L2 Home Charging - Worth the Cost?

bleviton

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I have a Leviton EVSE in my garage. I have it set up so the cable is hanging right by where the charger door on my car sits. There is no getting the EVSE out of the trunk and putting it away. It takes only a few seconds to plug and unplug the car. I would do the same thing if I used the EVSE which came with the car but then I would not have the unit with me for emergencies.

I paid about the same as your estimate and am quite happy with my setup. Of course, you get a ten year warranty if they install it. If you never have trouble, you won't notice that. If you do have trouble, it is nice.

An issue is that you may well own an electric car in few years which will use a higher charge level. I see that Leviton is now advertising a 30 amp EVSE for $1395 plus installation. I expect to keep my PiP for many years.

 

No advantage, except that you can keep your EVSE in your trunk. I use the one that came with my car, I mounted it on the side of my house. When I find a 240 V unit I like at a good price, I'll replace my outlet and breaker and then I can use 240V

I don't like the Leviton unit, by the way. In the first place, it's very low amperage, which doesn't affect Prius, but it does affect other cars like the Leaf. Second, it's unattractive. The GE Wattstation looks much nicer. Last, there are some EVSE's with network interfaces, so you can use your smartphone to check status, program start/stop time, etc.

 

How many amps is it? Is it only 16 amps at 240 volts?

 

Yes, only 16A. They make a 32 amp unit for $1,400, but, honestly, why the extra $500 just for higher amperage?

 

That would be for a car that can take advantage of the higher output.

 

I've heard that the charging efficiency is a bit higher.

Interesting, b/c I was quoted about $100 more for the 30A EVSE as part of a non-standard installation. In my case, the non-standard installation for both is almost identical.

Do you know if $1395 is the pricing for Prius Plug-in owners? I think the $995 for the 15A EVSE which includes installation is special pricing for Prius Plug-in owners while the retail price to the general public is $995 w/o installation. Alternatively, perhaps adding a 30A EVSE requires upgrading the subpanel in the 30A EVSE which adds to the cost.

 

I found the ad with the search "Toyota/Leviton" but the site did not look like it was specifically for Toyota owners.

It seems to me that fussing about a couple of hundred dollars this way or that is not as important as getting a safe installation from a reputable company. If you don't like how something looks more than how safe it is, you make decisions differently than I do. Do your thing. We leave these EVSEs alone for long periods to do their thing without watching them and we need to be able to trust them.

That comes first to me.

 

I originally contacted Leviton about installing an EVSE at home. The prices start at $999 for a basic install, which doesn't include permit fees. After paying $100 to have a site survey done, it turned out that they wanted $1289 for a standard install with an extra $575 for the permit fee. When pressed for details why I was a standard install and not a basic one, it was because my desired service location was more than 20 feet away from the service panel. How much was I over? 5 feet. Also, the permit fee seemed really excessive. I called up my city and found out that a permit for this is only $140. Apparently the extra $435 was to cover the time to do things like pull the permit, do line load calculations, submit drawings to the building department, a business license fee, etc. All of which the city didn't require or need. It only takes about 5 or 10 minutes to pull a permit. Needless to say, I declined the install and managed to get my $100 site survey fee refunded.

I ended up buying a 30A EVSE and had my electrician friend do the install for me. He charged me $1000 to do the install. Which also included installing a new circuit for 2 garage door openers, installing a new ceiling fan in the living room, fixing an existing ceiling fan in the dining room, replacing the kitchen light fixture, & replacing 3 non-grounded outlets with grounded outlets. For less money than Leviton wanted, I got a better EVSE unit and a lot of necessary and important electrical work done in my house.

 

I agree with that as well, but the installation of a 240VAC outlet is a standard procedure for any electrician. If you buy an electric oven or dryer, the same electrical installation applies.

Leviton probably contracts work out to local electricians across the US, and some will charge more than others. Devprius appears to have found an outfit who wanted to overcharge him.

 

The OPs question was is it worth it? for a PiP, I dont think so. IMHO, for EVs to work, they need to be charged overnight when spare electric is available. What's the rush to charge the car in an hour? D it overnight.

 

For over 2 months I've been happily charging in the middle of the night at L1 rates. but I was getting tired of having to haul the L1 EVSE in and out of the car when charging at home. So my motivation to get an L2 EVSE was partially driven by sheer laziness. The other part was driven by wanting to futureproof my house for when I get a pure electric car, or the next generation of a PiP that has a higher capacity battery & longer EV range.

 

Fwiw, I'm driving an imiev as my daily car. I charge it at night, every two or three nights, with the OEM level one charger. If I can't get a full charge overnight, it almost doesn't matter because I dont travel long distances each day. I don't travel with the Charger in my car. I just make sure I get home before I run out of juice.

I fully plan to get a level two charger. I have my garage wired for it (i used to be an electrician). I just think the price for these EVSEs is ridiculous right now.

 

wonder if Phil's 240 volt mod for the EVSE for the Leaf will work here? i went that way since it was like $250 or so (dont remember but was under $300). i already have a 20 amp 240 volt circuit in garage so just changed the plug, put a meter in line and i was good to go. that cost about $50 so "around $300" for the whole works

i blogged it on MNL

My Nissan Leaf Forum • Metering my 240 Modded EVSE

 

Phil is indeed offering the L2 upgrade for the PiP's L1 EVSE.

 

well there ya go!. even with a small battery pack, you could be recharged and ready for errands within a very short time after your commute home

 

you should check and see if you qualify for a free level 2 charger.

ChargePoint America

 

interestingly, the pip does not qualify for a free charger.

 

Toyota is not one of the participating companies. They could have been, but I guess they where not interested.

ChargePoint America Program Info

 

too bad, that would have been sweet.