I bought a Chevy Bolt recently and I’m currently a renter. We’re hoping to buy our first house in the coming months, and buying a home charger is one of my first priorities after we close.

Houses are older in my area (metro Detroit), especially at our price point. Most garages are detached, some non existent.

Is there anything specially I need to look or ask for to ensure the house is EV Charger acceptable? Does the electrical equipment need to be somewhere specifically?

Finally, would I be able to purchase a free standing charger if it’s unable to attach to the house?

  • UprightJoe@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    My electrician started with a photo of my panel. When that looked good, they came out and did a load test where we turned on every appliance, light, electronic device, etc. We maxed out at 84 amps of current on a 200 amp panel so there was plenty of headroom to install a 48amp charger.

    My panel is about as far away from my garage as is possible so it required a very long cable run through my attic and the electrician recommended a slightly larger gauge wire than was strictly necessary for future-proofing. It ended up being about $2800 unfortunately due to the long cable run but hopefully the cable lasts my lifetime even if the charger does not - that was the expensive part.

    An electrician can probably give you a general idea of feasibility with a photo of the panel but they’ll need to come out to the property and possibly do a load test before they can tell you for certain if a charger can be installed and what it will cost.

    If you are hiring a home inspector as part of your purchase process, I would ask them if they can weigh in. If it’s a definite no given the existing service, they will probably be able to tell you that.