As a Leaf owner in the Wichita area, I've been talking to the trustees at my church about installing some L2 charging stations. The church is located right off the highway at the intersection of I-135 and US-400/US-54. The initial discussions centered around installing a pair of 208 Volt, 30 Amp L2 stations. I picked two of our parking stalls since they are the only ones that are right against the building (conduit only, no trenching). Every other parking spot would require trenching concrete or asphalt, which I want to avoid. The plan would be to put up a "suggested donation" sign to cover our electricity costs and make these publicly available. I'm curious if it would be worthwhile bumping these installs up to something like the ClipperCreek HCS-60, which provides 48 amps to the vehicle to assist any traveling Teslas.
A couple of thoughts I've had on this:
- The estimated cost for two 30 Amp L2 stations is $2,100 (parts/labor). Upgrading one/both of these from 30 Amps to 48 Amps would cost roughly $750 each (added EVSE cost, larger wire, etc...). Since I'm currently the only church member with an EV, I'd like to keep this cost as low as possible.
- While we likely could support an 100 Amp HPWC on our breaker panels, I don't think I could talk the church into installing a system that would be limited to to just Tesla vehicles. I really think I need to stay with a J1772 EVSE to get this through.
- Tesla Motors has Wichita listed on the SuperCharger map on the 2015, so the long term need for a faster L2 charging station in Wichita would be negligible. Once a nearby Supercharger is installed, the need for the HAL2 station goes away.
- PlugShare currently lists a pair of HPWC installations in town, one of them is from a TMC member. Both are list as "inside garage, please call", making them less convenient to use than a spot available 24/7. It looks like the Tesla owner that works at Spirit Aerosystems has a 14-50 available during business hours during the week. Other options faster than 30 amps in the local area include a truck stop and RV park, both with 14-50 outlets.
- The church is located in a residential area, so the only things within walking distance are a gas station (same block) and a public park (two blocks away). That means there's not a lot to do for the hours it would take to charge a Tesla on a road trip.
It boils down to getting a feel for if the added 18 Amps of power would be worthwhile to road trippers for me to request additional funds. It's not a mega-church, so any expenditure will be "scrutinized" for lack of a better word. I know the jump from 30 Amps to 80 Amps on a HPWC would be helpful, but how helpful is would the 50% boost really be
A couple of thoughts I've had on this:
- The estimated cost for two 30 Amp L2 stations is $2,100 (parts/labor). Upgrading one/both of these from 30 Amps to 48 Amps would cost roughly $750 each (added EVSE cost, larger wire, etc...). Since I'm currently the only church member with an EV, I'd like to keep this cost as low as possible.
- While we likely could support an 100 Amp HPWC on our breaker panels, I don't think I could talk the church into installing a system that would be limited to to just Tesla vehicles. I really think I need to stay with a J1772 EVSE to get this through.
- Tesla Motors has Wichita listed on the SuperCharger map on the 2015, so the long term need for a faster L2 charging station in Wichita would be negligible. Once a nearby Supercharger is installed, the need for the HAL2 station goes away.
- PlugShare currently lists a pair of HPWC installations in town, one of them is from a TMC member. Both are list as "inside garage, please call", making them less convenient to use than a spot available 24/7. It looks like the Tesla owner that works at Spirit Aerosystems has a 14-50 available during business hours during the week. Other options faster than 30 amps in the local area include a truck stop and RV park, both with 14-50 outlets.
- The church is located in a residential area, so the only things within walking distance are a gas station (same block) and a public park (two blocks away). That means there's not a lot to do for the hours it would take to charge a Tesla on a road trip.
It boils down to getting a feel for if the added 18 Amps of power would be worthwhile to road trippers for me to request additional funds. It's not a mega-church, so any expenditure will be "scrutinized" for lack of a better word. I know the jump from 30 Amps to 80 Amps on a HPWC would be helpful, but how helpful is would the 50% boost really be