os2baba
Member
I have looked around the forum and seen a couple of posts on this, but not seen a definitive answer. I just purchased a 2013 Nissan Leaf with the QC package. I have been using the trickle charger, but knew I was going to have to go with the normal charge for 3-4 hour charging.
My situation currently is that I have no more open connections available on the electrical panel in the basement. I will need to add a sub panel with a 30A breaker and pull a 40A 8 guage wire from the basement to the garage. The distance should be about 20-25 ft. Normally, the EVSE upgrade would be less expensive than the charger. But in this case, the cost of the wiring is about the same whether I put in a Nemo L6-30 receptacle or hard wire to a charging unit (~$600-$1000). So that leaves just the difference between the charging unit ($600) vs the EVSE Upgrade (~$350 with the 110 adapter plus S&H). If you factor in the 30% rebate, that further shrinks to ($400 vs $230). Is it worth going the EVSE upgrade route for ~$150 considering my total cost will be $1000+? I do get the portability of the 220V EVSE cable, but then I'd have to buy more adapters for that to work. And I honestly don't think I'm going to be going long distance anytime soon. The number of public chargers in Georgia (especially nothern GA) is not very good. I can't even travel to the outlet mall (which is 35 miles from my house) without some trepidation. So chances of my using the EVSE Upgrade cable anywhere other than my house in the near future is remote.
A further wrinkle to this is this article I read http://green.autoblog.com/2011/12/04/future-nissan-leaf-could-be-cheaper-may-have-more-range-wil/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; The reason for getting the charger was to "future proof" myself for perhaps the next EV I'd get a couple of years down the road. Maybe I'm over thinking this. I know that the EVSE Upgrade gets universal praise (a feat rarely achieved) so I'm sure it's a good product. And there isn't much known about the Bosch. But Bosch is a pretty good company as well and I'm sure they would stand by their product. Else I'm sure they would refund me the money and since my big cost was really the electrical connection, I'd then be able to switch to the EVSE Upgrade fairly easily.
In fact, since I'm doing the wiring, I'll get another 8 guage wire into the garage at the same time. I could always add a Fridge in the garage at a later date.
Thanks for any advice.
My situation currently is that I have no more open connections available on the electrical panel in the basement. I will need to add a sub panel with a 30A breaker and pull a 40A 8 guage wire from the basement to the garage. The distance should be about 20-25 ft. Normally, the EVSE upgrade would be less expensive than the charger. But in this case, the cost of the wiring is about the same whether I put in a Nemo L6-30 receptacle or hard wire to a charging unit (~$600-$1000). So that leaves just the difference between the charging unit ($600) vs the EVSE Upgrade (~$350 with the 110 adapter plus S&H). If you factor in the 30% rebate, that further shrinks to ($400 vs $230). Is it worth going the EVSE upgrade route for ~$150 considering my total cost will be $1000+? I do get the portability of the 220V EVSE cable, but then I'd have to buy more adapters for that to work. And I honestly don't think I'm going to be going long distance anytime soon. The number of public chargers in Georgia (especially nothern GA) is not very good. I can't even travel to the outlet mall (which is 35 miles from my house) without some trepidation. So chances of my using the EVSE Upgrade cable anywhere other than my house in the near future is remote.
A further wrinkle to this is this article I read http://green.autoblog.com/2011/12/04/future-nissan-leaf-could-be-cheaper-may-have-more-range-wil/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; The reason for getting the charger was to "future proof" myself for perhaps the next EV I'd get a couple of years down the road. Maybe I'm over thinking this. I know that the EVSE Upgrade gets universal praise (a feat rarely achieved) so I'm sure it's a good product. And there isn't much known about the Bosch. But Bosch is a pretty good company as well and I'm sure they would stand by their product. Else I'm sure they would refund me the money and since my big cost was really the electrical connection, I'd then be able to switch to the EVSE Upgrade fairly easily.
In fact, since I'm doing the wiring, I'll get another 8 guage wire into the garage at the same time. I could always add a Fridge in the garage at a later date.
Thanks for any advice.