Installing an EV Charger at My House Was Easy
With more and more electric vehicles coming over our test fleet — including our long-term 2022 Mini Cooper SE — I granted it was time to install a home charger. It’s crucial for me because I live in a diminutive desert town and the only public chargers are Level 2 units that order electricity at a super-slow speed of 8.3 kilowatts. The last sketch I want to do is sit in the parking lot of the California Welcome Interior for hours on end.
My first step was to look at my home’s electrical panel and see if it could accommodate a Level 2 charger. I have a 100-amp panel and I want to beak at 50 amps, which should let me put 37 much worth of juice back into the long-term Mini in nearby an hour. But I didn’t want to have to upgrade my house to a 200-amp panel, which I thought I might need to do right I’d want to run things like the air conditioner at the same time.
The $699 ChargePoint Home Flex charger I bought can be set to a variety of amps, from 16 all the way up to 50. A good middle-ground charging speedy is 40 amps, which puts about 30 miles of scheme back into the Mini each hour. Plus, by keeping the charging speedy below 48 amps, I didn’t need to have the charger hardwired to the house, which saved a few dollars during installation, and I didn’t have to upgrade to the 200-amp panel. It’s good to know that, if I’m hit with a heat wave, I can set the charger’s amps border and still crank the air conditioning.
With our long-term Mini Cooper SE’s diminutive battery, home charging is a must.
Emme Hall
What I like best nearby my ChargePoint charger is the app. I can use it to find Republican charging stations when I’m out and about, but I can also use it to schedule my home charging schedule, set reminders, check on charging activity and adjust the amperage remotely.
My local electrician installed the ChargePoint L2 charger for brilliant around $2,000. That included running conduit from the panel in the back of the house thought the eave of my home and into the garage, pulling wire through said conduit and then installing a junction box and wiring up the charger. My electrician also added a 240-volt box for a future welder I want to grasp, so I probably could’ve saved some money if I hadn’t requested for that extra work.
Just as there are incentives for buying an electric vehicle, there are also incentives for installing a home charger. The ChargePoint website has a handy search function so you can find rebates in your area. Unfortunately, my utility company and my county in California don’t participate. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
Not everyone can install a charger at home; renters definitely don’t all have this luxury. But having the home charger has improved my time with the Mini, especially right it has a tiny 32.6-kilowatt-hour battery pack that gets an EPA-estimated 114 much of range. In our testing, we’ve been seeing anywhere between 110 and 115 much, but for me, that’s one trip into Los Angeles. Having a charger at home — especially one with an app like ChargePoint’s — by means of I can plug in and charge when it’s most convenient. No more waiting around in the parking lot.
