Aerovironment EVSE install information

[Alric]

Had a second estimate by a local electrician. The cost of the work will be 395. If I purchase the Leviton charger from amazon the total cost will be around 1400. Compare to 2600!

I have been thinking about this and I think Nissan bears some responsibility. After all, they are the ones that recommend Aeroenvironment and should work with us in attempting to get a refund for the estimate. I did contact Nissan but they were unwilling to discuss offering or help with a refund for the estimate. Not a good start for the EV purchasing experience.

[EdmondLeaf]

It is about time for Nissan to change that arrangement. It is a very different story for Volt buyers, they have discounted price for Voltec evse -$490 https://homecharging.spx.com/volt/Display.aspx?id=7&menu=14. Wonder why Nissan can't offer something like that. I guess they want to sell more Leaf and in the future ev. Least Nissan can do is to drop requirement for home inspection without asking for waver and provide information what are the options. IMHO 240V evse should be part of the deal. Alric I feel your pain

[ksnogas2112]

I don't know the final details as I only ordered on Sunday but the Nissan dealer here said they have a recommended installer that will do the installation for $1295. Since I don't know one end of a hammer from a screwdriver, that seems reasonable given some of the other prices posted in the forum. I'll let you know the final details when I get them.

[Alric]

It would be interesting to know if the dealer is recommending an installer that is not AV.

[ksnogas2112]

The dealer in KC is partnering with LillyPad (http://www.lilypadev.com/). I'll know more on Monday when they arrive for the assessment.

[Alric]

Local electrician did install of a Leviton for $395 as opposed to the $1600 labor quoted by AV. To be fair the Leviton install was for a 16A line while the AV EVSE requires 40A (I believe).

Would this affect labor costs much? Thanks.

[Venk]

Hello All, I Can not find my Aerovironment EVSE owner's manual anywhere after I finished installation. does anyone have a pdf copy or extra paper copy or if you are in the Sacramento/Davis area if you wouldn't mind if I borrow it for a few hours to make a copy of the manual?
If you can help please e-mail me at duneworm@yahoo.com
Thanks
Venk

[smkettner]

Local electrician did install of a Leviton for $395 as opposed to the $1600 labor quoted by AV. To be fair the Leviton install was for a 16A line while the AV EVSE requires 40A (I believe).

Would this affect labor costs much? Thanks.

Very little extra labor or materials to go 40 amps unless new main panel is required.

[TickTock]

Putting a comment here in hope of reaching new Leaf purchasers. Please consider adding an inexpensive power monitor such as the EKM25-IDS on the EVSE charger circuit when it is installed. It is the *only* way you will be able to quantifiably establish your battery capacity and any degradation you may encounter later. There are so many of us who wish we had...

[ljwobker]

Local electrician did install of a Leviton for $395 as opposed to the $1600 labor quoted by AV. To be fair the Leviton install was for a 16A line while the AV EVSE requires 40A (I believe).

Would this affect labor costs much? Thanks.

No, not at all. Assuming that you have space for the breakers and enough capacity in your electrical panel (if not that's a separate problem), then the process is identical for a 40A circuit vs anything lower... the only difference is that for a higher amp circuit they have to use a thicker wire. I'm guessing here, but the wire for the circuit itself is MAYBE 80 cents or a dollar more per foot.. so if you have an 80 foot run from the panel to the outlet or EVSE, you're talking about an incremental difference of something like $75 in materials.

The installation at the panel is identical... a 40A 240v two-pole circuit breaker isn't significantly more expensive than a 15A or 20A breaker... I think a 40A 2-pole breaker is like 20 bucks.

(note, one suggestion that I have for everyone is if you're going to get a circuit run anywhere in your house for something like this, get the wire itself run at a high current capacity. The labor to run and terminate the circuit is much higher than what you save by getting a smaller/cheaper wire). I think it's quite reasonable to assume that in the future we could see 40A or even 70A charging stations becoming pretty common... although if you're going to start talking about 70A, there are a lot of houses that will need to have their utility service upgraded, or they'll need to have some intelligence added so that the 70A charger in the garage isn't being used at the same time as other high-power devices in the home (dryers, water heaters, heat/AC units, etc)