How to buy and install an EV home charger
Gas prices? Pah! A few months ago, my family bought an electric car, used. A little 2018 BMW i3s. It looks weird but it drives great. Every time I pass long lines of cars and trucks waiting to fill up on $6-a-gallon gas, I admit, I feel a schadenfreude smile coming on.
But buying the car, it turns out, was a lot easier than buying a home charger and getting it installed, which was a serious hassle. Worth it in the end, but a hassle. And that government rebate I thought I’d been promised? Yeah, right.
You can get by without a home charger but I wouldn’t advise it. There are too few public chargers available at present for dependable refueling. And the price you pay is significantly higher than your cost of electricity at home.
A home charger isn’t cheap, though. Including installation, depending on what model you buy, the cost can top $1,500.
Hunting for a home charger is a bit of a hassle too. The hassle can be small or large depending on variables that include the age of your home, the state of its electrical system and how easy it is
to find an installer in your area.
If stories about $7-a-gallon gasoline have you thinking it’s time for an EV, though, here are some hard-won tips that might save you some headaches.
THE BASICS
The first step is deciding whether you want a Level 1 or Level 2 charger.
Level 1 operates at 120 volts. That’s the voltage you use to run your toaster and most of your home’s electricity. Level 2 is 240 volts, what an electric dryer requires. Level 2 chargers will fill your EV a lot faster from empty than a Level 1: a couple hours or so, depending on the size of your battery, versus overnight.
You’ll probably get a portable
Level 1 charger included when you get your car. If most of your trips are local, or you can charge at work, or buy a plug-in hybrid instead of a battery-only electric, a Level 1 might work just fine.
If you want the flexibility of a relatively fast fill-up and more freedom from range anxiety, you’re a candidate for a more expensive but more powerful Level 2. That’s what we chose.
Level 2 chargers require 240 volts and a socket like an electric dryer might use. If you have a 240-volt outlet near where you’ll park your car, good for you. Installation will be a lot easier. (A charger also can be connected directly to your electric panel, obviating the need for an outlet.)
Chargers come with cords of different lengths. You’ll want to measure the distance from where you put your charger to where you’ll park your car. Shorter cords make for less expensive chargers. I’d rather have too much than not enough and went for a 25-foot cord. If you’ll always be parking in a tight garage space, you can get by with something shorter and cheaper.