How powerful a home charger do you need/use?

Discussion in 'General' started by TTXGPFAN, Jan 10, 2021.

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  1. TTXGPFAN

    TTXGPFAN New Member

    Hello all, new to the forum. After doing the thing to run my stock GM EVSE on 240V and doubling my charge rate overnight, I have found the almost 3kW is more than enough for my needs. Even on the odd occasion when I get home late at night with less than 15%. Now, I don't have different power rates at different times. I was actually shocked. However, it's the same cheap FL electricity 24hr a day for me.

    I am curious what other people's experiences are.
     
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  3. briloop

    briloop Member

    I had a 240 volt outlet on a 60 amp circuit installed. My EVSE is a JuiceBox 40.
     
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  4. marshall

    marshall Well-Known Member

    I have a 30 amp circuit, and that's all I really need. However, most EVSEs are 32 amp. So if one needed to put in a new circuit, a 40 or 50 amp circuit would be a good choice.
     
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  5. I have a 32 amp GE charger on a 40 amp circuit. It is adjustable at the following amp rates 12, 16, 24, and 32. Most of the time I run it at either 16 or 24 amps as I don't need quicker charging.
     
  6. Recoil45

    Recoil45 Active Member

    Everything posted make sense, but when f350s become electric and people towing daily for work need to charge overnight, more substantial charging will be required.


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  8. Puppethead

    Puppethead Well-Known Member

    I had wiring for 60 amp done, but currently have a 40 amp breaker for my Grizzl-E set to provide 32 amps which is the maximum my car takes. But I only wanted to pay once for the wiring, so I had the heavier gauge wiring used. Replacing a breaker is pretty easy when it comes time to upgrade.
     
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  9. I has a Nema 14-50 outlet installed in my cottage garage (sadly, no charging at home), so I've got 50A available; I use the L2 charger and cable included with my Nissan Leaf, which is supposed to charge at 30A. I say "supposed to" only because I've never tested it. I charge overnight and use the car's timer to charge when the rates are lower.
     
  10. Bruce M.

    Bruce M. Well-Known Member

    I've never used anything other than my plain ole low-tech wall socket. I don't drive that much and it more than takes care of my needs. Once in a while out shopping I'll get a little free juice from a Volta station, which usually seem to be about 7.2 kw, but only because I like free stuff, not because I really need it.
     
  11. Paul K

    Paul K Active Member

    I have a 240v 30amp charger on a dedicated 40amp breaker. With a 2018 40kwh pack Leaf I usually manage to gain about 40km per hour on the charger. So anyone needing something stronger than this for your commute maybe should maybe move closer to work.
     
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  13. 230V at 7.1 amps gives me about 1.7 kW, plenty for my requirements.
     
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  14. davidtm

    davidtm Active Member

    Juice Box Pro 40 plugged into 240V 50A 14-50 socket. Can deliver about 9 kW, but my Niro only accepts ~7.4 kW.

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  15. gooki

    gooki Well-Known Member

    240v 8 amp portable EVSE plugged into an smart plug on existing 10 amp socket does the trick for my Nissan leaf.
     
  16. ENirogus

    ENirogus Active Member

    I bought a 20 amp 240 v charger on AMazon and between 4PM and 7 AM it brought my Niro from and unexpected low of 8 percent to about 90 by the time I would have had to leave for a 70 mile round trip the next morning[reproducing what I had just done]
    So the power requirement is very closely related to what you need to do. I could actually cope with a 120 volt charger if I plugged in religiously every nite. Having the larger charger allows me to make a mistake. My normal round trip is 15 miles, but when I need to bring my daughter to school it balloons to 70. Upgrading to a 32 amp charger would not to my mind meaningfully improve my charging. As long as I stay above 20 percent normally, it can be ready to do the longest trip I normally foresee by morning, even if it was my only vehicle and I needed to do an errand at night and it was cold out. I think I may use the 120 volt charger to plug in at work when it is cold and may benefit from battery heating
     
  17. Earl

    Earl Active Member

    We have a massive 240v/70a EVSE (~17kW or ~60 mph) in our driveway as well, on the other end of the spectrum as several NEMA 14-50 outlets sharing a 50 amp breaker in our garage.
    Clearly, we can't charge at more than 40 amps total with the 50 amp breaker, but I do often plug in 2 cars that share that breaker.
    I generally set both to charge at 15 amps (~3.6kW or ~12 mph), leaving 10 amps for garage door opener, lights, etc.
    If we arrive late with low charge and have to go somewhere in the morning, I'll only plug one car in and charge at the full 30 amps available or use the 17 kW outside to charge at whatever the car is able to draw.
    This is almost always enough for both EVs to charge during our off-peak rates from 10:00 pm to 8:00 am.
    I have spent extended time in places where all I had was a NEMA 5-20 and can say that 120v/12a is doable but often inconvenient, especially on those days when I arrive late from work and have an errand like a Dr. appt in the morning before work.
    Therefore, I can, from experience, say that 240v/15 amps is enough for our normal driving. 6 kW and above are, on rare occasion, useful but probably not necessary. 120v will result in inconvenience if that is all you have, but, with a nearby DCFC to supplement occasionally, it will probably work as well.
    I have up to a 38 mile commute (each way) and can charge at work for what it is worth.
     
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  18. larrenz

    larrenz Member

    I am very satisfied with my 40 Amp charger.
     
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  19. mikeg0305

    mikeg0305 Active Member

    We have same but for our 2022 Mini Cooper SE. Looking at our charging pattern over the past couple of weeks our daily needs are around 14kw to get back to full charge which takes just over 2 hours. Our longest charge so far was just under 3 1/2 hours to put 22kw back in her.

    Mike



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