Just went through this. Installed a ChargePoint Flex on a new 50A circuit, which should charge a P*2 from 0% to full overnight.
Key decision points:
0- Hire a licensed electrician. Per mrs. polerad, this is not the time to DIY it.
0.1- Save your receipts so the gov't gives you 30% of your costs back as a
tax credit.
1- How many amps? This determines which equipment to get.
A new 50A circuit is the most you really need as it handles charging a P*2 full in in 8-9 hrs. For a Tesla P100D, that would charge it from empty to full in <12 hours.
My utility demanded special justification to install anything more than 50A, and you'd be paying a premium for the charging equipment too.
Another common option is a 40A circuit (32A operating), which would fully charge the P*2 in <12 hrs, or a P100D in <15 hrs.
If you have a newer, 200A main service panel, you can likely easily handle a new 50A circuit, or anything less.
If you have a 100A panel, you may need to deal with less amps, or upgrade your service.
Either way the electrician will do a load calculation to help decide the max you can put in.
2- Where?
If outside, you'll likely want/need a hard-wired install.
Most equipment isn't rated for outdoors installs without it being hardwired. And even if they do, you're looking at a GFCI circuit which can make the job more expensive. Generally the hard-wired boxes are cheaper than wired and it seems to be less labor for the electrician. Also, you can get a much cleaner look on an outside wall if you hardwire it through a breakout opening on the back of the box (ChargePoint has this, others don't).
But if outside, that box will always be there, which may run afoul of HOA busybodies.
If inside and a 2-car garage, consider putting it in the middle so it can access either bay. Most charging cables are 22-25 ft, so could reach the charging port of most any EV regardless of port location, assuming you don't have a massive garage. Even if it's to the side, you can make it work, but center gives maximal flexibility.
3- Hardwired or outlet-based? If outlet, which?
If you already have a 240V outlet on a circuit with enough amps, just use that and get equipment with the appropriate plug. If your electric dryer is in the garage, consider using a
DryerBuddy.
Though keep in mind a lot of equipment can be mounted max 3 ft from the outlet due to regulations, in case the outlet is not near your parking spot.
If you think you might move later or for some reason anticipate having to change out the equipment, put in an outlet. Most common outlets are NEMA14-50 or NEMA6-50. The choice between those two doesn't really matter but most seem to do NEMA14-50.
If you go with an outlet, you're limited to a 50A circuit, which isn't all that much a limitation.
Also, in principle, you can use a travel charger (which maybe comes with the P*2?) instead of having to purchase separate equipment. But, it's not recommended to constantly unplug/replug into NEMA14-50 outlets as they're not really designed for that, so you might wear out the connections over time. Though, some folks just do this. YMMV.
Else, if you're installing outside, or are unlikely to move the box after install, consider doing a hardwired install. It's likely cheaper and less complicated.
4- Which equipment?
First note that EVSE equipment is rated according to amps it can take in and feed though. This rating is 0.8 * the circuit rating - so 40A for a 50A circuit, 32A for a 40A circuit, and so on. You generally pay more for equipment with a higher circuit rating. But if you put 40A rated EVSE equipment on a 40A circuit, you're only going to actually get 32A out. SFYL.
An EVSE is basically a fancy extension cord that has the right plug (J1772) on the end to connect to your car.
The car manages the charging, including when to stop charging (based on how you set it) and the P*2 app promises the ability to monitor and manage charging remotely.
So you really don't need anything fancier than an extension cord with indicator LEDs, like this:
32A Level 2 EVSE AmazingE FAST with NEMA 14-50 | Powered by ClipperCreek
That said, if you want to take advantage of reduced charges from your utility at different times of day, it's not clear that the Polestar app helps with that, so you'll want the equipment to have some sort of app for that.
On Amazon there are a bunch of cheap options, but watch out as most of the cheap ones haven't been certified for electrical safety by the usual orgs. These might save you a couple hundred bucks, but I wasn't willing to risk an electrical fire over that, especially as this is a taxpayer subsidized purchase.
Trusted brands are ClipperCreek, ChargePoint, and JuiceBox.
ClipperCreek equipment is basically indestructible but generally doesn't have all the bells and whistles like apps, WiFi connectivity, etc so they're usually cheaper without being less quality. They do look plain though.
ChargePoint is kind of becoming the standard and they're used throughout the US in public installations as well. The HomeFlex could be used with whatever range of amps your circuit can provide and the charging can be managed with ChargePoint's app, which you'll likely want to have anyway for public charging. I also liked the ChargePoint looks the best. It is more expensive though.
JuiceBox is similar to ChargePoint, but there are enough Amazon reviews of people having issues with it constantly faulting due to dropping WiFi connections that I wrote it off.
There are others out there like GrizzlE that I didn't really check out.
If you're in the Bay Area I can recommend electricians.
