Car blogs

By Danny King, Contributor


New electric vehicles don't mate real well with old houses.


That's the general consensus of those who are either analyzing the expected influx of privately owned electric vehicles starting later this year or are expecting to benefit from it.


Between labor and parts, the installation cost of an EV-charging station in a garage will range from less than $200 to as much as $10,000, depending on the wiring configuration of the house in question.


Last week, KB Home, one of the largest U.S. homebuilders, said it will start giving buyers of its newly built homes the option of getting the houses pre-wired to handle electric-vehicle charging, with the average extra cost estimated at about $250.


For everyone else, those numbers jump a little, according to figures quoted by The New York Times this morning and verified by Green Car Advisor.


ECOtality's Jonathan Read, whose company is working on a charging-station network for the upcoming Nissan Leaf battery-electric vehicle, estimated a total cost range from about $800 to $1,800, while Kevin Czinger, CEO of EV-maker Coda Automotive, widened that range to between a few hundred and a few thousand dollars.


Boston Consulting Group said a unit cost would be between $750 and $2,000.


Still, for those owning or buying older houses, that price could jump into the five-digit range because of the repaneling and rewiring likely needed to accommodate EVs that require 220-volt systems for overnight charging, according to Richard Lowenthal, CEO of Coulomb Technologies.
Continue reading...

Tags: Batteries, Chevrolet, Coda, Emissions, Energy Companies, Nissan, Plug-ins and Electric, ChargePoint, Coda Automotive, Coulomb Technologies Inc., ECOtality, EV Charging Stations, KB Home, SemaConnect

---

Home Chargers for Plug-in Cars Said to Range From Hundreds of Dollars to $10,000 was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.