New ChargePoint Home charger

Got my eGolf a couple weeks ago and I love it but the charging station situation in Orange County CA is pretty poor. I got a quote for an install of the Bosch charger at over $1500 (charger included) but I'd prefer plug-in over hard wire. I've been looking at the Seimens and others when I got an e-mail from ChargePoint today about their new home charger. I can probably get by on the 120V a couple more months till we see the price & performance of this unit. Any home charger experts wish to respond? As with batteries I would think charging technology is only going to improve with time.

http://www.chargepoint.com/home/

I'm very happy with my Seimens 240v 30A charger. It also charges at about "25 miles per hour". I don't have a Nest, so I'm not sure what benefits you'd receive from this.

Charger cost around $550 and electrician to install in my garage cost around $350.

Frank3 said:

I'm very happy with my Seimens 240v 30A charger. It also charges at about "25 miles per hour". I don't have a Nest, so I'm not sure what benefits you'd receive from this.

Charger cost around $550 and electrician to install in my garage cost around $350.

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Did the electrician take care of permits? I've gotten quotes of about $250-$400 but they've wanted to add about $200 for the permits. I need the permits to get the DWP discount. Now for about $500 for installation and permit, the home level 2 charger doesn't sound as good of a deal. I also got the Siemens 30A charger but starting to consider returning it due to the cost of installation. Saw the ChargePoint charger info today and I like that it's "connected" but honestly, the benefit doesn't seem that great over a non-connected charger. And at this point I don't think there is any pricing for the ChargePoint yet.

Didn't get permits as it was a straightforward 5 foot run from my main fuse box to the wall in my garage. Electrician used 50A fuse and 70Amp rated wiring. You can always tell DWP that the 240volt plug was already in your garage.

DWP may disallow a rebate on a plug-in charger and require hard-wired. Look into the details. They used to require a separate meter, which is a VERY expensive install.

Chargepoint has not released pricing for their home unit that I know of. That is a big question mark in my mind. I suspect that I will be even less interested after I have that piece of information. I don't see the value in that kind of connected unit until you can get a discount on your electric bill for letting the utility modulate your charge current, while ensuring that it's full by departure time. That is the real play in this space. Revenue Grade Sub-Metering would also be a valuable feature. They do have metering, but I don't think it's calibrated to Revenue Grade. There seems to be better ways to tell Nest that you're home than the fact that you've plugged in the car.

laegolfer said:

Frank3 said:

I'm very happy with my Seimens 240v 30A charger. It also charges at about "25 miles per hour". I don't have a Nest, so I'm not sure what benefits you'd receive from this.

Charger cost around $550 and electrician to install in my garage cost around $350.

Click to expand...

Did the electrician take care of permits? I've gotten quotes of about $250-$400 but they've wanted to add about $200 for the permits. I need the permits to get the DWP discount. Now for about $500 for installation and permit, the home level 2 charger doesn't sound as good of a deal. I also got the Siemens 30A charger but starting to consider returning it due to the cost of installation. Saw the ChargePoint charger info today and I like that it's "connected" but honestly, the benefit doesn't seem that great over a non-connected charger. And at this point I don't think there is any pricing for the ChargePoint yet.

Click to expand...

$200 for permits is reasonable. In most localities the permit itself will be about $75 for a simple install. The electrician (or if a bigger firm, an apprentice) will have to apply for the permit, then be there for the inspection(s), so their time is worth $100+ for that effort. One thing to consider, most rebates/credits will allow you to include the permit cost in the claimed price, so you are looking at a discount from that figure. It behooves you to get the permits and the costs seem reasonable to me. I did my own install (homeowners can get licensed to work on their own property in my area) and did the install and inspections. Materials for a 10 ft run from the panel came out around $50. It took me about 2 hours to do all the work (including masonry penetration/sealing) and another 2 hours for permit app and inspection. Hence, if I were a professional electrician, I'd charge around $400 plus cost of charger. Also, I believe that your install costs would be comparable for any of the chargers, as there does not appear to be much difference there. I also have the Siemens and so far it's great. I hard-wired mine outdoors (note, the instructions and reviews are unclear about whether this is kosher, but it definitely is ok to hard-wire outdoors with the 'universal' model, in case folks were curious).

Cheers,
Tim

ChargePoint released pricing for all the versions of the ChargePoint Home product. The cut sheet is here. It will be available at Amazon.com "later this Summer".

Am I understanding correctly that to garage output from the above, I would multiple amps times volts? For example, their 16 amp should produce 3.84 kWh? And the 32 amp would provide 7.7 kWh?

It seems like if the connected feature is of interest, the Juicebox 40 Pro is the better bet at $599? Also gives the potential of charging at 9.6 kWh if that becomes possible in a couple of model cycles for the newer electrics (or cheaper Teslas!)?

Yes. Volts * Amps = Watts.
240V * 16A = 3,840W = 3.84kW

If you charge for 4 hours with that power draw, your electric meter will add 15.36kWh. Assuming the car's on-board charger is 90% efficient, you will add about 13.8kWh of energy to the car's battery. The battery gauge should go up by about 9/16ths in that time.

czar said:

Am I understanding correctly that to garage output from the above, I would multiple amps times volts? For example, their 16 amp should produce 3.84 kWh? And the 32 amp would provide 7.7 kWh?

It seems like if the connected feature is of interest, the Juicebox 40 Pro is the better bet at $599? Also gives the potential of charging at 9.6 kWh if that becomes possible in a couple of model cycles for the newer electrics (or cheaper Teslas!)?

Click to expand...

It is the better deal it all comes down to aesthetics. The juicebox is a fairly industrial looking metal box in a crude slide mount while the CP is a fairly slick modern looking unit. I'm not endorsing either one just pointing out that if the look of the charger has any impact that the CP has an advantage over the JB.

acdcvw said:

czar said:

Am I understanding correctly that to garage output from the above, I would multiple amps times volts? For example, their 16 amp should produce 3.84 kWh? And the 32 amp would provide 7.7 kWh?

It seems like if the connected feature is of interest, the Juicebox 40 Pro is the better bet at $599? Also gives the potential of charging at 9.6 kWh if that becomes possible in a couple of model cycles for the newer electrics (or cheaper Teslas!)?

Click to expand...

It is the better deal it all comes down to aesthetics. The juicebox is a fairly industrial looking metal box in a crude slide mount while the CP is a fairly slick modern looking unit. I'm not endorsing either one just pointing out that if the look of the charger has any impact that the CP has an advantage over the JB.

Click to expand...

I agree, the Juicebox leaves a lot to be desired in the aesthetics department, but it's going to go on the side of my house near the what you're sitting meter, so I'm not too concerned about it. I'd rather have functionality over aesthetics.