After installing literally thousands of EV chargers over the years we’ve found that after a year or so some of our customers have reported problems with their electrical panel or circuit breakers, especially the circuit breaker that controls the EV charging.
Unlike most electrical devices and appliances which turn on and off in a relatively short time, EV chargers can stay on continuously for hours at a time which puts an increased stress on your electrical system. Fortunately, these issues are almost always preventable with proper yearly maintenance of the electrical panel and the EV circuit breaker.
This service includes inspecting the panel and circuit breakers, tightening up any loose connections, and adding an anti-oxidant compound to the connection points of the EV circuit breaker to ensure optimum conductivity of power to the EV. Our price to perform this annual maintenance visit is $150.
WARNING: There is a chance that uninstalling the charger or removing the faceplate cover from the charger will result in it being cracked. This is especially true for Gen 2 Wall Connector installations that have been installed outdoors and have been exposed to the sun over some period of time. The material in the Gen 2 Wall Connector has a tendency to become extremely brittle. We will do our work as carefully as possible but we cannot guarantee that the job can be done without cracking the faceplate cover of your Gen 2 charger. If this happens, we cannot replace Wall Connector faceplate covers as the part is not sold separately, and we cannot reimburse the cost of the cover or charger in the event where this happens.
Regarding NEMA Receptacles:
Recently, we have been running into a lot of issues with NEMA receptacles not working properly when EV chargers with a cord are plugged into this receptacle. We have also noticed that this can sometimes damage the charger itself. We now highly recommend to all our customers that if they currently have a NEMA receptacle as part of their charging system, that this NEMA receptacle be removed and replaced with a hardwired EV charger.
The labor cost to perform this work can start around $245 depending on your specific situation, plus the cost of a “hard wired” EV charger. A “hard wired” EV charger is one which is designed to be powered without the use of a cord or receptacle.
While we do recommend replacing NEMA receptacles, this replacement is not mandatory. We can still perform our suggested yearly EV charger maintenance on the panel and connections to an existing NEMA receptacle. However, we cannot guarantee this will solve any NEMA receptacle charging issues that may arise in the future.