Recommendation on Home Charging Equipment

Hi,

It looks like there is a slew, a plethora if you will, of home charging station options. Does anyone have a recommendation on a make/model?
I've seen some ranging from $500 to $900 (not including electrician install costs), but have no idea what the differences are. Not even sure what criteria I should be looking at aside from making sure I can get a 4-hour charge (I do have the quick port too btw, but assume they don't sell that for homes). Having just bought my leaf I'm using the normal house current and it's taking 10 hours to charge a half-full battery. Eek!

My sales guy unofficially told me about evsupgrade.com. Did anyone here go that route and can share their experience/perception on this apparently cheaper alternative to the regular charging station? Not sure what to think about it. I'm wondering if a charging station is "Future proof" or if I'll likely need to get a new one in 3 years when my lease is up because charging technology too may improve?

Thank you.

A big factor in what you should get is what kind of electrical service you currently have. Some people will simply say "go for the biggest and baddest model" without regards to whether or not it is possible in your case without a major (and expensive) upgrade to your service.

You should consult with a qualified electrician. Ask him (or her) if a 40 amp circuit is possible with your current service. If not, ask what is the maximum amperage your current service will allow. Until then it's rather futile to give a recommendation.

A 30 amp EVSE will require a 40 amp electrical circuit for safety reasons. Many older homes do not have that kind of spare capacity, and would require upgrading the service.. But, some older homes might be able to go with a 20 amp EVSE (requiring a 25 amp circuit) or a 16 amp EVSE (requiring 20 amps) without a major upgrade.

The EVSE Upgrade is well-regarded and many MNL members have sent their EVSE's in to be upgraded, and the owner of that company is also a member here. But, unless you want to pay $75 for rush service, and have an $800 hold put on your card in case you don't exchange yours in new condition for one the company sends in advance, you will be without an EVSE to charge your car with in the meantime. Also, the EVSE Upgrade is limited to 20 amps (16 amps for pre-2013 OEM EVSE's) so you're not going to get a 4 hour charge time. Only a 30 amp EVSE will charge your Leaf at such a rate.

Would you consider the open source OpenEVSE? I have one such unit from GlennD and it's well-built.

He currently has a 24A unit for sale at $275 + $20 shipping:

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16318" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note: OpenEVSE can operate on either 120V or 240V.

How big is your main breaker? 100 or 200 amps?

Try to get at least a 7.2kw unit

Assuming you have the 40 amps available, I just bought a juicebox. You can do it through Amazon or directly from them, and I love it. Showed up quickly and it works perfectly. I think it was about $450 plus shipping.

joeblu said:

I'm wondering if a charging station is "Future proof" or if I'll likely need to get a new one in 3 years when my lease is up because charging technology too may improve?
Thank you.

Click to expand...

The home chargers follow the j1772 standards, which are unlikely to be obsoleted any time soon. That means the connector and the electrical protocols are fairly-well future-proofed already.

When people think of future-proofing in regard to EVSEs, they're generally thinking of the amount of power the unit can supply, vs "future cars" with larger and larger battery capacities.

Ironically, the larger the vehicle's battery gets, the less important the charge rate becomes in general. Because a larger battery will be more likely to have considerable power "left in the tank" when you park. If I use 20kWh from the LEAF I've fully drained it. But if I use 20kWH from a Tesla, it's still got "3/4 of a tank".

Since you want to charge the LEAF in 4 hours, you'd be looking for a 30-amp EVSE. To my way of thinking that will serve any vehicle reasonably well into the future. I've got a 16-amp EVSE and I'm not really worried about its future-proofness.

I was one of the lucky ones to get the free AV EVSE home charger from the state of CA ($2,100 value) installed.

However, if I was a new owner with nothing, I would consider the JESLA and just install a large amp circuit in my garage, next to the box, probably a 50amp breaker. I would only need 40 amps with the 2013 Leaf, but we never know what we will get next.

Why the JESLA rather than a hardwired home unit? I could take it with me so I could charge anywhere with either 120v or 240v. Plus it is easy to install a circuit breaker and plug. However, if you do not know your way around the box, then get a friend or professional electrician to help.

I did both. I'm very happy with my Schneider 30 amp EVSE, permanently installed in the garage, but I also upgraded my factory EVSE with evseupgrade.com for portable use. If I recall, I got the Schneider unit from Home Depot for ~$700. It is performing flawlessly.

I have and recommend Schneider, Leviton & EVSEUpgrade.
If pulling wire I would go with a 50 amp circuit.

I recently purchases a Clipper Creek HCS-40P with a NEMA 14-50 plug and have been very satisfied so far. I needed an electrician to install an outlet in my garage from my circuit breaker box in the basement. Cost for that was $500. Cost with shipping for the unit was ~$700. I am able to charge in 3-4 hours. I considered the EVSEUpgrade but in the end decided to go for a dedicated semi-permanent unit instead.

I would recommend the Clipper Creek HCS-40 as well. I just had one installed last week. I opted for the Hardwired unit. $650 incl shipping and CA state tax. I had it installed complete with required local code compliant shutoff box for less than $400. The 25 foot cord is plenty long enough to reach either side of the garage. My house is only 14 years old, and already has 200amp service and extra room on the electrical panel for additional breakers, and the panel is on the outside of the garage. Minimal distance from panel to charger installation location, so the wire run was short.

I never worry about a low charge on the car after a day of driving... just plug it in, and in 2-3 hours a full charge. no waiting overnight for trickle charger.

Well worth the cost to install a full 30 amp charger.

We've had our EVSEUpgrade for 2 1/2 years as our sole charger. It has been brain-dead reliable. Only twice have I taken it off the garage wall for charging away from home. You have not yet posted where you live, but it is likely that another nearby LEAF driver would loan you their OEM Panasonic charger while your's was away for mod.

What you choose to do may be influenced by how you use the car. If only short trips around town with plenty of charging time at night, 120V might be plenty. I personally believe that 240V at any amperage will give you more flexibility in addition to somewhat better efficiency. If you elect to put in a new circuit, the delta cost for higher capacity on a future BEV is small compared to pulling wire again.

OpenEVSE is a great option, and Chris is helpful with questions and getting you going. If you are not inclined to assemble it yourself, GlennD has become very adept as a hobbyist OpenEVSE assembler and can help you narrow options. Whatever you decide, try not to get too tied up with future possibilities. Aim to charge your LEAF at it's maximum J1772 rate, but avoid being so economical that you are putting your EVSE in and out of the trunk each day. Examine your needs, but try to keep the charging process simple.

So now you see lots of different recommendations. What that means is that pretty-much all of the EVSEs on the market are good. Go for the one that meets your needs. Some want an EVSE that is weatherproof against extreme weather. If you are installing it in your garage, that won't matter. Others want one that is portable so they can take it with them on vacation. The cord length might also matter to you. Or the length of the warranty.

If you are trying to save money, then shop around for the best deal. This thread has a few price points.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=16310" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you're shopping on price alone, keep in mind that the cost of an electrician to install the unit will be more than the cost of the unit itself. In addition to the electrician's time, they will charge you for a new circuit breaker, some very high current wire, miscellaneous other things, and also city/town permit & inspection fees. So the difference between $600 and $800 for the EVSE may be insignificant compared to the $1000 (wild guess - it could be much higher) for an electrician.

Some people here have installed the EVSE themselves. Some have gone to the extreme of building their EVSE from open-source plans (ex: Open EVSE and JuiceBox). I don't know what your particular town allows or your particular skills, safety standards, and moral compass. I've never heard a bad experience on this list but I do know of someone who did a lot of home EV tinkering and had his garage catch on fire.
http://www.autoweek.com/article/20110418/CARNEWS/110419870" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/25/idUS408904384620110425" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://gm-volt.com/2011/05/18/exclusive-chevrolet-volt-unofficially-cleared-in-connecticut-garage-fire/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They never released a final report on the cause of the fire but this quote is intriguing: "...According to Storm Connors, the owner of the house and the EVs in question, his garage had a number of flammable items laying around..."

So if anyone asks for my advice, it always starts with safety first. That means installing some sort of safety alarm in the garage. I went with the BRK First Alert HD6135FB because I liked the idea of it responding to temperature rate-of-rise as well as temperature. That means that it will respond to a fire on a frigid day just the same as it would to a fire on a hot summer day. And it interfaces directly with the other BRK First Alert smoke detectors in the house. It could be OK to have a smoke detector in your garage, but some fear that normal car exhaust might cause false alarms, and excessive dust might foul the smoke sensor. The HD6135FB should be immune to these issues.
http://www.amazon.com/BRK-Brands-HD6135FB-Hardwire-Battery/dp/B000Q6LXW2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Although they show it on their website, I could not buy that model in my local Home Depot. They only had the older model with a fixed temperature alarm. Then I found the right model cheaper from a distributor on ebay and went with that.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=brk+hd6135fb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Please let us know what you finally get and how you like it.

Bob

joeblu said:

Hi,

It looks like there is a slew, a plethora if you will, of home charging station options. Does anyone have a recommendation on a make/model?

Click to expand...

It depends on what you want really. If you want reliability, I would say go for Clipper Creek. If you want cheap and easy, go with EVSEupgrade but know that it will not charge a 6.6Kw LEAF at the fastest rate. If you want bells and whistles, there's the Blink units but many have had problems with them; shameless plug but I'm selling my Blink charging station. For portability, there's the Tesla UMC conversion that Tony Williams' does (Jesla); the AV turbocord is an option but charging rate is slow at 3.3kwh. For real portability and flexibility & If you're comfortable with electricity, I would suggest building an OpenEVSE or buying one from GlennD.

HighDesertDriver said:

If you elect to put in a new circuit, the delta cost for higher capacity on a future BEV is small compared to pulling wire again.

Click to expand...

This is something that can vary widely depending on the user's situation. If their panel or electrical service is already near maximum utilization based on load calculations, the cost difference between running a smaller circuit vs. a larger one can be dramatic if the larger circuit necessitates installation of a new panel, upgraded electrical service, trenching, etc... This was the case for us; it would have cost thousands more if we had installed anything more than a 16A EVSE.

There are a lot of options available for keeping total cost down. I installed the Bosch Power Max 30amp a few months ago (love it so far, was $560 all told on Amazon). I hired an electrician to just do the final hook up at the breaker and at the unit. I bought all of the supplies (wire and new 50amp breaker, 40amp was recommended but figured go for future use if running wire and putting in a breaker).

Electrican was $125 to just do the hook ups but did save quite a bit of money as running the wire would have taken a solid 2 or 3 hours for a pro (took me 4 or so).

timba33 said:

I would recommend the Clipper Creek HCS-40 as well. I just had one installed last week. I opted for the Hardwired unit. $650 incl shipping and CA state tax. I had it installed complete with required local code compliant shutoff box for less than $400. The 25 foot cord is plenty long enough to reach either side of the garage.

.....

Well worth the cost to install a full 30 amp charger.

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that another member here got a $5,000 quote to install his so-called "free" EVSE, because his current service is insufficient to handle the 30 amp load that the particular EVSE (AeroVironment) is capable of drawing. To me, that's not worth the cost to shave a couple of hours worth of charging time.

Again the OP should consult with an electrician first to see what his current service will allow. If he will need an upgrade for even a 16 amp EVSE, then I recommend having a circuit capable of 50 amps be installed in the garage, to allow for future expansion.

Hi all,

Just wanted to report back. I did a ridiculous amount of reading and decided to go with the Bosch EL-51253 Power Max 30 Amp EVSE. It was between that and the Clipper Creek HCS-40, 30A EVSE. They were both rated quite well everywhere I looked. I decided not to go with the mod of the existing Panasonic charger or any of the DIY kits because frankly, for the money, it wasn't much different. I didn't see a real advantage. I may get a kit in the future as back-up, just because I like to tinker.

Anyway, I went with the Bosch as it was bit cheaper than the CC and with no shipping charges. Clipper Creek looked like it has a metal enclosure so tougher, and the cord is longer by 7 feet. But neither of these features were really an issue for me. I realized from looking at other EVSE's that you really do pay for those extra feet of cord btw, and I simply don't need it. The Bosch also has an on/off switch so I can kill it and it won’t drain any phantom power when not in use (though side note: Clipper Creek says it uses minimal power when not in use so it doesn’t need an on/off switch. I still would rather avoid any extra energy drain).

I think my completed cost, which includes a new sub-panel with 50a breaker 250v circuit is $1,200 all in. Not too shabby. Figure I could only get it cheaper if I did it myself, but I don't do electrical box work (even if I run my own wire, I swear off the box!). I'll report back again once the install is complete (later next week) and give a review of the Bosch.

I recently purchased the Clipper Creek HCS-40P with a NEMA 14-50 plug as well. The price was quite competitive (about $600) and the Clipper Creek folks are very helpful. I was able to use an existing breaker in my garage mounted electrical box that had previously been used for a hot tub. The cost of having an electrician add a 14-50 wall outlet was a little over a $100. Unit works great, and a full charge in under 4 hours at home adds a whole new level of utility to the Leaf.

I vote for the Bosch Power Max...
Easy install...
I picked mine up for around $550 or so...
Breeze to install and works very well.

Features with the Bosch are:

No-touch operation, making charging as simple as plugging the vehicle in and walking away
NEMA 3R enclosure for both indoor and outdoor applications
Standard safety features including a cord breakaway system and non-live current wire
Visible LED indicator, eliminating the question of whether or not a vehicle is charging
On/off switch to completely shut off power to the unit and ensure no power is consumed

http://www.pluginnow.com/power-max2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;