Rivian Wall Charger Installation

[moosetags]

Our Rivian wall charger has already been shipped and we are due to get it this week. We plan to have it professionally installed.

We have a four-car garage. We intend to keep the R1T in bay #1. We intend to back her in to make getting in and out of the truck easier. Our main electric boxes and meter are on the outside wall of bay #1. Our first thought is to mount the charger on the inside of the outer wall near where the garage door is. Our second thought is to run the supply line in conduit across the ceiling and come down and mount the charger on the small section of wall between door #1 and door #2. There is about 18" of interior wall space between the doors.

Our thoughts are that we want to be able to reach an EV in either Bay #1 or Bay #2. We also want to be able to reach EV's on the driveway outside doors 1 and 2.

We are looking for input from experienced EVers as to where the best placement of the charger should be.

Brian

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[SilverII]

This is something you will use everyday or every other day. I'd place it in the best position for most of the time.

It has a 25' cord you can use if the truck is in the other bay

 

[JohnB R1T]

Save (a little) wiring distance. Mount the main body of the unit on the ceiling about 6' forward of the garage doors and between Bay #1 and Bay #2 (I assume that you are numbering your bays left to right).

You can buy a "socket" for the "nozzle" pretty cheap on Amazon, mount it where you "were thinking" the charger was going to go and put a large "hook" (or equivalent) up higher on that wall to "drape" the cord behind. If smaller kids are going to be in the garage unattended, you can mount it well up on the wall to keep it out of their reach.

This allows several combinations of use:
1) The cord will reach a vehicle parked outside of #1 or #2
2) The cord will easily reach your Rivian (backed into #1) and stretch to reach when backed into #2
3) The cord will reach your Rivian pulled head in to Bay #1 or Bay #2
4) If there's nothing in Bay #2 (or you don't mind draping across whatever is there), it will reach the Rivian when nosed into Bay #3

There is little reason to need to access the main body of the charging unit once it has been installed. You can easily see whatever lights are lit when it's on the ceiling. It won't get "banged" with anything up there (like a rake handle). Mounting the socket high on the wall allows you to "put away" the cord without actually having to wind it up and hang it on anything while keeping most of it off the floor and out of the way. If there's attic space above the garage, you can run all of your conduit (think flex conduit) in that space and save the hassle of making it "pretty" as it runs across the ceiling of Bay #1.

 

[Foobar]

Place the wall unit where it's most convenient in terms of electrical wiring as well as which bay is going to be charging more often. For everything else, get a J1772 extension cable.

I have a Tesla Gen 2 Wall Connector with the 24' built-in cable and have another 30' extension that I have in case I need to reach other spots that are normally out of reach. This way I don't have to worry about moving the Tesla or the Rivian or the Energica around, I can pretty much hit every spot where any of the EV's will be parked.

 

[GoWest!]

I just had a charger (CP Homeflex) installed a week ago. Base cost for install within 5’ of my panel was $400. I was going to go that route but then thought every single time I want/need to charge, I’ll have to pull the car into the garage. Thinking ahead, that sounded like a constraint I would regret.

So I went with the add’l $300 cost to mount it close to the garage door so (with a 23’ cord lead) I can charge outside if the weather is good and I don’t feel like pulling the car in and/or if I have visitors to my home with EVs and it’s off-peak charging hours ? they can also get a quick top off if needed.

 

[CrazyOne]

Placing between #1 and #2 is something I considered, but decided it wasn't good. Reason is that I will have to be forever careful with the cable, so that it does not interfere with the doors or with the vehicles. I have a bit less space between doors though.

 

[GoWest!]

Placing between #1 and #2 is something I considered, but decided it wasn't good. Reason is that I will have to be forever careful with the cable, so that it does not interfere with the doors or with the vehicles. I have a bit less space between doors though.

This cable care is a real issue. Also making sure the cable doesn’t hit the infrared detector.

 

[CrazyOne]

I also wanted to be able to charge with the car parked outside, in case of Chevy Bolt style issues with Rivian or a future EV. So that rules out installing on the wall on the opposite side of the door.

 

[moosehead]

We mounted charger between our two garage bays on inside of exterior wall. It reaches both bays inside and out - so 4 parking spots chargeable. Our other EV has charge port at passenger rear corner so above setup works well all EV setups and gives flexibility.

Garage door shuts cleanly down on charger cable for outside rigs, but it is helpful to have a rubber door sweep and/or rubber floor gasket.

I also like to back in the Rivian so use inside bay 2, though both sides would be easy.

Most importantly, hope to see you in the long awaited Rivian s00n, Moosetags.

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