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How do you know if your breaker box on your house can handle a charger for your electric vehicle. I’m going to have to have an outside charger box installed and I was wondering where I can find information about this.
Charger station question
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You need to have a licensed electrician evaluate your service panel and current ecctrical loads to determine if your panel has enough spare capacity to power the charger. Presumably you are looking at a min. 32 amp 240 volt unit which requires a 40 amp circuit breaker, I believe. I am not an electrician.
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Thanks, that’s what I’ve been seeing is a 40-50 amp circuit breaker but was just thinking my luck I’ll get this ev and then can’t have a charger installed haha.
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Photos show it plugged into standard 110 but not sure what amperage it needs. Having a plug put in next to your panel, assuming your panel is in the garage, isn’t much of an investment dollar-wise if your construction is new(ish) and you’re planning to go EV. GM had to consider that when designing everything. Maybe just a much slower charge?
Past: Tesla Model S, 3, X. Volvo XC90 PHEV. Current: F150 Powerboost Hybrid
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from experience with having a few Teslas and a Volvo Hybrid, yes....you can do 240 at lower amperage, but you will charge slower. you WILL charge twice as fast as the same sized 110v breaker, though
You don't want to rely on 120V. You will be getting somewhere on the order of 2-4 miles per hour of charging. Installing a dedicated 240V circuit or outlet should be considered a necessity. If you are installing a new circuit, you should really look at 50A as the minimum. That would let you charge at 40A, which would be around 20 miles per hour. The Silverado should be like the hummer in that it can charge at a max of 19.2 kW, which is 80A, and would require a 100A circuit.
Also consider physical space in your panel. If you are installing a 240v outlet instead of a hardwired charger, you’ll need to install a GFCI breaker. I had to have a sub panel installed to fit 2 of those because there wasn’t enough room in the main panel.
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If you get a charging station from the dealer with the truck do they install it?
I don’t think that’s known yet, but Chevy does offer free charger installation with purchase of a Bolt. So hopefully that program will continue with the Silverado EV and future vehicles.
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No, not for the GMC Hummer EV at least. GM sent the charger to my home; installation was my responsibility, although they did provide the phone number for one contractor. Installation of a 240V charger requires a circuit with 25% more capacity that the charger draws. For the Clipper Creek HCS-60 48A charger GM provided, I added a 60A breaker and enough wire to reach the charger in my garage.
Joined
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6 Posts
No, not for the GMC Hummer EV at least. GM sent the charger to my home; installation was my responsibility, although they did provide the phone number for one contractor. Installation of a 240V charger requires a circuit with 25% more capacity that the charger draws. For the Clipper Creek HCS-60 48A charger GM provided, I added a 60A breaker and enough wire to reach the charger in my garage.
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