Buying a new car is a little different when what you want is an electric vehicle. One important part of EV ownership is preparing your home for an electric vehicle. Installing an electric vehicle charging station in your home is the primary task, and we're going to tell you all about how to prepare your home for an electric vehicle. Marlborough EV buyers looking for information on installing an electric vehicle home charger should trust Long Cadillac to provide the facts.
1. Decide on a Charging Type (AKA Charging Level)
If you've yet to start your research on electric vehicle home chargers, this is the first step in preparing your home for an electric vehicle. Worcester homes can accommodate Level 1 or Level 2 chargers. Here's the information you need:
- Level 1 EV charging often takes days to fully charge an electric car.
- Level 2 EV charging can charge an electric vehicle overnight. You can often get 60 or more miles of range in about half an hour with Level 2 DC charging, though. For this reason, most people do both daytime "top-off" charging and overnight charging.
2. Ready Your Garage
If you haven't organized your garage, you should do that next. You'll want to have space for both your car and the electric vehicle charging station. That means clearing out clutter and creating room to fit everything inside.
3. Find Your Power Panel & Assess Consumption
The power panel in your home distributes electricity throughout the entire building. It will have a maximum amount of current flow measured in amperes. Most new homes have a 100-amp power panel, but there should be an amperage rating printed on your circuit breaker. Perform a self-assessment of how much power you use; you don't want to trip the circuit breaker when you use your electric vehicle home charger.
4. Hire an Electrician
This is one of the most important parts of preparing your home for an electric vehicle. Talk to an electrician and discuss your concerns about your power consumption. They'll install a 240-volt plug or add a hardwired circuit to the power panel. This will typically cost a few hundred dollars, but it might cost more than $1,000 if your power panel needs upgrading.
5. Buy Your Charger & Have It Installed
The final step is to research and purchase an EV charger. Now that you've followed all the other steps to prepare your home for an electric vehicle, all you need to do is order your electric vehicle charging station and have the electrician install it.
Visit Long Cadillac to Learn More
If you're a Framingham driver looking for an electric vehicle, you probably have more questions about how to prepare your home for an electric vehicle. Thankfully, Long Cadillac has a team of experts in Southborough ready to answer them. If you're looking to make the next step, you can value your trade to simplify the process of upgrading or check out our finance page to explore loan and lease options.
