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Electrical Vehicle Charging

Electrical Vehicle charging

Electric Vehicles are all the rage these days and in the foreseeable future all vehicles on the road will be powered by electricity. In saying that there are a few details buyers of Electric Vehicles should be aware of before purchasing the new Electric Vehicle.

Electric Vehicles require a means of getting Electricity stored inside the car while you travel.

There are a few ways of achieving this.

  • 1. Drive up locations available throughout a municipality, where you park beside a Charging unit plug your car in and wait for your car to reach full capacity of its storage battery located inside the car. This is usually paid by you through a credit card or account which you have set up ahead of time.
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2) Level 1 Charging

Charging your car at home using a Regular 120 Volt receptacle that is located throughout your home. This method is the least preferrable as it takes an entire evening / day to acquire full capacity of its storage battery located inside the car. This type of Charging is mostly stated as Level 1 type of charging.

3) Level 2

Installing a Level 2 type Charger in your home is the preferred type of charging for most homeowners that own Electric Vehicles. It is convenient, fast, and easy to use. In most cases you require an Electrician to set this up in your home as you need access and knowledge of your homes Electrical Panel and Electrical System to do this, and Redford Electric can help you complete this process. A Level 2 Charger requires much more power than regular 120 Volt receptacle in your home, and the reason most Electric Vehicle owners want this is that the charging process is much faster, and it gets the driver on the road again quicker. Conversely the more power you apply to the Electric Vehicle the quicker it will charge your vehicle and the faster you hit the road.
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There are 3 parts to getting an Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charger installed in your home

  • An Electrician must Install the correct components to safely allow the Level 2 Charger to function correctly.
  • The Owner or Electrician must acquire a Level 2 Charger that connects to the components that the Electrician has provided. These Level 2 Chargers are available online or at local stores that sell the product. Level 2 Chargers come with various built-in applications that help the owner manage the charging sequence and range in costs varying from $500.00- $1500.00 depending on which applications you want and the brand you choose. Amazon has many Level 2 Chargers available for everyone’s needs with competitive prices and relatively quick delivery in most cases.
  • Your Electrician will integrate both the above components to have your Level 2 Charger ready for use. This will result in a plugin and leave it charging (similar to filling up a gas car with gasoline ).
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What new Electric Vehicle Owners need to know….

As stated above: Level 2 Chargers require much more power than a regular 120 Volt receptacle and conversely the home in which you install the Level 2 Charger must have the capacity to deliver the required power. In all cases this is a 240 Volt requirement. This can be a costly situation… If your home does not have the power available to add a Level 2 Charger you must find a way to Upgrade the Electrical Service (Power ) to your home. In order to do this BC Hydro must get involved and only certified, qualified Electrical Contractors can do this for you.
In British Columbia homeowners are not allowed to complete an Electrical Service Upgrade on their own. There are 2 parts to looking into having a Level 2 Charger installed in your home.
  • Have an Electrical Contractor diagnose your current Electrical System to see if you have enough power to utilize a Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charger ( some homes do have enough power to do this, most do not).
  • If the home does not have enough power for a Level 2 Charger an Electrical Contractor can install this for you. BC Hydro, Materials, Inspections, Load Calculations,Labor, all play a factor when getting an Electrical Service Upgrade and on average the cost runs approximately $4500.00 to complete. This does not include the cost of the Level 2 Charger or installing components to make the Charger usable.

Alternatives to Electrical Service Upgrades

There are alternatives to save money should a Level 2 Charger be something you would like installed in your home. There are systems called Electric Vehicle Management Systems ( EVMS ). These systems allow the homeowner to manipulate their current Electrical system in there home to only use Level 2 Charger power when it is safe to do so.
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In short… It automatically turns the Level 2 Charger on when the home has enough power available to utilize the Level 2 Charger, when the home does not have enough power to use the Level 2 Charger it turns the Charger off until that situation changes. This is an automatic system and switches from ON to OFF regularly during the day. And in most situations will have your Electric Vehicle fully charged by morning. The EVMS is a cost-effective alternative to getting a Electrical Service Upgrade and on average is half the cost of the Electrical Service Upgrade… still expensive but not as expensive as the Electrical Service Upgrade.
In all cases Redford Electric can help make the transition to Electrical Vehicle Level 2 Charging a smooth transition and is happy to offer a free quotation on all Electrical Services