What home EV charging setup do you need?
A few questions about your car, your driving, where you park and your panel. Out comes one answer: what to install, roughly what it costs, what your utility might pay back, and what to ask the electrician. Two minutes. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Built by Aatish Patel, founder of XCharge North America
How it decides
- Level 1 or Level 2. It works out how many miles a normal 120 volt outlet adds in the hours you are parked, about four an hour after losses, and compares that with your day plus a 25% cushion for cold weather and errands.
- How many amps. Enough to put a normal day back in about five hours, so the charging fits in a cheap overnight window, and never more than your car can take. Most people land on 32 or 40 amps, which is why most people should stop reading spec sheets.
- Your panel. It runs the same load calculation the install estimator uses, the one an electrician does for an existing house (NEC 220.83), filled in from the appliances you ticked and a typical floor area. If it doesn't fit, it says what does: a lower setting, a load manager, a splitter on the dryer outlet, or the service upgrade.
- Price. The install estimator's screening estimate for the distance you picked, plus the charger. Real quotes land anywhere from 20% under to 30% over.
- Rebates and laws. With a ZIP code it looks up your utility and state in the U.S. Department of Energy's incentive database, refreshed every week. If you rent or live under an HOA, it checks whether your state has a right-to-charge law.
Limits
It assumes a typical house for the appliances you didn't mention, and it can't see inside your walls. Use it to know what to ask for and whether a quote is sane, then let a licensed electrician do the real design.