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Charging multiple EV’s at home

PoorPilot

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I know this could have gone in either category, but being a reservation holder for both models, I was curious how others have or are planning on tackling charging multiple EV’s at home. I realize that in many situations many people won’t have to daily charge each vehicle, but let’s just say you needed to- what are your options? I currently have a Tesla HPWC (50A) for my Model X and without doing a lot of upgrading to my house electrical panel, I will have to feed off of the existing 50A circuit for any additional charging.

Another issue with the Rivian vs the Tesla are the different chargeport locations (rear vs front). Maybe a Rivian Rep could help answer some of these questions.
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Cardiffarian

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Hello PoorPilot,

I installed my own Nema 14-50 outlet for about $150 in total materials. Because of the left rear Model 3 port, I needed to get an extension cord because there was no optimal place to mount the outlet near it. I found an outstanding one at Cord Depot (www.corddepot.com). Believe me, this is the best made cord I have seen. Now, my understanding is that you can charge two EV’s at the same time but you will split your 50 amps in two. Meaning that you will only be charging at half the rate. My guess would be that you need a Y-splitter that would give you two 14-30 plugs. Cord Depot has those, as well. I’m sure someone who knows better can come up with a more elegant solution. To me though, this method is no different than charging each vehicle separately with the full 50 amps (40 or 37 actually??) and is only useful if you need a quick charge in a pinch. If you want a full 50 (40) amps to each vehicle I think you will need to tap into two separate 50 amp circuits and have two 14-50 outlets. Now, let’s hear from some people who actually know what they are talking about :).
 
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PoorPilot

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Hello PoorPilot,

I installed my own Nema 14-50 outlet for about $150 in total materials. Because of the left rear Model 3 port, I needed to get an extension cord because there was no optimal place to mount the outlet near it. I found an outstanding one at Cord Depot (www.corddepot.com). Believe me, this is the best made cord I have seen. Now, my understanding is that you can charge two EV’s at the same time but you will split your 50 amps in two. Meaning that you will only be charging at half the rate. My guess would be that you need a Y-splitter that would give you two 14-30 plugs. Cord Depot has those, as well. I’m sure someone who knows better can come up with a more elegant solution. To me though, this method is no different than charging each vehicle separately with the full 50 amps (40 or 37 actually??) and is only useful if you need a quick charge in a pinch. If you want a full 50 (40) amps to each vehicle I think you will need to tap into two separate 50 amp circuits and have two 14-50 outlets. Now, let’s hear from some people who actually know what they are talking about :).
Thanks for the info and website. I know it will be rare when I have to charge both vehicles at max rate at the same time, but I wanted to see what others are doing. I think if I can figure out how to get a “Y” adapter to feed off of the same 14-50 outlet then find a suitable extension cord long enough to run up and over one vehicle (attached to the ceiling) then plug in the 2nd vehicle for simultaneous charging, then it might work. It won’t be pretty, but who cares, right?! :)
 
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CappyJax

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I don't even have one EV yet. When I get the Rivian, it will be my only vehicle. I am building a 24 foot "Adventure Home" that will be 100% off grid electric. It will have 3,500watts of solar, and I am hoping that I will have about 10kw per day of extra energy to charge the Rivian. This will give me around 20 miles a day of range unloaded, and maybe 10 towing the house. My goal is to have zero energy expenses.
 

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I don't even have one EV yet. When I get the Rivian, it will be my only vehicle. I am building a 24 foot "Adventure Home" that will be 100% off grid electric. It will have 3,500watts of solar, and I am hoping that I will have about 10kw per day of extra energy to charge the Rivian. This will give me around 20 miles a day of range unloaded, and maybe 10 towing the house. My goal is to have zero energy expenses.
 

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Cardiffarian

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Sounds pretty amazing. We might never get to 100%, but we do have 29 Tesla solar panels on the roof. That helps quite a bit. Hope to hear more as you build out the adventure home and how you solve any problems along the way. Curious, though, are you starting out with a 24’ travel trailer?
 

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Sounds pretty amazing. We might never get to 100%, but we do have 29 Tesla solar panels on the roof. That helps quite a bit. Hope to hear more as you build out the adventure home and how you solve any problems along the way. Curious, though, are you starting out with a 24’ travel trailer?
No, I will have a custom aluminum trailer made. It will be expensive, but the weight savings and added features such as air suspension and full width floor insulation will be worth it. I am hoping to use phenolic fiber on foam (R32 in walls, R48 roof & floor), aluminum framed floors, R11 doors and windows, and basically have the lightest & most well insulated tiny home ever. I should be able to heat or cool it with a 9,000-12,000 BTU mini split. I am going to get a used Nissan Leaf battery to store the solar energy for night time use. What I am really hoping might be possible is to use the Rivian to charge the house battery. The rear outlets are 400w, which is a bit anemic for charging 24kw. However, if I can use all three at once, then 1200w wouldn't be too bad. It would charge the battery in less than a day. This would be very useful if I am in an area without a lot of sun. Then I can shuttle electricity using the Rivian rather than shuttle propane or gas.

I might be able to go 26 feet in length as I found phenolic fiber panels over phenolic foam for the walls, floor, and ceiling will be a mere 1.5 pounds per square feet. I want the entire build to weigh in less than 9,000 pounds, which would allow me 2,000 pounds of water, food, and gear and stay within the Rivians tow rating.
 
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PoorPilot

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No, I will have a custom aluminum trailer made. It will be expensive, but the weight savings and added features such as air suspension and full width floor insulation will be worth it. I am hoping to use phenolic fiber on foam (R32 in walls, R48 roof & floor), aluminum framed floors, R11 doors and windows, and basically have the lightest & most well insulated tiny home ever. I should be able to heat or cool it with a 9,000-12,000 BTU mini split. I am going to get a used Nissan Leaf battery to store the solar energy for night time use. What I am really hoping might be possible is to use the Rivian to charge the house battery. The rear outlets are 400w, which is a bit anemic for charging 24kw. However, if I can use all three at once, then 1200w wouldn't be too bad. It would charge the battery in less than a day. This would be very useful if I am in an area without a lot of sun. Then I can shuttle electricity using the Rivian rather than shuttle propane or gas.

I might be able to go 26 feet in length as I found phenolic fiber panels over phenolic foam for the walls, floor, and ceiling will be a mere 1.5 pounds per square feet. I want the entire build to weigh in less than 9,000 pounds, which would allow me 2,000 pounds of water, food, and gear and stay within the Rivians tow rating.
Wow, that’d sounds pretty intense! I hope you’re documenting and photographing the progress as I’m sure there are quite a few of us that would be willing to tackle something like this too.

Keep us up to date and post some pictures when you can.
 

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Not building yet. Still in design stage. Have to sell my condo before I can afford to build it.

What do you fly?
 

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RockDaphne98296

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I would check out JuiceBox - they say they have "Load balancing across multiple EVSEs" when you have two or more units installed, plus it has phone app and you can apply priorities. I have one - it is a level 2 charger, handles my PHEV in about 2 hours and should provide a full charge the R1S (when it comes home;-D) in about 8 hrs (Citation is random EV article on Rivian - holler if you are seeing different numbers). While I was researching level 2 chargers I was looking for one that would plug into the outlet already in place on my garage, so no hard wire was required. Requires the big 220v "dryer" outlet - we did add a dedicated circuit to avoid impacting the existing circuits and that required an electrician. I would think if you have two vehicles charging at the same time, you might want to look at dedicated circuits too.

https://emotorwerks.com/products/charging-stations/juicebox
 
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PoorPilot

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Thanks Rock. I already have a Tesla HPWC installed so I don’t want to buy two more chargers when I could probably just pigtail my 240volt outlet and run both chargers off the one outlet, obviously taking a charging hit if both vehicles are charging at the same time.
 
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Thanks Rock. I already have a Tesla HPWC installed so I don’t want to buy two more chargers when I could probably just pigtail my 240volt outlet and run both chargers off the one outlet, obviously taking a charging hit if both vehicles are charging at the same time.
So if you already have a Tesla HPWC installed you'll just charge your Rivian by using an SAE J1772 adapter all the time on one of the charging cables? Any difference in throughput when charging via SAE J1772 adapter?
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