r/evcharging

as the title says, need 30ft extension cord for level 1 charging. which type of cord would be best without causing any electrical fire? TY

Weighing the options to stay on the standard Ameren plan, or switch to Charge Smart since we just got our Mach E. Does anyone use Charge Smart and recommend doing it?

For those who don’t know, they credit you 2¢/kWh to charge from 11pm-7am, but they hit you hard (65¢/kWh) during the Non-Preferred time from 11am-7pm.

The kicker is, they don’t separately meter the L2 charger I installed, they monitor whole home usage.

My biggest concern is that my wife works from home, so HVAC is always kept comfortable, computers are being used, and a TV is usually on. On top of that we have 2 fridges, a large upright deep freezer, and 2 dehumidifiers in the basement/crawlspace.

Thanks in advance!

We are upgrading electrical at our house to prepare for our EV future. We both have PHEV and once our leases are up we’re switching to BEV.

We have a family member who can do much of the word, so we are getting somewhat of a deal. But we have a detracted garage and we need to branch through content to connect the garage sub-panel. Perhaps also relevant, there is a decent sized three season/pool house behind the garage, which has a number of 120 plugs.

My question is, does it make more sense to install one charging unit, or separate 50A plugs? I like the idea of using portable chargers, but perhaps this is too expensive. They’re planning on adding a 200A sub-panel in the garage.

Anyway, is this enough information or does this group need anything else. I’m admittedly a little novice when it comes to charging at this level. I use a 6-20 for my PHEV which wasn’t complicated or expensive to run to the garage.

Thoughts? Thanks!

I'm planning an install with two 48V Emporia Pros running off one 60A breaker (using the load balancing feature of course). These will be installed on either side of a 18' garage door. The cable run to the charger closest to the panel is about 6', and the run to the farther charger is about 25-30'.

According to this chart, #6 on 48A is good for a run up to 150'. The largest wire an Emporia Pro can accept is #6.

In this situation, would it be better to run #4 to a junction box and then two #6's to each charger, or just run two #6's from the panel to each charger?

Is there a level 2 charger that can limit the charge to 80%?

My 2018 Kia Soul EV doesn't support charge limiting, so I'm hoping there's a charger out there that supports it. I assume it would have an OBD-II connection to see the charge level.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that this is the US model. Other countries and other years have this feature. Unfortunately in 2018 Kia removed charge level limiting due to shitty EPA rules at the time (which have since been remediated).

I charged my Ioniq5 at my office’s Blink station for the first time today. Charging rate was a speedy 5.9kW. Took all day to get 46.58 kWh onboard. Cost me $29.15. 62.58 cents/kWh. I was disappointed to pay that much. I believe prices at an independent charger like this are set by the property owner. Maybe I can ask them to lower rates.

The 9388A is a home demand automation system and has both low voltage and hard high amperage relay control. Emporia says its ok to cut the 220V, but I read repeatedly doing so diminishes the charger's longevity. Does anyone use a demand automation system and use an Emporia Classic. Note: the Pro version is not an option because I have no home network as such.

Hoping to order an ID polo trend and it seems that it comes with vehicle to load as standard, rated at 3.6 kW! That’s pretty decent, enough to boil a kettle 😂. What are the most interesting uses you’ve heard of for V2L?

Hi all,

Recently purchased a Tesla Model 3, I can charge it at work so had no need for a home charger. I planned on buying the 3-pin plug to trickle it from 80% to 100% overnight if I was on a long trip though.

Today I had an electrician out to see if a home charger would be a simple install out of curiosity, and he said I'd need a new consumer unit, and a charger with PEN Protection, so I'm expecting a quote of £1,500+... and he said to avoid Granny Charging without a dedicated circuit & PEN Protection again.

I'm sure in an ideal world that would be great, but I would barely do any home charging with a 3-pin & I see so many people just plugging their EVs in to old random sockets to charge.

My house was rewired 5 years ago so I know it's all modern & good wires, and I was hoping to use one of these dedicated sockets by extending my dining room wiring through the wall...

Any thoughts on this or is this a disaster waiting to happen? If I'd need a new consumer unit regardless then I'd almost certainly get a cheap dedicated 7kw charger but I'd like to avoid that if possible, until we get a second EV.

Hi all,

I'm considering getting an EV so I've been shopping around for charger installation. Of the 4 quotes I've gotten so far, Treehouse has been the cheapest by $600-1200. They're the partnered company for my utility's EV programs and I know a bunch of mfrs like Toyota, GM, and Ford also partner with them.

However, I can find very few actual reviews for their service, which makes me nervous. If they do tons of installs, why can't I find reviews? Has anyone here used them and be able to provide insight? Thanks!

Hello. I’m new to EV charging using my ChargePoint charger at home. I have a question about the ChargePoint app.

I usually charge my vehicle in the afternoon and it usually only needs an hour to charge. I usually leave the car connected to the EV charger until I need the car again. However even though charging appears stopped as kW/h is 0 the Activity tab still shows the Session as active.

I can manually stop the session using the app however why doesn’t the Session automatically stop once the car battery is charged?

I tried setting a charging schedule in the car but because I charge a different times it doesn’t charge immediately. It would wait until the start time is reached the next day.

Is it OK for the ChargePoint EV to be connected to the car even though the battery is charged and the Session continues? To stop it I either disconnect it from the car or use the app to disconnect the Session?

I can’t seem to find a setting to make the Session stop once the car is charged.

I am looking into purchasing an electric car. I have a 2019 jeep wrangler and I am driving 100 miles a day sometimes more depending on errands. I live in southwest Florida and I am spending roughly 650 dollars a month on gas.

What should I be looking for? What considerations are there? Any recommendations and reviews woukd be greatly appreciated.

Thank you ♥️♥️♥️

Hi all — first post here, hoping to tap the collective Bolt brain trust.

Yes, AI written… human checked

I have a 2017 Bolt EV (~52k miles) and started seeing a weird charging issue.

Symptoms:

Edit: it was charging fine for the first month to month and a half of owning it using either charger

Using 120V Level 1 charging, the car will sometimes trip a GFCI outlet

Sometimes it trips immediately when the car begins charging (right after the charging “beep”)

Other times it will charge for hours overnight and then randomly trip the GFCI

I’ve tested with two different EVSEs:
The OEM Chevy portable charger
A Lectron portable charger

I saw similar behavior with both

What I’ve tested so far:
Tried a different GFCI outlet at a hotel → charged fine

Level 2 AC charging works normally (ChargePoint around 5 kW)

DC fast charging works normally
No warning messages from the car
House voltage measured around 124.9V

Things I’ve considered:
Sensitive / nuisance GFCI
Early onboard charger issue (thank you AI for making me think I bought a lemon)

What makes AI think it’s not a major onboard charger failure:
Level 2 AC works normally
DCFC works normally
The issue is intermittent

Has anyone seen similar behavior with a Bolt? If so, what was the actual root cause?