New Sun Country Highway Charger EV60 Questions

greensjnl · Jan 27, 2015

Hi all,

I've been looking around for a permanent charger to install at my house to replace our existing NEMA 14-50 that we've been using for the last 6 months. Works great but because the car is parked outside it is a bit of a hassle get the Tesla UMC cable out of the car every time to charge and then coiling it back up when full of snow. I've been lately just leaving the cable at home plugged in which is much more convenient but not very ideal. Would love to have a fixed charger where I can coil up the cord and make it all look tidy.

Looking at the different options I think I would like to get the new EV60 charger that Sun Country Highway has. https://suncountryhighway.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Sun_Country_Highway_EV60_Manual.pdf

Just had a few questions that I thought some folks could help me with.

1. The spec sheets says can charge up to 48 amps, 11.5 kW. This is slightly higher than the 40 amps I get from the NEMA 14-50 which is great but I wanted to ask if folks think the Model S will take charge at the full 48 amps?
2. Does scheduled charging and other things like the new Smart preconditioning work with J1772 connectors.
3. For $999, I thought it was a pretty good deal. Thoughts, or other suggestions?

I like the idea of having J1772 as it leaves the option for other vehicles to use the charger, incase we purchase a leaf or volt in the future.

Thanks for your help.

islandbayy · Jan 27, 2015

greensjnl said:
Hi all,

I've been looking around for a permanent charger to install at my house to replace our existing NEMA 14-50 that we've been using for the last 6 months. Works great but because the car is parked outside it is a bit of a hassle get the Tesla UMC cable out of the car every time to charge and then coiling it back up when full of snow. I've been lately just leaving the cable at home plugged in which is much more convenient but not very ideal. Would love to have a fixed charger where I can coil up the cord and make it all look tidy.

Looking at the different options I think I would like to get the new EV60 charger that Sun Country Highway has. https://suncountryhighway.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Sun_Country_Highway_EV60_Manual.pdf

Just had a few questions that I thought some folks could help me with.

1. The spec sheets says can charge up to 48 amps, 11.5 kW. This is slightly higher than the 40 amps I get from the NEMA 14-50 which is great but I wanted to ask if folks think the Model S will take charge at the full 48 amps?
2. Does scheduled charging and other things like the new Smart preconditioning work with J1772 connectors.
3. For $999, I thought it was a pretty good deal. Thoughts, or other suggestions?

I like the idea of having J1772 as it leaves the option for other vehicles to use the charger, incase we purchase a leaf or volt in the future.

Thanks for your help.

Standard Model S can charge at 40 amps Max. If you Get the Dual Chargers in your car, it can charge all the way up to 80 Amps MAX and anywhere in between.
Just a thought, why not a Tesla HPWC for half the price and twice the charging capacity? The HPWC can charge at up to 80 Amps.

ChrisPDX · Jan 27, 2015

Just a couple of notes about using the Sun Country unit:

Requires a 60 amp circuit, so you must upgrade the circuit breaker even if you plan to use the existing 14-50 wiring.
J1772 requires an adapter. So if you leave it at home, you can't use a public J1772 charger unless you purchase a second adapter at $100.
You'll have to press and hold the trunk button on your keyfob every time you want to open the charge door.

I agree that the HPWC is a better solution. Cheaper and easier to deal with. You can set it to a 50 amp circuit and wire it in place of the 14-50 in most cases. Even if you have the dual chargers to take advantage of charging at over 10kW, the extra 1.5kW you would get from the Sun Country won't be much of a difference over what you are currently getting.

greensjnl · Jan 27, 2015

islandbayy said:
Standard Model S can charge at 40 amps Max. If you Get the Dual Chargers in your car, it can charge all the way up to 80 Amps MAX and anywhere in between.
Just a thought, why not a Tesla HPWC for half the price and twice the charging capacity? The HPWC can charge at up to 80 Amps.

Yes we have the dual chargers in our car. The HPWC was the second contender but only our Model S will be able to use it. There is a greater than 50% chance we will be getting a non-Tesla EV in the next little while that will need to be able to use the same charger.

ChrisPDX · Jan 27, 2015

Having a second non-Tesla EV does change things a bit. In that case the Sun Country is probably your best solution. When installing, you can wire it in place of the 14-50 (assuming it's location is physically suitable for the Sun Country) and replace the existing 50 amp breaker with a 60 amp breaker. Also get a second J1772 adapter so you can keep the current one in your glove box for traveling. Once all that is done, just put the UMC into the trunk and use it as a backup or travel charger.

Jaff · Jan 27, 2015

If you get a second EV, you might want to install a charge station on a second circuit (leave the NEMA in place)...if you plan to take advantage of the lower, overnight electricitysupply cost, you may find that you want / need to charge both EV's at night...this would probably depend on your daily use of each EV though...just a thought...

greensjnl · Jan 27, 2015

ChrisPDX said:
Just a couple of notes about using the Sun Country unit:

Requires a 60 amp circuit, so you must upgrade the circuit breaker even if you plan to use the existing 14-50 wiring.

J1772 requires an adapter. So if you leave it at home, you can't use a public J1772 charger unless you purchase a second adapter at $100.

You'll have to press and hold the trunk button on your keyfob every time you want to open the charge door.

I agree that the HPWC is a better solution. Cheaper and easier to deal with. You can set it to a 50 amp circuit and wire it in place of the 14-50 in most cases. Even if you have the dual chargers to take advantage of charging at over 10kW, the extra 1.5kW you would get from the Sun Country won't be much of a difference over what you are currently getting.

Replacing breaker with 60A breaker is not a problem.
Was thinking about getting another J1772 adapter.
Thats one thing I didn't think about was opening of the charge port. It does help now with using the key fob which 95% of the time is in my pocket if I am plugging the car in.

Like I mentioned above, only reason for not getting HPWC is Non-Tesla EV charging.

Im not an electrician so not sure if this is possible. Would you be able to leave the NEMA 14-50 receptacle in place and splice the wire so that I could have both the 14-50 and HPWC on the side of my house? Obviously I couldn't/wouldn't use both at the same time with the existing AWG 6 cable in place, but I don't think code would even allow this.

- - - Updated - - -

Jaff said:
If you get a second EV, you might want to install a charge station on a second circuit (leave the NEMA in place)...if you plan to take advantage of the lower, overnight electricitysupply cost, you may find that you want / need to charge both EV's at night...this would probably depend on your daily use of each EV though...just a thought...

I agree, second circuit would be ideal. Unfortunately it is very hard to get another wire over from the electrical panel. I already had to remove sections of ceiling in basement to string the first cable through and would rather not have to do it again. Here in NL we don't have TOU rates and I dont think it will be something that is coming here anytime soon. I don't think it would be a problem charing both vehicles with same charger at night by just alternating which vehicle gets charged each night. Through out the winter weve been charging the Model S about 3 times per week and in the summer it was about 1.5 times per week. Having said that, any non-Tesla EV will most likely have to be charged more frequently than the model S.

I guess we could solve all of this by just getting a HPWC and just buy another Tesla when we can afford it

.

ChrisPDX · Jan 27, 2015

greensjnl said:
Im not an electrician so not sure if this is possible. Would you be able to leave the NEMA 14-50 receptacle in place and splice the wire so that I could have both the 14-50 and HPWC on the side of my house? Obviously I couldn't/wouldn't use both at the same time with the existing AWG 6 cable in place, but I don't think code would even allow this.

Very much against code. All 240v devices are not even designed to allow multiple wiring connections. All built around dedicated circuits. So anything like that would have to be hacked together which is not a good idea. A better option would be to look into a dual head EVSE. They can balance and allocate different amperage between the cars. So it could give each car 30 amps and then when one is finished, increase the other to a full 60 amps.

greensjnl said:
I guess we could solve all of this by just getting a HPWC and just buy another Tesla when we can afford it .

That's the way to think! Just ignore that whole finances stuff and you'll be set! :biggrin:

Gizmotoy · Jan 27, 2015

greensjnl said:
Im not an electrician so not sure if this is possible. Would you be able to leave the NEMA 14-50 receptacle in place and splice the wire so that I could have both the 14-50 and HPWC on the side of my house? Obviously I couldn't/wouldn't use both at the same time with the existing AWG 6 cable in place, but I don't think code would even allow this.

No, it's pretty much guaranteed that wouldn't be up to code. It sounds like a high-amp J1772 is a good option for your situation.

If you're worried about opening the charge port, something like this might work to get you that and some more cord: JMS: J1772 Socket to Model S Plug

That said, if you're seriously two EVs, I think you should seriously consider a second circuit so you can charge both. At some point there's going to be a time when they both need charged simultaneously and you'll be kicking yourself for not getting the second circuit.

tga · Jan 27, 2015

greensjnl said:
3. For $999, I thought it was a pretty good deal. Thoughts, or other suggestions?

The SCH EV-60 is just an Clipper Creek HCS-60 with a custom label. The HCS-60 is $899 (USD). Depending on how the exchange rates work (was the $999 price USD or CAD?), the Clipper Creek may be cheaper.

But yeah, the HPWC is cheaper still ($750). Be aware that new HPWC's don't appear to have a 60A breaker setting (15/20/30/40/50/80/100A), but I haven't seen a new one:

Tesla HPWC On EBay from Canada - Page 3

You could wire it with a 14-50 plug and plug it into your existing outlet. Use the 50A breaker setting and charge at 40A.

ChrisPDX said:
replace the existing 50 amp breaker with a 60 amp breaker

Depending on the wire gauge and insulation rating, this may not be up to code. Check with an electrician.

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New Sun Country Highway Charger EV60 Questions

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