From now through June, Chevrolet will cover the basic installation costs of level 2 home charging equipment for new 2022 Bolt EV and 2022 Bolt EUV customers. The offer isn't extended to 2021 Bolt EV buyers.
That's a nice perk, and not only helps out financially but also takes away one potential pain point in purchasing your first EV. That's figuring out what you need to do at home to get your garage ready to charge the vehicle.
Chevrolet, through its partner Qmerit, will install a NEMA 14-50 outlet and supply all of the materials including a new 40-amp circuit breaker. The one caveat is that this is only for what is determined as a "standard installation", and additional costs could be the customer's responsibility if the installation is more difficult than normal.
Quite honestly, that is an acceptable provision, as far as we're concerned because of the range of difficulty installing a NEMA 14-50 outlet can have from residence to residence. A standard installation probably includes a certain length of cable run from the circuit panel to the outlet's location, as well as a minimum of pulling the wires through walls and ceilings.
Additionally, the 2022 Bolt EUV will come standard with a level 1 / level 2 charger, that can deliver up to 32-amps (7.2 kW). That EVSE should be all owners need for home charging when paired with the NEMA 14-50 outlet to plug it into. It's optional for the Bolt EV.
However, both vehicles will now have the ability to charge at rates up to 11 kW from a 240V source. That's up from the 7.2 kW onboard charger that previous Bolt EVs had.
It's important to note that charging the Bolt EUV with the supplied 7.2 kW EVSE will be fast enough to fully recharge the vehicle overnight, even if the battery is depleted. If 7.2 kW charging isn't fast enough for some customers, they can purchase a 40-amp Level 2 charger that can deliver 9.6 kW and still plug it into the NEMA 14-50 outlet that Chevrolet installs.
The Bolt EV still only comes with a level 1 120-v charger, so owners will most likely want to purchase a Level 2 unit, either from Chevrolet or from a 3rd party.
However, if the customer wants to be able to charge at the 11 kW maximum rate that the vehicles can accept, they will need to install a dedicated 60-amp circuit and hardwire a unit that can deliver 48-amps, like the ChargePoint Home Flex or the ENEL JuiceBox 48. The NEMA 14-50 outlet that Chevrolet will install cannot deliver the full 11 kW that the vehicles can accept.
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We want to stress that most people will find they do not need to charge at 11 kW to have a fully charged car every morning as the 7.2 kW supplied charger will be more than adequate. But some may want to leave that unit in the vehicle in case they need to charge on the road sometimes, so they purchase home charging equipment to leave mounted to the wall where they charge.
In that case, they may want to purchase a 40-amp 9.6 kW charger because the price difference is only slightly more, and it will charge their car a little faster than the supplied 32-amp 7.2 kW unit can. Faster charging can also be a help if you're on a time-of-use utility plan and you only have a window of 5-6 hours every night to charge the vehicle and pay a lower electricity rate.
What do you think about the offer to pay for the installation of the 240V 50-amp circuit? Is this something that we'll see more OEMs do? Will it help to simplify home charging for new EV owners? As always, let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.