Equiping my residence for "PlugShare"....

I am going to need to install a new sub panel to acomodate the 60A Clipper Creek refurbished charger that I just purchased off eBay. I have been using the coverted Nissan EVSE, but the price was right for the Clipper Creek and this way, I can start taking my portable unit with me at all times. And I have future proofing to certain extent. I suspect many EVSE's will eventually charge at 60A or higher.. That's about 12kw an hour, or roughly 30 plus miles of range, hypothetically. May be more if future EVs are more efficient...

The new subpanel will give me the option of adding any additional circuits that I desire. The ClipperCreek EVSA will live in the middle of the rear wall of the 2 car garage so that either bay can charge.

But a 220V outlet outside had 2 benefits I am thinking. One is that I myself sometimes get entangled in garage projects, like building cabinets or woodworking (have shop to the rear of garage), and historically, I've parked cars outside for a few days or weeks when that happens. Cannot do that anymore with an EV in my life.

Second benefit would be sharing via Plugshare. I actually may still be long certain months of the year with my grid tie PV, and I'm community minded enough to share a few $1 of electrons to a traveler, regardless....

So my plan is to put a downward facing L6-20 220v plug relatively high on the exterior wall. I may put it all the way up under the eve, which makes wiring a breeze, as I have good attic access. Only problem with the "very high" solution is that I can reach it (I'm 6'5") but a wayward traveler would not. I can leave a stool!

And I think I would put a 110v plug on the wall too, for the occassional use by someone with an uncoverted EVSE (painful). I *think* I can just use one leg of the 20A 220V wire for the 110V. I understand completely that if I put a 110V and a 220V plug in the same circuit, I cannot use them both at the same time. But that would be a rare/never event.

I figure that putting the plugs up high, given my relative wide eves, makes the rain and snow risk remote and the EVSE should be OK hanging, with its locking plug. Don't know how it would work for a 110V user....

An ideas why this is a bad idea? Refinements to suggest? I don't have a lot of code restrictions -- un-incorporated location. But I try not to do stupid things either....

(Later edited to correct my poor memory of L6-20 versus L6 30)

I wouldn't put anything where people intentionally have to struggle to use. What if somebody falls off that stool?

I would use normal heights for the plugs (in the code). Also, I would not face them down where somebody might not even see it.

Just put everything in an outdoor rated NEMA box like every RV park has. Simple and cheap.

TonyWilliams said:

I wouldn't put anything where people intentionally have to struggle to use. What if somebody falls off that stool?

I would use normal heights for the plugs (in the code). Also, I would not face them down where somebody might not even see it.

Just put everything in an outdoor rated NEMA box like every RV park has. Simple and cheap.

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Actually, the down facing locking receptacles are nto unheard of-- Generator hookup are often done that way. The 110V will just have a typical water resistant external box.

I have since decided to remove a piece of dry wall so that I can drop the hookups further down the wall. Interestingly, I do not know of any code that preclude a high wall outlet. Many codes preclude outlet lower than 14" IIRC. Has do with flooding and cord damage hazards I think.....

I actually do not want the outlets too low, as then the EVSE would be in the snow and water more. The locking cable has its utility -- the unit can hang safely, up out of the elements. But will now drop them down to chest hight or so.

Even though it will likely be many years before I drive an EV through your part of the country, I would like to thank you for your efforts to share power with the EV community. If enough people choose to do this, we can substantially increase charging opportunities and thus increase the comfort level of current and potential EV drivers. Who knows, your "plug" could turn out to be just what a kind stranger needs to take a trip in an EV.

Well, before you get too excited about that.. let me share this.

When PlugShare first came out, I was very tempted to buy a second EVSE and hang it outside on the brick next to my garage. On occasion I charge my car outside while I'm doing some work in the garage anyway. That usually means using the 120V EVSE since my wall-mounted 240V won't reach out into the driveway. But my main thought was that people could come by and charge on 240V even if I'm not home, which I wouldn't mind. After all, I imagine anyone driving a Leaf or other pure EV at this early stage of the game probably has really good credit and a good job. Meaning they aren't likely to be criminals.

One other interesting point is our location in the DF/W metroplex. We're actually located in a very strategic spot as the nearest public charging stations are at least 10 miles in any direction. When PlugShare first came online it was more like 20 miles in each direction. So we kind of fill a hole in the charging map. You'd think that'd increase the likelihood of people needing to charge at our place.

Despite this... we've NEVER been called about charging at our home. In fact, I posted a thread on this forum about a year ago asking if anyone had ever actually been called about charging, or called somebody else and asked to charge. Last I checked, that thread never got a single reply. So I don't think people really embrace the idea of charging at another person's home.

adric22 said:

Despite this... we've NEVER been called about charging at our home.

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We've actually had a good number of vehicles charge at our home, as we're close to the main route to SoCal's largest mountain resort. (It's nice where we live, but most people continue on to Big Bear.)

That said, even if few to no EV drivers actually use a given EVSE, just seeing it on the map as a potential backup is comforting.

abasile said:

adric22 said:

Despite this... we've NEVER been called about charging at our home.

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We've actually had a good number of vehicles charge at our home, as we're close to the main route to SoCal's largest mountain resort. (It's nice where we live, but most people continue on to Big Bear.)

That said, even if few to no EV drivers actually use a given EVSE, just seeing it on the map as a potential backup is comforting.

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I am not going to be giving anyone an EVSE -- but a 220v/110v plug in that is listed as available on the map indeed gives a degree of comfort. I assume that most EVs out there have an emergency unit such as the Leaf does. If someone wants to plug into my 220v for an hour sitting in my driveway (and perhaps heat up their interior and unfreeze their toes) its the least I can do...

Have been using my idle time today trying to find the right enclosure for the down facing plug. Anoying to me is that there are lots of enclosures with recessed L6-30 male plugs, made as gen set or RV entrance connectors. But I cannot find a decent priced enclosure for the L6-20. There are some very nice looking marine rated exterior L6-20 plugs (cooper makes one), but I don't need that degree of weather proofing or the price tag that it comes with.

Once I figure out what parts to use, I'll post back.....

Never thought we'd get a PlugShare user because there are two free L2's at restaurants only a couple miles East of us, but this week, someone who was traveling East in a 1999 Solectria Force, a Geo Metro conversion EV, with 35 mile range, and lead acid batteries, happened to be heading East from a road that had no other L2's and our EVSE was in the perfect spot for them, just within range of their last charge, and allowing them to get home from here.

They were our only PlugShare chargers so far, and they were fascinating to host, old hippies and vegans with PhD's in Physics from MIT that could elucidate on the multiverse and Cosmology and philosophy and EV's and brought great multigrain cookies to boot.

So, you never know. Random events occur.

If you install a plug outside, please, make it accessable, and to code.

I've been listed on PlugShare for a year and a half, and thought I might get several users because until recently the nearest public charging station was nearly ten miles away. (The nearest one was about 20 miles away when I first signed up.) In fact I've only shared the plug once, perhaps because I'm a mile and a half from the freeway.

I park in the driveway and have my EVSEupgrade charging cable looped over a hose rack at the corner of the garage. The EVSE end is semi-permanently attached to a board and is behind a fence.

Ray

Twice i considered using plugshare but both times I was unable to raise the owners. I would prefer not to barge in on people if possible (which is rare for me especially when it comes to EVs...) and I think that feeling is common times 10 for others.

also another thing is that Blink and Chargepoint (at least around here) seem to be more reliable now (especially Blink) so less need to look for alternatives.

in the one scenario, i was really desperate and flipped the breaker on the unit for the first time ever and it worked! Since then, i have done it probably a dozen times and have been successful about 3-4 times in getting a charge from a seemingly incapacitated station

DaveinOlyWA said:

... in the one scenario, i was really desperate and flipped the breaker on the unit for the first time ever and it worked! Since then, i have done it probably a dozen times and have been successful about 3-4 times in getting a charge from a seemingly incapacitated station

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Probably a bad idea. You were lucky that there wasn't a real good reason those breakers were off.

Dave; as always u take the most negative view. If you had any electrical training u would know a breaker turned off would be tagged. In none of the cases I mentioned were the breakers in the off OR tripped position

DaveinOlyWA said:

Dave; as always u take the most negative view. If you had any electrical training u would know a breaker turned off would be tagged. In none of the cases I mentioned were the breakers in the off OR tripped position

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I prefer the term "cautious". It would be more accurate to say that it should be tagged. The fact is that the owners of the device don't expect random people to come around and take it upon themselves to flip breakers on or off, and you shouldn't be doing it...but of course I know that you will.

A breaker turned off by some teenager should not require an electrician to put it back in service.
I also believe if the unit was out of service as a safety hazard it would be marked and disabled.