EV Level 2 home charging is indispensable
No bullshit home EV charging with Franklin Whole Home Battery System and Chargepoint Home Flex charging station
Trickle charging (120V) was not for me. It was a five day experiment in futility. The usage of trickle (level one) charging was thrust upon me as my purchase of a Tesla Model 3 long range was abrupt, but not impulsive. I had planned on purchasing an EV. Just not as quickly as I did.
The home charger I use is the Chargepoint Home Flex charging station. The install time was eight hours including preparation, design, installation, configuration, and provisioning. The one blunder was when I forgot to provision the 240V, 50 AMP smart circuit in the Franklin aGate; provisioning the smart circuit is completed through the Franklin smartphone app. The smart circuit is a Eaton CHF250 circuit breaker. The Chargepoint Home Flex has everything you need to mount the unit including screws and drill bit. I needed to purchase this 6/3 AWG 50+ amp 5 foot cable to connect the Chargepoint Home Flex to the Franklin aGate smart circuit. At time of provisioning, the Chargepoint mobile app adjusts the amps to a setting such that the number times 125% equals the amps of the circuit. In my case, the Chargepoint Home Flex charges at 40 amps. This provides me with a 41 mi/hr rate of charging.
Why Chargepoint Home Flex ? There are numerous options available. This article juxtaposes the most prominent home charging station options. The main reason I chose the Chargepoint Home Flex as it made for use with Tesla, non-Tesla EVs, or hybrids — planning for a non-Tesla EV or hybrid. The second reason was to “spread the money around to all members of the non-ICE ecosystem”. The third was Chargepoint Home Flex is consistently rated as a top option for home EV charging. The initial challenge with Chargepoint Home Flex was removing the charger from the Telsa charging port. Removing the Tesla cable (with no adapter) is easy, you simply touch the button on the top of the charger nozzle. The Chargepoint cable nozzle requires you to press and release the button on the Chargepoint cable nozzle. The specifics of removal can be found on the Telsa Motors Club discussion forum. The most important color to remember regarding the Tesla charging port colors is that white indicates the charging nozzle can be removed. Make sure the port color is white before attempting removal. Solid green indicates that charging is done. Blinking green indicates the Tesla is currently charging. Blue indicates the Tesla senses there is a charger connected.
My first question after I decided trickle charging was untenable was, “I have a 240V outlet in my garage, why can’t I purchase a 240V extension cable to charge my Tesla?”. The short answer is, you can. After all, the Tesla is equipped at purchase time with a 120V charging cable, why not a 240V cable. Here is an insightful article regarding using a 240V certified Tesla charging cable. The article includes a link to a Portable Level 2 Tesla EV Charger. The price is approximately $270.00. A cheaper option than the $549.00 ChargePoint Home Flex charging station I utilize. The additional $179.00 gives you smart phone charging control capabilities (start, stop, pause), charging monitoring, and insightful statistics regarding charging costs, charging activity, and estimated gas cost savings. The benefit of the 240V extension cable is you can take it with you. However, not sure how many family and friends will have a 240V outlet accessible for Tesla charging.
Now that I am using the Chargepoint Home Flex, I went from 5 miles per hour charging to 41 miles per hour. This allows me to charge the Tesla back to full capacity (well, actually charging to 80% capacity as recommended by Tesla) every night even if I get home at midnight and leave at 6 AM. Trickle charging (120V — Level One charging) could suffice when: 1/ Drive 30 or less miles a day. 2/ Don’t care to gather statistics regarding kWh usage, view present and past activity, have access to a plethora of kWh consumed data, and don’t find value in your estimated cost savings on gas. 3/ Don’t care to start, stop, or pause the charging using a smartphone app, or monitor the status of charging.
The decision to utilize the Tesla included 120V extension cable, purchase a 240V cable, or install a 240V home charging station depends on your use case(s) and your personal living attributes. My conditions are not conducive to Level 1 EV charging:
- 25 miles to a Tesla supercharger — Living in Northwest Arkansas (NWA) is ideal for a serene, low hassle, outdoor existence. It is not practical for EV living — ICE is the past, present, and future. The dearth of Tesla chargers in NWA, particularly in Bentonville with a young population of over-educated high income earners, is perplexing to me.
- No charger at work — I work from home, and my significant other is a cath lab nurse at a hospital. I suspect, but have no empirical evidence, that a vast majority of EV owners benefit from accessible (and free or low cost) EV charging stations at their place of work.
- Drive on average 50+ miles a day - The Tesla consumes at least 50 miles of energy a day. This means that to charge recharge on the typical day would require the car to charge for at least 10 hours. Sometimes this is not feasible.
My conditions are conducive to Level 2 EV charging using a home battery system along with a charging station:
- Home battery already exists — I installed a Franklin two battery whole home backup system in mid-2024. The Franklin aGate smart circuit module makes it easy for me to install a home charging station.
- Desire to monitor usage, and remotely control charging — The ability to control the charging via a smartphone, monitor the charging, analyze kWh usage patterns, and have insights into cost savings was highly desirable to me.
- Solar in my future — Free charging is in the future. Solar charging will eliminate any ongoing EV charging costs. This has the potential to save $700 to $1100 a year. Charging the EV, consumes on average 12 kW per day. Given that one 450 watt panel produces about 2 kW per day. I would need approximately six panels to charge a car each day. The REC Solar 460w panel cost about $350 dollars ($2,100). The cost of the Franklin aPbox is about $900.00. It would be another $3000.00 for installation. This would equal about a six year ROI. The reality is the ROI could accelerate as grid electrical costs are increasing.
The epiphany I had during the writing of Tesla related blog posts is that being a renter is a significant and potentially insurmountable blocker to EV adoption in the US. Renters account for approximately 34% of the U.S. population. Installing a Level 2 charger is highly improbable (not impossible) given the individual does not own the home. There exists cost (money you will not get back) and permission (from the landlord) barriers. If the renter lives in an apartment complex, installing a Level 2 charger is virtually impossible. I imagine some apartment complexes will start to equip their proprieties with chargers, but an EV Level 2 + charger per unit is decades away.
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The latest, and last — at least for now, accessory I purchased is a J1772 to Tesla Charger Adapter. The 2022 Tesla Model 3 came standard with a J1772 to Tesla Charger Adapter. However, I use this adapter for my home charging station. I could remember to bring this charger along every time I leave the house. This approach is a pipe dream. I will invariably forget. Then I will be out and about, and need a charge and can not locate a Tesla charging station. At this point, I am screwed. No adapter means I am not charging. Better to have two J1772 to Tesla adapters when the cost of an adapter is less than $16.00.
Seems as though the combination of Franklin, Chargepoint, and Tesla is fledgling, for now. I am hoping this blog post will help the nascent neophyte community of maven, maverick Franklin + Chargepoint consumers. This article in Car and Driver juxtaposes the numerous home charger options. The author concludes that Chargepoint Home Flex is the number one choice, just as I concluded after extensive research and consultation with a myriad of EV owners.
About the author: Tom is driven by three things: paying it forward, creating new, new things, and connecting people. Tom’s values are passion, integrity, and fun. Tom is fanatical about revolutionizing health care after suffering a LAD heart attack and cardiac arrest.
Tom is a Member of Advisor Board for Champion the Challenges. He is the Patient Advocate Ambassador for the Heart & Stroke AI Sidekick developed by Champion the Challenges and powered by the Sidekick Platform. Tom publishes content to help patients recovery from a heart incident on Tom’s Heart. His heart attack and cardiac arrest incident story and timeline are located on the Champion the Challenges website.
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Tom occupies his time mountain biking, meditating, snowboarding, reading, water skiing and surfing, playing pickleball, writing, golfing, riding his Harley, scuba diving, hiking, and dipping into cold water.
About the author : Tom is the creator and publisher of Tom’s Heart. Tom’s Heart is a cardiac recovery AI based smart phone application, which simplifies and gamifies the cardiac incident recovery process. Tom is the sole founder and curator of the is BullShit brand. Tom occupies his time mountain biking, meditating, snowboarding, reading, water skiing and surfing, playing pickleball, writing, golfing, riding his Harley, scuba diving, hiking, and dipping into cold water. He is the founder of the Ma Pesch Foundation — paying it forward is the the only way to live. The Ma Pesch Foundation provides scholarships to young adults seeking a Science Technology Engineering and Math (#STEM) degree.
