[JToddK]

I didn't want to do the 60amp breaker as I have no room in my panel and would have to have another panel installed and conduit running to the other side of my garage. This was a great option: run one 4 inch circular hole in drywall, unplug dryer from wall and plug into Splitvolt, plug Splitvolt into dryer plug. When i4 comes, I can plug it into the Splitvolt using the Nema 14-50 adapter that comes with the car. If you get the split volt, make sure you get the proper one that has Nema 14-30 (4 prong cable) if your dryer plug has that and Nema 15-40 receptacle on the right side for the BMW adapter. I got mine from Amazon ($379.99).

If I'm reading this right, you are running a flexible cable with a plug (from the Splitvolt to the existing outlet) through a garage wall using a hole in the drywall?

 

[PJBi4]

If I'm reading this right, you are running a flexible cable with a plug (from the Splitvolt to the existing outlet) through a garage wall using a hole in the drywall?

That is correct. The Splitvolt has a braid that goes to the dryer socket and the dryer plugs into the Splitvolt (EV charger cable plugs into the right hand socket of the Splitvolt). You can't see the wire going to the dryer socket in the picture of the Splitvolt that I posted but you can see it in the laundry room side of the drywall in the other picture I posted.

 

[JToddK]

That is correct. The Splitvolt has a braid that goes to the dryer socket and the dryer plugs into the Splitvolt (EV charger cable plugs into the right hand socket of the Splitvolt). You can't see the wire going to the dryer socket in the picture of the Splitvolt that I posted but you can see it in the laundry room side of the drywall in the other picture I posted.

Just wanted to be sure I understood what you did. I think it's good practice to have the plug accessible from the device to which it's attached. A four inch hole thru the wall of the garage (where I might have a running ICE car) into my house is also not something I would feel comfortable with. FWIW, Section 400.8 of the NEC calls this a "banned use." Your installation, not mine, so whatever works for you. One of the Interesting things to see on the internet is how others do things. Good Luck.

 

[461]

11kW or 22kW chargers have the best efficiency. Mobile chargers have larger charging losses, so less of the power you paid for will actually get into the battery. That can add up really quickly if you are mostly charging at home.

please, give us the efficiency values of the different chargers, it is not specified in the documentation

 

[PJBi4]

Just wanted to be sure I understood what you did. I think it's good practice to have the plug accessible from the device to which it's attached. A four inch hole thru the wall of the garage (where I might have a running ICE car) into my house is also not something I would feel comfortable with. FWIW, Section 400.8 of the NEC calls this a "banned use." Your installation, not mine, so whatever works for you. One of the Interesting things to see on the internet is how others do things. Good Luck.

Thanks for the insight. I read NEC 400.8. I have access to unplug all devices and the Splitvolt has a breaker. I also have conduit in the wall that I ran the cable through. Won’t work for everyone but works for me.

 

[JToddK]

Thanks for the insight. I read NEC 400.8. I have access to unplug all devices and the Splitvolt has a breaker. I also have conduit in the wall that I ran the cable through. Won’t work for everyone but works for me.

Yeah, the conduit thru the wall changes things, that why I asked and you hadn't mentioned it before. You did a nice job on covering the hole with the plates and bushing, eliminating any concern I had about fume (or critter) entry. Conduit, box to box, the bushings and wall plates seem to be a way to go. At $370 for the Splitvolt plus hardware it seems expensive for a 24A (5.6kW) charge set up (NEMA 10-30 plug is the limitation), but whatever works for you is cool.

 

[gelat0]

I bought my Charge Point online on Black Friday. Amazon and Home Depot carry the Charge Point (they can be hard to find, $699 is the lowest price I have seen on the newest model). If I were going with a lower amp 14-50 plug-in charger, I would have bought the one at Costco. I picked Charge Point because it gives me the flexabiiltiy to use the 14-50 plug that is included, or the ability to hard wire it to the panel for maximum output or hardwire (for 50 amp charging) and has other cool features, it has a clean small footprint with clean plug/cable mount etc.

The only difference in cost between hard wiring and installing a 14-50 plug for me, was the cost of the thicker AWG wire and the extra breaker, the Labor cost was pretty much the same for each installation (plug vs hardwire). My Home's Panel is rated at 200 amps, which is way more than what my house needs to run itself according to my electrician, so he was able to add a 70 amp Breaker. I had him come out for an inspection before I bought a charger to find out how many amps my panel could handle, since I wanted to buy the highest amp charger I could get without having to do anything major to my house. If he would have told me a 32, 40 or 48 amp charger is all my panel and existing romex wires could handle, then that is what I would have bought.. I was fortunate, since my panel and house wiring can handle 50 amp hardwire charging with a 70 amp breaker, so personally that was the deciding factor for me to go with the faster 50 amp charger. There's allot of good info and charts that can be found online, that explains the difference between higher amp charging times, but I knew I wanted a 40-50 amp unit as long as my house could take it.

As it turns out the Free Charge America included with the i4 for 2 years is a good Companion to the Charge Point because it gives me access to BOTH charging networks if I every need a public charger. Good Luck!

 

[JToddK]

@M3HNGRY - Congrats on what looks like an early delivery! I am in NJ, so it may not be the same for you, but per (local) electrical code, if I want to install a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage, the breaker for this outlet would need to be GFCI protected. I am not an electrician so I cannot explain it, but it looks that several EV charger manufacturers explicitly advice against GFCI protection, as they will trip them very frequently.

Therefore, I decided against using the "Flexible Fast Charger" (or any other EV charger) with a NEMA 14-50 outlet. Instead, I'll have my EV charger hardwired. When hardwiring the EV charger, no GFCI is needed.

I'm a bit ahead of myself, as I don't yet have an EV, but I did complete my charger installation today. Charger was an Emporia 48A unit with a short input cable - removed for hard wiring - $360. Ninety feet of 6-2 w/grd - $240. Breakers (2P60A, 2 20A tandems for space - $98, Misc hardware - staples and connectors - $11. Total installed cost - $710 (before sales taxes).

I had several advantages to keep my cost low. 1) I have a 200A Service (but little room in the panel), 2) When we built the house 12 years ago, they were running conduit to the garage for outlets, switches and door openers. I had the foresight to use a much larger pipe than was required, 3) I have some old skills. If I wasn't so lazy, I probably could have saved on the tandem breakers but would have had to reconfigure the panel and re-balance the loads. Too much trouble for me. The hardwire reduced my wire cost and eliminated the need for the GFCI breaker

The Emporia charger appears to be full featured The only thing missing for me is the ability to communicate with a second charger (Pulsar feature). As a second EV is way in the future (if at all), I was OK with forgoing that type of future proofing. At these costs, I'm not missing the expired federal credit for charger installation.

 

[jtech]

When we were at the BMW dealer working out the specs on the i4 35 for my wife, the salesperson informed me that the BMW Wallbox level 2 charger was back ordered and recommended against adding it (at $600) to our build. Our local power company is offering a $500 incentive for purchasing one of their recommended chargers. In looking at their list, I think I am going to go with the ChargePoint CPH50-NEMA 6-50 L23 at about $600 shipped either from ChargePoint or Amazon. So with the power company incentive I would just be looking at the cost of installation by an electrician.

Any reason not to go this route?

 

[JToddK]

When we were at the BMW dealer working out the specs on the i4 35 for my wife, the salesperson informed me that the BMW Wallbox level 2 charger was back ordered and recommended against adding it (at $600) to our build. Our local power company is offering a $500 incentive for purchasing one of their recommended chargers. In looking at their list, I think I am going to go with the ChargePoint CPH50-NEMA 6-50 L23 at about $600 shipped either from ChargePoint or Amazon. So with the power company incentive I would just be looking at the cost of installation by an electrician.

Any reason not to go this route?

Unless you've got a welder, the 6-50 receptacle has little purpose without the charger. Why not just hard wire and avoid redundant GFCIs (one, $150, in the panel and one in the Charge Point) ?

 

[jtech]

Unless you've got a welder, the 6-50 receptacle has little purpose without the charger. Why not just hard wire and avoid redundant GFCIs (one, $150, in the panel and one in the Charge Point) ?

Thanks JToddK. This is out of my area of expertise indeed. I don't have a welder, but what I thought was going to occur was to have the electrician hardwire the ChargePoint unit. I wasn't intending on using it as a plug in if I understand your post.

 

[First EV]

Thanks JToddK. This is out of my area of expertise indeed. I don't have a welder, but what I thought was going to occur was to have the electrician hardwire the ChargePoint unit. I wasn't intending on using it as a plug in if I understand your post.

The Nema 6-50 in the model name of the charger you mentioned is a plug type. Anything with NEMA in the name is likely going to plug in and not be hard wired. .

 

[jtech]

The Nema 6-50 in the model name of the charger you mentioned is a plug type. Anything with NEMA in the name is likely going to plug in and not be hard wired. .

Thanks. However the specific ChargePoint unit I mentioned is delivered so that it can be either hard wired (the plug component is removed) or can be installed as a plug in unit. I will have it installed as a permanent hard wired unit as shown in the manufacturers recommendations.

 

[JToddK]

Thanks JToddK. This is out of my area of expertise indeed. I don't have a welder, but what I thought was going to occur was to have the electrician hardwire the ChargePoint unit. I wasn't intending on using it as a plug in if I understand your post.

You did. FWIW, almost any unit equipped with a plug should be able to accept a hard wired connection. My Emporia came with a short (12") NEMA plug and was easy to reconfigure. If it comes with a 50A plug, it's probably a default setting of 40A and, assuming it's a 48A unit, should be reconfigured for 48A on a 60A circuit. If the unit is only rated for 40A continuous, you'll still save the cost of the GFCI and the receptacle.

 

[jtech]

Thank you for confirming. I presume my electrician will do the same.