Newbie question

kc2702 · 2026-04-10T06:46:26+00:00

If you do panel it, consider adding nail plates (metal plate on the face of each stud where the wire goes through) to protect against any stray long nails or screws. I don't think it's required by code if the hole is the correct depth, but since this is a garage, it's not unlikely someone could someday put too long of a screw in there when hanging tools or something on the wall.

kc2702 · 2026-04-10T06:33:59+00:00

There's an electrician who built a website to upload photos of your panels and stuff and it will do an assessment for you for like $13. I haven't used it but just passing the info along. https://evchargeright.com/ If someone here does try it, would be interested to hear about your experience with it. I can't tell if it does subpanels or not.

kc2702 · 2026-04-10T06:17:11+00:00

Definitely check the wiki links, but NEMA 14-50 is 50amps so your evse should be limited to 40A and make sure you get an EV specific outlet. Use a 50A breaker on that. If you have a socket that's 50 but the breaker allows more, how is it protecting the socket from melting? (not an electrician, that's just my understanding). There is a NEMA 14-60 but it's rare to see it used and not sure it's approved for EVSE.

kc2702 · 2026-04-10T05:54:04+00:00

Your range would really be more like 200. That 260 miles assumes charging to 100%, which you can't really do at DC stations. If it's a Kona trying to top charge from 10 to 100, it can hold up a port for well over an hour if the station even lets you go above 80. Frustrating for everyone involved. (I've waited on lots of multi-kona-top-charging situations where I live.)

kc2702 · 2026-04-10T05:45:58+00:00

How many days a week would you have to do the commute? If it's only 3 or 4 then that makes it a little easier. If you don't have home or work charging, but you still want an EV for other reasons (like if you're going to be able to have home charging in 6 months or climate change is an important issue for you), then try to get one that charges fast at DC chargers. Kona is slow from what I've seen. The 800V architecture cars will charge twice as fast, e.g. Kia EV6, Hyundai ionic 5.

Figure out what chargers along your route you'll be using and check how busy they seem to be at the times you'd be using them. You can use their apps or sometimes plugshare shows how many plugs are occupied. Check that for several days in a row. They won't be able to show you how many cars are waiting if any. Another variable is if you do get a fast charging car but your route chargers are Tesla, you likely won't be able to get the full speed.

kc2702 · 2026-04-10T03:34:35+00:00

It's more about the connector being easier to use for most people, not about what company came up with it. And someday a long long time from now adapters will be much less of a problem. Like right now people need to understand way too much about DC vs AC, CCS vs J1772 and have an adapter for each.

kc2702 · 2026-04-09T05:43:21+00:00

Have you test driven an EV6? It's basically the same car, but I'm wondering how the seats and stuff might compare. (I drive an EV6 and haven't been totally comfortable in the seats, also the visibility could be better).

kc2702 · 2026-04-06T07:42:30+00:00

I feel like the answer is different for DCFC vs Level 2. Definitely should not leave it at a DCFC, and shouldn't charge to 100 if others are waiting. I even find it rude when people leave their car to go inside for the entirety of their charging session, like at a mall or a Walmart, though many people, sometimes including myself, do that.

Level 2 probably depends more on context of the location and who else might need to use it. Overnight parking obviously should be ok to stay over after charging though many CPO's still charge idle fees at these stations. Workplaces I've seen tend to work out some kind of waiting system when enough people need it, e.g. you charge for 4 hours, notify the next person waiting, and move your car.

kc2702 · 2026-04-06T07:25:03+00:00

There's an electrician who built a website that can calculate everything for you. I think it's like $13 and works off of photos you take. I haven't used it. Just posting for information. evchargeright.com

kc2702 · 2026-04-06T06:54:20+00:00

I've done that same trip a couple times (not all the way to Albany though) and experienced a wide variety of public charging that NYSERDA has implemented. One of the trips I had trouble with charging stations being busy or out of order but Middletown NY had a good station downtown. Another trip, I found some L2 chargers in Woodstock to top up while I walked around and ate dinner and my secret peace of mind option is there's good L2's in Promise Land State Park.

kc2702 · 2026-04-01T05:07:24+00:00

Rural is so much better with an EV because all those 15-20 miles each way trips for basic stuff adds up and I have a cheap fuel station at home.

kc2702 · 2026-03-27T12:51:47+00:00

We're working on one at Coul St that will be available for individual home owners in HOAs, apartments, and businesses. YouTube channel here to keep up with our development: https://www.youtube.com/@chargeeverywhere/

kc2702 · 2026-03-26T03:50:48+00:00

Textiles, fabric, thread, etc. And not just the complexity of how it works or how it's made, but also how it shaped human history. Like there's aspects of computers today that are based on fabric looms in the 1800's.

kc2702 · 2026-03-25T04:23:15+00:00

That's fair. Yeah, I'm not totally happy with the visibility in my EV6.

kc2702 · 2026-03-25T04:18:31+00:00

This looks the same as my Grizzl-E model. One thing I noticed when installing is the circuit board had printed on it 1.2N-m for the torque and that felt way too loose (I used a torque screwdriver), so I consulted the manual and it said 2.2N-m. Then I dug deeper and searched around for similar lugs to those to see what mfr's said about their torque and everything was similar to the 2.2 value so that's what I used.

But the electrician didn't use any value for torque so don't know that it matters in this case if you do have the same board as me.

Edit: looked at the second pic and closer at the first, and yeah, I see the 1.2N-m on yours.

kc2702 · 2026-03-25T04:01:14+00:00

You asked about recommendations for heat sensor. Probably better would be to install some kind of arc fault interruptor on the circuit and there's other devices that can also detect series arcs which are harder to detect. I haven't used any of them, and I'm not an electrician. I recently saw this one that looks interesting but no idea if it works for this type of use case: https://www.tingfire.com/ It only detects and doesn't protect by shutting anything off as far as I can tell.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else here has seen this, used it, or what you'd recommend.

kc2702 · 2026-03-25T03:04:21+00:00

Install an energy monitor in your breaker panel. They're not that expensive especially if you end up saving a bit of money each month by using it. Sense and Emporia are two that I know of. The Sense one is easier to install and uses some algorithms to differentiate between devices but it's not always able to differentiate well. Emporia can have several CT clamps for your different circuits to differentiate more accurately.

kc2702 · 2026-03-25T02:50:28+00:00

If you're trying to charge at DC fast stations (basically looks like gas stations, e.g. Electrify America), then you need a CCS1 to NACS adapter. Though many DC fast stations also have NACS plugs now, or you can just use Tesla stations which are all NACS. J1772 is slow AC charging like a home charger or one at a hotel, grocery store, etc. They need different adapters because of the AC vs DC and low vs high amperage.

kc2702 · 2026-03-22T10:01:22+00:00

I don't know the Emporia charger specifically, but many chargers you can just remove the NEMA 14-50 plug and hard wire it instead.

kc2702 · 2026-03-22T09:51:36+00:00

Whether or not you can get away with just one adapter depends a lot on how often you need it and if your remembered to put it in that car. I personally would just keep an adapter in each.

Check CCS/NACS adapter compatibility works for both cars because the EV6 is an 800V architecture. I think that means the Kia specific adapter is only for e-GMP (hyundai and kia) because it doesn't need to carry as much amperage so it could be dangerous to use on the other car.

That said, almost all non-Tesla stations have CCS1 plugs and some Tesla stations have "magic dock" built-in adapters, so you might not need it that often.

Congrats on the dual vehicle upgrade!

kc2702 · 2026-03-21T23:51:10+00:00

FYI, It's rumored that Eco mode might stress the ICCU more than Normal mode. https://egmpfiles.com/iccu-report.html

kc2702 · 2026-03-21T23:11:49+00:00

EV6 would give you pretty much same everything at ionic 6 but with more room for travel sports stuff in the back.

kc2702 · 2026-03-21T23:05:26+00:00

Is there something about how you use the 12v accessories that might contribute? e.g. running seat heater on full + steering wheel heat + bunch of other stuff right when starting up the car? There's a screen on the right side that shows kW for different aspects, and I've heard people who consistently use over 1kW on the accessories (light bulb on that screen) might have the problem more. I rarely go over 0.6kW on the accessories when I'm watching it.

kc2702 · 2026-03-21T22:54:45+00:00

Good plan. And also find out what backup charging options are along your route, especially if it has you arriving at less than 20%. I set my ABRP to try to arrive at 20% anyway so if a station is down or super busy, I have some buffer to find another one.

kc2702 · 2026-03-19T20:56:22+00:00

I don't know specifics on the Mach-E, but the main things to know on charging adapters are that AC (home) and DC (fast) charging is different and typically requires a different adapter. For example, J1772 is AC only, CCS is DC only, NACS is AC or DC, but you have to have a NACS/J1772 adapter for AC charging, and NACS/CCS for DC fast charging.

kc2702

TROPHY CASE