Hey all. So, driving our new Pacifica plug in hybrid in full EV mode has re-piqued my interest in an EV for myself. The main impediment for me is my several time a year trip to WV to visit my family. Charging on the way there and on the way back is one challenge, but the trip back without a full charge starting out really makes the trip back hard, with two charging stops resulting in 1.5 hours off the road according to ABRP.

This is my trip there starting with a full charge, this is quite manageable. There are only 4 slots at that EA charger in Stanton, but there is another charger in Raphine I can go on to if those are not functional or are clogged:




However, I arrive with a 12% SoC, and charging the i7 from 12% to 100% would take like 60 hours on a 140v Level 1 charger. There is a charger in town that is level 2 but you're only allowed to sit there for 2 hours. So, assuming I am only able to get recharged to 50% before I leave to come back, this is the return trip which is not manageable. That entire stretch along I64 in WV and through VA there are not DC fast chargers. Zero:





This is really the only trip I take in my car by myself, all other travel is in the Pacifica. Well we usually take both cars to the beach but thats 150 miles each way theres no issue there.

So, in order for that to make sense, I need to have some way to charge my car at my brother's house with a Level 2 charger. I have done some research about charging via his dryer plug, but its an old house I'm sure that its an older 3 prong style dryer plug. That would be an easy solution that would work. Does anybody have any experience with that?

 

Before I had the Model Y and I took the Polestar to SoCal on trips, the nearest EA to my brothers house was 14 miles away, so I was considering paying for a 240v circuit and adding a NEMA 14-50 plug or even a Level 2 charger at his house. Now that I have the Y and Tesla superchargers are less than half mile from his house, that's no longer necessary, but you may want to have your brother check to see if he has any available circuits in his panel. At my house I had to add a sub panel, the cost was $450 for the Level 2 charger, and about $1000 to add a sub panel and have an electrician install everything, including wire the Level 2 charger. It's long ago paid for itself

 

He doesn’t have any available circuits and the house is old, we would have to upgrade the panel etc to add another 50-60 amp breaker for a Level 2 charger. That’s just not feasible for me to charge the car there twice a year. He does however have a dryer and a plug…

 

You can actually share that circuit. That was the first suggestion the electrician gave me, as I didnt have an available slot in my panel. You can use a Smart Splitter, something similar to this:

https://getneocharge.com/products/ne...;t%20Have%20To.

 

I shouldn’t even need to use that, if it’s okay to do this I should just be able to unplug his dryer and plug in the charger, right?

 

If the outlet looks like this, than you can plug straight into it with a NEMA 14-50 chargers adapter:

 

This should be what I need, right? The amperage is restricted because its a 10-30 outlet, so it would still take 22-24 hours to charge to 100%, but thats better than 5 days.

https://ev-lectron.com/products/lect...with-j1772-evs

 

Thats exactly what I said, its probably not a 14-50 plug, its probably a 10-30 plug because of the age of the house, which looks like this:



My house was built in 1987 and my dryer plug is a 10-30 plug not. 14-50 plug

 

If it's 16amp, depending on battery size, it will probably take 12 to 15 hours. 3.86 kW is a bit slow, you want to at least be charging at 8 or 9 kW/hr

 

You can absolutely use a 240v dryer/power tool outlet. You might need an adapter to connect the three prong (probably 10-30) to a charger with a four prong 14-50 plug. The thing is you need to be careful not to overload the outlet. You need to allow roughly 20% headroom, so that means you need a charger which draws 80% or less of the circuit capacity.

in other words, if your circuit is 50 amp with a 50 amp breaker you should not charge at more than 40 amp. many dryer outlets are only 30 amp, that pushes you down to 24amp charging.

One solution is to get a variable output charger. One of mine lets you charge at 6/8/12/16/20/24/32/40 amps so I’d charge at 40amps on a 50amp circuit or 24amp on a 30 amp circuit etc.

 

Yes, this will work, it will probably just take you 15 hours to get to 100 percent with the NEMA 10-30

 

^^^ This ^^^

 

Based on my research when you are plugging in EV into a 10-30 outlet the amperage is limited because that outlet does not have a dedicated ground like a more modern 15-40 outlet which can of course operate at up to 50amps on a 60 amp breaker. Its not safe to operate a Level 2 charger on a 10-30 outlet at more than 24 amps.

I want it to charge quickly but I also don't want to electrocute anybody or burn down his house...

 

Thanks for this, thats what I have read as well...the assumption is that outlet is probably not more than 30 amps, so I'd be limited to 24...variable rate output charger is what I would get. You think I am safe with a 14-50 adapter for a 10-30 plug or am I better off with a charger that has a native 10-30 plug?

I'm always there for at least 48 hours, so if I could accomplish a full charge in 24 hours then thats a working plan.

 

Just buy a hitch and a range extender. Might want to swap out the wheels and tires.