Electric vehicle revolution brings changes to Minnesota garages With more vehicles on the way, focus on at-home charging intensifies
By Jennifer Bjorhus Star Tribune
December 18, 2021
The monumental effort underway to build a public electric vehicle charging network across the United States involves intense planning and billions of dollars.
But one of the linchpins in the electric vehicle revolution is not on the highway. It's at home on the wall of the garage or apartment building.
The vast majority of electric vehicle (EV) charging takes place at home, after all. Home owners with garages are the easiest part of the charging puzzle, and there's a brisk business in upgrading residential chargers in Minnesota. It can be more complicated for multi-unit dwellers — particularly for renters, where the lack of charging access is a major barrier to driving electric, and a serious equity issue. ...
New vehicles come with a Level 1 charger that plugs into a standard 110-volt outlet, and that's adequate if your daily drive is less than 30 miles, Kukkonen said. Some homeowners are installing more powerful 240-volt outlets for faster Level 2 chargers that can recharge a flat battery overnight. ...
Shaver said the dedicated power line, meter, charger and installation altogether cost $2,555. Because they both work from home, they could probably get by plugging the Bolt into the garage's 110-volt outlet, they said. But it takes more than a day to fully charge it with that "drip" outlet, Mekoli said with a laugh. ...
Full storyYes, it all sounds so very practical and economical. As long as you can leave your car parked in the garage for an entire day and not drive very far when it's unplugged, you'll be fine.
