Ran across this today Tesla Model Y Owner's Home Charging Nightmare Analyzed And Fixed
There were many problems and none of them were EV specific as the article wants to imply.
#1- 80' 60A circuit using aluminum wiring was only 6 AWG size and for aluminum you go 2 sizes up because of the thermal expansion of aluminum is higher than copper.
#2- Electricians who came in when there was overheating at loosening clamping fittings didn't diagnose the problem and only replaced damaged equipment.
#3-Electrician who added the 60' EV extension used 6 AWG copper which was correct but they didn't validate the size of the circuit they extended and should have seen the aluminum wire in the junction box so shouldn't have continued with the installation without adjusting the design to either downgrade the breaker or replacing the 6AWG aluminum run.
#4-There is nothing EV specific about an electrical circuit for an EV charger which is different from an electric dryer or electric stove installation. Same wire specs, same 80% loading specs, etc.
I'm not an electrician but reading code docs and looking up wiring size charts really isn't that time consuming and just because we sometimes pay people for a service it does not mean they are experts and not prone to failure so knowing the basics of the service they are doing can protect you from these hacks.
There were many problems and none of them were EV specific as the article wants to imply.
#1- 80' 60A circuit using aluminum wiring was only 6 AWG size and for aluminum you go 2 sizes up because of the thermal expansion of aluminum is higher than copper.
#2- Electricians who came in when there was overheating at loosening clamping fittings didn't diagnose the problem and only replaced damaged equipment.
#3-Electrician who added the 60' EV extension used 6 AWG copper which was correct but they didn't validate the size of the circuit they extended and should have seen the aluminum wire in the junction box so shouldn't have continued with the installation without adjusting the design to either downgrade the breaker or replacing the 6AWG aluminum run.
#4-There is nothing EV specific about an electrical circuit for an EV charger which is different from an electric dryer or electric stove installation. Same wire specs, same 80% loading specs, etc.
I'm not an electrician but reading code docs and looking up wiring size charts really isn't that time consuming and just because we sometimes pay people for a service it does not mean they are experts and not prone to failure so knowing the basics of the service they are doing can protect you from these hacks.
