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Charging options in a new home?

What charging preparations would you prefer to see in a new "spec" home?

  • One basic 40A EVSE

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    69

OEVA

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Contacted by a builder putting in 18 new "green" homes. He is planning on adding charging to them. His current plan is to hardwire to a 50A circuit, and his question to me was a recommendation on model. These will be spec homes I believe, but possible that buyers could upgrade/change if not completed.

While this kind of thinking is fantastic, I was wondering what people thought about other options, hence the poll. All of the options assume adequate room and capacity would be provided in the panel and service.

Some of these would add cost to the builder (and likely get passed on with a markup). Others would allow the homeowner greater flexibility (at some additional cost)

It is likely that many buyers would not own an EV at the time of purchase
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Dark-Fx

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Contacted by a builder putting in 18 new "green" homes. He is planning on adding charging to them. His current plan is to hardwire to a 50A circuit, and his question to me was a recommendation on model. These will be spec homes I believe, but possible that buyers could upgrade/change if not completed.

While this kind of thinking is fantastic, I was wondering what people thought about other options, hence the poll. All of the options assume adequate room and capacity would be provided in the panel and service.

Some of these would add cost to the builder (and likely get passed on with a markup). Others would allow the homeowner greater flexibility (at some additional cost)

It is likely that many buyers would not own an EV at the time of purchase
I think already having an EVSE could be great for the right customer, but most people that already have EVs would probably be bringing their existing EVSE(s) with them. Lots of new EVs include a basic charger with them that is sufficient for general use as well. Just having 14-50 Outlets is probably the easiest and most cost effective option. If it's a 4 car garage, you probably have to install 400A panels to plan for an EV in each bay.
 

SANZC02

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That is a really hard question, I kept waffling between the 60 amp and the prewired for VtoG.

I finally landed on the best option for a builder would be the conduit to each garage bay, as long as it is large enough for the higher amperage like 80 amps, it would be the lowest cost for the builder and the most flexibility for the owner.

They then could offer as an upgrade to the purchaser to what they need.
 

DucRider

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I chose the hardwired smart 40A option.
Reasonable compromise to the builder for cost, and having a existing EVSE in the garage would definitely make any homeowner going car shopping take a serious look at EVs as an option.

I would actually like to see them do a combination with one installed EVSE plus conduit to any other bays (I don't know if there are multiple bays?).
 

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Speedrye

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Definitely a larger conduit with a tape already in there for easy future install. With technology in this realm evolving quickly, I wouldn't want to be stuck with outdated amperage. I'd also want a panel with enough capacity to charge two vehicles on max charging. Whether someone actually uses the conduit(s) for an electric vehicle, or opts to put a home battery in the garage, attached to the panel, it would be handy and a selling feature for both.
 
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Scoiatael

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If you want to get a truck or full sized suv, 60A hardwired charger is the way to go. I use NEMA 14-50 and a mobile charger right now, and that is fine because my Model Y only has a 75kw battery. But the nema 14-50 chargers aren't going to quite cut it for the bigger EVs.
 

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I am currently building a new home and initially planned to just have one NEMA 14-50 outlet on the side wall, but have decided for ultimate flexibility to install Rivian's 48A charger on the back wall as the primary charger and then have a NEMA 14-50 near the door in order to support vehicles with a rear charge port (like Tesla) or in-driveway charging. The only thing I haven't decided is whether to wire them both to the main panel or have a subpanel in my garage to make it easier to adapt to future changes.
 
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OEVA

OEVA

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Had a conversation with the builder and got a little more insight.
14 new homes in an older area of Portland. Most will be single car garages, a few 2 car.
Working with the utility company, he got pushback on doing even a single 50A circuit in each garage. Turns out the transformers (a block or two away) are a big issue and may not have the capacity. The "local grid" is 50 years old.

He is leaning towards including a hardwired EVSE, but at a minimum will install a 14-50.

He also does largeish apartment buildings and says putting in charging for that use case can be incredibly expensive - utility companies place the burden on the developer to upgrade the infrastructure. Adding 40 or 50 EVSEs to a project can have huge $$$ ramifications over and above the on site costs.
 

Aroohoo

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Working with the utility company, he got pushback on doing even a single 50A circuit in each garage. Turns out the transformers (a block or two away) are a big issue and may not have the capacity.
This is interesting. Wonder if the push back was because he was going to have a larger service size than whatever the standard is (e.g. 200A) per unit...or if the aggregate demand from all of the new houses (assuming there is an increase in total # of houses) and their standard service size is tasking the grid.
Either way, I would have assumed that the utility wouldn't care if there was a 50A circuit in each garage as long as the service size wasn't being increased because of it (e.g. 200 to 400A).

He also does largeish apartment buildings and says putting in charging for that use case can be incredibly expensive - utility companies place the burden on the developer to upgrade the infrastructure. Adding 40 or 50 EVSEs to a project can have huge $$$ ramifications over and above the on site costs.
Same thing with my utility up here. When people have gone grid tied solar, they have to analyze the local grid and if it requires upgrades the customer has to pay for that whole burden. So, if your installation causes the upgrade, but even if you only use 1% of the new capacity, you have to pay for the entire new capacity.

Kind of similar to utility/phone poles too. If you want to string a new line on the poles (e.g. fiber internet) and the poles are deemed to need maintenance (i.e. replacement), you have to also have to pay for that.
 

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OEVA

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This is interesting. Wonder if the push back was because he was going to have a larger service size than whatever the standard is (e.g. 200A) per unit...or if the aggregate demand from all of the new houses (assuming there is an increase in total # of houses) and their standard service size is tasking the grid.
Either way, I would have assumed that the utility wouldn't care if there was a 50A circuit in each garage as long as the service size wasn't being increased because of it (e.g. 200 to 400A).
200A service - the issue was the perceived aggregate demand.
 

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For those conditions I would say put in 14-50 outlets. That should cover most use cases.
 

MT_Tom

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Built our house in 2017 and put in a single 14-50 in anticipation of an EV someday. Put in a big panel with extra space. Will likely add Rivian Wall Charger on a separate circuit / location to get quicker charging and keep the portable in the Frunk. Other option would be to replace the 14-50 with the wall charger, but would rather have the 60amp vs the 50amp that is wired in, if I understand it correctly.
 

wizard467

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Contacted by a builder putting in 18 new "green" homes. He is planning on adding charging to them. His current plan is to hardwire to a 50A circuit, and his question to me was a recommendation on model. These will be spec homes I believe, but possible that buyers could upgrade/change if not completed.

While this kind of thinking is fantastic, I was wondering what people thought about other options, hence the poll. All of the options assume adequate room and capacity would be provided in the panel and service.

Some of these would add cost to the builder (and likely get passed on with a markup). Others would allow the homeowner greater flexibility (at some additional cost)

It is likely that many buyers would not own an EV at the time of purchase
My vote is to put an 80, 100, or 125A subpanel in the garage using aluminum wiring. Cheaper than multiple individual 50A copper runs for multiple chargers from the main panel. Also can then sell the garage as EV ready or DIY ready (welders, table saws, etc.). Then someone who moves in can put whatever EV charger they want with a short foot long run to the garage subpanel.
 

DeafPug

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For the apartment installation and wanting to avoid huge demand charges on the electric bill or the need to do expensive upgrades, look at the Adaptive Load Management system from PowerFlex. https://www.powerflex.com/products/ev-charging/ I’m pretty sure this system was originally developed to blanket a large parking garage at CalTech and have coordinated charging across the 100 charging stations in the parking garage. Many EVSE support this load sharing across 2-4 stations, but PowerFlex coordinates across dozens or hundreds.
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