Can I add an EV charger to my home?

Adding an EV charger to your home is a very common thing nowadays, but there are a few things that you have to think about. The biggest limiting factor is your service and panel capacity.

Service capacity means "do I have enough capacity on my system to accept an EV charger" and panel capacity would be the physical space left in your panel.

If the physical space is there, the next thing to find out is system capacity. There are two ways to get this.

The first way is for us to do a service calculation.

The second way is by obtaining your usage from BC Hydro over the last 365 days. You obtain this from your online BC Hydro account, and you are looking for the HOURLY usage over the last 365 days, and from there we can do a calculation. This method usually leaves more room on your service, so is a good option if you seem to be full by doing a service calculation.

If your panel capacity and service capacity check out, we are in the clear and can start planning the route to get from your panel to where your EV charger will sit. If those two things don't check out, there are some options to make it work.

Option A, this would be the least costly. You use a loadshare or a charge control device. A loadshare device works by sharing the load of another major load in your house, ie your stove. If your stove is in use, the EV charger cannot be used. If the stove is not in use, the EV charger can be used. A charge control device monitors the ampacity of your system. Once your system reaches 80% capacity it will shut down your EV charger, so therefore your charger can only be used in low usage times.

Option B is a service upgrade. This method is the more costly method but typically adds value to your house at the same time, and gives you opportunities for future expansion. For example, if you planned on adding a hot tub, or an AC unit, or any other major loads in the future, the service upgrade may be the option for you. 

Now we've figured out your system capacity, and panel capacity, and we are onto chargers. There are many quality EV chargers out there, but you need to make sure the charger you choose is on the rebate program. You can find the list of approved chargers on the BC Hydro website. One that we prefer and a lot of our customers do too, is the Chargepoint. You will want to do some research and decide which charger is best for you. If you would like our advice, or for us to supply one, we are always happy to help. 

This is the road to getting an EV charger installed. There are a few factors to be considered, but we would love to have the opportunity to get you set up with your new EV charger.