Hello all, I'm in Chapel Hill, NC and hoping to receive my 2012 Leaf next week or the week after. I am planning to get an electrician friend to install a Level-2 EVSE in my garage but he's never installed an EVSE before so he doesn't have any experience in terms of finding the optimal position in the garage (subject of course to the limitations of where he can easily route a 240V circuit).
The only advice I have seen is from a DOE pamphlet which warns against placing the EVSE on the front wall of the garage where the car could run into it. Instead the pamphlet suggests placing the EVSE on a side wall to minimize trip hazards, etc. The problem I have is that my Leaf will occupy the center stall of a 3-car garage, and eventually it may move to the right-hand stall. I can't easily run a 240V circuit to the right-hand wall, so my choices are front wall or left-hand wall. The distance from the left wall to the right bay is almost 25' so that doesn't seem optimal. The best spot for the EVSE would seem to be on the front wall, just to the right of the entrance door into the house (which itself is centered in front of the middle bay). I can easily place the EVSE high enough on the wall so that the car couldn't possibly run into it.
So for my application, the front wall seems the best choice ... from that spot I could pretty easily reach a car in any of the three bays, assuming the cars' charging ports are all near the front like the Leaf. But I just can't get past the DOE pamphlet showing a big red "x" for placing the charger on the front wall. I guess another issue with using the front wall is that the charger cable will barely reach outside the garage, but I think I can live with that.
Any words of advice? note that my breaker panel is on the opposite side of the house from the garage, so locating the EVSE close to the panel is not a consideration.
Thanks!
The only advice I have seen is from a DOE pamphlet which warns against placing the EVSE on the front wall of the garage where the car could run into it. Instead the pamphlet suggests placing the EVSE on a side wall to minimize trip hazards, etc. The problem I have is that my Leaf will occupy the center stall of a 3-car garage, and eventually it may move to the right-hand stall. I can't easily run a 240V circuit to the right-hand wall, so my choices are front wall or left-hand wall. The distance from the left wall to the right bay is almost 25' so that doesn't seem optimal. The best spot for the EVSE would seem to be on the front wall, just to the right of the entrance door into the house (which itself is centered in front of the middle bay). I can easily place the EVSE high enough on the wall so that the car couldn't possibly run into it.
So for my application, the front wall seems the best choice ... from that spot I could pretty easily reach a car in any of the three bays, assuming the cars' charging ports are all near the front like the Leaf. But I just can't get past the DOE pamphlet showing a big red "x" for placing the charger on the front wall. I guess another issue with using the front wall is that the charger cable will barely reach outside the garage, but I think I can live with that.
Any words of advice? note that my breaker panel is on the opposite side of the house from the garage, so locating the EVSE close to the panel is not a consideration.
Thanks!