LEVITON CHARGER EVB40-PST

[mhkp]

Just got my RAV4 and now I need a charger in the garage.

I'm not electrically savvy and do not want to do this on my own. I do not want Toyota to use the excuse that I have issues because I'm using the wrong charger, SO..I'd like to install the recommended Leviton (40A, 9.6kW output).

Question #1: has anyone used the Leviton website to purchase and hire Leviton to install? If so how much was total price? Benefits are 10 year warranty and professional install. Any other pros/cons?

Question #2: If I buy hardware online to save some cash, how much should I expect to pay electrician to install? Does he install a Nema 6-50 or 14-50? What the difference?

Question #3: If my electricity provide SoCal Edison has special rates but recommends I get a separate meter to take advantage of off-peak rates, do I get the second meter first or the wiring and charger first?

 

[miimura]

Just got my RAV4 and now I need a charger in the garage.

I'm not electrically savvy and do not want to do this on my own. I do not want Toyota to use the excuse that I have issues because I'm using the wrong charger, SO..I'd like to install the recommended Leviton (40A, 9.6kW output).

Question #1: has anyone used the Leviton website to purchase and hire Leviton to install? If so how much was total price? Benefits are 10 year warranty and professional install. Any other pros/cons?

Question #2: If I buy hardware online to save some cash, how much should I expect to pay electrician to install? Does he install a Nema 6-50 or 14-50? What the difference?

Question #3: If my electricity provide SoCal Edison has special rates but recommends I get a separate meter to take advantage of off-peak rates, do I get the second meter first or the wiring and charger first?

1. I don't know about Leviton arranged install.
2. New circuit installations can vary wildly depending on your specific situation. Factors include: How far is it from your main panel to the EVSE location, Do you have empty breaker slots in your panel, is there access like a crawl space between the panel and the EVSE, etc. The plug on the EVB40 units is a NEMA 6-50. The socket is included in the install kit, purchased separately.
3. If you're really going to put the second meter, you could probably save some money by having the electrician do it all at one time. However, I've said before that the additional cost of installing a separate meter would be better spent on solar if your house is at all conducive to solar installation. This is especially true in SoCal Edison territory.

 

[miimura]

I just noticed that the toyota.leviton.com site is now selling the EVB40's for $1099, just like Amazon and Home Depot were. Amazon is now selling the surface mount version, EVB40-PST for $990.80 while the flush mount is still $1099. They are eligible for Prime shipping from Amazon and Home Depot also has free shipping.

 

[occ]

I would get a quote and instructions from SoCal Edison for the 2nd meter first, as it might vary considerably. It could be as simple as adding the 2nd meter to your existing panel, or as complex as changing out your entire house panel to accomodate the 2nd meter.

I looked into this 3 yrs ago, and it was costly (I don't remember exactly but upwards of $2k for me), and does not payback quite as quickly as putting that money into a solar PV system, if it even pays you back at all vs. other rates.

SCE rates is complicated, but as an example a separate meter bills your EV at ~ $0.11/kwh, while a TOU-D-TEV rate for one meter can be ~$0.09/kwh, which is less than a separate meter! The caveat there is the seprate EV rate is for charging from 9PM to NOON, while the TOU-D-EV is for only 12midnight to 6AM, and could be higher rate for daytime use (as opposed to your regular rate if you seprated your EV charging).

 

[mhkp]

I called soCal Edison and they threw out $2k as an estimate. So probably not going that route. I'll try the modified plan first and see what that does to our bill.

So if I get an electrician to do it, do I ask him to use a 14-50 socket? Does the 6-50 plug fit into a 14-50? still not sure why the 14-50 is better, but from what I read that is what everybody recommends.

I looked at solar a year ago but it did not make financial sense for us to put it up. They wanted a 20 year lease and locked in our rate at $25c which was too high for us. My break even point was like 5 years in the future and I would be stuck with outdated panels on my roof for who knows how long. After a few months of EV charging, I'll explore this option again as my house has an excellent solar capacity position.

 

[miimura]

It is my understanding that if you want a second meter, you have to either change your main panel to one that has two meter sockets, or you have to install a new junction box for the main feed and install a second small panel with a meter socket and breakers. A good electrician will know the utility requirements and would be able to quote this directly. $2,000+ is the right ballpark.

The most common reason you should install a separate meter instead of putting the whole house on the EV TOU rate plan is if you have a significant electric usage during the peak times from air conditioning, pool pumps, or large aquariums.

I really wish that utilities would allow smart sub-metering for EVSEs. Technologically it is such a simple problem to solve and it would eliminate 90% of the installation cost.

When I had my new house pre-wired for EV charging I also put in 14-50 sockets. I had to change it to NEMA 6-50 for the Leviton EVB40. For EVSE, there is no need for the additional neutral prong on the NEMA 14-50. I think this is just carry-over from Tesla's preference for it. All the plug-in EVSEs 30A and above use NEMA 6-50.

mhkp, get multiple quotes next time you look into solar. $0.25/kWh is not reasonable. Getting a home equity line and purchasing a properly sized system would have a faster payback and would be immediately cash flow positive compared to your current utility bill.

 

[mhkp]

Agree on solar.

I have a Smartmeter installed and though off-peak metering was its purpose. Its hard living on the edge of technology!

Some good news: my insurance quote on the Rav4 was in line with all my other cars. No 'ev' premium!

 

[TonyWilliams]

I recommend the NEMA 14-50 at home so that you can take the EVSE with you and use it at thousands of RV parks.

 

[miimura]

I recommend the NEMA 14-50 at home so that you can take the EVSE with you and use it at thousands of RV parks.

If that's the goal, then I would make a short, maybe 2-3 ft, adapter cord with a NEMA 14-50 plug and NEMA 6-50 socket. That will take care of the fact that these EVSEs come with an extremely short cord and it allows you to leave them "stock". Even though they don't show this particular combination on EVSEadapters.com, they have all the parts shown in other combinations and could probably make you one for about $50 if you're not inclined to find the parts and make it yourself.

 

[mhkp]

My electrician finally quoted me $600 for installing the evse in my garage. $290 materials, $310 labor, (I buy the Leviton) which is close to what Leviton wants to charge ($1,590, including EVSE). Both exclude tax and permit($75).

Since Leviton offers 10 year warranty I'll be going that route. Also, seems like Amazon is having issues shipping the correct EVSE. They are not selling the PST model(with cord outside) only the flush mount.

 

[madcow]

Funny, I had just the opposite experience. I ordered the Leviton flush mount and they shipped me the surface mount. The 2 units are identical except for where the pigtail exits the box. It can be moved to either location since it is just 3 wire nuts that need to be disconnected (so the pigtail can come out of the watertight housing) and then route the pigtail back in to the box. The 4 screws on the face of the box are the security type of torx (with the post in the center so you'll need a torx bit that has a hole in the center).

 

[miimura]

I'll never understand why they have two part numbers and the difference is that they interchange a 5 a S. Way too likely to cause problems.

 

[Sheck]

I just had my electrician install the leviton EVB40PST 40amp charger in my garage. I ordered from leviton on line and the charger arrived in a couple of days by UPS. The prewire installation kit arrived separately a few days later. Total cost for both was $1290.78 with tax and shipping. I previously had a Nissan Leaf converted EVSE upgrade charger in my garage, which worked well charging my LEAF. I sold the LEAF and the "portable" charger went with it. I opted for the leviton because I believe I needed the most power I could get to charge the RAV4EV as fast as possible. Since my electrician had already installed pipe and wire previously to my breaker box on a separate line for my LEAF it was about another 3 hours of work for him. He needed to upgrade the wire from 8 gauge to 6 gauge. He needed to upgrade the breaker from a 30Amp to a 50Amp and that was about it. Expect to pay at least $300 depending on where your breaker box is and hopefully your electrical panel can handle the needs. My home is just 7 years old, but I've heard of older homes that can't support extra lines and such in their breaker box. By the way $300 is supper cheap. Again, this is my electrician, not some authorized Toyota bla bla bla. As long as your electrician knows code it should be fine. I'm in Florida, so things may be different in California. I've only had the first charge but its working great. Not worried about the 10 year Warantee. My guy says its like a dryer outlet, just a little larger.

 

[mhkp]

I had mine installed by Leviton contractor last week. They did a great job and it looks and works as it should. I paid $1,930 for everything. Sounds like a lot but if you figure $1,200 for EVSE + mounting bracket on Amazon, another $100 for tax and shipping, and $230 for city permit; you are at $400 for a professional install with a 10 year warranty. After 30% tax credit, the whole thing is pretty reasonable.

 

[mnml]

Those who have installed these chargers, can you provide some samples of charging time on a 40A? TIA!

 

[TonyWilliams]

Sorry, my apologies, accidentally deleted by a fellow moderator. My bad, Dsinned

 

[Dsinned]

Tony ended his previous post, (which I accidentally deleted), by saying,

Also, the charge rate does not remain at 40 amps throughout the charge, as it tapers down at the top of SOC%.

Tony, this does not appear to be the case from my observations. From the AC power monitoring sensor at my Leviton EVSE2 during the scheduled charge I performed last night after midnight, I do not see a slow rate of decay in the charge rate as the battery reached a full charge. In fact, as I have observed many times before, what happens is a rather lengthy "drop out" of several hours in the charging current to zero, followed by a resumption of charging at a much lower power rate for about 30 minutes. The last period of ~30 minutes consumes only about 660W AC from the EVSE, <10% of the normal charging rate. Presumably this is some sort of cell balancing operation and/or a final "topping off" at the end of the recharging process, but there is never any evidence that the charging rate is slowly tapering off as the battery approaches and completes a full charge.

Here's a link to my AC energy monitor showing up to the previous 48 hours (click on the "2d" time band, or for more resolution, move the start/stop slider bars at the bottom of the graph back to cover about 7 hours starting last night at midnight). You can see what the AC load profile of my Leviton (32A) EVSE looks like from just after midnight last night till 7am this morning. The charging rate appears to be constant the entire time there is power drawn from the EVSE.

https://www.enerati.com/Electricity/EmbededDashboard.aspx?param1=MTA4NDI=&param2=MTAwNw==&param3=ZW5lcmF0aWJkOTM5NDhlZjg2MGVhMGMzZTYyZTczMjE=

This also demonstrates how an after midnight to 7am so-called scheduled charge actually can be successful, if you realize there is a big followed by little "double hump" seemingly disjointed charging operation in the overall process of recharging the battery. I do not know why it works this way, but I have plenty of evidence now after many months of recharging that it does indeed work this way, and it is always the same!

 

[Khaihon]

Dsinned & Tony,

Could the difference in cell-balancing duration be from a standard charge 80% vs. a extended charge 100%? It makes sense to me that a shorter balancing period is performed for a standard charge where there is lesser danger of overcharging the cells vs. in extended mode.

 

[TonyWilliams]

I'm not talking about the charge stop or restarting, or battery "conditioning" or balancing.

I'm merely stating, my actually measuring and monitoring, that the amps taper off toward the top of the charge.

At about 90-99%, the charge rate had dropped to 20 amps, from 40 amps. This is normal behavior for these types of chargers. The CHAdeMO in a LEAF starts dropping from 120 amps at about 50% SOC !!!

 

[Dsinned]

Tony, I don't think so, but it could be that my AC line measuring and monitoring system has too much Internet latency delay to see an end of charge "taper". Locally, it samples the line once every 6 seconds and the database for the graph is supposedly refreshed every 60 seconds via the Internet.

I should mention that using the same monitoring system, I DO see a taper in the charging rate when recharging my Chevy VOLT with the same Levitron EVSE. But, I do not see this happen when recharging my RAV4 EV (i.e. in standard charging mode).

I do not charge in extended mode often - maybe less than 1 out of 10 times, but it would be interesting to use the same AC monitoring capability to study the behavior of a full charge in extended mode. From memory, I can't recall if there was a taper or not, but it does seem logical and to be expected that it should slowly taper off as the battery nears a full charge.