Any pro/con to prefer home Tesla EV charger for non-Tesla car?

bobfredbob

I was surprised to find out that some American homes have 50amp/240v standard plug sockets in their house (I always thought they only had two pin 120v).  So, in one video I saw, they can just plug in a Siemens dumb charger.  When it eventually fails, you just plug in a new one: no fuss and no electrician costs.  However, I do like the idea of potential solar integration on our chargers.

My worry about smart chargers is that I remember when I got boiler quotes years ago and E.on would only install Tado smart thermostat which had smart radiators.  Fast forward a few years, and some features now cost 3.99pm.  Or, my Wii, with its defunct weather forecast and other features.  Or Wii-U with its defunct e-shop.  Or even my iPad that can't run Zoom (or even Amazon Music) since it's now too old.  I recall France(?) having anti-obsolescence laws and that would ease my mind considerably since electricians are costly here.

I guess I was hoping someone would say I was wrong and actually the smart meter communicates directly with the charger all tariff information, etc. so no need for Internet at all.

My typical journeys should fit within PHEV range.  I'm thinking a PHEV would have more residual value after a decade of use compared to an EV (since low-end EVs have small batteries to begin with, so 60/70% residual battery is lower compared to a higher-spec EV), and would support the occasional long journeys without a charging break.  Most PHEVs are lighter than my existing car so should be higher mpg.  But, I guess an EV's battery would last longer than a PHEV (due to being significantly bigger) and may work out cheaper overall.

My original intent was to keep the car until it dies, but, living in a ULEZ, you worry about what "improvements" will be coming next.  I think some councils here charge more for even parking a diesel. 

21k for an E-C4X is very good.  That was actually on my list of cars to go and see.

I've heard of free charging at supermarkets, but not seen any on the local maps.  I was surprised to see the local street chargers are only 4kw.

born_again

bobfredbob said:

I was surprised to find out that some American homes have 50amp/240v standard plug sockets in their house (I always thought they only had two pin 120v).  So, in one video I saw, they can just plug in a Siemens dumb charger.  When it eventually fails, you just plug in a new one: no fuss and no electrician costs.  However, I do like the idea of potential solar integration on our chargers.

The danger is home wiring/sockets many not be up to a car pulling 7kWh 32 Amps over extended periods.

So any car charging really needs to be via a dedicated wall box or if using a granny charger a dedicated 32 AMP supply.

Your worry that a manufacture of wall boxes fails, is like any other product. They keep going, till they break & then you would have to swap out. But they are nothing but a switch. 

As to PHEV v EV
How often do you drive for over 2 hours without a stop?
A quick top up charge can be done while you pop in for a comfort break & you are off again.

Free charging is very rare now. Often time limited parking & slow chargers. 
Far better to find a Tesla open to all site, which are the cheapest going. Will work out cheaper than anything other than home charging. 👍

bobfredbob

I'm quite lucky that there's a Tesla shop down the road that is open to all.  I've been tapping random chargers on the EV maps over the past week to get info of chargers near where I go, and it does seem reasonably priced compared to many.

Currently, almost all our journeys are local (10/15 miles), very occasional 40/50 mile trip, very rare few hundred miles.  So, we're probably ideal candidates for electric.  Even the car's "24 hours to charge from empty on 13amp" probably wouldn't be a problem for us (apart from, as you say, home wiring may not be suitable), and we mostly wouldn't need a full charge anyway.

At the moment, I'm waiting to find out about unlooping my power supply since it's not advised to charge for a long time on a looped supply (though some chargers apparently can be installed with power limiting and then updated remotely once unlooped).

My thinking is that a big part of my particular installation cost is likely to be the labour for running/burying cabling, installing a pedestal, etc., (due to the drive being away from the house).  So, if I had the charger near the car, I'd be better off getting a dedicated box since it's not that much more than a Screwfix EV-certified 13amp socket (compared to the cost of getting an electrician out a second time).

I'm not too fond of the idea of a granny cable from the house since I'd need an EV plug (to be safe), an extra-extra long cable, and don't fully understand how safe it is in inclement weather and liability, whereas at least an EV-box has specific earthing and safety.

born_again

Granny charger & extension leads. You need to make sure extension lead can handle the Amps. 

lordmountararat

I was surprised to find out that some American homes have 50amp/240v standard plug sockets in their house

When I lived in the USA I had a 240 volt supply for the cooker, boiler (they call it a furnace) and tumble dryer. Everything else was 110 volt. That seemed to be the norm in my part of California.

lordmountararat

I'm not too fond of the idea of a granny cable from the house

I have a 15 metre granny charger cable from the garage to the car port. I had it checked by an electrician after I discovered that I had an electrical supply that was inadequate for a  wall charger without digging the road up. It works fine; it draws about the same current as a tumble dryer (10 amps) so it is slow, but it will put in about 50% in 10 hours overnight. This is quite adequate for my use, and there are plenty of fast chargers locally that I can use if I need to.