One thing I really don’t get in the discussion around EVs and charging is, why are people so afraid of tripping the main breaker? If you have a total of e.g. 17 kW available and happen to go over, just reset the main breaker (or replace it in case it’s still a traditional one). It’s there precisely so that you wouldn’t need to care about overloading the connection.
In my experience people get by with a 3x25A (17 kW available, matches approximately a 70A service in the US) while using the available power to
- heat/cool a single family home (in -20 °C weather mind you)
- run all appliances (including the oven, stove, dryer etc.)
- heat up a sauna
- charge an EV
- whatever else you typically would want to plug in, kettles and such
While it’s true you can trip the main breaker if you have everything on at the same time, typically it never happens even if there are no lockouts in place preventing overuse. And it’s not like tripping it causes any permanent harm.
Why is an electrical service upgrade constantly brought up as a solution when any home with >15 kW of available power won’t need it? Is it against code to purposefully overcommit your mains in the US or something?
Edit: there were valid concerns raised over how long-lived the breakers are (probably won’t be rated for tens of fault-condition related trips), also that these smaller service specs aren’t as common as I’ve gathered from the media. That might have something to do with this at least. Thanks for the replies – it’s been an interesting discussion.
I’m not afraid of that at all. But if you draw shit tons of power from a crappy socket, things start to heat up real quick. Like getting really fucking hot, as in burn your house down hot.
Where I live, there is a pole fuse, which is, as the name implies, on the pole, and only a linesman can change it.
Massive pain in the ass if that pops.
Yes… I have experience here. I’m using dynamic energy tariffs so during real sunny weekends the price can be negative - I get paid to consume power. As you’d might imagine, I charged the EV, disconnected my solar panels, turned on all HVAC to max cooling and set both my ovens to clean-mode……… Put some clothes in the dryer, tripped my fuse and cost me €140,- to replace it. Also, power for that phase went out which contained one of the ovens, which was midcycle. Couldn’t cool itself down, melted the plastics 😬. But at least I gained €4 during the timeframe it worked.
I think “might be overkill” would be a better title and position than “usually overkill.”
There is absolutely a subset of EV drivers that could get by with a level 1 charger (ignoring time of day rates), but most people would fall behind anytime they drive further than the average number of miles. Sure, taking 10 hours to recharge your Chevy Bolt overnight when you’ve driven 40 miles is doable; 64 hours when you’ve returned home from a longer trip isn’t.
I own a PHEV, and installing a level 2 charge has been one of the best quality of life and financial changes.
Agreed, and that headline is needlessly inflammatory . Looking at my EV mileage , I could almost certainly get away with just plugging into a standard outlet. However the level 2 charger means that even if I screw it up, I can be mostly charged in a couple of hours. It’s been really effective at helping me get over what range anxiety I had. It’s really helped keep car usage as a somewhat impulse thing, rather than a process: I’m ready to go anywhere anytime.
It also means I can charge multiple EVs, if I wanted to.
If you screw up, you can usually get to a charger a few blocks away and snag 50% of your battery in 20 minutes.
I charge entirely off of a standard 120 outlet, and it easily handles my daily and weekly travel needs, along with my partner’s numerous errands and extra trips throughout the week.
you are assuming functional infrastructure, not everywhere has that.
Gonna go out on a limb here, and guess that people living in a cabin where the electricity only works a few hours a week aren’t going to buy an electric car.
As for access to public chargers… I just spent the weekend in a rural area and had no problem finding a charger within 20 miles of me.
