Home charger location: what would you do?

[Dark-Fx]

My EVSEs are on the back wall of the garage. I've been parking my Bolt on the opposite side of the driveway from the house because of the battery recall. I bought a 40A J1772 extension soon after I had originally bought the Bolt, it works great for my situation, just leave the extension plugged in and run the cord under the garage door.

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[n8dgr8]

If you use the setup that comes with the truck rather than buying a hardwired unit, I recommend some form of all 3. Two dedicated 120V 20 AMP circuits. And a 240 volt 50 AMP Circuit. Put the 120s in handy locations for daily charging. Use the 240 when you get back from a trip or need to top off after a week of incomplete charges. They make heavy duty RV extension coords too. I'm thinking you can add 35 miles per night with the 20 AMP circuits.


You are not going to find an electrician who will install anything at the curb, it might be a long time before you get a permit for that. I would consider installing the outlet on the house side of the sidewalk. Drive a piece of large PVC conduit or pipe under the sidewalk with some way to drain. You can then either run your charger through the PVC or and extension coord through the PVC.

Typically extension coords are considered a no-no in EV charging. As long as you get a good quality heavy duty one with a CGI outlet for protection you should be OK.

 

[timesinks]

You are not going to find an electrician who will install anything at the curb, it might be a long time before you get a permit for that.

It took me a minute to find, but I have walked/biked past this front yard EVSE in Seattle several times. I have never seen it in use, but it sure seems like the city is open to it.

https://goo.gl/maps/bkBouTL8nzDeafRR8

 

[n8dgr8]

Cor

It took me a minute to find, but I have walked/biked past this front yard EVSE in Seattle several times. I have never seen it in use, but it sure seems like the city is open to it.

https://goo.gl/maps/bkBouTL8nzDeafRR8

The median between the sidewalk and the curb is typically off limits.

 

[DucRider]

Two dedicated 120V 20 AMP circuits. And a 240 volt 50 AMP Circuit. Put the 120s in handy locations for daily charging. Use the 240 when you get back from a trip or need to top off after a week of incomplete charges. They make heavy duty RV extension coords too. I'm thinking you can add 35 miles per night with the 20 AMP circuits

OEM charge cord comes with a 5-15P and therefore will only draw 12A. No need for a 20A circuit unless you want to use a 3rd party portable EVSE. But be aware that many vehicles will not draw more than 12A on L1 even if the EVSE can supply more. Some even default to 8A under the assumption that you are likely plugging into a shared (non-dedicated) outlet. On the Bolt, you can geofence your home location so you don't need to change the setting every time you plug in. Others allow you to change the default setting. No idea what Rivian will do/allow on L1.

 

[Zeppelinpilot]

*IF* you end up not using the garage and the charger that is in there already, you could probably put the spot up on craigslist and rent it for a pretty penny. Are there lots of renters in your neighborhood who might like a spot to charge their EV?

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

In downtown Raleigh, NC I’ve seen outlets that were installed in small posts in the grass between the curb and sidewalk. Example:
I guess it’s possible people install them without permission, but I’ve seen a few without information to the contrary, I assume they were permitted.

 

[Rivian-WI]

It took me a minute to find, but I have walked/biked past this front yard EVSE in Seattle several times. I have never seen it in use, but it sure seems like the city is open to it.

https://goo.gl/maps/bkBouTL8nzDeafRR8

How is that expected to be used? Is a BEV suppose to park where the blue car is and then hope the cord reaches. Not to mention the cord going across the sidewalk and being a trip hazard.
OR is there a parking spot right up by it that we are not seeing in this picture?

 

[timesinks]

The median between the sidewalk and the curb is typically off limits.

The parking strip is generally not within ones property lines and is legally considered part of the public right of way, so I wouldn't expect it to truly be "curbside". But this setup is clearly used to string across the sidewalk and charge a street-parked car (and I've always thought it odd enough that I was able to figure out where it was on street view).

 

[sevengroove]

There's a home in my neighborhood where the homeowner has actually taken the charger right to the curb. This is a blurry Google Earth photo but you can see the brighter strip on the sidewalk which is new asphalt under which they buried the conduit. They then put a planter on the curb with a nice little electrical box where the charger is housed. They didn't have another option (no garage or driveway). I might swing by and drop them a note to figure out if they got this permitted and how much it cost.

 

[sevengroove]

*IF* you end up not using the garage and the charger that is in there already, you could probably put the spot up on craigslist and rent it for a pretty penny. Are there lots of renters in your neighborhood who might like a spot to charge their EV?

That's a good thought. I'm in a primarily single-family home type of neighborhood so there might be some renters around. I imagine I could rent out the garage as-is because there always seem to be folks who need extra storage, but the EV charging angle could sweeten the deal.

 

[Pherdnut]

Those front cameras could help a lot with parking in the garage. Also, ye olde classic, tennis ball on string. You might be able to squeeze close to a couple feet on one side with practice which sounds like a reasonable clearance to me. Just have to let your passengers out first. It's too bad it's not a smidge longer or you could park at an angle for more clearance.

Not sure what garage door openers cost or how close the height is, but I'll bet it's not a lot compared to a 70-100k EV.

Is there enough clearance between the door, the sidewalk, and the street to fit the truck? If there is, Rivian might eventually have something similar to Teslas where it can move in out of the garage without you in it and you can (dis)embark outside.

In any case, I'm jealous. I'm a renter with a parking spot. No commute, so I'm hoping free level 2 at local grocery stores suffices for day to day charging, but I'll probably have to sublet my parking and rent a garage somewhere if that doesn't cut it.

 

[sevengroove]

Those front cameras could help a lot with parking in the garage. Also, ye olde classic, tennis ball on string. You might be able to squeeze close to a couple feet on one side with practice which sounds like a reasonable clearance to me. Just have to let your passengers out first. It's too bad it's not a smidge longer or you could park at an angle for more clearance.

Not sure what garage door openers cost or how close the height is, but I'll bet it's not a lot compared to a 70-100k EV.

Is there enough clearance between the door, the sidewalk, and the street to fit the truck? If there is, Rivian might eventually have something similar to Teslas where it can move in out of the garage without you in it and you can (dis)embark outside.

In any case, I'm jealous. I'm a renter with a parking spot. No commute, so I'm hoping free level 2 at local grocery stores suffices for day to day charging, but I'll probably have to sublet my parking and rent a garage somewhere if that doesn't cut it.

I'm fairly confident of driving the vehicle in to the garage (with the aid of cameras, of course) but the biggest problem for me is creating that clearance on the side to open my door enough to get out. Subtract the R1S's width from my garage's width and I have about 37" to play with. If I park dead center that's a foot and a half on each side. With some finagling/angling maybe I can get to 2' on the driver side, but we'd also have to subtract the thickness of the door while open. It will be a squeeze any way I cut it.

I do in theory have enough room to park the Rivian right outside my garage door for it to drive straight in. But when I asked customer service about remote park assist (while shaming them with examples of far less premium brands like Hyundai and VW already having the feature) they gave me their usual "not at this time, but possible with a future update". SIgh. I feel you though, I'm still complaining about a problem that you'd love to have as a renter .

 

[SeaGeo]

Hah, I'm in Seattle where the whole detached narrow garage thing is way more common than I thought it would be. If I move across the country for my Rivian, they better do a Story on me and award me the title of Riviot in Chief ? .

SCL was exploring curb charging a couple years ago. Have you reached out to them to see if they may help facilitate a street charger?

 

[DuckTruck]

I hate charging my car in the driveway at night and would be very reluctant to do it curbside at my home. Maybe it's all the mayhem we've seen over the last year, but I think charging lights would be an invitation for someone to vandalize or mess with an unattended EV sitting streetside in the dark. This is especially true if your cord is laying across the sidewalk.

On top of that, if you live on a two-way street, the open charging port door with the cable sticking out of it would be visible to all traffic and not as visible to you. More opportunity to mess with it and run off.

You: "Wow, DuckTruck! Paranoid, are you?"

Me: "What do you mean by that?!"

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