How to Prepare Your Home for an Electric Vehicle

If you’re interested in buying an EV like the Kia Niro, you’ve likely considered all of the benefits, from the lower maintenance costs to the reduction in your carbon footprint. Another factor to consider when purchasing an EV is preparing your home for the electric vehicle charging station. While the number of EV charging stations around Auburn is gradually increasing, home charging will likely be your primary method of EV charging. In order to adequately prepare, read this guide to learn how to prepare your home for an electric vehicle.

1. Choose Your Charging Type

You’ll want to research the different types of EV chargers, as most home charging systems will fall into Level 1 or Level 2. Here’s a quick overview of the charging types:

• Level 1 EV charging often takes days to charge an electric car fully.
• Level 2 EV charging often takes several hours to charge an electric car fully. Federal Way drivers can often get between 60-200 miles of range in just 20-30 minutes with Level 2 DC charging. As a result, most drivers will intermix daytime “top-off” charging with overnight charging.

2. Prepare Your Garage for the Electric Vehicle Home Charger

Once you’ve decided on the EV home charger, you’ll then want to clean out or organize your garage to make enough room for it.

3. Locate Your Power Panel & Assess Consumption

The power panel in your Sumner home sends electricity throughout the building. It should be rated for a maximum amount of current flow measured in Amperes. Most new homes come with a 100 Amp power panel, but there should be an amperage rating printed on your main circuit breaker.

You’ll need to assess how much electrical energy your house uses before installing the electric vehicle charging station, as you don’t want to overload your electric distribution panel.

4. Hire an Electrician

Next, hire an electrician to discuss any concerns about your home’s power consumption. You can also have them install a 240-volt plug or add a hardwired circuit back to the power panel. This can cost a couple of hundred dollars, but it can be up to $1,000 or $3,000 if your power panel isn’t sufficient, and it needs to be upgraded.

5. Purchase Your Electric Vehicle Home Charger & Have it Installed

Once you’ve purchased your EV charger, and it has been delivered to your home in Puyallup, have it professionally installed by an electrician.

Learn More About Electric Cars with Sunset Kia of Auburn

Now that you know how to prepare your home for an electric vehicle, reach out to Sunset Kia of Auburn to learn more about EVs. We can discuss how long electric car batteries last, if electric cars use oil, and how EVs differ from hybrids. And remember, when you shop at our Auburn dealership, you can enjoy exclusive perks like Warranty Protection for Life, Oil Changes for Life and Sunset Auto Used Car Reconditioning!