Sponsored

Adding a 2nd EV to the family, best dual charger?

NashvilleR1S

Well-Known Member
First Name
Chris
Joined
Jan 11, 2021
Threads
16
Messages
337
Reaction score
491
Location
Nashville
Vehicles
2023 R1S, 2022 Pilot
Occupation
Cinematography
So we might be adding a 2nd EV to the family, and we literally only had one 60amp breaker left when we installed the rivian charger. So I need to replace that with a dual charger. Whats the smartest/most powerful one out there?
Sponsored

 

Dark-Fx

Well-Known Member
First Name
Brian
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Threads
96
Messages
9,354
Reaction score
17,739
Location
Michigan
Vehicles
Polestar 2, R1T, R1S, Livewire One, Fisker Ocean
Occupation
Engineering
Clubs
 
If you can't make room for another breaker you will have to look into the dual units instead of the kind that can power share. I don't have any recommendations on the dual units.
 

SeaGeo

Well-Known Member
First Name
Brice
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Threads
47
Messages
5,235
Reaction score
9,676
Location
Seattle
Vehicles
Xc60 T8
Occupation
Engineer
If it's solely space and not an issue of total power, look into movgi me of your circuits to smaller sized breakers that take up half the space. Had to do that with mine.
 

240vPlug

Well-Known Member
First Name
Ken
Joined
Jan 30, 2023
Threads
33
Messages
1,830
Reaction score
1,795
Location
Maryland
Website
ElectrifiedOutdoors.com
Vehicles
23 R1T (Limestone), 23 R1S (El Cap)
Clubs
 
There are a couple things you can do to make space. They make tandem breakers which will allow you to group two lower amperage breakers into one breaker slot. We used those at the old place for a couple lighting circuits which allowed enough room for the EV charger.

Alternatively you could install a sub panel. Ideally having two chargers that can do power sharing is ideal and will future proof things a bit. I have two Tesla wall connectors here each on their own 60 amp circuit....however...the power sharing is 60 amps so it's treated as 1 60 amp load for load calculation.

Having two circuits and two chargers would allow you or if you sell the future owner, to upgrade service in the future for more EV charging without having to rewire chargers.
 

mikehmb

Well-Known Member
First Name
Mike
Joined
Jan 12, 2022
Threads
92
Messages
1,298
Reaction score
2,671
Location
SF Bay Area
Vehicles
eGolf, i3, R1T
We have 3 EVs and one charger - works out well enough, though admittedly we’re not all draining the batteries every day.

But since that wasn’t your question … there appear to be a number of them on the market. Also, some older single plug variants could auto load-share across two if tied in series. I cannot in good faith recommend Juicebox since both the ones we bought had various failures, including ground faults which are not present in the actual circuit.

Given the potential of your situation to draw max current for potentially longer, I would recommend hardwiring vs. a NEMA 14-50 (from personal, plastic-melting experience).
 

Sponsored

moosehead

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Threads
63
Messages
2,058
Reaction score
4,483
Location
Denver, CO
Vehicles
‘22 Ioniq 5, ‘78 Jeep Wagoneer
Per @mikehmb first comment above, you may be able to easily get by with one charger. We are able to with little fuss.

YMMV.
 

NC-Rivian

Well-Known Member
First Name
Greg
Joined
Jul 31, 2022
Threads
26
Messages
217
Reaction score
393
Location
Hendersonville, NC
Vehicles
LA Silver R1T
Occupation
Sales
So we might be adding a 2nd EV to the family, and we literally only had one 60amp breaker left when we installed the rivian charger. So I need to replace that with a dual charger. Whats the smartest/most powerful one out there?
We have a Tesla and a R1T and both use the same Rivian 60 amp breaker/48 amp delivery wall charger. (The Tesla has an adapter). Works just fine.
 

sub

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2021
Threads
21
Messages
1,365
Reaction score
2,352
Location
USA
Vehicles
Rivian R1S, Tesla Model 3
You could replace the current charger with a sub-panel. And then hook up multiple chargers to the sub-panel. You would not need to run any new wires back to the main panel so this should be pretty inexpensive and quick.

With most chargers you would need to set each charger to 60/number_of_chargers but Tesla's wall chargers can be configured to intelligently share.

If you used multiple Tesla Wall Chargers on a sub-panel, when only one vehicle is charging it will get the full 60 amps. When a second vehicle plugs in, each vehicle will get 30 amps. When a third vehicle plugs in, each will get 20 amps.

When the first vehicle finishes charging the other vehicle(s) will automatically start charging faster.

Tesla sells both NACS and J1772 chargers so no adapters are needed to use their chargers no matter what brand of EV you have.
 
Last edited:

RWerksman

Well-Known Member
Site Sponsor
First Name
Rob
Joined
Nov 13, 2020
Threads
57
Messages
1,391
Reaction score
3,119
Location
Pittsburgh
Vehicles
Jeep & R1T

inconceivable

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2022
Threads
6
Messages
75
Reaction score
127
Location
Fairfield, CT
Vehicles
Rivian R1T
I use the the Grizzl-e duo. It goes up to 40 amps, but will split the charge 50/50 when 2 vehicles are plugged in and requesting power. When one stops needing power it will split it 32amps/8amps. Not entirely sure why, but it works well for my setup.

State of charge did a review of it if you’re interested in learning more.
 

Sponsored

RTChiro

Member
Joined
May 18, 2022
Threads
1
Messages
17
Reaction score
33
Location
California
Vehicles
LE R1T
Clubs
 
With RJ recently talking about next generation upcoming Rivian chargers allowing us to use our Rivians as back up in case of outage, you may want to wait a bit and use your one charger until the new chargers hit the market.
 

azbill

Well-Known Member
First Name
Bill
Joined
Jun 8, 2020
Threads
14
Messages
1,261
Reaction score
1,558
Location
Arizona
Vehicles
R1T, Mach E, Hummer EV SUT
Occupation
Engineer
I use the the Grizzl-e duo. It goes up to 40 amps, but will split the charge 50/50 when 2 vehicles are plugged in and requesting power. When one stops needing power it will split it 32amps/8amps. Not entirely sure why, but it works well for my setup.

State of charge did a review of it if you’re interested in learning more.
It splits it that way to allow the non-charging EV to condition the battery and to keep the 12v happy. Takes care of hot and cold climates.
 

C.R. Rivian

Well-Known Member
First Name
Charles
Joined
Nov 16, 2020
Threads
60
Messages
613
Reaction score
558
Location
South Puget Sound
Vehicles
Kia Niro EV...R1T Launch Edition
Occupation
retired
So we might be adding a 2nd EV to the family, and we literally only had one 60amp breaker left when we installed the rivian charger. So I need to replace that with a dual charger. Whats the smartest/most powerful one out there?
We have two EVs with a level 2 charger. Unless your family drives your two close to zero regularly, I doubt that you will really need to charge both at once. In the 14 months that we have had two EVs, charging has not been a problem.
 

CharonPDX

Well-Known Member
First Name
Charon
Joined
Jul 12, 2021
Threads
20
Messages
1,061
Reaction score
1,505
Location
Cascadia
Vehicles
R1T LE, Mach-E, Arcimoto FUV, Repl: F-250/Model S
Occupation
InfoSec Geek
Clubs
 
I used to recommend Enel-X JuiceBox units for their load-sharing capability. I no longer do, and in fact recommend *AGAINST* them.

(Long story short - they're trying to force people to replace their old app with a new one, but the new one doesn't yet have any means to manage load-sharing; and the new app is buggy as hell.)
 

CaptRat

Well-Known Member
First Name
James
Joined
Jun 12, 2022
Threads
2
Messages
81
Reaction score
66
Location
Georgia, USA
Vehicles
Rivian R1T, Chevrolet Corvette, Cadillac CTS
Occupation
Retired
Clubs
 
I have two Wallbox Pulsar Plus EVSEs sharing a 60 amp circuit. 1 EvSE outside and one in the garage. They're set up to share 50/50.
Sponsored

 
 




Top