02 / Charging
6 DC chargers on site · 480 home installs arranged
Charging, sized to your house rather than to a price list
A household outlet adds 3–5 miles per hour. A 240 V wall unit adds 22–38. DC fast charging takes most of a pack in the time it takes to drink a coffee. What decides the question is not the hardware catalogue — it is how many miles your week holds and what your electrical panel can carry.
Level 1 · outlet
120 volts
3–5 miles per hour
Level 2 · wall unit
240 volts
22–38 miles per hour
DC fast charging
50–350 kW
10–80% in 18–40 minutes
DC chargers on our lot
6
test drives start charged
The three levels
Three levels. One of them is right for your street.
Buyers arrive expecting to be sold the largest charger on the list. The honest answer is often the smaller unit, and it is why 9 of 10 buyers here end up with a Level 2 wall unit rather than anything more exotic.
L1 · 120 V
Household outlet
Works anywhere, needs no hardware. Fine for a plug-in hybrid, painful for a full electric car doing real mileage.
3–5 miles per hour
L2 · 240 V · 7.2–11.5 kW
Home wall unit
The default answer for almost every buyer here. Overnight full charge, one install, and we arrange the electrician.
22–38 miles per hour
One night from empty to full, on a cable that reaches 24 ft from a garage wall to the charge port. That is the whole product: you stop thinking about charging, because the car is full before you are awake.
DC · 50–350 kW
DC fast charging
Road trips and busy days. We publish each car’s real curve, not the marketing peak, because the curve is what you live with.
10–80% in 18–40 minutes — and the curve behind that figure is what you actually live with.
Peak figure against the real curve
Measured in our bay
- 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5
- 235 kW · 10–80% in 18 min
- 2021 Tesla Model 3
- 250 kW · 10–80% in 27 min
- 2021 Volkswagen ID.4
- 125 kW · 10–80% in 38 min
- 2018 BMW i3s
- 50 kW · 10–80% in 42 min
- 2019 Nissan Leaf
- 100 kW · 10–80% in 45 min
- 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV
- 55 kW · 10–80% in 55 min
- 2020 Kia Niro EV
- 77 kW · 10–80% in 60 min
Every car above was logged from 10% to 80% on our own equipment. The 2021 Tesla Model 3 holds the highest peak on the lot at 250 kW, and it still takes 27 minutes. The quickest car here is the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 at 18 minutes, because its pack holds a high rate for longer instead of spiking and sagging. That difference is invisible in a spec sheet and obvious on a road trip.
Four figures we quote
9 of 10
buyers end up with a Level 2 unit
1 night
from empty to full on Level 2
24 ft
typical cable reach from a garage wall
$0
cost of our charging consultation
The consultation costs nothing because the answer is usually cheap: most households need 7.2 kW, not 11.5 kW, and we say so before the electrician is booked.
The install plan
Four steps, from your commute to a live charger.
One licensed electrician we have worked with on hundreds of installs, a permit handled properly, and a load calculation done rather than assumed. If your panel cannot take the load, you hear it in step one, not after delivery.
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01
We read your commute
Miles per day, off-street parking, panel size in the garage. Three questions, no inspection fee.
-
02
We size the charger
7.2 kW is enough for most households; 11.5 kW only pays off if you arrive empty and leave early. We say which one you need, including when it is the cheaper one.
-
03
Permit and install
A licensed electrician we have worked with on hundreds of installs, permit handled, load calculation done properly.
-
04
First week check
We look at your charging data a week in and adjust the schedule and the amperage if the car or the panel wants it.
On our lot
6 DC chargers, 1,240 tests
Cars are charged, tested and handed over on our own equipment, which is why we can tell you the curve rather than repeat a brochure. Every test drive starts with charge in the pack.
We buy from lease returns, fleet disposals and private owners, and we only take cars with a clean title and a readable battery history.
Handover
Handover at 80%
Charged to 80%, home charging plan written down, both keys, the paper file and the battery report in your inbox before you arrive.
In the workshop
The curve is logged
A full charge and discharge cycle with cell-level logging: state of health, per-module deviation, DC charging curve, thermal behaviour and reported range against the EPA figure.
After a week
First week check
We look at your charging data a week in and adjust the schedule and the amperage if the car or the panel wants it.
Cold weather
Winter takes range. Here is how much.
Anybody who tells you an electric car keeps its EPA figure in January is selling something. The penalty is real, it is measurable, and the size of it depends on where you live and whether your car has a heat pump.
Lost in a Florida winter
15–25%
up to 30% in a hard northern one
Mild winters
15–25% less
A Florida cold snap costs less than a northern winter, but it is not free: the pack holds less charge when it is cold, and the cabin heater is the second half of the bill. A car with a heat pump loses far less than one without, and we mark which is which in the highlights and notes on every listing.
Hard winters
Up to 30% less
Below freezing the pack itself holds less energy, and heating four seats and a windscreen costs more than moving the car does. Preconditioning while still plugged in at home moves most of that cost onto the grid instead of onto your range.
How we report it
Range on every listing is the EPA rating next to what the car actually did on our 60-mile mixed loop, in the season we tested it: September, 88 °F. A January run in the same car would read lower, and we would rather you knew the number and the weather together.
2021 Tesla Model 3: 353 mi rated, 322 mi measured at September, 88 °F.
Charging / consultation
Tell us the commute and we will size the charger
Miles per day, where the car parks overnight, and how much room is left in the panel — three questions and no inspection fee. The consultation costs $0, and when the cheaper unit is the right one for your house, that is the one we quote.
Answer within four business hours, from the technician who ran the battery test.