I live in a condo building where we own our indoor parking spots. A neighbor, whose parking spot is 3 or 4 away from mine, has asked me about the possibility of installing a common line from the electrical room (a few hundred feet away), then splitting off into 2 charging outlets near the spots. Is there any reason why we couldn't have a 100A line installed, then "T" it near the termination with 2 14-50 outlets? It should be more cost effective sharing installation and parts costs.
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Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Have an electrician price it out. You will need something like this, Siemens Surface Mount, 125 Amp, 8 Space, 16 Circuit, Load Center, to hold a couple of 50A breakers to each outlet at the "T".
Good luck!
swaltner
Active Member
That is perfectly acceptable as far as electrically, but maybe not practically.
- If you're 200' from the electricity source, buying 200' of #2 or #3 gauge wire for the 100A run may be more expensive than just buying 400' of #6 wire for individual runs.
- Your "T" would require a 100A breaker panel near the parking spots, with individual 50A breakers, etc... You can't directly wire both of the 14-50 outlets to the 100A feed without a breaker panel in between. This isn't a huge expense, but it adds to the cost of this type of setup.
- Your condo may require metering on these outlets. If they do, it might be preferred to have these with all the other electric meters in your electrical room. They probably wouldn't like to have the meters for your car charging in a different location.
- A major part of this expense is likely going to be the labor for the installation. If you have both of your circuits installed on the same job, they can simplify the installation and you both would get lower rates than if you tried to contract it separately. The electrician can run a single conduit and run both circuits through the same conduit to.
I see a few options that potentially trade differing costs between parts and labor. Ask the electrician for quotes on the following three options (including whatever metering your condo board is going to require) are:
- two 50A circuits run in separate conduit
- two 50A circuits run in the same conduit
- 100A circuit run to a sub-panel near your parking spots, then two 50A circuits fed off that
- If you're 200' from the electricity source, buying 200' of #2 or #3 gauge wire for the 100A run may be more expensive than just buying 400' of #6 wire for individual runs.
- Your "T" would require a 100A breaker panel near the parking spots, with individual 50A breakers, etc... You can't directly wire both of the 14-50 outlets to the 100A feed without a breaker panel in between. This isn't a huge expense, but it adds to the cost of this type of setup.
- Your condo may require metering on these outlets. If they do, it might be preferred to have these with all the other electric meters in your electrical room. They probably wouldn't like to have the meters for your car charging in a different location.
- A major part of this expense is likely going to be the labor for the installation. If you have both of your circuits installed on the same job, they can simplify the installation and you both would get lower rates than if you tried to contract it separately. The electrician can run a single conduit and run both circuits through the same conduit to.
I see a few options that potentially trade differing costs between parts and labor. Ask the electrician for quotes on the following three options (including whatever metering your condo board is going to require) are:
- two 50A circuits run in separate conduit
- two 50A circuits run in the same conduit
- 100A circuit run to a sub-panel near your parking spots, then two 50A circuits fed off that
Who's meter is this coming off of? Is it a common area meter (paid for by the association)? If so, I can see non-EV owning neighbors getting more than a bit annoyed at contributing to EV owners' charging. If it's an individual unit's meter, do you really want to foot the bill for some else's charging (or leech off theirs)?
Personally, if I had a reserved space (sounds like you do), I'd want the outlet at my space to go to my meter. I'd put a locking cover or shutoff to prevent mooching and, more importantly, to prevent people from taking my spot and leaving me without charging or parking.
Thanks for the comments.
I've already spoken with the management company and this will be metered as an HOA common area expense. Even if some don't like it, that's the way it is. Natural gas is handled the same way - it's a shared expense, even though some folks have fireplaces and others don't, in additional to their gas stoves. Yes, everyone has reserved parking spots which are part of the deed. Nobody has ever had a problem with someone else taking their spot.
Guess we'll price it out both ways and see how it turns out.
I've already spoken with the management company and this will be metered as an HOA common area expense. Even if some don't like it, that's the way it is. Natural gas is handled the same way - it's a shared expense, even though some folks have fireplaces and others don't, in additional to their gas stoves. Yes, everyone has reserved parking spots which are part of the deed. Nobody has ever had a problem with someone else taking their spot.
Guess we'll price it out both ways and see how it turns out.
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