Charging an Electric Vehicle

[cekkk]

So we have 30 amp service on the side of the house to power our travel trailer. I'm considering purchasing an electric vehicle as we now live in a small town where my furthest trip is 4 miles to the Home Depot. I'm wondering if the 120v 30 amp could easily be converted to the 240-volt requirement for the EV or if I would need to have an electrician install a totally separate outlet.

[Reisender]

philh wrote:
Are you paying for electric, or is included? If it's included, I'd bet their pricing structure does not include charging electric cars.

I’m not sure who your question is directed at. The discussion has been about charging at home at a town house or house. Who else would pay for the electric?

[philh]

Are you paying for electric, or is included? If it's included, I'd bet their pricing structure does not include charging electric cars.

[Reisender]

If your commute is less than 30 miles a day I wouldn't worry about 240 volts AT ALL. We used 120 volts for years with our Nissan Leaf. We only eventually put in a 240 volt EVSE because our needs changed. Even at that it was rare that we needed the extra charge capacity. You can see that our EVSE (charge cable) that came with the car is literally plugged into our christmas light soffitt plug.

I echo time2rolls comments in that the nissan leaf is not well suited to a Las Vegas climate as there is no active battery cooling. Nissan leafs are excellent vehicles and the most problem free bullet proof vehicle we have ever owned. But I would not own one in a Vegas environment. Maybe a chevy bolt or one of the korean models. They all have good reputations. Not so much the Fords.

I wouldn't avoid a Tesla for reliability reasons. They don't score well with JD powers because of their complexity but then again none of the top brands do. We haven't had ours long enough to give a real assessment but in about 3.5 months the only issue we have had was a squeaky dash which tesla looked after.

Teslas are not little cars so take that into consideration. I'll include a couple shots of our Leaf and Tesla for size comparison. The Chevy Bolt is slightly smaller than the leaf again. The Leaf was an easy fit in our garage. Not so much the Tesla. The Bolt would be an even better fit. When the seats are down in a Bolt it is a pretty big flat area in the back.

As piano Tuna mentioned the Kona is also a great choice and well thought of.

Anyway, drive em all and see what you like. There are some smokin deals on left over 2019 Chevy Bolts right now. Kinda low tech but great little cars and they have active cooling.

By the way, most EV's will go about 4 miles on one KW of power. I don't know what your power rate is in Vegas but if its 10 cents per KWH it will cost you about a dime to drive to Home Depot as you mentioned...oh...and another dime to get home I suppose.

Cheers.

[ktmrfs]

when we were looking at a electric hybrid, virtually all of them could be charged from a 120V/20A outlet, charging time was on the order of 12-15 hours on a 120/20A. The other option was 240V some 30A, some 40A. Then charging time is down in the few hours.

Now with that said, if you want to convert your 120V/30A to 240V ONLY for charging just a quick change to a double pole breaker in the box, replace the 30A RV with the correct 240V outlet. The vehicles we looked at when charged on 240V did not need a 120V leg. If that is the case it's an easy conversion, two hot legs and a ground, black tape on the white hot wire. If the 240V charging needs a 120V leg, then you need a new run you'll need two hot legs a neutral and a ground, 3 wires instead of the 120V/30A with a hot, neutral, and ground.

Now, if the 240V needs to be over 30A, unless you oversized the wire to start with, you'd need new wire and new run as well.

So......... Look carefully at what the 240V requirements are. You may be lucky, may need new runs.

And if you convert the existing to 240V with no 120V leg then you won't have a 30A for the trailer either.

If you do convert to 240V, ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY INSTALL THE CORRECT 240V OUTLET FOR THE AMPERAGE THE CIRCUIT IS RATED FOR AND THEY TYPE OF CIRCUIT (3 OR 4 WIRE PLUS GROUND). DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES JUST WIRE A RV 30A FOR 240V!!!!!

[cekkk]

Thanks again everybody. I should have made clear that not only are we selling our travel trailer, we're not going to replace it. We are done camping. and just like in Colorado where we lived where people came to camp, we're kind of in the same situation here. But we're not going to leave it again. Age and physical conditions precludes any chance of really enjoying the RV life any longer. It was great.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Use a dedicated TWIST LOCK connection on the pedestal end. Make it mistake impossible

[pianotuna]

My current choice for a bev is the Hyundai Kona. Great range and competitively priced.

In 2024 the tires on my Elantra will age out. At that time I'll consider trading in on a Kona or other bev. I'm hoping there will be used ones available.

I plan on charging with a 15 amp 120 volt outlet that is already in place. It even has a switch inside my retirement Condo.

[wa8yxm]

DO not convert a TT-30 outlet to 240 volts. Far too many get wired that way and burn up somebody's RV.. I You do convert it (And yes the job is easy) CHANGE the outlet to one that you can not plug an RV into like a twist lock.

I will not tell you how for safety reasons but the job should take no more than one hour.. coffee break included. Unless screws are rusted it's very simple.

[camperdave]

I leased a Chevy Spark EV for 3 years (14-17) and it was awesome for local stuff. I have an in-town commute (well, had. I now commute downstairs with the Covid stuff going on) and 120v charging was all I ever needed with it. The Spark was a little light on range (~80 miles) but they can be picked up cheap off-lease these days. VERY quick, water cooled battery, fun car.

I now daily a Fusion plug in hybrid (just through circumstance, I'd rather have a full EV) that only starts the gas engine when it needs to for 'reasons'. It's got plenty of range for around town in electric only at around 15 miles or so). Again, only ever plugged into 120v.

[cekkk]

Betting 120 v is going to be enough. If it does not work out I can always call my electrician. In the meantime it'll save some money. And while I'm at it, having not found a form so far that I liked, I'm wondering if general motors / Buick or Chrysler, or whatever they are called these days, has a vehicle that would work. I say that because, while I want a Tesla, they are problematic and the nearest dealer is almost 60 miles away. We don't even have a Ford dealer here, just the two I mentioned

[time2roll]

Tesla actually has a mobile service for most issues.
Chevrolet Bolt is also a good choice.
For minimal use as described I recommend a used EV for an especially good value.

[cekkk]

Betting 120 v is going to be enough. If it does not work out I can always call my electrician. In the meantime it'll save some money. And while I'm at it, having not found a form so far that I liked, I'm wondering if general motors / Buick or Chrysler, or whatever they are called these days, has a vehicle that would work. I say that because, while I want a Tesla, they are problematic and the nearest dealer is almost 60 miles away. We don't even have a Ford dealer here, just the two I mentioned

[valhalla360]

If you are talking under 10 miles per day, just plug into a 120v outlet.

[time2roll]

https://www.mynissanleaf.com/

Very active. Virtually all subjects covered since 2010. Most other vehicles have a subtopic.

And no the EV will not heat your garage like a V8 SUV.

Heat can take a toll on the battery. For this reason I do not recommend a Nissan LEAF as it has no battery cooling system. Just convection. Although the real heat issue is using a public fast charger more than once a day and probably not an issue for your use.