Hard Charging -- The Seemingly Impossible Task of Obtaining a Home EVSE

One of the hardest parts, so far, of entering the EV world is obtaining an EVSE for my home, that elusive charging equipment.  I have tried four different options to obtain my home EVSE and each one has achieved various levels of success.  I use the term “success” lightly because as of now, I don’t actually have an EVSE.

In an effort to be creative and resourceful, neither of which has paid any real dividends, I have explored four different option.

1.         AreoVironment.  This is the company blessed by BMW to install home EVSE’s and their version comes with a cool BMW logo on it—although the electrons flow freely to any brand of electric vehicle.  We were required to have the nice people, and they were, at Aerovironment inspect our home and provide a quote for an EVSE install.  My quote was $1,750 for the cost of the EVSE and labor to install it.  But this did NOT include the labor needed to run conduit from my electric panel to the garage—the problem being a doorway in between the two.  So on to plan B.

2.         Coulomb/ChargePoint America.  They offered a FREE charger, can’t beat that right?  As the saying goes, there’s no such thing as free electrons.  The problem with obtaining a free anything is that you have to wait in line, assuming that the free anything is worth something.  And this anything is worth something, so I waited.  And waited.  And waited.   Finally, I did obtain a site visit from Clean Fuel Connection (the subcontractor for Charge Point, who then sub’s it out again to another electrical company), which went well but presented two new options for my home EVSE:

            A.         Subpanel Install.  A subpanel has to be installed because my main panel has a full dance card and can’t make room for one more potential spark.  Adds a bit of cost, but whatever it takes is fine by me.  Or I could choose option B:

            B.         Second Meter. Southern California Edison offers a special EV rate of 10 cents per Kwh for vehicle charging from 9:00 p.m. to noon, but only when a second meter is installed dedicated to tracking only the EV usage.  The second meter is provided free of charge, but I have to pay the labor to install it.  And SCE must conduct a site visit to determine the placement of the second meter and whether I have enough juice in the existing wires to feed two meters. 

My gate and battered electric meter

After waiting another week for the SCE site visit I was told: “you have to relocate your gate because it might hit the meter.”  What?  That gate has been there for over 10 years and has hit the existing meter hundreds of times with no visible damage.  Only now does SCE notice a problem with the gate?  That’s what I get for drawing attention to myself I guess.  Better to fly under the radar.

So scratch plan “second meter.”  I don’t really need a second meter anyway because I have solar and by using net metering and time-of-use billing for solar and EV I can obtain a very similar result to having a second meter.  It just limits my prime EV charging time from midnight to 6:00 a.m. 

And my quote from ChargePoint for the EVSE install?  Don’t know yet.

Leviton evr-green 160

3.         Solar Company.  I had solar installed last year by Peak Power Solutions and they did a great job.  So I called to find out if they handle EVSE’s and whether they could put a package together that included not only the EVSE, but also a few more solar panels to help offset the extra power usage.  I thought for sure this would be my saving grace.  And I would love to add more solar panels to my system—what a perfect excuse.

But not so fast because (1) the cost of the additional panels were way higher than expected, and (2) the EVSE that they wanted to install (a Leviton "evergreen 160") was a 3.8 Kw unit.  Keep in mind that the Active E can consume up to 7.2 Kw and most EVSE’s being installed have a 7.2 Kw output.  Not this one.  They found the small Sony Walkman of EVSE’s in an iPod world, and while it looks ugly it's also entirely underpowered.  Wait those are both bad things.  Power down this option.

GE WattStation

4.         Private Electrician.  The last straw is hiring a private electrician to come in and run conduit to a GE Wattstation that I can buy from Home Depot for $999.  May not be free, but it’s not too expensive given the scheme of things and it has one very large benefit: it may actually arrive in my garage!  A free charger does little good when I can’t use it…because I don’t have it. 

My only hold-up under this plan is…I can’t get my electrician to call me back. 

The Hard Charging Conclusion.  That’s four options, four different avenues to a home EVSE, and only one partial quote in hand.   

I don’t want this process to be difficult.  I can steer through it because my wife and I really want an electric car.  So unlike most people, we will slog through the unpleasantries to get this technology.  But I also want everyone else to want electric cars too.  And with hurdles like this to overcome, the dream that EVs will be widely adopted is still out of reach.

Of course, the companies in the EVSE arena appear to be very busy, which is good.  But there’s not enough EVSE usage to keep every electrician busy.  So at some point, there has to be a shift so that more companies have the ability to learn about and install EVSE’s. 

There is one thing the EV adventure has taught me: patience.  By the time we’re done I will be a regular Zen master. 

Electric Lingo: Talking the talk of electric cars

Have you ever been ICE’d?  Do you have an EVSE with a J1772 connector?  Do you even have an EV?  Ever suffer Range Anxiety (“RA”)?  How’s your regen?  You using 240 or 120—ever pre-condition?  Have a Range Extender?  

If you have no idea what I am talking about, then join the club.  I didn’t either until my recent decision to take part in the BMW Active E field trial.  By listening to those who have been in the electric car arena far longer than I have been, you start to pick up on their foreign language of terms and acronyms.  And like any language, it separates the natives from the foreigners in this electric car world. 

But if you are going to keep score, you have to learn the language.  So here is a translation of the terms I have deciphered so far (which I’m sure only just scratches the surface):

ICE – an acronym that stands for Internal Combustion Engine (the dreaded gas-powered cars).  Derivations include “ICE’d” as in, “someone ICE’d the EVSE."  This is by far one of my favorite terms.

EV – Electric vehicle (you should have known this one).  The next category is a bit harder.

EV derivations: ZEV -- zero emission vehicles, PEVs -- plug-in electric vehicles, ILEV -- inherently low emission vehicles (which usually include pure EVs and CNG vehicles (compressed natural gas)), PZEV -- partial zero emission vehicles (hybrids).  The wonderfully confusing world of acronyms--can you add any others?  

EVSE – Electric vehicle supply equipment—refers to the charging equipment used to recharge the batteries on an EV.

J1772 Connector – the most modern connector used on EVSE's, see photo below:

Range Anxiety (“RA”) – fear of running out of battery power before reaching an EVSE. 

Regen or Regeneration – the regenerative braking function found on all electric and hybrid cars.  EV’s actually produce electric power on their own when slowing down or braking by capturing the energy generated by the moving car.  When referring to “Regen” people mean the process by which regenerative braking kicks-in, which occurs either when depressing the brakes or when taking your foot off of the acceleration pedal (as is the case with the Active E).

240 vs. 120 – Type of power source being used to recharge your EV.  120 volt is the typical power outlet in your home.  The Active E, for example, comes with a 120 volt power cord that will allow charging from a regular power socket.  But 120 is far slower in recharging the batteries.  A 240 volt outlet, however is the typical power sources used by EVSE’s and it allows a much faster charge time because it delivers far more power to the batteries. 

Range Extender – an on-board gas motor that allows the electric motor to continue operating after the battery has depleted its charge.  In the case of an all-electric car like the Active E, the only “range extender” available is a tow truck.

Pre-conditioning – the process of using the EVSE power source to warm-up the batteries before the EVSE is unplugged and the car is used.  The batteries provide the most range for an EV when they are operating at their optimum temperature, around 70 degrees or so.

This is just the beginning.  I hope to become completely fluent in electric car dialect as soon as possible.  Feel free to add the terms I don’t have yet, or just tell me your favorites.  Whatever you do, never ICE an EVSE.