Charging before Wall Charger Delivered

[LaunchGreen]

Not going to help you, but maybe others; I had the wiring run a couple of months ago. The electrician put in a 14-50 and left me with extra cable and instructions to remove the plug and direct wire the Rivian charger myself.

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[SANZC02]

Without knowing how much you drive each day hard to give a detailed solution. One of the simplest is find a DCFC charger near you and drive by there to top off.

If you drive 40 miles a day and stop by a DCFC charger for 15 or 20 minutes every other day or so it will bridge the gap until you get your charger. I have a Tesla with free super charging and sometimes go months at a time without charging at home.

 

[Rhidan]

I'm in the same boat. Signed up for the Xcel program and reached out to an electrician in March, but R1T is going to beat the electrician to my garage. Electrician told me last night that they are all out of chargepoint flex EVSEs (which are necessary to get the off-peak program through Xcel) and no clue when they will be back in stock. I also ordered the Rivian EVSE, but that's for a mountain home and I told Rivian to prioritize getting the EVSE to other owners first who need it in their garage. Not expecting the Rivian EVSE until later this summer.

I'm seeing if the electrician can install a 14-50 NEMA in my garage for the time being, but it still looks like the earliest appointment will be first week of June.

There's a 6kW chargepoint in my parking garage at work. Looks like I'm going to be using some combination of the standard wall outlet, L2 at work, and L3 when needed to make things work for the first few weeks of ownership. Rivian said this was going to be an "Adventure," after all.

 

[Jamuso]

We have a seasonal campsite near us with a 30amp connection. I'm planning on getting the 30amp to 240 amp adapter from amazon and will be using that to charge between delivery and charger install.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

While it would work (with a DIY hack that puts a 14-50 outlet on a 30 amp circuit), it certainly would not be legal/code compliant.

What code does it violate?

 

[timesinks]

What code does it violate?

For starters, NEC 110.3(B), which is apparently the most-cited correction inspectors make here in WA:

Installation and Use. Equipment that is listed, labeled, or both shall be installed and used in accordance with any instructions included in the listing or labeling.

And, from the instructions for the portable charger:

• Don't attempt to attach Portable Charger adapters to electrical outlets not listed in this guide.
• Don't plug the Portable Charger adapter into an extension cord, power converter, power strip, or any type of power adapter.

So it is a violation of code. Is it unsafe? I'd say not if the max rate is appropriately configured.

And just to fully acknowledge the pedantry here, it's also technically a code violation to use the charger with any other EV, because:

• The Portable Charger works with Rivian vehicles only. Don't use the Portable Charger for any other purpose or to charge any other vehicle.

A close reading of NEC Article 625 can probably uncover some additional technical violations.

Does it matter? No, not really. Is it a code violation? You betcha.

 

[sub]

What code does it violate?

I don't have a copy of the code in front of me to cite the exact paragraph, but are you really doubting that it is against the code to install a 50 amp outlet on a 30 amp circuit? It doesn't matter what you plan to plug into the outlet, you can't put a 50 amp outlet on a 30 amp circuit and be compliant.

And in addition to the amperage difference, many dryer outlets are 10-30's which do not have a ground wire. Although you could connect the 14-50's ground and neutral pins to the 10-30's neutral pin and it would work, that too is just obviously non-compliant.

 

[Birdowin]

Looks like my RT1 will be delivered on Saturday, but no clue on when I will get the wall charger. It sounds like my best option will be charging off my dryer outlet. I assume others have ran into the same problem? Did you use an extension cord? It looks like the provided length is only 4 feet....

Our Tesla charges on a NEMA 14-50 outlet on a 50 amp circuit. As far as I can tell this gets you the same charge rate as the Rivian wall charger. I think that is the most charge that you can get out of a 240v electric panel. Our 2014 Tesla charges at about 30mph on this system. I would hope that the Rivian comes with a NEMA 14-50 adapter.

 

[bdavis171]

Since my wall charger circuit is already wired at 60 amp, putting in a temporary solution on that wouldn't quite work without buying a charger as well. Ended up buying the 30amp charger from Amazon to run off my dryer outlet until my long term solution arrives. I will report back next week on how well that works

 

[timesinks]

Our Tesla charges on a NEMA 14-50 outlet on a 50 amp circuit. As far as I can tell this gets you the same charge rate as the Rivian wall charger. I think that is the most charge that you can get out of a 240v electric panel. Our 2014 Tesla charges at about 30mph on this system. I would hope that the Rivian comes with a NEMA 14-50 adapter.

The portable charger will max out at 32A because it's code-compliant to put a NEMA 14-50R on a 40A circuit and EVSEs require de-rating to 80%. It does have a NEMA 14-50P dongle.

The wall charger goes on a 60A circuit and can max out at 48A.

The same amount of energy will propel a Rivian fewer miles than a Tesla because the Rivians are heavier and not shaped like eggs. You'll probably see something closer to 16 miles-of-range-per-hour-of-charge at 32A and about 24 miles-of-range-per-hour-of-charge at 48A.

 

[Lsthrz]

You most likely can't use the included charger on your dryer outlet. Dryer outlets are generally only 30 amps and the included charger requires at least a 40 amp circuit.

If you can find a used Telsa mobile charger and a Tesla adapter, you can use that on a dryer circuit with the right pigtail.

There are probably other chargers that work on 30 amp circuits, but the Tesla is the only one I know.

I have charged without issue off a 30a outlet with the included Rivian charger (not the Wall Charger) . Just had to use an adapter to connect the cable but no issues with charging.

 

[Birdowin]

The portable charger will max out at 32A because it's code-compliant to put a NEMA 14-50R on a 40A circuit and EVSEs require de-rating to 80%. It does have a NEMA 14-50P dongle.

The wall charger goes on a 60A circuit and can max out at 48A.

The same amount of energy will propel a Rivian fewer miles than a Tesla because the Rivians are heavier and not shaped like eggs. You'll probably see something closer to 16 miles-of-range-per-hour-of-charge at 32A and about 24 miles-of-range-per-hour-of-charge at 48A.

Thanks for that. In Oregon at least you can install a NEMA 14-50 on a 50 amp breaker. Ours was done by an electrician and inspected by the city. But our Tesla only draws 40Amps max.
I talked to one of the tech people at Rivian and they told me either the Rivian charger or the NEMA 14-50 on a 50A circuit would give the same amount of charge but I'm not really sure that they really knew what they were talking about.

 

[bdavis171]

For anyone else curious, I have been using this to charge temporarily from my dryer. Works great!

 

[ajdelange]

I talked to one of the tech people at Rivian and they told me either the Rivian charger or the NEMA 14-50 on a 50A circuit would give the same amount of charge but I'm not really sure that they really knew what they were talking about.

The device that comes with the truck plugged into a 14-50R delivers 32A. The Rivian wall charger hard wired to a 50A circuit would deliver 40A. The wall charger equipped with a 14-50R pigtail is not really kosher but to get it as compliant as possible one would program it for 40A if he knew the receptacle it was plugging into was on a 50A circuit;

 

[pc500]

I don't have a copy of the code in front of me to cite the exact paragraph, but are you really doubting that it is against the code to install a 50 amp outlet on a 30 amp circuit? It doesn't matter what you plan to plug into the outlet, you can't put a 50 amp outlet on a 30 amp circuit and be compliant.

And in addition to the amperage difference, many dryer outlets are 10-30's which do not have a ground wire. Although you could connect the 14-50's ground and neutral pins to the 10-30's neutral pin and it would work, that too is just obviously non-compliant.

There is actually lots of code lateral allowances for circuit breakers being less than plugs at 240v.

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