This Is One Tough EV Charging Installation!
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- Опубліковано 27 бер 2024
- I have finally installed 240V Level 2 charging at my home. What took so long? Well, my house is over 100 years old, the garage is detached, set into the side of a hill and made of concrete. So no matter how complex the job, it can be done! It's probably much easier for most people, but you might learn something here. For starters, don't skimp on the charger (I ended up with a hardwired ChargePoint Home Flex). Unintended bonus? My wife is super happy how quickly her Chevy Volt charges now. It's a big update from 120V Level 1.
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Amazon- amzn.to/4cz3anR
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ev charger installation, electric car charger installation, chargepoint, charge point home flex, Tom Voelk, Tom Volk
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About Tom: Tom Voelk is an award-winning automotive contributor to The New York Times. His podcast was the first to win an Emmy Award (and he's won for photography, editing, producing and reporting). But really, all you need to know is in the videos. - Авто та транспорт
Here's a link to State of Charge's channel. It's a great resource for info on charging units and charge curves of EVs. We need to be a hive mind. We can't have enough accurate information. www.youtube.com/@StateOfChargeWithTomMoloughney
Excellent indeed. That's where I get all my info. Internet EV reviewers seem to be a cooperative bunch, they tend to do podcasts and reviews together, making the whole thing more enjoyable.
I recommend adding a Chargehanger for cable tidyness
@chargehanger
Another advantage of the Charge Point, the unit is the cable holder. Good design👍🏻
@@Wised1000 I agree, I like that the ChargePoint unit is also a cable holder. But Bjorn's design is pretty cool and I can see the benefit. It might even work running over a sidewalk, might need to be longer though. Check it out, watch the video- www.chargehanger.com
The Driven Car might be a small operation but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in fantastic content! Tom you might be the smallest auto review/vlog I watch but you are also by far the best! Someone please get this guy a TV show!
We are small but mighty.
His LinkedIn profile says 21 Emmy awards for producing content.
Love it...."Is my wife happy about this??...No, she is not" I feel ya man, I feel ya :)
Went with the Tesla Universal Wall Connector when I got my first EV with the Lyriq. Since all future EV's will be adopting the NACS port figured having the NACS to J1772 adapter built into the EVSE would be handy not having to keep track of another adapter.
Here’s to doing it right the first time! Also, we need to know the story about the 3 Emmy’s casually sitting in the background.
I have a bunch more in the basement. It's what happens when you get to work with great people over two decades. Here'a link to one of my favorites at the 24 Hours of Daytona. This one I shot, wrote and edited. My buddy Jim has a better voice so he tracked it. ua-cam.com/video/auCWeH0A6G0/v-deo.html
Also looking forward to your EV buying videos. I think it would be great to see your processes and what you end up with.
Yup, I'm going to produce a bunch of content. It's been delayed for a few months though. I have a wedding to pay attention to first. And it can't hurt to wait, more great stuff keeps coming out,
Looking forward to hearing which EV you went with!
I installed a ChargePoint charger and very happy with it. I was blown away by your concrete hole in the hill!
Congratulations on your new EVSE installation!
Gotta love our old garages built into hillsides here in Seattle. Ugh.
I don't think they were originally meant as garages, but rather as cool storage rooms. They are dank and humid now but stay at a constant temperature year round. They transformed into garages when cars became more common.
Welcome to the Level 2 Club Tom! I installed my Wallbox unit (as recommended by "State of Charge") last fall, it it works great for my little, old Nissan Leaf. Was my wife happy?... No, she was not. 🙄😁 Best of luck with your CP unit! Keep up the great content!
Holy closed off garage, Batman!
We’ve had the ChargePoint HomeFlex for a couple of years. Very pleased with it. Fortunately we had an existing NEMA 1450 outlet in our attached garage so installation was easy. It does need to be within Wi-Fi range for the app to function. The app also works with all the ChargePoint public chargers so you can track how much your EV is using both at home and on road trips.
Wow. Certainly a tough install. About time, though. Good job! Enjoy high speed charging! Wife will appreciate fast range replenishment (someday).
it looks like a germen ww2 bunker
I use the previous Charge Point Home unit for the past five years. It is a good unit and has held up well installed in a garage. The app has been recently updated and is easier to use than it used to be. Nice that it can get electricity prices and show the cost of charging.
⚡⚡⚡Thanks for sharing, happy home charging! ⚡
Liked the north shore blanket!
I grew up on the North Shore
Just casually leaving your three Emmy’s out on a side table. 😂
"Jury-rigged"! Yes! That is the right term and the right spelling. That's professional, not just lucky. It's one reason why I watch. You care. And glad it is jury-rigged no longer!
Now if it was rigged up by a guy named Jerry...
Coming to many garages near you!
Love the Northern Minnesota/Lake Superior blanket. Faribault Mills?
Good eye.
Wow, tough install!
On the wall is that a toolbox repurposed into a metal cabinet? I like your ingenuity.
Classic Seattle hill bunker.
Great choice. Whatever your choice for a new EV, just make sure it will be able to charge on the Tesla Supercharger network. We have an ID.4, and a Model Y Performance. Driving through California (if you ever want to) is so difficult now with the ID.4 Tesla is a breeze. We will resume long distance travel with the ID.4 next year after VW is on the Tesla network.
Have the same charger, it is great simple to use. I use the Ford app to limit my home charging to 85% , to start at 10 pm, Although we have full solar it is best still best financially to charge at night. Love the 2023 Mustang Mac e premium addition with standard battery pack not all wheel drive. As we live in So Cal no need for all wheel drive.
LOL, love that repurposed tool box. :D
MacGyver!
I would have discussed if your utility provider has any rebate programs to offset some of the installation costs of the charger and are there programs for rebates on eligible charger purchases in your area. This was well covered by the WSJ this week.
I would have too, if mine did. Seattle City Light does not offer any. Adaption is very high in Seattle, they don't need to.
Go with the next 2025 Kia EV6 AWD, the expected increase to a 84 KWh battery and the addition of Wireless CarPlay/Android auto should make this 800V charging monster a great highway cruiser.
Our PUD in Clark County WA has $500 incentive to buy, so my 40 Amp JuiceBox I bought through them only cost about $49.
Yeah, Seattle City Light isn't offering anything.
impressive
You definitely shouldn't run an extortion cord out to the garage.
Don't worry, the "extortion cord" is for his UA-cam channel. 😁
Oh, I know this. Bad move on my part.
Agreed, u have to pay an extortionate price for electricity through an extortion cord.
Emmys just chillin’ there 😎 we see you Tom 👏👏👏
I'm thinking used EV for his next purchase since most everyone focuses on new tax credit and not so much on used tax credit. Welcome to our 2021 Pacifica Hybrid and 2019 Bolt EV this year to our 2018 CT6 2.0E plug-in.
When will you let us know which EV you ordered and how you went through the decision process?
I used to live in Rainier Beach and had a home that was built in 1904 with a similar garage setup. We always joked about putting in a fireman's pole like Adam West's bat cave. I looked at adding in a level 2 charger and decided the cost of trenching and everything else that you experienced it wasn't worth it.
It's good to have friends that do great work and don't charge an arm and a leg.
Do the trenching yourself saves half the cost.
House I moved into a year ago has a Tesla level 2 charger. However it is mounted on the outside of the garage and for various reasons I feel I need to park the car in the garage these days. Now I'm thinking of getting a plug in hybrid. So I am going to have to have an electrician install a charger inside the garage. Hopefully it's not too difficult.
Shouldn't be difficult. If you no longer need the externally mounted charger, remove it, and reinstall on the interior, running conduit to the new location. Wire nut off the wires and put a blank faceplate on the electrical box that the old charger was mounted to, assuming it was hard wired. If you want to keep the charger outside and add a new one, you'll need to make sure your electrical panel has sufficient space to add another circuit. If you're not extremely comfortable with electrical work, this would be a good job to hire out.
@@readyplayer2 Good advice, thank you.
What's the new car? My guess is one with supercruise 😎
Tom was smitten with that Cadillac Lyriq, and he does like Cadillac styling - present in both the ELR and Lyriq. So, yeah.
I have a wide (and I do mean WIDE) range of choices on my mind. Many don't compete with each other. Depends on whether I keep any of my existing cars to some degree.
We have a hardwired Chargepoint HomeFlex on a 60 Amp/240V circuit inside our attached garage at home and once paired to WiFi it has worked fine.
We also have a basic FLO G5 at our Lake cabin hardwired to a 40 amp/240v circuit located fully exposed to the weather outside at our parking location which is beyond our cabin WiFi range and it also operates without issues.
One issue with the HomeFlex is if it cannot connect to Wifi it reverts to 16 amps/3.8 KWH! How is the Wifi signal strength in your concrete bunker garage?
The basic FLO G5 is not smart (our Kia EV6 has all the smarts to manage charging schedules over its cellular connection) while it has a rugged NEMA 4 housing and is rated to -40F while the HomeFlex has a less rugged NEMA 3 housing and is rated to only -22F.
Note Tom Moloughney has reviewed both the FLO G5/X5 and the ChargePoint HomeFlex and notes FLO has a 5 year warranty versus ChargePoints 3 year. If one researches down the comments in Tom’s reviews one should note that some comments were made about ChargePoint failures and issues with customer service, no such issues came up in the FLO review comments.
I also prefer quality and installing things properly the 1st time. Best Regards, keep up the good work.
I went with a Grizzl-E charger. 40 amps. No Wi-Fi. Just plug in. Works fine. It should be noted that the charging schedule is set in my RAV4 Prime so no need of that feature in the wall unit. And the actual charger is in the car. That device on the wall is merely a switching device.
You're right, it's technically an EVSE. But that doesn't exactly roll off the tongue.
Couple questions, for a person who reviews EVs… coming from a 3 time EV user. A) Why not a NACS connector? My EV truck doesn’t use it (yet), but going forward I wouldn’t buy a home CCS anymore, its days are numbered. B) 40A is somewhat dated/weak these days, I’d only consider a higher 11kW/19kW unit going forward. Were you restricted based on your panel/home limitations? I feel 11kW level 2 charging my truck is too slow, wish I had the GM/Ford 19.2kW onboard chargers 😢
A) super high chance the car I buy won't buy a car with a NACS port (and I have two cars with J receptors. B) 50A in my case. It's plenty fast for my needs. I won't be buying a truck plus replacing my panel would have tripped the cost of the install.
Not CCS for home, just J1772. Those J1772 to NACS adapters are common and pocket sized small.
Some serious power, and here we are charging two EVs off a single 16 amp (240V) unit. While 16 amps won't juice up a Hummer from 0-100% overnight, it's ample in offering reliable daily range for our needs. We drive one EV approximately 20k miles annually, while the other is averaging about 10k annually, any more driving demand would most likely require an amperage upgrade.
@@DrivenCarReviews Love your channel, congrats on your install! Best car reviewer out there 👏
@@wzDH106 Whoops on that one, yes J1772, not CCS - my mistake. I have a 48A/11kW wall charger for my Rivian, it works well enough, but I'd love if my truck could accept 80A.
I’d love to have a high speed charger paid for.
So are you getting a Taycan Wiessach? That would be my choice if I swapped my EQS🤩
I have Taycan tastes on a Bolt budget.
@@DrivenCarReviews 🤣
@DrivenCarReviews
The Bolt is fine as a runaround, but its 55KW max DC charging is a killer if you want it as a full replacement for a gas car (real chore for road trips). VW recently updated it's ID batteries for significantly longer range, and better efficiency. It could be a better choice in the "affordable" category, plus it seems that they have their fully worked out the initial kinks in its UI.
Wonder if that extension cord gets hot
I did not. VERY heavy gauge. I'm at least that smart.
Time for a new garage.
I.D. Buzz... I can see it now. 😮
Too big
So, how much was the install?
Let's just say I got two quotes in the $5K range.
Out with it! What car are you getting? 😏
I really don't know. I've driven so many great vehicles it's hard to decide. But I might have to put it off for a few months, I have a wedding coming up.
@@DrivenCarReviewsNot sure if you can decide quickly, but it seems there are a few end of quarter sales for new cars. I have seen local Ford dealers pushing Mach-Es and read about the Ioniq 6 lease deal. Plenty of good used road tripping BEVs out there, too. Best of luck!
Why not buy the Tesla charger? Sleeker, thinner cable, better app, has a built in adapter for J1772 built right in along with the NACS. Literally the best of both worlds.
There was some updates for it but J1772 is a bit flaky on it.
¡Gracias!
Right back at you Juan. Thanks!
Wow, what took you so long ?
Hope Wi-Fi gets around concrete walls.
It doesn't. Working on expanding the network.
I'm not understanding why campground owners are sensitive to BEV charging. Don't fifth wheels, travel trailers, and bus-type RVs draw comparable amounts of power? If not, why wouldn't the campground charge the BEV owner a premium to cover the extra power? What's the big deal here?
the Tesla universal charger, which can charge a tesla and non tesla is a better choice.
based on the charger, I'm guessing your future EV won't be a tesla.
Nope. The short list includes GM, BMW, Kia and Hyundai. Maybe a used Porsche or Audi.
Extortion cord? Because the power company wants money? Hmm, not sure I get the joke.
Tom, I love the channel, but please explain your decisions here. Why spend so much money on an installation - you won't recoup that kind of expense. Second why didn't you choose NACs? Ford and GM/Chevrolet already gave in and are changing to NACs. I know that Europe got their act together early, so it's all CCS2, but in the U.S. why not install NACS? if you're doing a big install for a specific vehicle that seems a little shortsighted...
Lots of reason to do it the way I did. For starters, convenience. With all the EVs I test, it helps A LOT. Plus our PHEVS charge much faster now, we're getting more all-electric miles from them. It's a tax break for me since it's a business expense. Manufactures might be switching to NACS but it's a ways off. Our personal cars are legacy plugs, so are all the vehicles I'll be testing for the next year or so. There's always an adapter or just switch out the plug, it's not that hard.
I have 2 Charge Points, you will love it. Though I have a "modern" electrical system in both homes, for both ,the electricians opted for an additional electrical panel simply to allow open space for any future needs. Luckily, in my case, no digging was required. Both of my units are plugged in. As such, I can take the units with me if I ever sell the properties. Simply ensure that you get the pricier NEMA plug that has no aluminium components. The ones with aluminium, have a tendency to fail because their rating does not take into consideration continous full load for hours on end.
BTW I don't think you have a garage, looks more like the Reichbunker😂 Hire someone with ground penetrating radar they might find Eva Braun's bones buried there😂
It was built before she died so there's that. One reason I went hardwired is because of the plug issue. I'm pretty sure I'm here for the long haul. We love the location.
@DrivenCarReviews
Adding a the plug to the unit at a later date if you wish is a very simple straight forward procedure they send you the plug and its a matter of a few toggle connectors. I have nothing but praise about the units operation and utter reliability. The app is also excellent and will keep a record of your charging sessions and expenditures truly a complete system. Finally chargepoint DC chargers are in my expirience the most reliable non Tesla chargers too. Unfortunately, most are just of the 62 Kw (aka 50) variety. At least, you are basically guaranteed that they will work when you show up, something that is not so with almost all other brands.
Emporia is the top rated charger, not ChargePoint.
Will never buy an EV I just bought a new 2023 Jeep Compass Trailhawk and I would never look at that in an EV. I know where gas stations are I have no desire to hunt for charging stations particularly here in the Northeast in the winter time
After all of that, you went with the wrong brand of charger and the wrong brand of car. Obviously, you should’ve bought a Tesla. Most will have the NACS port anyway.
I wouldn't buy a Tesla if Musk himself hand delivered it to me. Let me rephrase that, particularly if Musk delivered it.🤢
The same reason I would never buy a Lucid, I don't buy products that make detestable people richer. In case people aren't aware Lucid's main partner is Suadi Arabia's murderous prince😮
Easy to change the cord or use an adapter. I just can't buy a car that I'll see 20 times on my way to the grocery store. They're like the modern VW Beetle.
That’s OK Tom. Your channel and your reviews are spot on and I love your work. I test drove everything under 70,000 and just found that the Tesla drove the best for me the way I like to drive. Not to mention that I got a fantastic deal on cost. The visceral pull of their motors just seems to me to be the best. I found everything else to just be slow Unless of course you’re getting an exotic.
Free Tom Voelk!