Outdoor home charger doable? Cost?

[Quesder]

Hi all,
I live in a single family house but my garage is transformed to living space, and I always parked my cars on the driveway.

I wonder is it doable to install car charger on the exterior walls of my house? How long can the cable be? I need probably 12-15 feet. How much would it cost? And, if anyone can refer a good electrician, much appreciated.
There is a 110v outlet 12 feet behind the bushes

 

[vjason]

110v won’t help unless you are fine with 4mph charging, you will want new wires run.

The closer you electrical panel is to your proposed charger location the better (in terms of cost).

Withoit knowing where your panel is and if you have capacity for another breaker (physically and additional load) it’s hard to guess effort and cost involved.

 

[6t8stang]

Your best bet is to install a Tesla Wall Charger - they are rated for indoor or outdoor installation and the Gen3 chargers come with an 18' cable. Tesla can recommend an installer or any licensed electrician shouldn't have a problem.

Wall Connector

 

[St☰v☰]

Assuming you're not under an HOA, I'd install a 240v (not a 120v) charger on the side of the garage near the bush (front door side).

 

[joebruin77]

Your charging situation is exactly like mine. I always park outside in the driveway so I installed my Tesla Wall Connector on the side of the garage, near the front . It was easy for my electrician to install and not terribly expensive. He had to run about 25 ft of wire and conduit from my breaker panel to the connector.

When you get a quote to have the WC installed, I recommend asking how much extra it would cost to have a 14-50 outlet installed near the WC as well. I had a problem with my WC, which was replaced under warranty. But I did have to go about 4 weeks without an operating WC. I had my electrician install a 14-50 outlet, which I used with the mobile connector until my WC could be replaced. The WC is now working again and now my 14-50 serves as my backup, in case anything happens with my WC in the future. Plus, I have had a couple friends visit who were able to charge their non-Tesla EV's with the 14-50 outlet. I think the 14-50 outlet ran me an extra $700. Well worth it to have a backup way to charge.

 

[DonnieBlitz]

If you feel comfortable doing it yourself it will cost right around a $100.00 for a 14-50 outlet, breaker and wire. A wise electrician once told me oversize the wire and undersize the breaker and you will never run into problems. If your not comfy get a good electrician to do it.

 

[jfinephilly]

View attachment 510245 Hi all,
I live in a single family house but my garage is transformed to living space, and I always parked my cars on the driveway.

I wonder is it doable to install car charger on the exterior walls of my house? How long can the cable be? I need probably 12-15 feet. How much would it cost? And, if anyone can refer a good electrician, much appreciated.
There is a 110v outlet 12 feet behind the bushes

Yes; our garage isn’t usable for cars and we installed our Tesla charger outside. We had a line run and mounted it to the stone garage. I can take a pic in the morning.

 

[Dan203]

Yeah a wall connector on that left side would easily reach a car pulled in head first. If you back in you might be a tad bit closer but since the charging port on the car is on the drivers side maybe not.

 

[Quesder]

I probably will get a non-TESLA EV first, which uses J1772 port. But I definitely will get a Tesla car in the future. In that case, and suggestions? Thanks

 

[Quesder]

If you feel comfortable doing it yourself it will cost right around a $100.00 for a 14-50 outlet, breaker and wire. A wise electrician once told me oversize the wire and undersize the breaker and you will never run into problems. If your not comfy get a good electrician to do it.

I live in San Jose, would you refer someone to me, or is there a website for this service?
My main electric box is behind the side door on the left hand side of the picture.
Thanks

 

[Quesder]

110v won’t help unless you are fine with 4mph charging, you will want new wires run.

The closer you electrical panel is to your proposed charger location the better (in terms of cost).

Withoit knowing where your panel is and if you have capacity for another breaker (physically and additional load) it’s hard to guess effort and cost involved.

The panel is behind the side door, on the left hand side of the picture

 

[yerEVan]

Before our garage, i did a nema 14-50 using a $25 RV water proof outlet rated for outdoors (Lowe’s). We used the flex conduit to the panel in the basement. I would think other than Tesla being able to use it, other charging cables can use a 14-50 as well.

 

[yomesamo]

Just installed mine today. Wall charger on one side and a nema 14-50 on the other side of the garage. Cord length is good if you back in.

 

[SlyOne]

I probably will get a non-TESLA EV first, which uses J1772 port. But I definitely will get a Tesla car in the future. In that case, and suggestions? Thanks

14-50 outlet can be use for nearly any EV. My Juicebox Pro, (for Pacifica PHEV) uses 14-50 also. Ironically I charge the Tesla on a 6-20 (240v 20amp) because the range on the van is so much less we need to quick charge between trips.

 

[notAnExpert]

I probably will get a non-TESLA EV first, which uses J1772 port. But I definitely will get a Tesla car in the future. In that case, and suggestions? Thanks

Most, if not all, popular non-Tesla EVs in the market today charge only at 32A or less. That will probably change over time to higher current, like the current Teslas (except the lower range models) that go up to 48A. So you might want to look at 50A or higher capacity EVSEs like ChargePoint Home Flex.

But more importantly, as someone else mentioned, run a higher gauge wire than you might need today. Material cost is not much compared to labor cost, especially where you live. 6 AWG THHN in a conduit can typically be used up to 60A. You can even run 4 AWG if you want to go 80A, and have enough capacity in the panel.

If the City of San Jose needs a permit and you want to be compliant, you will need a licensed electrician. Ask your neighbors for a reference. Guys who call themselves as "specialists in car charger installations" tend to be expensive. Any good electrician is all you need. Running a few wires in a conduit and connecting them correctly at each end is no rocket science.

 

[jfinephilly]

This is my set up. We had to replace the cement walkway anyway so we just buried a conduit and ran the wire from a new breaker on our panel. I spray painted the conduit. When we ran the line we also buried a second line for a future second charger. We weren’t able piggyback of anything run to the garage.