Plug and 100Amp line sticker shock

[Eberhard]

why install 100A service? I had an HPC wired at 70A and took it off the wall because it was never used... 32A/40A is more then enough for most drivers.

Dear Kevin, I want to visit you once, but then i have to stay at least 6h to get a full charge.. Hope we have enough to discuss.

[Jaff]

Kevin, what about charging two EV's at the same time?

I put a 100 amp circuit into my garage knowing that with the Roadster & the Model S, I will need to charge them concurrently overnight...

[efusco]

In my area, Missouri, Solar City has contracted with a nationwide company, Mr. Electric, to do the HPC installs for them. I had my appointment with the local Mr.Electric dealer today. All in all it was a good experience. They're very professional right down to uniform, their own little "Mr. Electric" door mat, booties/shoe covers. Ironically, those sorts of things put me on edge--had a bad experience with Benjamin Franklin plumbers once and they do a similar thing...must be Post-traumatic stress disorder!

That said, their rep, Nathaneal, was very polite, professional and knowledgeable. SolarCity has not just abdicated the installs to Mr.Electric, they have specific pricing guidelines, insist on photos of all the various locations, the meter, breaker box, the house itself, etc. They have a specific form/questionnaire that needs to be filled out, etc. Ultimately I did have the feeling of confidence that he knew what he was doing and thought his ideas for how to do the installation were good, and probably better than my 2 prior estimates (mainly he's wanting to change my meter out and run a dedicated line to a sub-panel in the garage whereas the other guys were just going to run power off my existing 200amp panel.

When looking at the SolarCity preset prices he couldn't find anything that quite matched my unique situation, but taking the various options into account roughly estimated $3000 for the install. That's $1000 (50%) more than my other two estimates! He wants to meet up again next week with a more detailed breakdown and price, I think he's going to try to come down somewhat, but it's going to have to be quite a bit for me to go with them. I'm willing to pay a small premium over my other estimates as it's clear that there's an emphasis on installing to code and doing an extremely professional job, something I'm not sure will be quite as good from my other estimates, but I can't justify an extra $1000.

[efusco]

Update to the previous post:
My Mr.Electric electrician contacted me back today with a revised estimate that is much more palatable, about $2280. About $400 more than my previous lowest estimate, about $200 less than my second estimate, but I'm going to go with them for a couple of reasons:
1)The close SolarCity oversight to assure installation is up to code and their standards which, I'm confident, were part of the deal with Tesla
2)The professionalism of Mr.Electric in the matter.
3)The installation plan seems superior to the others--it involves a new meter box with a direct dedicated line to my garage and a new subpanel for the charger and my NEMA 14-50 instead of going directly from my current electrical panel as the other installers had suggested.
4)Included in this estimate was a code inspection--being in a rural area this wasn't mandated, but apparently the SolarCity agreement requires it, so I will be glad to have that reassurance.
5)This estimate includes the actual hookup of the HPC, the other ones did not specify that and I have a feeling they would charge me for the time, at a minimum, to do it--increasing the base estimate a bit.

Hope to schedule the hookup within the next 2 weeks.

[spleen]

Thanks for documenting this process, Evan. Once my PV panel installation is completed, I will need to start considering my EV charging situation and Solar City is definitely up there to install my NEMA 14-50 outlets!

[dsm363]

Update to the previous post:
My Mr.Electric electrician contacted me back today with a revised estimate that is much more palatable, about $2280. About $400 more than my previous lowest estimate, about $200 less than my second estimate, but I'm going to go with them for a couple of reasons:
1)The close SolarCity oversight to assure installation is up to code and their standards which, I'm confident, were part of the deal with Tesla
2)The professionalism of Mr.Electric in the matter.
3)The installation plan seems superior to the others--it involves a new meter box with a direct dedicated line to my garage and a new subpanel for the charger and my NEMA 14-50 instead of going directly from my current electrical panel as the other installers had suggested.
4)Included in this estimate was a code inspection--being in a rural area this wasn't mandated, but apparently the SolarCity agreement requires it, so I will be glad to have that reassurance.
5)This estimate includes the actual hookup of the HPC, the other ones did not specify that and I have a feeling they would charge me for the time, at a minimum, to do it--increasing the base estimate a bit.

Hope to schedule the hookup within the next 2 weeks.

Sounds good. Do you already have the HPC (did they send it early)?

[Jason S]

I asked about the HPC availability waaay back on July 19. Was told they'll try to deliver 2-4 weeks before car delivery, but was unsure about delivery dates at this point.

I recall about a week ago somebody reported the HPC was in UL certification somewhere. Sooo, hard to know at this point.

[efusco]

Sounds good. Do you already have the HPC (did they send it early)?

I don't have the HPC. I think they're just going to come back later to finish the install. I'm all set for the main part of the work for Sept. 10th


Evan, Via Tapatalk

[efusco]

I'm 90% there!
Tom from Mr.Electric was right on time this morning to start my install. He'd coordinated with our electric coop to have their technicians here to facilitate changing out our old meter for a 'beefier' one that would accommodate the dedicated service to the garage.





I was post night-shift so didn't get to watch the initial phases of the installation, but I don't think I really missed much because it involved only a modest amount of rewiring for the new meter then running conduit and the 60+ ft. of huge cable bundle for the garage service up to and through the attic, and down behind the sheet rock in the back wall of the garage (a pleasant surprise b/c he initially thought he was going to have to run conduit down the wall.)





The other pleasant surprise when I finally got up to see how he was doing, was to find out that he actually ran me a 150 amp service to the garage so that I will have simultaneously operable NEMA 14-50 plus the HPC at full power. The initial plan he'd told me was that he was only going to run a 100 amp line with a switch between the two, allowing only one to be used at once. I suspect it will be rare that I will need both simultaneously, but if my wife gets a Model X or another EV we very well may need to simultaneously charge at night and this will be very convenient.





All in all I just couldn't be happier with this installation. For those who haven't followed this whole thread, Mr. Electric was contracted via SolarCity to do the installation since they don't have service here in Missouri. The estimate came in about $200 more than my previous highest and almost $400 more than my previous lowest, but I felt so much more confident that they were doing things right and the company was so extremely professional that it seemed right to spend a little more. Would definitely do that again.

Tom is coming back sometime after I get the HPC (and car?) to finish up the install, which should be quite easy since the breaker switch is all set. I paid $2000 of the $2300 cost today and will pay the balance upon completion.




Entire photo set here:
Tesla Model S Charger Installation - a set on Flickr

[drees]

All in all I just couldn't be happier with this installation.

Looks like you picked the right contractor. The install is very clean and professional.