[drdallen]

I just purchased my new i5 m60 and have an electrician running the wires to my garage. Given that I require extensive install as circuit is far from garage, should I have an outlet installed to just use the provided NEMA 14-50 charger
Or buy a separate dedicated charger and have a 60;amp breaker installed. Essentially I would not be using the provided level 2 for anything then
Thanks for the thoughts

[LVBMW]

Originally Posted by drdallen

I just purchased my new i5 m60 and have an electrician running the wires to my garage. Given that I require extensive install as circuit is far from garage, should I have an outlet installed to just use the provided NEMA 14-50 charger
Or buy a separate dedicated charger and have a 60;amp breaker installed. Essentially I would not be using the provided level 2 for anything then
Thanks for the thoughts

Take a look at the extensive videos by State of Charge on You Tube, as he provides tons of good information about the pros and cons of each option as well as different installed chargers. The 60amp option will give you a bit faster charge rate vs the 14-50.

[Trevor G]

I installed a Charge Point Home Flex half way down my driveway so plugging in every night is super simple. Has worked flawlessly and I only need about 5 feet of cable to plug in to my car. I recommend getting a level 2 charger installed. FYI if you are running wires underground you might need a permit.

[Trevor G]

You can also get the Nema 14-50 plug installed at same location as the charger and if anything goes wrong with your level 2 then just unplug it and plug in the one that came with the car.

[Bklyn]

If you go with a Nema make sure you get the right one. The home depot lowes ones are not really reliable long term.
Honestly the Level 2 is simpler to use. Sure it cost more upfront but the ease of use is worth it. And check with your local power company some offer significant programs to lower costs for install or offer money back to monitor the use. I have ConEdison in NY and get a "reward" for charging off peak.

[SkykingUSA]

Originally Posted by LVBMW

Take a look at the extensive videos by State of Charge on You Tube, as he provides tons of good information about the pros and cons of each option as well as different installed chargers. The 60amp option will give you a bit faster charge rate vs the 14-50.

That is exactly what I did before deciding what I wanted to do. I also recommend that channel and the great videos there.

Originally Posted by drdallen

I just purchased my new i5 m60 and have an electrician running the wires to my garage. Given that I require extensive install as circuit is far from garage, should I have an outlet installed to just use the provided NEMA 14-50 charger
Or buy a separate dedicated charger and have a 60;amp breaker installed. Essentially I would not be using the provided level 2 for anything then
Thanks for the thoughts

I had my "charger" installed inside the garage today. I decided to go with buying a dedicated charger and hard mounting it inside the garage instead of going with a NEMA 14-50 outlet. Here are the reasons.

1. I wanted to get the full 48 kW of level 2 charging instead of having just 40 kW. Sure, it may not be a big difference but I figured why not go with the fastest I could.
2. I didn't want to use the "portable" charger at home that comes with the car because I want to keep that one in the car in case I need it when I'm on the road. It would be a hassle to me having to take the cable in and out of the car every time I want to use it and plug it in and out of the outlet all the time.

There are some downsides too with my decision.

1. If the wall charger fails, I don't have a NEMA outlet to plug another one into.
2. If I move out of this house, it's not easy to take the charger with me since it's hard wired into the house, and not plugged into an outlet.

For me, I think the benefits outweigh the downsides.

By the way, I decided to go with the Emporia EV Charger that was reviewed on the State of Charge site because it seemed to be a great deal for what you get. I don't have a review of it yet since I don't have my car to plug it into, but based on Amazon reviews and the State of Charge channel review it should do the trick. All I can say so far is that it powered up right away and I was able to connect to it with the Emporia app on the first try. Once I connected to it and it connected to my wifi, it immediately downloaded the latest update and is now ready to go. The whole connecting and updating process only took about 3-5 minutes.

[RichardInCA]

I added a 60A circuit and put in a BMW Wallbox. No complaints on my side - it’s faster than the L2 at my office. There’s a fairly common point that if you put an outlet in then you want to make sure it’s a high quality outlet that will take both the amount of current that goes through it (probably the highest single draw in your house) and will be robust enough to take a cable being plugged in/removed many times.

[agorski]

I don't remember where on YouTube I heard this, but someone said that 240v outlets are not designed for frequent plugging-unplugging which implies you wouldn't want to do that with the Flexible Fast Charger.