Charging Station

[mogul59]

I am getting ready to buy a 2013 Leaf. I was planning an upgraded charging cable from EVSEUPGRADE.COM. Since I don't have 220 in my garage I had an electrician out and he tells me that I would still need a home charging station. I don't think this is right after looking at evseupgrade's page but this electrician does work with EV's a lot and is used by EVGO. I think I can just plug directly into a 220 outlet. Am I right about this? It looks like the difference is $1000 on Amazon versus about $300 from evseupgrade. Also I will be parking the car outside the garage and running the cable under the door. Anyone have any experience with this kind of set up? I worry about the door eventually damaging the cable.

 

[derkraut]

I think your electrician is incorrect. I have often used my EVSE Upgrade unit, plugged in to a 220/240V outlet, with no issues whatsoever. Furthermore, running the cable under your garage door should be no problem, providing you don't pinch it too tight.

 

[MatimalND]

All you need is a 220 L6-20 female outlet hooked to a 20AMP 220 circuit breaker. In fact if you have an outlet that has 12-2 wire running to the garage you can just swap out the 110 circuit for a 220 circuit and change the outlet to a L6-20 and you are good to go. Just make sure you don't have any other outlets on that circuit.

I was lucky enough to have an dedicated outlet I was going to use for my dead bolt heater I converted over, don't need the dead bolt heater anymore .

Check out this thread for more info: http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=2707&p=73701&

 

[davewill]

You do need a charging station, and the EVSE Upgrade will be the charging station. You're "installing" it yourself, and the electrician just needs to do the plug. The tricky part is that in some locations, as soon as you state that it's for an EV, the inspector will insist on seeing the charging station installed. You just want to tell the electrician that you want a 240v outlet, but NOT what you want it for. Then things should proceed smoothly.

 

[jimcmorr]

I have had my LEAF for a year. I got the EVSE upgrade about a week and a half after taking delivery of the LEAF. I have been charging with it ever since. I had an exterior 240 outlet installed on the side of the house before I moved from NH to GA because there was no electricity in the garage. The cable was run under the garage door and I had a piece of wood under the door to keep the cord from being crushed. I now have a garage with electricity and I had another 240 outlet installed in there. I am still using the EVSEUPGRADE unit and have no troubles to report. I have been very happy. I even got a tax credit for EVSE equipment.

 

[mwalsh]

Also I will be parking the car outside the garage and running the cable under the door. Anyone have any experience with this kind of set up? I worry about the door eventually damaging the cable.

Yes, every night for the last two years. I make sure that I only allow the garage door to go down to the point where the draft excluder kisses the cable, and for that I need to use the garage door remote...the Homelink remote built into the car doesn't allow stopping the door with enough accuracy.

 

[davewill]

I did that for a while. The seal on the bottom of the door was big enough that if I set the door opener to stop when the seal just touched the ground, there was still enough room for the cable to fit under the door without the door resting on the cable. Much easier than carefully trying to stop the door from closing too far.

 

[mwalsh]

Much easier than carefully trying to stop the door from closing too far.

Well, after two years I have it down to an art now.

 

[keydiver]

I am getting ready to buy a 2013 Leaf. I was planning an upgraded charging cable from EVSEUPGRADE.COM. Since I don't have 220 in my garage I had an electrician out and he tells me that I would still need a home charging station.

Which model Leaf did you purchase? Does it have the new 6.6kW charger? The modified Nissan EVSE can still only charge at the 2011/2012 3.3kW rate. Most home charging stations, like my Schneider unit from Home Depot, can charge a 2013 Leaf with the 6.6kW charger at the full 6.6kW rate, cutting your charge time almost in half. Depending upon your circumstances, that may not make any difference. It may also make a difference how much electrical work it would take to get a full 30 amp 240 volt circuit to your garage. The 20 amp circuit needed for the EVSEUpgrade doesn't require as much, but if your electrician is going to have to pull in all new wiring you might as well go all the way, IMO.