FenrirIIIThe "standard" car charger is usually overkill—but your electrician might not know that [32:26]
partial_accumenGood video. Accurate information.
Two notes:
For North American homes: I agree with the overlooked value of a downrated circuit for EV charging, but I don’t think he talked about a possibly better option for downrating: Using an existing 120v circuit (at whatever current rating) already wired in the garage . Remove the outlet, install EVSE (charger), and swap the breaker for a 240v one (at a current rating matching the original. So if you have a 120v 15A circuit (white romex) you can use the exact same wire for a 240v at 15A. If you have a 20A (yellow romex) you would end up with a 240v 20A. You get more than double the speed of charging with zero new wires added, only changing the breaker and removing the old outlets. Note: If you have multiple outlets in your garage all fed from this same circuit, this would mean all of your outlets in the garage are now 240v and not usable for regular 120v items.
He didn’t like Smart chargers. Thats a valid opinion, but smart chargers can do some nice things that I like. Some will also talk to each other if you have two chargers, such as if you have two EVs. They can be configured to share the same wire to the breaker box, so you can plug both cars in at night, one car will charge, then when that is complete, the other will charge automatically without having to unplug one car and then plug in the other. It will charge the least charged car first ensuring the best balance of charge to both cars assuming both cars can’t be charged to full in one night. If you have solar panels, some smart chargers can talk to the solar system and be instructed to only charge when there is excess power that would otherwise go to waste. It can do this automatically so if clouds go overhead and not enough juice is available from the sun, the charging stops. As soon as the clouds clear and there is an excess again, charging resumes automatically. For outdoor charging, you can also configure most Smart chargers to only charge you authorized cars. So you don’t need to worry about someone rolling into your driveway when you’re not home (or a bad neighbor) and running up your electricity bill.
Wtf even is this comment
For context I’m an electrician
You absolutely can’t just “swap a 15A 120v breaker to a 240v one”. 240v single phase referenced to ground does not exist in a residential context, that is only common in europe. A residential service is 240v split-phase meaning each half of 240 is referenced to neutral, 180 degrees out of phase with each other. The reference to the grounded conductor (neutral) from the transformer is 120v to gnd, or 240v phase to phase. 240v is always referenced phase to phase, never to ground.
This comment is dangerous and stupid. Just try to use some random ass outlet in your garage that is likely tied to other outlets bc other than the GFCI next to your panel there are very few circuits in the US that have a single 120v outlet. Running 240v to more than one outlet is v much pushing the limits on code, but I can’t say that for certain. I’m an industrial electrician, not resi.
Either way tho, trying to draw more voltage than what’s available will only destroy what’s in there.
Lastly “If you have a 20A (yellow romex) you would end up with a 240v 20A. You get more than double the speed of charging with zero new wires added, only changing the breaker and removing the old outlets”
This is pure fucking bullshit my dude. 20 amps is the current rating of the circuit before it will trip. What car charger is out there that can run 120v at a slightly higher current, which I don’t think even exists because you can’t just make it 240v, that the overpowered “yellow Romex” can provide you
This is dangerous and stupid. Just stop now