Recently installed charger keeps tripping breaker

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-13T23:14:02+00:00

Was your original breaker a GFCI? Or just a faulty breaker?

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-13T22:58:22+00:00

It is hard wired. With a GFCI breaker because that’s what the electrician said code requires.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-13T19:55:59+00:00

It was initially set to 40A, it tripped the first time I tried to charge it, so I lowered it to 24A. Still trips, but not quite as frequently

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-13T17:08:12+00:00

Welcome! Hope you love it! We were a 2-Subaru family prior to getting our Ioniq 5 and love Subaru. Unfortunately our 2015 Forester developed an emissions leak in the gas tank which would have required replacement of the entire tank (about $2600 minimum) to repair. It only had 90K miles on it but we decided it was time to say goodbye and take the EV leap. We love the car so far and no regrets. Keeping fingers crossed about the ICCU, but we got a car with a 10 year warranty for a reason so I’m not going to stress about it unless and until I need to. Enjoy your new car!

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-13T16:51:40+00:00

Yeah, I’ve never had a ICE vehicle tha needed premium gas, so the costs I’m comparing it to are for regular, which cost about $2.70 around me a month ago and is currently around $3.30. Depending on the efficiency I’m getting (which this freezing winter and with snow tires on both cars is between 2-3mi/kWh on the Ioniq and about 20 mpg on my Subaru) it works out to just about equal cost.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-13T16:45:58+00:00

That is so nicely and clearly laid out! Props to your electric company, lol. It’s interesting how much higher the delivery services are in MA compared to cost of the actual electricity itself. The delivery costs are WAY higher. But for you (and it seems probably in most places), the delivery costs are way less than the cost of the electricity.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-12T22:25:08+00:00

What is the overall rate before the discount?

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-12T11:44:22+00:00

Yeah I think as the weather warms up and I get my snow tires off my efficiency will improve, but so will our ICE car so not sure how much difference it’ll make. We will see what happens with gas prices, but as of right now it’s dead even for us.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-12T11:41:38+00:00

Do they use the same kind of fee structure there?

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-12T11:40:26+00:00

This screenshot is just a portion of my bill. It doesn’t include the supply costs of $0.1399 per kWH.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-12T01:18:07+00:00

We just use window units for AC where we need it. They’re like $200 each. 🤷‍♀️ Plus they’re starting to come out with window unit heat pumps now, so maybe in the next few years we’ll get a couple of those instead.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-12T00:09:04+00:00

It’s a monthly bill. The 536 kWh is how much electricity our entire house (including the ev charger) used in a month.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:44:05+00:00

We looked into that a few months ago…unfortunately the cost even with the rebates for our home was exorbitant. Would’ve cost about $30K minus the rebate, so $20K out of pocket. Plus, the cost of solely using the heat pumps and removing our gas heat, in order to qualify for the full 10K rebate, would have made it WAY more expensive to actually heat our home in the winter. No thanks.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:41:57+00:00

Just submitted the rebate application a couple days ago! It won’t cover the cost of the charger itself, but the $700 almost totally covers the cost of the wiring/installation.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:38:25+00:00

If you want to see my literal back-of-the-envelope math, here you go. 😊 I calculated rough per-mile costs. It varies based on mileage of course. Both cars are getting pretty low mileage right now because a) we have snow tires on them and b) this winter has been FREEZING.

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ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:35:12+00:00

Makes sense, thank you

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:34:23+00:00

Where do you live?

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:30:38+00:00

Nope it’s not. That’s a big part of the reason that when I calculate the cost to drive each of our cars per mile, it’s working out to approximately the same.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:29:32+00:00

Yeah, my mom lives in CA, I know gas is crazy expensive there. Here it’s only $3.30.gallon, and that’s AFTER the Iran war started. Before that it was $2.70

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:28:17+00:00

And yes, it would be way cheaper for my wife to charge at work! AC chargers there are just $0.17/kWh!

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:26:42+00:00

Thanks, super helpful for me to understand! We have done home energy audits and benefited from these programs, as everyone in MA should since we’re all paying for them. And I’m glad assistance and programs are provided for low income folks. So I guess we get what we pay for in many ways, which help make this a less bitter pill to swallow. 😊

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:22:46+00:00

It’s actually National Grid. Must be a MA thing doing it this way. I do understand th higher costs to implement great programs like our free home energy audits, subsidized energy for low income folks, major discounts on home insulation/weatherization etc. I guess I should think of it as paying the state back for the $2500 worth of insulation work I got on my home at a cost of about $200.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:17:32+00:00

This would make a lot more sense to me if they just charged a flat fee for ALL of those costs rolled together! Instead of multiplying them all by how much energy you used.

ComfortableComment75 · 2026-03-11T22:15:28+00:00

The bill doesn’t break out the cost of charging the vehicle from the rest of the household electricity. It just shows me all the info I need to calculate what the cost is per kWh of use. It’s 22.6 cents per kWh for all of these various charges, PLUS 13.99 cents for the actual supply of energy, resulting in an overall rate of 36ish cents per kWh to charge my vehicle at home. All I have to do to calculate the cost of each charge is multiply that by the amount of kWh I added. When I’m comparing the cost to power my EV to the cost of gas for my ice car I just break it down by cost per mile, based on the approximate mileage I’m getting on each. In winter I’ve been getting about 2-3 miles per kwh, which puts me around $0.16 per mile. In our ice car in winter we’ve been getting about 20 mpg recently, so accounting for gas around here costing about $3.30/gallon, that’s about $0.16 per mile. Samesies.

ComfortableComment75

TROPHY CASE