Upgrade from 50 to 60 amp circuit to get to 48 amps of charging? Have 2 EVs.

[gordonrands]

We and our 2023 R1T Dual Max (but not our Rivian wall charger) are moving to southern Oregon and our daughter with her Chevy Bolt will be living with us. The house has a 50 amp circuit available - the previous resident had a Tesla wall charger but took it when he moved. Our daughter won't have long commutes and we are retired but plan to do lots of driving for pleasure into the mountains.

We can probably get a charger hardwired for $150-300 with the existing 50 amp circuit, while it might cost us a max of $750 to get heavier wire and a 60 amp breaker installed. Is it worth upgrading for the faster speeds?

Also, any comments on choosing an EVIQO, Autel charger or Lectron chargerf?

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[DeanB1452]

I would take the Rivian charger to your new house, as the previous owner took their Tesla charger. Each resident will have their own preference on EVSE just as they do with appliances for the house, so the new owner of your house gets to bring their own or buy one that they like.

It's probably not worth it to bump up from 50 amps to 60 amps. You'd be going from 40 to 48 amps with the 20% buffer. That's only about a 2 kW (5 mph) difference, which is about 2% per hour on my large battery pack.

 

[ElGuano]

IIRC, with 50amps, your charger will be running at 40A x 240 = 9.6kW.

With 60amps, your charger will run at 48A x 240 = 11.5kW

JMHO,, that's not a huge difference and probably not worth an extra $600 to me.

 

[Time2Roll]

Get two of the Tesla wall connectors and set them to share the existing 50 amp circuit.
These will dynamically share power and provide charging to one or both any time without juggling vehicle positions.
50AMP is plenty for two vehicles.

 

[pointless]

With 2 EVs I’d probably do the 60 Amp upgrade.

If you might do 2 chargers on the lone 60-amp look at Load Sharing/Balancing chargers like these:
Tesla Universal Wall Connector
Emporia Pro
Wallbox Pulsar Plus
Enphase IQ 2

I think this list is correct.

 

[DB-EV]

We and our 2023 R1T Dual Max (but not our Rivian wall charger) are moving to southern Oregon and our daughter with her Chevy Bolt will be living with us. The house has a 50 amp circuit available - the previous resident had a Tesla wall charger but took it when he moved. Our daughter won't have long commutes and we are retired but plan to do lots of driving for pleasure into the mountains.

We can probably get a charger hardwired for $150-300 with the existing 50 amp circuit, while it might cost us a max of $750 to get heavier wire and a 60 amp breaker installed. Is it worth upgrading for the faster speeds?

Also, any comments on choosing an EVIQO, Autel charger or Lectron chargerf?

It is really up to you. For code, we had to have a 60 am breaker meaning we only get 48 amps charging - because we did not want a hard line.

We have a LE Gen 1 R1s and a bolt and have never had an issue. We do need to pay attention to who charges when.

 

[smashweights]

Have you gotten actual quotes on doing the job? I would start there. Personally, I like knowing I have the maximum capability so in a pinch I know it's the best I could manage. Cutting your charge time by an hour with 50 vs 60 amps might not matter but also could mean staying up an extra hour to swap the charger on vehicles if both need charged.

I would get two Tesla UWC and link them on a single circuit so they can manage the available load of you're charging both vehicles.

 

[tate16t]

For your R1T with a larger battery, upgrading to 48A (11.5 kW) from 40A (9.6 kW) will be more noticeable. The 20% speed boost can be the difference between finishing a charge before you leave for work/trip or not. If you have the Max Pack (~141–149 kWh), the 40A charger will take approximately 16+ hours for a full charge, whereas 48A keeps it closer to 13 hours. Go with the 60 amp.

 

[MikeWilliams_R1T]

If it’s on 6 gauge wire (or 8 gauge with a short run) you might not need to change the wire… just the breaker. $50-$60 for a breaker swap (you can do yourself) would be worth the extra 2kw of charging. It is marginally faster.

My youngest daughter drives a 2023 Bolt. Honestly, it’s a great car. That 65kwh battery recharges in no time at 11kw.
Her and I share a hardwired charger I mounted by the driveway.

 

[numerousminidisc]

I have a version of the Grizzl-e charger for just 1 car, but they do sell one that will charge both at once. I'm not sure if the method is editable (fully charge 1 then fully charge 2; charge both at half speed, etc.)

https://grizzl-e.com/products/grizzl-e-duo-connect-40

With a 40A circuit, my2022 LE R1S will recharge from like 10% to 100% in like 7 hours, so letting 2 cars be plugged in would mean you'd have to be driving ~150-miles per day (assuming 300-mile range Rivians) in each car for it not to fully recharge overnight.

 

[Kaiju]

I'd also say it's probably not a meaningful difference. It's a pretty rare scenario where you NEED a drained battery to 100% in 6 hours vs 7 and it's too much of a bother to go to a DCFC.

If for some reason 40 amps is not enough I have my doubts that 20% more will make a world of difference. If you upgrade the service I'd tell you to just go for broke and get an 80 amp two vehicle charger and set everything up for a 100A breaker. Most of the cost on the electrical end will be labour instead of materials so it won't actually be that much more expensive so long as your house service can handle it.

 

[Time2Roll]

The idea of two ports allows both both to start charging immediately when home without the fight over a single charger to wait for the other to be done at 1am and switch. I would sooner spend the money on a second charger than to upgrade 10 amps.

 

[hammick]

If it’s on 6 gauge wire (or 8 gauge with a short run) you might not need to change the wire… just the breaker. $50-$60 for a breaker swap (you can do yourself) would be worth the extra 2kw of charging. It is marginally faster.

My youngest daughter drives a 2023 Bolt. Honestly, it’s a great car. That 65kwh battery recharges in no time at 11kw.
Her and I share a hardwired charger I mounted by the driveway.

I agree if the wire is 6ga you can switch to a 60a breaker depending on the length of the run. Our Eaton 60a breakers are under $20 IIRC.

 

[SilverII]

in a pinch you can use 110V to charge the Bolt if you are not sharing

 

[dradam]

I set myself up with 48 amp charging, but I never use it. It is overkill for my daily needs and I charge at 20A which I think is safer for my home generally. If you top off 20- 30% daily your 50 amp service charging at 40 A is likely more than enough even if sharing the charger.

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