In addition to installing a charging station at home, like this one by ECOtality, buyers of electric cars should locate charging stations near work or around town. (ECOtality)
Getting your home ready to charge an electric car will require little time or money -- or a couple of months and thousands of dollars. It depends on what kind of electric car you buy, the wiring in your home and how quickly you want to juice your ride.
Electric cars are powered by batteries, which are charged by plugging them into a standard wall socket or a more powerful charging station. The station will cut your charging time roughly in half and reduce the chance you'll trip a circuit in your home. But it will likely cost $2,000 or more, including installation. The price will rise if you need a new electrical panel, which could add another $2,000.
Buyers of electric cars will need to configure a charging station at home and find the cheapest time to charge it. (Coulomb Technologies)
Here are some things to consider before you install anything.
Estimate your mileage
Think about how you are going to use your electric car. If your commute is short, or if there's a charging station near your office, you might not need much of a charge at home. You can get away with topping off your battery overnight.
A standard 120-volt wall socket will give a car about five miles of driving for every hour of charging. That means if you had a 40-mile round-trip commute, you'd be able to charge in eight hours.
If you deplete your battery all the way most days, a charging station that is connected to a 240-volt socket, like those used for most electric clothes dryers, could be worthwhile.
Know your car
The Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf have different batteries, and different charging requirements.
The Volt has a relatively small battery because it also has a gasoline-powered generator that powers the car when the battery runs out. Chevy expects the car to be able to go 25-50 miles on electricity and then an additional 300 miles or so with the help of the gas motor.
A standard socket will fully charge the Volt in about eight hours; a charger will do it in four. Chevy recommends that drivers first try to get by without a charger.
The Leaf is powered entirely by electricity, and therefore has a much bigger battery. Nissan says the vehicle can go about 100 miles on a full charge. It will take 20 hours to do this with a standard outlet, and eight hours with a charger. Nissan strongly recommends a charger.
Plan ahead
Installing a home charging station could take anywhere from a few days to a couple of months. It depends on the time it takes to get a local work permit and to have the charging station inspected after installation. The installation itself should take only a few hours.
Whether or not you go for a charging station, automakers and utilities want your home checked out to make sure the wiring in your house and your neighborhood can handle the extra load. Plugging into a regular socket that serves other appliances will almost certainly trip your circuit breaker. The extra electricity demand from a home charger can overwhelm small neighborhood transformers and kill power to a whole block.
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