Install a charger at your house (Note that the point of installation of the charger must be well ventilated, cool and dry).
- Decide where you want the charger to be at your house. Do you have garage space? Think about what is convenient,safe and least costly (see below.)
- Speak to a licensed electrician to get the cost of installing a charging station at your house. The electrician will want the charging specs from your auto manufacturer.
- A charging station at your house can be cheap, or expensive, depending on two things:
- If you have enough power in your current breaker box. If not enough, you will need to upgrade your box.
- If your current electrical service is close to where you will park your car. If you are parking outside, you will need to run the service to that location using exterior rated equipment.
- Remember that most electric cars including Nissan Leaf and Tesla Model S can be charged with a standard 110v household outlet.
- The Chevy Volt will charge to its full 40 (64km) mile electric range in about 11 hours on standard 110v AC. For charging a Volt overnight at your house, that might be enough, saving you the expense of installing 220v.
- The Tesla Model S will also charge about 40 miles in 11 hours, but since full charge is much more than that (200 or 250 miles, 321 or 402km), 110v isn’t enough for most Tesla owners.
- In the UK, the Renault Zoe comes with a free wall charger that British Gas will hook up for you, but you still have to pay for the battery service
- There may be different charging cables and boxes for your house, some that charge faster for a higher price. It just depends on how quickly you need a charge. Most people charge overnight, which means you don’t need a fast charge at home.Investigate charging options for when you are on the road.
- Download an app to your smartphone to help you find charging stations.
- Your city or area may have free electricity /charging stations.
- If you have a Tesla, you may be able to benefit from their free Supercharger network for road trips.
- Dealers for your brand of car will often have a plug you can borrow.
- You can sign up for a service such as Chargepoint or Plugshare. Chargepoint has a network of charging stations that you can access for a fee.
