I have owned an ID4 for two years now and am an evangelist for EV ownership. I have had more than a handful of conversations with people stopped in their tracks to ownership by the cost of adding a charger to their homes. I live in a neighborhood with lots of older houses and I have heard that the cost of upgrading their electrical panel is the blockade. I know there is a tax incentive for the charger but is there any incentives for upgrading the electrical panels? I have heard it costs up to 5k to have a panel upgraded and if you added the charger and the feed to the panel, you could be looking at between 2k - 3k. So you are looking at 8k on top of the cost of the EV.
Siemens has a solution that plugs directly into the meter avoiding the need for upgrades
“So you are looking at 8k on top of the cost of the EV”
Only if you purchased a very old or poorly built recent home. Adding a clothes dryer would cost as much.
As for the $8k, like any home improvement, it is an appreciating asset.
The WORST case is a house with a 80-100a panel and a neighborhood that can only support that.
When that’s the case, you’ll have to pay the utility a ton to upgrade the service, etc.
Many local utilities are offering rebates (on the order of $500), which is just a check you get in the mail when you inform them you’ve installed an EV charger. I guess they can plan better around this when people tell them so they pay for it.
For me, that almost entirely paid for the $700 cost of running the wiring to my garage. The charger was beyond that, but is tax credited (as you mentioned).
Panel upgrades often aren’t strictly necessary, especially if you can install an EVSE with load management.
https://www.emporiaenergy.com/emporia-ev-charger-with-load-management
The load management charger can allow you to oversubscribe even a 100a panel, while remaining in NEC codes and not popping main breakers.
The EVSE can then adapt charging to accommodate limited panel availability while still offering faster charging at some hours of the day.
So in reality, a $700 wire run and a $600 charger can usually work for a 100a panel without upgrades.
Yep I run 100A on my panel. I had to get my panel expanded because I ran out of space on it. This was done before even having an EV because I wanted to add panels. That cost me $1200. I then bought the charger and had it installed for another 1k. I live in a top 5 COL area in country too.
Not really a hidden cost. Part of planning to buy a vehicle. Agreed, some people can’t plan, like my neighbor’s truck that will not fit in the garage (garage door opener is too low).
8K is pretty high.
I’ve installed home charging at 3 homes now. The costs were $125, $400 and $300 respectively. My current utility company offers up to $1100 for EV charging installation – including any necessary electrical upgrades – on top of the federal incentives. Several EV manufacturers also offer $1000+ towards home charging installation bundled with purchase of the new car. VW wasn’t one of them, they gave you 3 years of free fuel from EA stations instead. If you drive 12K miles a year and only charge at EA, that’s another $1500+ in electric bills you’ll save on top of gas savings to put towards your installation.