Q for the Lucky Folks who Own Two Teslas

Been

tstafford said:

The wife wants an MX. Who am I to say no. So we will be putting a deposit down on that.

Question (and of course I have a long time to decide) - but for those of you with two cars, do you have two NEMA 14-50s or do you share one? Part of me thinks that just sharing the one will be fine. But I kind of like knowing my car is plugged in over night, always at 90% when I want to roll, no worries about using battery to precondition, etc. Is it worth going thru the hassle of getting another one? (I'm guessing there's no 240V equivalent of a power strip :tongue

Thanks in advance.

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Been having the same conversation and thought process in my house, with the added option of a 2nd HPWC. I think at the least a 2nd 14-50 is well worth it, so long as you have adequate electrical service. Why take the chance of either running dry, or having an unnecessary argument with your spouse?

tstafford said:

The wife wants an MX. Who am I to say no. So we will be putting a deposit down on that.

Question (and of course I have a long time to decide) - but for those of you with two cars, do you have two NEMA 14-50s or do you share one? Part of me thinks that just sharing the one will be fine. But I kind of like knowing my car is plugged in over night, always at 90% when I want to roll, no worries about using battery to precondition, etc. Is it worth going thru the hassle of getting another one? (I'm guessing there's no 240V equivalent of a power strip :tongue

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

We've had three EVs at home and my mother drives a Leaf, so, we have three NEMA 14-50 and a J1772 30A EVSE.

No reason not to have an independent plug for each car (even visitors).

We're now down to two Teslas and we have a plug for each and can accommodate visitors.

Make sure your main can handle it. We have a 200A feed to the house.

tstafford said:

House is brand new and actually has 400A service.

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Then I don't see a reason not to have multiple outlets.

We had two 14-50's at our old house, and everything went great. (Initially that was for the Roadster and a RAV4-EV; we also plugged a PHEV Prius in to a 120V outlet. Later we sold the Prius and exchanged the RAV4 for a Model S).

At the new house, we put in a 14-50 for the Roadster and a Tesla HPWC for the Model S even though we didn't think we needed it. Sure enough, we never have; two 14-50's would have been fine.

But as others have said, I wouldn't try cord sharing. It is very convenient to just plug in when you arrive at home and find the car full the next morning, without having to go out in to the garage and move cords around every day. A 14-50 outlet is generally not very expensive, and completely aside from the cord-moving work, the first time you get in your car and realize you forgot and it didn't charge you'll wish you had two outlets.

tstafford said:

House is brand new and actually has 400A service.

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Well then, just put in a supercharger :smile:

We have two Model S's and we use the charge timers to manage when they charge to take advantage of Time Of Use service. So far no issues and we keep both cars charged to 90% every night. Usually takes about 12 -13KWh to recharge each after a day of driving. Like others have said, 400Amp service will make it possible to host two charging sources. In our set up we have one of the government provided Blink J1772 s that we got when we had a LEAF, that is on a 40 Amp breaker, The HPWC I got when I got my Tesla is on an 80Amp breaker (64Amp charging) Now when we got my Wife's Model S she took over the HPWC and I use the J1772 So far our all electric house has not had an issue supplying power even in the summer with the 5 ton AC running. The load calcs for our panel prevented a full 100Amps to the HPWC ( our breaker panel is rated at 225Amps even though the Service is 400Amps. We could add another box and change the main breaker in the existing panel so that we had 2 200 amp mains, but it's working fine the way it is. Hope that helps.

We have 2 NEMA 14-50s. Separate garages. Never got a HPWC and don't need one (even though both of our Ses have dual chargers).

Second Tesla is enroute for us. We have a HPWC but that is the wife's parking spot. Installing a 14-50 temporarily and looking for a second HPWC. My vote is have an outlet for each car.

We have two Model S vehicles and one nissan leaf (soon to be next gen leaf or bolt). We all share one clipper creek 32amp charger. It does just fine. Eventually we will buy a tesla 80 amp charger but for the past year we have been just fine.

We have a Roadster and a Volt and I am glad we put in the second NEMA 14-50.

I have a 14-50 @ 50AMP in the garage and a HWPC @ 100AMP outside.... Model S inside and Model X outside, I could easily get away with one charger though....

tstafford said:

House is brand new and actually has 400A service.

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Then you should definitely have a second outlet and with 400A service, don't play cheap, put in a 80A Tesla HPWC with 100A breaker!
(The extra charge speed may come handy sometimes especially with two electrical cars!)
Depending on your millage, just plugging in every other night each car on the HPWC might be enough so you never have to deploy the mobile connector at home ever!

Would any of your opinions on needing a second plug change if you had workplace charging? I have a LEAF with a 30A EVSE and a Model X on the way. I currently charge my LEAF at work on weekdays, and if I need to I charge at home on the weekend. Wife drives a company truck for now so when Model X comes the LEAF will rarely be driven. If my wife ends up changing jobs and not having her truck, she will likely have workplace charging as well. I only have 150A service so putting in a WC to charge the Model X at 72A would be a stretch. My only worry is having to remember to bring my J1772 adapter with me all the time, but I could always get a second one of those for a lot less than a WC.

We have two Model S's and two HPWC's. They are each 40amp. We are on a Time of Use electricity plan so I have the cars set to charge overnight. We don't put on too many miles each day so I can even stagger the charge start times to keep the electric load low.

if you are going to keep the cars for awhile get two wall connectors. It will be so much simpler.

tstafford said:

House is brand new and actually has 400A service.

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^^^ Jealous

- - - Updated - - -

So we currently have a HWPC on a dedicated 100A circuit. With the MX showing up, I got another HPWC. The current plan is to put them on the same circuit and run them both at 40A; although, I have toyed with running both at 80A and setting the timers so they don't charge at the same time.

Another point to consider is how often you have a cold soaked battery pack in the morning or ice on the car. If you have either being likely, then having a way to charge the car to pre-condition it is very important. Electricity is not just for driving.

We have a Model S and a Leaf with a 200 amp service. Use a Clipper Creek 32 amp for the Leaf and a 14-50 for the Model S. This allows both the Model S and the Leaf to have a backup (the Clipper Creek for the Model S and 120V for the Leaf). If you have a larger service, then two HPWCs would be the way to go. And like JeffreyR says, pre-conditioning on a cold day is important, so you want to be able to charge both cars at the same time.