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2ndruncanoe t1_iu5gnjz wrote

Electrician should be able to do it no problem. You should think about the following before you collect quotes:

  1. Where do you want the charger? Like, specifically, on the wall, where you will want to park.
  2. Decide what charger you want. Lots of options and lots of sales.
  3. Decide if you want to hardwire the charger or ask the electrician to install a 240v outlet (basically a dryer outlet style).

We wired ours ourselves, it was a PITA to run the thick wiring the 20 feet through the attic from the panel and fish down the wall, but straightforward. Wired 40 amp breaker and 8 gauge wire (6? I forget which we used) to a new outdoor metal box receptacle on the outside of the house. We bought a grizzle charger on amazon, and lock it to the outside of the house. Since we didn't hardwire the charger, we can take it with us and plug it in to the dryer outlet at sister's house, for example.

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ARowzFocuz OP t1_iu5h4g2 wrote

Good to know. I know the answer to #1. Don't know much about #2, but would think I'd go with something on sale that doesn't cost too much. For #3 any advantage or disadvantage either way? Any significant price difference for plug in vs hard-wired? Fortunately my breaker box is in the garage and I'd just want the EVSE right next to it. Don't envision I'd ever be taking it with me anywhere.

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2ndruncanoe t1_iu5hsqr wrote

re: hardwire or plug-in - another factor is, you can swap out a failed charger more easily in the future if it is not hardwired. But, yeah - think about what you want for #2 and #3 before you get quotes, you'll probably want to have the charger picked out before you can spec the installation to be on the safe side. The 240v plug in an outdoor rated box was only like 30 bucks, so pretty low cost compared to the total cost of the install.

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ARowzFocuz OP t1_iu5prhk wrote

Great point! I imagine doing plug-in would probably be less expensive, too?

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tuctrohs t1_iu74ooj wrote

No, plug in can add $100 to $200. You are on the 2017 code still, so a GFCI breaker probably isn't required, but it would be a good idea, and it is about $100 more than a regular breaker. And a good quality receptacle that is up to the job for EV charging can be $50 to $100. Cheap one fail too often under that continuous operation.

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