Indeed we did. And just like Apollo 13, we are at a situation where we can run a normal house without tripping breakers. Adding a 240v car charger would put us over.
Will definitely get some more quotes on this.
I think the problem with the subpanel is that it feeds off the main panel. We have a small load main panel and a subpanel in the garage, which limits what we can do on the sub-panel (I think!). So, I still need to do the main panel upgrade.
I tried on a 110 for about a week. THe cord got insanely hot and it did not add enough for my daily driving. If you can get enough added for your daily driving (and double your driving miles if its less than 50 total) its probably OK. You also can get 220 off your dryer outlet. They make something called a dryer buddy that allows you to use that plug for both as long as it is not at the same time. That will get you double the charge overnight. If you have superchargers that are convenient (and not always full) that is doable. But part of loving the car is never having to go to a gas station again. One last thought, at least here, you get a tax credit for energy upgrades. It might be worth looking into whether that makes your panel upgrade basically free. Particularly, if you are doing it right at the end of the year before you file your taxes.
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All great suggestions! I do sincerely appreciate the idea of not having to gas up at a filling station (or even a supercharger etc).
In fact, incentives and help on putting in a home charging station is EXACTLY what I am focusing on now.
How much does charging a car at home add to your electric bills? It’s nice not paying for gas, but electricity does have to be paid for.
Here in New England, we heat our homes mostly with gas or oil, because electric heat is more expensive—just wondering if the money just goes to the electric company as opposed to the gas station?
Gas at Costco in the Bay Area is $3.85/gallon. From what I gather, the equivalent charging cost is at least $1.00/gallon cheaper.
@ucbalumnus is the real expert on this, and on whom ALL of us rely. Hopefully, we can get more insight!
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Also, if you charge overnight, its a negligible addition to your electric bill in the west with pricing changing during off hours. So little you won’t know if its the weather or your car.
Not sure about the precise math, but with the car size and commute length being the same pre and post EV, we added $70 to our monthly electric bill. Before that, Mr. B used to fill his car (similar in size to his X) weekly paying $40 each time. Our electricity is quite cheap here in the PNW, so YMMV.
(Our Tesla came with a free “all you can eat” supercharger usage; there is a nice brewery and a sushi place less than a mile from the business park where Mr. started working a year ago… so he tops the car off every time he goes there for lunch or for after work drinks with coworkers. His boss was jealous… the boss got dinged $1/minute for overstaying his “welcome” at a supercharger recently.)
There are unknown variables here:
- The economy of the gasoline car you are comparing with.
- The price of electricity that you charge with (which may vary depending on where and when you charge).
The best way to compare costs is to figure out the miles per “fuel” dollar for each car.
Probably this if he did not move the car after it was fully charged.
I don’t understand how anyone can have an electric car without having an at home charging set up. I just looked at that Tesla charging map. There is one charging place 10 miles from our house and the next closest is 30 miles away. I googled to see if their were other charging stations around, and while there weren’t any in my town, there were 3 one town over but they each had only 2 or 4 bays. It seems so much more difficult than stopping at your corner gas station.
Sounds like you are being hit with the electricians “tesla tax”. Find another electrician.
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The garage at work has 10 charging stations. I don’t need a charger at home.
That’s a good solution if you’re lucky enough to have it.
Not sure how much is it at home. My last charge at work was $2.31 for 28.8 kWh (which I believe the car was claiming will be 105 miles driving). A friend said that the price is 2/3 the cost of charging at home.
exactly. Electricity rates vary a lot across the country, and even in the same town. The PNW is pretty cheap as it has hydro; HI is generally the highest. California regulators keep prices high bcos – well, they can.
But even in the same town, it can vary. Under a ToU plan, our SoCal rates would be 8 cents at night, when EV’s generally charge. But that would require 48 cents during prime time late afternoon/evening hours (with a/c on and cooking dinner). Thus, the ToU plan would cost us more, so we eschew the ToU plan and pay a marginal rate of 26 cents for ‘Tier 2’, night or day.
Seems like you could program the EV to avoid charging during the high cost hours, so that it will charge only during the low cost hours, resulting in lower cost of EV charging with the ToU plan.
Of course, if you are a heavy electricity user for non EV use during the high cost hours, that needs to be considered in checking whether ToU will cost less overall.
Yes, already charge at night. That’s not the point. We don’t drive much with covid so mileage is low, and any charging savings is easily eaten up by the cost of lights, a/c, electric oven/range, etc, from 4 - 8 pm, which would double from current rates. Even SoCal Ed’s calculator says our total bill would increase if we go on ToU.
Minimal. Electricity is way cheaper than paying $50 to fill up the tank multiples times a month. We are on Time Of Use rates so just plug in the car at off peak times. You can barely tell a difference in our electric bill. Here are some links for you:
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/the-true-cost-of-powering-an-electric-car.html
You do the math!
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All these people with TOU rates! Are you all in California? We don’t have that option here in MA.