advice on EVSE installation

I recently moved from a multi-unit apartment to a single-family home. I'm wondering if folks on the forum can give me some advice on re-installing my EVSE that I've owned for two years. Here's the situation:

Two years ago, I paid an electrician to install a Clipper Creek LCS-15, which is a hardwired, 15 amp, 240 volt EVSE, at my old apartment. The reason I went with such a low amp option at the time was because there was only one 15 amp breaker free on the electric panel. A month ago, when I moved out of this apartment, I paid the same electrician to come back and uninstall it and it's currently sitting in a closet at my house - I've just been L1 charging on an exterior outlet since we moved in.

So now, I would like to reinstall this same EVSE at my house - it's going to go on an exterior wall of our detached garage. I've already put way too much money into this EVSE, so I would like to keep costs down if I can. The unit was $400 when I bought it new, the installation in 2018 was $800 (it was a complicated job which involved running a pipe from my 3rd floor apartment down the exterior of the building to the driveway), and when the electrician took it out last month, they charged me another $200. So I'm trying to avoid doing an expensive new installation. It seems like the simplest and least expensive option would be to install it as close as possible to the sub-panel in the garage. I have a quote from a different electrician to install it on the exterior wall of the garage very close to the sub-panel for $355. This seems reasonable to me. But I have two questions:

1.) Even though this unit only needs 15 amps, I have 60 amps of free space on the sub-panel in the garage. The electrician will need to run new 240 volt wire anyway from the sub-panel to the unit on the outside of the garage. So should I ask him to run a 40 amp or 50 amp 240 volt wire instead of a 15 amp wire, that way, when I eventually replace this EVSE, the space where the new unit goes will be pre-wired for a higher amperage?

2.) The Clipper Creek is only warrantied for 3 years. How long do EVSE's typically last? When should I expect that I will need to replace mine? Though it's slow for a L2 charger, my current unit is fine for my needs, so I'd like to get as much mileage out of it as I can. But is there a certain average time after which I should expect it to be unreliable and/or unsafe to continue using? A decade? More?

Thanks.

My understanding is the code requires a minimum gauge wire, but does not specify a maximum -- as long as the termination can be done properly.

Aside from having slots available in the panel, the installation should take into account something called "load calculation", which the electrician should do to determine how much additional circuit amperage can be added to your electrical service.

BTW, your EVSE is providing 12A, which is 80% of the 15A circuit breaker rating. This is a safety measure since the EVSE is considered a "continuous load".

As far as durability the only spec I'm familiar with is the J1772 handle should be rated for minimum of 10,000 insertion cycles. As for expected lifetime, I don't know if anyone has definitive data. Clipper Creek have a reputation of being well-built.

Clipper Creek labels their charging stations by the breaker required, not (usually) by the power output. That means that you likely have a 10-12 amp EVSE, not a 15 amp one. With such a low output I suggest you try to sell it to someone with the same situation you had at your last home, and buy at least a 20 amp (25 in the model number if Clipper Creek) unit. If you can sell that one for $200 that should just about cover the cost of a Chinese 16-20 amp unit. In any case, if you keep this one I suggest you go with 40 amp wiring for a 30 amp unit, and a 15 amp breaker that can easily be changed later. That way you can use a more typical 30A EVSE down the road.

One slip in ahead of me.

$355 to install next to the panel is expensive. I paid $200 to install a 14-50 outlet about 10 feet from my panel. $200 to take down an EVSE is outrageous.

My CC is 3 years old and is doing great. These are very well built products; I could not even guess how long they will last.

Mine died, but it was a refurb, originally used for a prototype BMW fleet EV. It had an aftermarket Chinese J-1772 plug on it. It was L-1. It lasted for about 5-6 years for me.

Good to know. Thanks. Another thing I've considered, in addition to installing the hardwired LCS-15 on the outside of the garage, is installing the appropriate outlet inside the garage for the portable 240v Nissan EVSE that's included with the Leaf Plus. That way, if I ever do need a faster L2 charge than my little 15 amp EVSE (12A continuous, I know) can handle, I have that option. Plus, when I'm ready to upgrade to a faster L2 charger in a few years, I wouldn't need to hire an electrician to do anything, all I would need to do is buy a plug-in 32A or 40A EVSE.

Am I remembering correctly that I need a NEMA 14-50 outlet for the portable 240v Nissan EVSE? And does anyone use this on a regular or semi regular basis as their home charger?

I use mine regularly, but on 120 volts only.

NEMA 14-50 receptacle is correct for the dual voltage Nissan unit. The Nissan unit works fine on 240 volts or 120 volts (using the adapter plug), but it will not work on 208 volts (common for industrial/commercial facilities). If you have the panelboard capacity, I suggest that you have a 14-50 receptacle installed so you can charge faster when you need it. The installation cost should be minimal to have the Clipper Creek unit installed close to the panelboard if you wish to keep using it.

Kieran973 said:

Good to know. Thanks. Another thing I've considered, in addition to installing the hardwired LCS-15 on the outside of the garage, is installing the appropriate outlet inside the garage for the portable 240v Nissan EVSE that's included with the Leaf Plus. That way, if I ever do need a faster L2 charge than my little 15 amp EVSE (12A continuous, I know) can handle, I have that option. Plus, when I'm ready to upgrade to a faster L2 charger in a few years, I wouldn't need to hire an electrician to do anything, all I would need to do is buy a plug-in 32A or 40A EVSE.

Am I remembering correctly that I need a NEMA 14-50 outlet for the portable 240v Nissan EVSE? And does anyone use this on a regular or semi regular basis as their home charger?

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There is a lot to be said for going the receptacle route*. I know that lots of Tesla owners use their bundled 32 Amp mobile EVSE in just the way you mention. That said, current EVs seem to be 48 Amp chargers these days. At my home the CC is limited to 32 Amps throughput but I installed 60 ampacity wire to my 14-50 for a bit of future-proofing at low cost.

* Either 14-50 or 6-50. Each has its fans and merits. I prefer 14-50 for the flexibility

Thanks all. I am going to start with the install of the current EVSE I have, and if I like the electrician, I will probably add a NEMA 14-50 outlet inside the garage soon.

Leftie, btw, on a totally separate note: I don't know if you're still interested in upgrading to a Leaf Plus (I think you were considering it recently), but if you don't mind driving down to New Rochelle, Nissan of New Rochelle has the best deals right now on 2019 Leaf Pluses in all of NY State as far as I can tell. I got my SV Plus with the weather package there back in May for $25K after all taxes, fees, and rebates. The incentives have gone up since then, and today, I could probably buy one for $24K. The people at the dealership are an impressively shady bunch - the sales manager had never heard of the NY state tax rebate and was adamant that I was making it up; they kept trying to get me to sit in small rooms with various employees who all had their noses hanging out of their masks; they lost my insurance card and then harassed me for a month, begging me to give them a "perfect" online review, etc - but the dealership is discounting the cars by about $5500 right now, and Nissan USA offers another $5500 cash back, plus there is a less well advertised additional $1,000 cash back for "Leaf loyalty."

I would be interested, but when Nissan talks about "ending your lease early to lease a new Nissan" they mean "Pay us for the next year, and then give us the car back." Since the Leaf is staying in production I'll have to wait for next Spring. Thanks, though.