How to Prepare Your Home for Your Electric Vehicle

When it comes to buying a new car, you often don’t need to think about how to prepare your home for it’s arrival. While EVs have many benefits, including reducing your carbon footprint and lower maintenance costs compared to traditional gas vehicles; they do require a little bit more preparation before taking delivery of them. When you purchase an EV, you want to be sure your home is ready to charge that vehicle. While there are EV chargers across the Pittsburgh area, charging at home will still be your primary source of EV charging for the immediate future. Let’s get into five easy ways you can ready your home for your new Bolt EV, Bolt EUV or soon the Blazer EV!

1. Choose Your Level of Charging

If you haven’t begun researching chargers, now is the perfect time to start! Most home charging systems fall into two categories – Level 1 and Level 2.

• Level 1 EV charging often takes days to fully charge a vehicle.
• Level 2 EV charging takes several hours to fully charge a vehicle. Often times you can get 60-200 miles of range in about 20-30 minutes using Level 2 DC charging.

2. Prepare Your Garage

If it’s been awhile since you’ve organized your garage, now’s the time to do it! Make sure everything is ready for your EV by clearing enough space not only for your vehicle but also for your charging system.

3. Find Your Power Panel and Assess Your Electric Consumption

The power panel in your home distributes power evenly throughout. The panel should be rated for a maximum amount of current flow measured in Amperes. Most new homes come with a 100Amp panel, but there should be an amperage rating printed on your main circuit breaker.

You’ll also want to assess how much electricity you consistently use in your house by performing a self-assessment of your electricity use before you install your EV charging system. This ensures you won’t overload your circuit breaker.

4. Hire An Electrician

A professional electrician will be able to help you with any concerns you may have regarding energy consumption while adding EV charging. You can also have them install a dedicated 240-volt plug or add a hardwired circuit back to the power panel. Costs can range from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand depending on whether or not your power panel needs to be upgraded.

5. Purchase Your Charger and Have It Installed

If you haven’t purchased your charging system yet, now’s the time to do so and have it professionally installed.

Do you have additional questions or concerns about purchasing an electric vehicle, EV charging or getting your home ready for your EV? Contact our team at Bowser Chevrolet Chippewa at 724-846-2600 or browse our Bolt EV and Bolt EUV inventory today!