How to Prepare Your Home for an Electric Vehicle

When was the last time you went shopping for a new or pre-owned Mercedes-Benz around Saskatoon? The last thing you probably took into consideration, is how to prepare their home for it. While EVs have many benefits — among them, a potential reduction in your carbon footprint and lower maintenance costs than most gasoline cars — one aspect of them that requires a bit of preparation is setting up your electric vehicle home charger. 

Namely, when you buy a new EV, you want to know how to prepare your home for an electric vehicle and get your space ready before the EV arrives at your Winnipeg driveway. While there are electric vehicle charging stations in the Regina area, as well as electric vehicle charging batteries for sale online, an electric vehicle home charger will still probably be your primary method of EV charging for the foreseeable future. Find out how to set up an electric vehicle charging station within your very own Calgary garage, with the staff at Mercedes-Benz Regina below!

1. Select a Charging Type (AKA Charging Level)

If you haven’t already researched types of EV chargers, now is a good time to start. As a refresher, most electric vehicle home charger systems fall into Level 1 or Level 2. Here’s more information: 

• Level 1 EV charging often takes days to fully charge an electric car. 
• Level 2 EV charging often takes several hours to fully charge an electric car. You can often get between 97–322 kilometres of range in just 20–30 minutes with Level 2 DC charging, though. For this reason, most people intermix daytime “top-off” charging with overnight charging.

2. Prepare Your Garage

If you haven’t cleaned out or organized your garage, now is the time to do that! Make sure that you get your garage ready for an EV before you take delivery! You’ll want to clear out any clutter or personal belongings to make as much room as possible to set up your at-home electric vehicle charging station.

3. Locate Your Power Panel & Assess Consumption

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

Next, you’ll want to get a handle on how much electrical energy you consistently use in your house by performing a self-assessment of your electricity use before you install an EV charging system. You do not want to overload your distribution system whenever you’re powering your EV or your electric vehicle charging batteries.

4. Employ an Electrician

Next, hire an electrician. You can discuss any concerns you have about your power consumption and adding EV charging. You can also have them install a dedicated 240-volt plug or add a hardwired circuit back to the power panel. Usually, this costs a couple of hundred CAD, but could be up to $1,400 or $4,100 if it’s found that your power panel is not sufficient as-is and requires upgrading. 

5. Purchase Your Charger & Have it Installed

You’ve done the research. You’ve bought your EV charger. Now is the time to have it professionally installed by the electrician of your choice.

Electrify Your Drives with Mercedes-Benz Regina

Do you have additional questions or concerns about prepping your home for an EV or the benefits of electric vehicle charging batteries? Reach out to us at Mercedes-Benz Regina or call 306-205-8061 for more information. Or, if you’re still shopping around for a new electric car, fill out our secure auto loan application to move your vehicle buying experience along.