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Home Charging Electric Vehicles: Easier, Cheaper, Cleaner Than Gasoline

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Electric vehicles continue to grow in availability and market share, both in the U.S. and globally. But ask the average car buyer why they haven’t purchased an electric vehicle and you’ll likely hear one or more of the following responses.

“They cost too much.”

“I’m worried about how long the batteries will last.”

“I’m not interested in trying to find a place to plug them in, and then waiting for them to charge, when gas stations are everywhere and it only takes 10 minutes to refuel.”

Each of these electric vehicle challenges will be overcome, eventually, but that last one is already a non-issue for EV owners with a dedicated parking space and the ability to install a Level 2 charging unit. Level 2 home chargers use approximately 240-volts, or about twice the power supplied by the average 110/120-volt wall outlet, to charge an electric vehicle much quicker. Depending on an electric vehicle’s battery capacity and state of charge when plugged in, a Level 2 charger can replenish the battery in as little as 1 hour, though a typical electric vehicle with 200-plus miles of range will take around 10 hours to fully charge a depleted battery.

That range of charge time seems much longer than the time needed to fill up a gasoline vehicle, but if an electric vehicle is charging in your garage while you sleep, does it really matter? That’s one of several upsides to having an electric vehicle and a home charger — no more stopping at the gas station or finding a public charger. In fact, if you’re spending 10 extra seconds to plug your EV in and 10 more seconds to unplug it, all while it’s otherwise parked in your garage or driveway, you’re actually spending less time “refueling” your EV than the 10-20 minutes needed to drive to a gas station and refill a traditional car.

As stated above, this option is predicated on having a Level 2 home charger. Costs can range from $200 for a 16 amp portable Level 2 charger to $900 for a 48 amp, hardwired unit. The higher the amps the shorter the charge times, and the more expensive the charger. We recently tested the JuiceBox 40 from Enel X, a 40-amp Level 2 home charger costing $619. There’s also a JuiceBox 32 for $589 and a JuiceBox 48 for $659, offering 32 amps or 48 amps of charging power, respectively.

The JuiceBox 40 is supposed to charge up to seven times faster than a standard 110-volt outlet. When we ran our 2017 Fiat 500E completely empty, and compared the estimated charge times for a standard wall outlet (22 hours, 35 minutes) versus a Level 2 charger (3 hours, 50 minutes) the advantage of going Level 2 was clear. We saw similar time savings when charging a Hyundai Kona EV and Porsche Taycan.

Using the JuiceBox 40 meant adding an additional 50-amp, 240-volt plug in the garage. The cost for adding one of these plugs can range from a few hundred dollars up to $2,000, depending on where you live, what sort of local credits are available and the capabilities of your house’s existing electric system. For most people the cost should be under $1,000. The cost of charging your EV will also vary depending on where you live and what time of day you charge. Normally, if you can charge during off-peak hours (before 4 pm or after 9 pm), you’ll pay less.

Beyond their Level 2 charging specs, JuiceBox wall chargers offer some interesting features. They can be controlled by an app (letting you schedule when charging occurs), they are weather resistance (meaning they can be installed outside), and they come with a 25-foot cable (helpful when different EV test cars, with different plug locations, needed a charge). Another cool feature is the JuiceBox’s ability to actually select cleaner sources of electricity from the grid, depending on where you live. This is done automatically through the JuiceBox’s smart internal communications system with the grid.

Having the convenience and cleanness of a smart Level 2 charger like the Juicebox 40 won’t reduce upfront costs for an electric vehicle, and it won’t allay fears about battery life — though with 8-year/100,000-mile warranties on most EV batteries you really shouldn’t be concerned with the latter. But if your primary concern is charging your EV, it shouldn’t be. Installing the JuiceBox 40 costs us less than $1,000 total (including the additional 240-volt outlet), while giving us back time we’d normally spend at the gas station. That’s a trade we’d make even without the clean energy benefits.

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