Residential Charging Stations (EVSEs): How to Choose the Right One

While all modern electric vehicles come with a portable 120v EVSE (charger), eventually, most EV owners decide to install a level 2, 240v EVSE where they live, or in some cases, where they work. It’s common to hear people refer to EVSE at “charging stations” but the acronym EVSE (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment) is really more appropriate. That’s because the actual charging equipment, the AC to DC inverters & necessary electronics, are always built into the cars. The EVSE doesn’t charge the battery; it simply supplies electricity to the car in a safe manner. The onboard electronics in the car converts the AC electric to DC electric, which then charges the battery.

Level 2 EVSEs can recharge the average electric vehicle about four to five times faster than the 120v, level 1 EVSE which comes with the vehicle. This can increase the utility of your electric vehicle greatly. Upgrading to a level 2 EVSE may be less of a necessity for owners of plug in hybrid electric cars, since they have the additional gasoline power source. Still, many PHEV owners choose to install a level 2 EVSE, because the faster charging allows them to drive as much as possible on electricity alone.

There are dozens of Level 2 EVSEs on the market; some costing as little as a couple hundred dollars, while others costing in the thousands. In order to decide which unit is best for your needs, you should consider the following:

Cost: Just a few years ago there wasn’t a 240v home EVSE on the market for much less than $1,000. Luckily, things have changed, and in the past couple of years competition has driven down the cost dramatically. You can now buy a well made, quality home EVSE for under $400. The first decision you should make is how much are you willing to spend. Your budget will really help you narrow down the choices.

Power: While all of these EVSEs will work on 208/240v (208v is three-phase power and generally used in commercial buildings. 240v is what is typically available in residential buildings in the US), the amperage they deliver can range from 16 amps all the way up to 80 amps. The average electric vehicle typically accepts up to 7.2 kW, which is 30 amps of power on 240v service. You arrive at the power rating by multiplying the amperage by the voltage, in this case 30(amps) X 240 (volts) = 7,200 watts, or 7.2kW.

The typical PHEV today only accepts 3.3kW but many PHEV owners choose to install an EVSE that can deliver more than 3.3kW because they are planning for the future, when they own a BEV that can charge at a higher rate. We at EVSpace recommend getting an EVSE that can deliver at least 30 amps, preferably 40 amps, even if the car you drive today cannot accept that much power. There are low cost EVSEs that only deliver 16 amps, but you may regret not getting a higher powered one in the future. As long as you can afford it, it’s probably the right decision to buy a high-powered EVSE now, and future proof your garage.

Options & Features:

With the exception of Tesla vehicles, (because Tesla uses a proprietary connector) any EVSE you buy will charge any modern electric car. You don’t need to check if it’s compatible with your vehicle, because every electric car besides Tesla uses the J1772 connector and every EVSE for sale in the US has a J1772 connector attached. With that in mind there are differences from model to model. Here are some of the features you should consider:

– Hard wired or portable? Some EVSEs offer the option of having a plug attached rather than being hard wired. This is a nice feature to have because you can take the unit with you if needed. Some people install a second 240v receptacle at work or at a family member’s house so when they visit they can bring their plug-in EVSE and charge while they’re there. Also, since it simply unplugs, it’s much easier to replace or upgrade if you need to. Another advantage to getting a plug-in EVSE, is that you can have an electrician install the 240v outlet ahead of time, so when you do get the unit you simply plug it in, and can use it the same day. The only downside is that plug-in EVSEs will cost slightly more than their hard-wired counterparts.

– Cable Length. The cables can be as short as 16 feet and as long as 25 feet. Make sure you measure how much cable length you’ll need before you determine where you’re going to mount the EVSE, and take into consideration that the charge port location is different on every EV. Make sure the cable is long enough to reach any side of the car because your next EV will likely have a different charge port location. EVSpace recommends getting a cable that is at least twenty feet long.

– Wifi Connectivity. Some of the latest EVSEs have wifi connectivity as an option. This is a great feature as it allows the user to track their energy usage, charging time and even see the real-time power draw of the vehicle. These EVSEs do cost more than a typical unit that doesn’t offer wifi-connected features, but it’s definitely a nice option to have, especially for the EV owner that craves data!

Once you’ve decided which EVSE you want, and before you buy it, you should contact a licensed electrician and have them give you an estimate for either installing it (if it’s hard wired), or installing the 240V outlet with the appropriate NEMA 6-50 or NEMA 15-50 receptacle. The electrician will need to know the power the EVSE can deliver, not the power your car can accept. They will need to size the wiring according to the maximum the EVSE is capable of supplying any vehicle, not your particular car. It’s important to have an electrician come to your home and inspect your electrical service before you buy the EVSE, because some homes don’t have the available capacity to add an EVSE without doing a service upgrade which can cost thousands of dollars. You should know how much the installation is going to cost before buy the EVSE, as that may impact which model you choose.

What is Level 2 Charging for an EV?

Level 2 Charging:

You are thinking of buying an electric car or have just purchased one. You are going to hear a lot about different “levels” of charging so we thought to give you an overview on how to approach this. What are different types Levels? How long does it to take to charge my car? Do they work with all cars? This is what we hope to tackle for you. This article is about Level 2 charging but click here to read our posts to Level 1 Charging and Fast Charging

If you are new to the area of electric vehicles and are exploring how charging works, you may have heard about different “Levels” of charging. In our last post, we gave you some background into Level 1 charging, and in this one we’re going to dive into what Level 2 charging is all about.

What is Level 2 Charging for an EV?

From an electrical standpoint, Level 2 means a power source that is between 16 to 40 Amps, on 208, 220, or 240 Volts. This is the type of outlet that typically a home water heater or a dryer use. Most of the public charging stations that you see out there are Level 2 stations as well. We’ll get into that a bit more later. Level 2 stations can give out anywhere from a little over 3 kWh to 7.2 kWh.
To give you an idea of what those outlets looks like, see the below in pink.

Diagram created by Wikimedia Commons user Orion Lawlor.

How long will it take to charge my car?

This is a really common question- how long until my car goes from empty to fully charged? The answer is this really depends on the size of your battery. Think of it this way: with a gas tank in your gasoline powered car, if I would ask you, “How much gas do I need for a full tank on a gas car?” You would say, the bigger the tank, the more gallons, and in turn fuel, it could hold. Different cars have different size fuel tanks.
With electric cars, think of the battery as your fuel tank. Different cars have different size batteries. The 2017 Chevy Volt, which is a plugin hybrid, has an 18.4 kWh size battery that on pure electric could take you about 53 miles before the gas kicks in. 2017 Chevy Bolt, which is a pure electric car, has a 60 kWh battery that can take you 238 miles. And, as of a new announcement a few months ago, the Tesla Model S Sedan and Model X SUV now have an option to be bought with a whopping 100 kWh battery pack which give them a range of ~380 miles. You can check out the battery sizes and the range of all electric cars here.

So how long will it take to charge a car on Level 2? Typically, most public Level 2 stations are set to give out 7.2 kWh and your battery, if like the 2017 Chevy Bolt, will take a little over 8 hours to fully charge from empty on a Level 2. Remember, most often, you are not going to be charging a completely empty battery. Charging your car is more like charging a phone, you top it off when you get home. If you’re driving about 40 miles a day, which is what an average American driver typical does daily, to get that range back on a Level 2 Charger would take about 1.5- 2 hours. Want to know how much you drive a day? Take a look at our range calculator tool here under the “Daily Roundtrip” section.

Do all cars charge at the same speed when using the same Level 2 Charger?

No. Some cars can accept more electricity at a faster rate than the others. Each electric car has an on-board charger. This dictates how much electricity it can pull. So for example, the on-board chargers of the Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf, and BMW i3 can pull 7.2 kWh from a Level 2, which is great because that is the max output of your typical Level 2, 40 amp station. But some cars (typically a plugin hybrid electric vehicle know as PHEV) like the Chevy Volt, Ford Fusion Energi, Audi A3 Etron, pull around 3.5 kWh. The Hyundai Sonata Plug-in Hybrid could pull around 5.5 kWh. The Volkswagen E-Golf and the Ford Focus Electric, which are both full batter electric vehicles (BEVs), pull around 6.6 kWh. So that means for these cars, even if the Level 2 stations can give out 7.2 kWh, the cars on-board charger may not be able to take that whole amount. This is why, technically, what we refer to as the “Charging Station” is really called an EVSE, Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment. The actual is charger is technically on the car.

This info about the on-board charger rate could be important and we have made it easy for you to see that info. Take a look at our listing of cars here and click on the “Details” button to get that info.

Can my electric car work with every Level 2 Charger out there?

Yes, all cars can use a Level 2 charger. The industry has adopted standardization around the type of connector it uses for Level 2. It’s called a J1772 and looks like this:

For Tesla drivers, the car comes with a J1772 adapter to plug in to the other side of your Universal Mobile Connector. Check out a video Tesla put out here for how that works.
Fast Charging, which is another higher type of charging above Level 2, has not standardized a connector.

When should I use a Level 2 Charger?

Typically, at the office, your home, parking garages, and hotels, are the most common applications for a Level 2 station but you could see them at retail locations and rest stops. We will have a dedicated series on how to choose the right type of station for each of these type of properties so stay tuned!

Are there different types of Level 2 stations?

Yes, there are. Like we said, a Level 2 station can be anywhere from 16-40 amps. Also, most Level 2 stations can be put into 2 different groups: Networked and Non-Networked. Check out our page here for the list of stations, and click on the “Details” button to see if the station is networked.
Typically, at a single family residential home, non-networked Level 2 charging is the way to go as they are less expensive and do the trick. Regarding multifamily, you may want to look at networked station (see our guide for multifamily charging here). When the station is out in the public, you may want a networked piece of equipment to charge people for using the station, restrict access to only work with your customers, residents or tenants, or to keep track of the usage and monitor the station.

We will have others posts that discusses how to approach public charging, whether to charge drivers for charging, and whether to purchase a networked or non-networked station,

Should I get a Level 2 station at home?

This is a solid question so we have dedicated a whole series of articles by our Director of Content Tom Moloughney on how to approach home charging and whether Level 2 is better than Level 1. Take a look at that article here
Click here to read our posts to Level 1 Charging and Fast Charging and check out the different public and residential Level 2 stations on the market here
Comments or questions? See something you like or would have liked to know more about? Email us at contact@evspace.com

What is Level 1 Charging for an EV?

Level 1 Charging:

You are thinking of buying an electric car or have just purchased one. You are going to hear a lot about different “Levels” of charging so we thought to give you an overview on how to approach this. What are different types of Levels? How long does it to take to charge my car? Do they work with all cars? This is what we hope to tackle for you. This article is going to answer “What is Level 1 Charging for an EV?”
See our other posts on what are Level 2 Charging and Fast Charging

What is Level 1 Charging for an EV?

From an electrical standpoint, Level 1 just means plugging into your typical outlet that you may find in your home or even out on the road (get permission before plugging into a public outlet! Otherwise, stealing that power may get you arrested like this guy!) Your typical standard outlet is usually 16 AMPs at 110 or 120 volts. That’s typical putting out ~0.96kWh.

How long will it take to charge my car?

This is a really common question- how long until my car goes from empty to fully charged? The answer is this really depends on the size of your battery. Think of it this way: With a gas tank in your gasoline powered car, if I would ask you, “How much gas do I need for a full tank on a gas car?” you would say, the bigger the tank, the more gallons, and in turn fuel, it could hold. In other words, different cars have different size fuel tanks.
With electric cars, think of the battery as your fuel tank. Different cars have different size batteries. The 2017 Chevy Volt, which is a plugin hybrid, has an 18.4 kWh size battery that on pure electric could take you about 53 miles before the gas kicks in. The 2017 Chevy Bolt, which is a pure electric car, has a 60 kWh battery that can take you 238 miles. And, as of a new announcement a few months ago, the Tesla Model S Sedan and Model X SUV now have an option to be bought with a whopping 100 kWh battery pack which give them a range of ~380 miles. You can check out the battery sizes and the range of all electric cars here.

So how long will it take to charge a car on Level 1? If you’re getting ~0.96kW from a wall outlet an hour, and your battery is like the 2017 Chevy Bolt, the Bolt will take about 57 hours to fully charge from empty on a Level 1. That sounds pretty bad, right? It’s really not. Remember, most often, you are not going to be charging a completely empty battery. Charging your car is more like charging a phone, you top it off when you get home. If you’re driving about 40 miles a day, which is what your American driver typically does, to get that range back on a Level 1 Charger would take about 10-11 hours So pretty much, when driving 40-50 miles a day, an overnight charge could top off your car and you would be leaving your house every morning with a full tank (one of the best parts of having an electric car!).
Want to know how much you drive a day? Take a look at our range calculator use the tool here under the “Daily Roundtrip” section.

In addition, some cars can accept more electricity at a faster rate than the others. We’ll get to this a bit more in our next post on Level 2 Charging.

How do I actually plug my car to a regular outlet?

Every car you buy will come with a portable charger. It looks something like this:

You can simply plug that into the outlet. If you want to look into a backup one, check out some of the ones we have here

For Tesla drivers, there is a cord that comes with your car, a Universal Mobile Connector (UMC). You would need to plug into the other side of your UMC an adapter that will go in your regular wall outlet. Check out a video Tesla put out here for how that works.

If you’re planning on plugging into a regular wall outlet in a garage that you really haven’t used before, our Director of Content at EVSpace, Tom Moloughney, has some good advice:

“Have an electrician inspect the outlet and circuit you’ll be plugging the 120v EVSE into. Often, especially on older homes, outlets in the garage don’t get much use and can be exposed to humidity, dust and other contaminants. The connections may be loose from years of use, and aren’t ready to be used for many hours every day now under a high load. In most cases the electrician will just inspect it and tighten the connections. It’s only a couple dollars for a new receptacle so you might as well ask them to replace it while they are there. That way you know it’s new and ready for the task of daily charging”

When should I use a Level 1 Charger?

Most often, Level 1 Charging is done at home with a regular outlet. Sometimes, in a parking garage or at your work place, there may be an outdoor outlet that you can use, but make sure to ask before using it. Building owners and management don’t like the surprise of finding out that someone has been taking electricity from them.

Should I only rely on a Level 1 at home?

This is a solid question so we have dedicated a whole series of articles by our Director of Content Tom Moloughney on how to approach home charging and whether Level 1 suffices. Take a look at that article here.

See our other posts on Level 2 Charging and Fast Charging

Comments or questions? See something you like or would have liked to know more about? Email us at contact@evspace.com