{"id":61,"date":"2023-01-16T03:17:31","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T03:17:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/?p=61"},"modified":"2023-01-16T03:17:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-16T03:17:31","slug":"do-i-need-to-get-a-home-charger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/?p=61","title":{"rendered":"Do I need to get a home charger?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The quick answer is you do not need a home charger, but it can be very helpful.\u00a0\u00a0 I once met a man at a fast-charging station.\u00a0\u00a0 He had a long commute and used most of his driving range to make the round trip and did not have any home charging.\u00a0\u00a0 At the end of the day, he would stop at a fast-charging station to fill up to be ready for the next day.\u00a0\u00a0 His life would have been easier if he could plug in at night at fill up his battery at night.\u00a0 Let\u2019s look at the two ways he could have added charge at night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slow Charging (Level 1).<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 All electric cars come with a charging cable that will plug directly into your 110 volt three prong plugs.\u00a0\u00a0 So with no extra expense,\u00a0 you could plug in at night and add miles to your range.\u00a0\u00a0 If we estimate 12 hours at 6 miles per hour charging,\u00a0 you could get about 72 miles of range.\u00a0 So if you commute as 30 miles or less each way, you could just charge at night with a Level 1 charge.\u00a0 You will need a 110 volt plug that is near the car.\u00a0\u00a0 Extension cords are not a good idea as the power transferred is quite high.\u00a0\u00a0 Also, if your outlet is in poor shape , has a low current circuit breaker, has\u00a0 very old wiring,\u00a0 the high current draw could cause problems.\u00a0\u00a0 It might be a good idea to have an electrician check if the 110 volt outlet is sufficient to power the Level 1 charger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regular Charging (Level 2).\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0 This type of charging will require a 220 volt plug.\u00a0\u00a0 This is like the one used on electric dryers.\u00a0\u00a0 With this type of charging, you get about 30 miles added per hour.\u00a0\u00a0 You could refill 360 miles overnight.\u00a0\u00a0 Also having one of these chargers is the most convenient way to charge your car.\u00a0 My daughter has one and has never used a public charger in the year she has owned her car.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So what do you need to do Level 2 charging at home?\u00a0\u00a0 You will need a Level 2 charger and the 220 volt plug. How much this will cost may vary.\u00a0\u00a0 Let me give you a couple options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Less Expensive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Low cost chargers<\/strong> \u2013 Some car chargers that come with your car can do both 110 Volt and 220 volt.\u00a0 In this case you do not need to buy a charger.\u00a0\u00a0 Also some utililies over discounts and rebates that make your home charger less expensive or free.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My utility rebated me the entire cost of my home charger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Low cost 220 Volt Outlet <\/strong>–\u00a0 If your service panel is near your where you want an outlet,\u00a0 having an electrician add the outlet should not be to expensive.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Another way to keep the cost of the outlet down is to use a device that shares the outlet with your dryer.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of these devices are a manual switch and some can automatically let the dryer work and charge your car when the dryer is not using power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More Expensive<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

More expensive chargers<\/strong> – You can purchase a home charger for about $500.\u00a0\u00a0 If you think about all the time is will save you driving and charging at a public charger, it really a good deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More expensive 220-volt outlet installations<\/strong>:\u00a0\u00a0 I paid an electrician to run a 220-volt line under my house to install the outlet in my garage.\u00a0\u00a0 I spent $1000 to do this.\u00a0\u00a0 Next you would have to purchase a Level 2 Charger for about $500. I have found that this has saved me a few quick charging trips every month and also made charging completely hassle free.\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes I have back-to-back long trips and with this Level 2 system at home, I no longer have to worry about driving range. I can easily full charge overnight to make the next trip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So you do not need a home charger, but I would recommend a Level 2 charger installed at your home for convenience.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The quick answer is you do not need a home charger, but it can be very helpful.\u00a0\u00a0 I once met a man at a fast-charging station.\u00a0\u00a0 He had a long commute and used most of his driving range to make the round trip and did not have any home charging.\u00a0\u00a0 At the end of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[6,18,15],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-question-answers","tag-benefits-of-electric-cars","tag-home-charger","tag-level-2-charging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/63"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/electriccarbasics.com.previewc40.carrierzone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}