it gets more snow/freezing rain and is even more appreciated there. On the decision to install a faster charger vs. using the portable charger that generally comes with the car: In the first week that I had my 2012 Leaf my level 2 charger was on order. It was the end of February, pretty cold here in New England. The cabin pre-conditioning wasn't awesome, it was merely tepid. That convinced me that a Level 2 was essential. *However*, the 2012 Leaf used heating coils, it did not have a heat pump. Maybe a more advanced car with a heat pump would be fine with less power. Maybe a longer range car would be fine diverting some battery power to heat the cabin. I failed to plug in my 2019 Leaf one night and still came out to a toasty car in the morning with enough battery to do my round-trip commute. Better cars do better. I suggest holding off on installing a higher power charger or that 240V outlet until you know you need it.
Thanks for the input, everyone. I appreciate the good information from folks who are already in my situation. For the record, I live in the Mountain West, so we get fairly cold winters, though not as bad as places like Montana or Quebec.
Old Limerick: There once was a boy from Quebec Buried in snow to his neck When asked "Are you friz?" He replied "Yes I is but we don't call this cold in Quebec!" I've been using spring clamps to hold a piece of plastic over the charge port door and cable to keep snow out of the port. Mostly works. Loved Jetstreamski's picture of the buried car. Happens to me too.
