With each passing day here in Ellisville, MO, more and more people are joining the electric vehicle revolution by purchasing an EV. Part of the reason is that EVs are getting more affordable, and another is that people recognize that they’re the future of personal transportation.
However, there’s one major pain point that’s preventing even faster EV adoption here in Ellisville. It’s a distinct lack of public EV charging infrastructure. Right now, there are only a small handful of public EV charging stations in the city. That means range anxiety offers a powerful reason for residents here to delay an EV purchase.
The good news is that there’s a solution to that problem. By installing an EV charging station at home, residents can alleviate their range anxiety and make an EV their full-time daily drive today. Here’s everything you need to know about home EV charging.
What Is Range Anxiety?
Right now, the average EV’s range is approximately 291 miles. While that may sound like a lot, it isn’t when you consider that the average gasoline-powered vehicle can travel over 400 miles on a single tank. And gasoline-powered vehicles benefit from there being almost 20 gas stations here in Ellisville. That means they have a practically unlimited range because there’s always a pump available for a fill-up.
Electric vehicles, by comparison, can only recharge at fewer than 10 public charging ports right now. And since an EV will spend an average of 30 to 45 minutes charging at a public station, the odds of finding an open charging port aren’t great. As a result, there’s a bit of a hard ceiling on an EV’s practical range when you live here in Ellisville. And it isn’t impossible to end up stranded with no available charger to get your EV moving again. That, in a nutshell, is range anxiety. It’s the fear of running out of EV power with nowhere to replenish it.
How Soon You Can Expect New Public Charging Stations
Of course, the building of new EV charging stations within the city limits would be one way to alleviate the range anxiety of EV owners here. And there’s reason to believe that additional public chargers will come, eventually. Right now, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources is busily spending a 6-million-dollar budget previously allocated to expanding public EV charging infrastructure. Unfortunately, they’ve yet to announce any new chargers slated for installation here in Ellisville.
Additionally, some expansive federal tax credits created by the recent Inflation Reduction Act are making it cheaper for property owners to install new public chargers. Plus, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included billions of dollars in funding aimed at expanding public EV charging infrastructure all over the country. So, there’s every reason to expect that the public EV charging situation will improve here in the near future. For current and prospective EV owners, though, the question is how long it will take and what they’re supposed to do in the meantime.
Home Chargers as a Range Anxiety Solution
The good news is that the vast majority of new EVs come with a home charging cord that allows you to plug them into a standard residential outlet to recharge. Those direct charging cables are what’s known as Level 1 charging technology. However, they’re best used as an emergency charging solution only since a Level 1 charge could take up to 50 hours to charge your EV to 80% from empty. In other words, they’re too impractical to be a solution to range anxiety.
Instead of relying on a Level 1 charger, an EV owner can install a Level 2 charger in their home. They operate at a higher voltage and can charge the average EV’s battery to full from empty in as little as 8 hours. They use the same charging technology as the vast majority of public chargers, save Tesla’s superchargers. Those use direct current and over twice the voltage of Level 2 chargers, which is why they’re capable of such ultra-fast charging. They’re what’s known as Level 3 chargers and aren’t available for installation in homes.
How To Install a Level 2 Charger at Home
It’s worth pointing out that it isn’t typically possible for an EV owner to install a Level 2 charger in their home without help. This is because they need their own 240-volt electrical circuit to operate. Putting one in requires a qualified electrician who can safely make changes to your home’s electrical panel and run the necessary wiring. In some cases, your home might even need an electrical panel upgrade to accommodate a new Level 2 EV charger. That can happen if your current panel lacks enough space for a new circuit breaker or if your home needs an electric service upgrade to support one.
The only exception to this is if you happen to have an existing unused 240-volt outlet in your garage or are willing to share one with a new EV charger. For example, if your home has or had an electric clothes dryer in its garage, it likely already has a 240-volt circuit installed there to support it. If you no longer use that outlet or don’t mind unplugging your dryer when you need to use your Level 2 EV charger, installing a Level 2 charger might be possible for you to handle alone. However, some Level 2 EV chargers require up to a 60-amp circuit to work, and that’s double what the average clothes dryer would require. So, it’s advisable to at least consult with one of our electricians before you buy a charger and try to install it on your own.
The Benefits of At-Home EV Charging
The elimination of range anxiety isn’t the only reason why it’s beneficial to install a Level 2 EV charger in your home. It will also save you significant sums on your EV’s charging costs. That’s because you’ll get to do the bulk of your EV charging using your home’s residential electricity rate. Here in Ellisville, the average homeowner pays about 9.69¢/kWh for its electricity. By comparison, public EV charging stations may charge up to five dollars per hour of charge time, which can work out to as much as $0.25/kWh. That means charging your EV mainly at home could cut your EV’s charging costs by almost two-thirds.
Plus, installing an EV charger in your home will also increase its value. Homebuyers are increasingly expecting homes to come with EV charging infrastructure already installed. One study found that homes with EV chargers installed fetched about $17,700 more than homes that did not.
Your Local EV Charger Installation Experts
If you want to have a Level 2 EV charger installed in your Ellisville home, Potts Electric can help. We are a family-owned, full-service electrical service provider and can handle every aspect of your EV charger installation. We have more than a decade’s worth of experience working on residential and commercial electrical projects, and our electricians are fully licensed, insured, and bonded. That means you can count on us for all of your home’s electrical needs, from simple repairs to generators and whole-home rewiring. Just check out our countless five-star customer reviews to see how homeowners like yourself feel about our work.
If you need a Level 2 EV charger installed in your Ellisville home, call our team at Potts Electric today for electrical services.
