Learning to drive Prime the RIGHT WAY

And heated hand grips on a motorcycle. They're almost necessity in cold/wet weather.

Sorry, I'm drifting off-topic.

 

In our garage at home, we use an LCS-30P, for whatever it’s worth. It’s been working great for well over a year, again for whatever it’s worth.


iPad ? Pro

 

Agreed. That said, some of that is dependent on weather in your area. Where you are in Vancouver, and where I am on the north Oregon coast, it's easy to not think about outside temperature and its impact on battery life because it rarely gets really hot or really cold. I use my AC when I am at highway speeds (say 50 MPH+) or when it is raining but I usually partially roll the windows down otherwise. If you live in Phoenix or in Winnipeg, you probably have to factor climate into account a fair bit more.

 

Why did you decide on 30 Amp? If you're thinking future-proof, I would recommend going up to at least 40 Amp. It won't cost more than 30 Amp and most other electric cars charge at 6.6 kW.

 

Reasonable question. Answer: Existing 30A dryer-circuit (gas dryer).

Actually, it’s a 24A unit. Here in Austin TX, and I gather most other places as well, you’re required to maintain a 20% margin. So its name describes the breaker size, but not the charging current.

Also, I don’t anticipate needing to charge huge amounts routinely. Even if we were to get a long-range Tesla Model 3, for example, we’d probably take big road trips in it 2-3 times per year. Also, if we do come back with a discharged battery, we’ll still typically only need to drive 45 miles per day, so we can charge it up gradually over the course of the next week or so.

That is, whereas we’d typically charge it 45 miles-worth per day, we can charge it ... oh, 60 miles per day, say ... and having it back up to “full” within a week or two, while still having plenty for routine day-to-day usage.

Actually, in the case of a Tesla in particular, I’d perhaps Supercharge it to bring it back. But that, say, for a Bolt.

iPad ? Pro

 

I didn't quote you, I quoted cleverchimp. He's thinking of installing a new 30 Amp service. I recommended at least 40 Amp for future proofing.
You also mean electric dryer too right, not gas?

 

And even charging flat out, it’ll fully charge a 60KWh battery in 10ish hours.

In any case though, having a big battery doesn’t necessarily require a big charger. How big a charger you need is more a function of how much you need to charge routinely, day-to-day.

We have a gas dryer, so we don’t need the existing 30A dryer circuit.

 

My anecdotal experience is when traveling on highway speed (100-120kmh) and charge mode, i get around 10% charge for approximately 10 mins or so of travel. So around 1% per minute.

Based on a COST FOR COST analysis:

At 100kmh = 1.6km per minute; So is around 16kms travel for 10% charge; at approx 5.5L/100km; at 16kms = 0.88L gas used

$1.60 per L gas = $1.41 for 10% charge; Charge capacity at 6.6kwh = 0.66kwh charged from the Charge Mode

Therefore:
based on current gas prices it cost about $2.14 per 1 kwh charge; $14.10 for full charge

Whereas, my local electricity cost is $0.13 per 1 kwh charge; $0.86 for full charge

so using the charge mode is 1,639x more expensive then using the plug. BUT this also utilize your travel time&distance from using the charge mode.

To truly know the difference, I estimate the efficiency is around 4-4.5L/100kms without charge mode. So the difference is around 1L/100kms; recalculating everything is around 0.16L per 10% charge; $0.26 for 10% charge = $2.60 for 6.6kwh (100%) charge; = 300x more expensive for charge mode.

Or equivalently at 10% EV is around 4kms travel; so you're paying variance gas cost at $0.26 per 4kms distance range versus $0.09 in electricity cost.

All prices in Canadian

Based on EFFICIENCY analysis:

So using the same variables

Charge mode is 16km + 4km = 20 kms range for 10minutes drive at 100kmh for 10% gain in battery

which is 0.88L per 20kms = 4.4L per 100kms

Non charge mode is estimated at 4.5L per 100kms

Final conclusion: it is parity for the total distance whether you use charge-mode or not. Using the charge-mode "gives you the perception" of ability to "save" but is really not, if not cost you 300x more than just pure plugin.

So there's no advantages to using the charge mode.

and yes, you can activate Charge-Mode on the fly as long as the battery is less than 80% level or something

 

NEC says you can fit three #8 wires into standard 1/2-inch conduit. That would be two hots and a ground. You do not need a neutral for L2 240-volt EVSE units, just 240-volts across the two hots (red/black) and that third wire as a safety ground (green). You should discuss this with your electrician.

Going with the #8 wire would let you install a larger EVSE for future use. It makes no difference to your Prime. It will only draw about 15-amps @ 240 volts.

 

My Chargepoint charging station uses a NEMA 6-50 plug, which is hot-hot-ground. Dryers typically are wired with a Neutral so that they can operate the motor and electronics on 120V, while using 240V for the heat. In the charging station, the electronics are designed for 240V, so there is no need for a neutral. But the ground is needed for safety.