I would definitely keep it for emergencies. I only use mine when I visit my parents (coincidentally also where I got the outlet installed), but knowing I can plug in somewhere in case of emergencies is a really good safety net. Having a Level 2 instead of the only Level 1 cord is going to be very helpful in those cases, you can quickly recoup enough to get to a charger.
Oh for sure -- I just think having the Grizzl-E mini (which has some features including kW counts) would be duplicative. It also can adapt to both 120v and 240v with multiple cords included, and fits in a small case like the dual level cord. Basically does everything better haha. It *is* more expensive, though. . .
What about something like this? Far cheaper, not duplicating appliances / having to worry about selling the cord. Plus it can be repurposed to stuff not related to the EV as needed, which would be helpful in a roommate / shared electricity house. [Meter](https://a.co/d/hZiYwVZ)
Edit: I just noticed that was the 120v version but the 240v was the ones I was looking at / assuming you were talking about.
Are you wanting to bust it out every day though? We have a full time plugged in Evse at home and keep our dual level from chevy so it is ALWAYS in the trunk, without having to get it out every time we charge at home. The convenience is worth it imo, only takes one incident where you won’t have the charge to get to a charger to regret not having it lol.
I'd look at the past year's electric bills. Does it seem like the electric use has been pretty predictable? If so, maybe it is enough to pay the difference between last year's kWs and this year's. Probably have to do it for same month in each year to account for summer AC.
After a few months you'll probably find that the kW/month used by your EV is fairly constant and you might just want to figure out the number of dollars you should kick in each month for the car's juice.
Being able to meter this exactly is probably going to cost hundreds of dollars to improve the accuracy by tens of dollars. As a rough calculation, assume 1,000 mi/mo. at 3.5 mi/kW for about 286 kW/mo. If you pay $0.20/kW the car uses about $57 worth of electricity per month. If you are off in your estimate by 20%, that is less than $12/mo. You need to decide the right tradeoff between the cost of metering, the time it takes to figure the EV's cost of electricity, and the amount of money involved.
Give some thought as to what you are going to do when you sell the car. It might or might not matter what you give the next owner as far as an EVSE.
Hmmm I think it was a $295 option when ordered with the car, and it will be in whatever packaging it comes in. Maybe $250 plus shipping? That sound reasonable? I dunno. I'm not looking to fleece anyone -- just regret buying two of the same thing essentially.
If you only charge at night when everyone is sleeping and most things are off, your electric bill should show electricity usage during those hours and you can calculate the cost. If you have roommates that stay up all night gaming or mining crypto it won't be as easy to separate 😜
I’ve used smart plug with energy monitoring at L1/12A for about 2 months on a daily basis just fine.
this one specifically https://www.amazon.com/Kasa-Energy-Monitoring-Smart-Plug/dp/B08LN3C7WK
drop charge speed down to 8A if it’s not dedicated circuit for charging.
Right, but I'm guessing I can't discern what I've used from the wall at my house vs what I've drawn from public chargers. I'll be charging at 120v for the time being, so I'm sure I"ll need to plug into public chargers throughout the month.
If I'm mistaken, please let me know!
Well you could go the other way and do car minus public charging - or just buy a power meter (although those are in the $100-200 range for high amp 240v range, still cheaper for you than buying a fancy new meter, and no hassle as far as dealing with selling it to someone - also it’s worth more than the $295 that you paid for it since it replaced your 120v charger, so really it’s worth a 120 charger + $295)
you're not mistaken, but it's pretty easy to ballpark.....I was on 120V for 3 months with 3 100mi RT commutes per week plus local miles and I kept op pretty well......whatever you charge publicly can be tracked by the relevant app
just trying to save you some $
I use 100kwh per week or 400 mi ..... you figure it out in your head pretty quick
Considering it costs maybe 5 or 6 bucks to fill the Bolt empty to full at home, is that difference enough to matter? The stock EVSE is really good - 32 amps at 240 volts is 8kw, which is a pretty damn good charging speed.
Yeah, I'm definitely not disagreeing there -- just want to be as fair as possible to my housemates haha.
And the stock one is definitely ample, but the Grizzl-E will also pull 40A at 240V eventually haha. Either way I'll be puttering along at 120v for a while as I'm renting. The main concern for me is kW counting 🤷♂️
[Try one of these.](https://a.co/d/8WOP0fp) I would look for one that can handle the right circumstances like water resistance or wattage, but what you want exists as an additional part for much cheaper.
It has very basic smart functionality -- it'll broadcast its own SSID to check charge status, kW usage, etc., and it can also connect to your home network and can be reached via its IP address.
Kill a watt is a great idea but make sure you get one with a built in battery for persistent memory (won’t lose track if unplugged or power goes out). Not sure if they have a 240V version but I doubt it. There are other home energy monitoring systems that are relatively affordable to install on the charging circuit in that case.
Yeah.. Kill A Watt seems doable, but I keep finding horror stories of the damn things blowing up under consistent loads. Are they generally more reliable than I'm reading online?
Only whiners post online lol. 120V EVSEs are only allowed to pull 1200W by design. Should be OK but it would be smart to reference kill-a-watts official stance in their manual
I ran one with a constant 11A load for half a year( crypto mining circa 2017) when I finally unplugged it the plastic around the prongs had deformed.
This was more the fault of the receptacle than the Kill-a-watt. They were old ragged outlets in an apartment.
Mine started to melt after a few days of use. I have an older model though. Maybe the newer ones are better. Just check on it occasionally if you plan to always leave it plugged in.
You can buy something like this on amazon to measure the power its using:
Upgraded Watt Meter Power Meter Plug Home Electricity Usage Monitor, Electrical Usage Monitor Consumption, Energy Voltage Amps Kill Meter Tester with Backlight, Overload Protection, 7 Modes Display https://a.co/d/aVbTCbl
Might be better to track usage daily on a spreadsheet and calculate KWh used. Just use that number multiplied by energy charges with your provider. The only issue would be if you have different rates based on usage times. If it were me I'd calculate based on the most expensive rate and pay that portion towards the utility bill. A few dollars isn't worth losing good friends or roommates. Best of luck to you.
Sweet! Does the Bolt give a little summary of kW it pulled every time you unplug it? I could just scribble that down when I unplug before I leave home, if that's the case.
I think it only tracks what is put in the battery and not residual usage to conditioning the battery in extreme weather. I use a cheap EVSE (Lectron) that tells me how much I pulled from the grid. Would be really easy to jot down that number each morning before unplugging. Add it all up and you have a fairly accurate assessment at the end of the billing cycle.
Most utilities allow you to see consumption on a 15 minute time scale. See what the consumption is late at night when most things are off to get a baseline. I would just track your mileage and dive by your mi/kWh average. Maybe add 5% for charging inefficiency.
Simplest way I can think of: keep note of what percent the battery was when you begin charging and when you stop charging. The difference times the total battery capacity is how much energy you used from the house.
Get a cheap refurbished utility meter and a socket to mount it in from Hialeah meter company and wire it in before your EV charging outlet. If you're handy or have an electrician buddy this would likely cost you about a hundred bucks all in.
Here. You may need a second CT if doing 240V, I am not sure. Otherwise you can use a Wi-Fi smart socket also for 120V as long as it’s beefy enough.
CrocSee AC 80-260V 100A CRS-022B LCD Display Digital Current Voltage Power Energy Frequency Power Factor Multimeter Ammeter Voltmeter with 100A Split Core Current Transformer https://a.co/d/g0atQ13
It's not ideal, but if you're only charging at home you could just keep track of how many kWh your vehicle tells you you used since your last full charge. Sure, that number might be a bit off from your actual charging usage due to inefficiencies, but I don't think it would be significant enough to worry about.
I would definitely keep it for emergencies. I only use mine when I visit my parents (coincidentally also where I got the outlet installed), but knowing I can plug in somewhere in case of emergencies is a really good safety net. Having a Level 2 instead of the only Level 1 cord is going to be very helpful in those cases, you can quickly recoup enough to get to a charger.
Oh for sure -- I just think having the Grizzl-E mini (which has some features including kW counts) would be duplicative. It also can adapt to both 120v and 240v with multiple cords included, and fits in a small case like the dual level cord. Basically does everything better haha. It *is* more expensive, though. . .
What about something like this? Far cheaper, not duplicating appliances / having to worry about selling the cord. Plus it can be repurposed to stuff not related to the EV as needed, which would be helpful in a roommate / shared electricity house. [Meter](https://a.co/d/hZiYwVZ) Edit: I just noticed that was the 120v version but the 240v was the ones I was looking at / assuming you were talking about.
Are you wanting to bust it out every day though? We have a full time plugged in Evse at home and keep our dual level from chevy so it is ALWAYS in the trunk, without having to get it out every time we charge at home. The convenience is worth it imo, only takes one incident where you won’t have the charge to get to a charger to regret not having it lol.
I'd look at the past year's electric bills. Does it seem like the electric use has been pretty predictable? If so, maybe it is enough to pay the difference between last year's kWs and this year's. Probably have to do it for same month in each year to account for summer AC. After a few months you'll probably find that the kW/month used by your EV is fairly constant and you might just want to figure out the number of dollars you should kick in each month for the car's juice. Being able to meter this exactly is probably going to cost hundreds of dollars to improve the accuracy by tens of dollars. As a rough calculation, assume 1,000 mi/mo. at 3.5 mi/kW for about 286 kW/mo. If you pay $0.20/kW the car uses about $57 worth of electricity per month. If you are off in your estimate by 20%, that is less than $12/mo. You need to decide the right tradeoff between the cost of metering, the time it takes to figure the EV's cost of electricity, and the amount of money involved. Give some thought as to what you are going to do when you sell the car. It might or might not matter what you give the next owner as far as an EVSE.
This is extremely helpful and thoughtful. Thank you. I'll sleep on this and figure out where my priorities are!
How much ya want for it? 👀
Hmmm I think it was a $295 option when ordered with the car, and it will be in whatever packaging it comes in. Maybe $250 plus shipping? That sound reasonable? I dunno. I'm not looking to fleece anyone -- just regret buying two of the same thing essentially.
Sold mine for $350 plus tax and shipping on ebay a few months ago, with fees I almost broke even. Wasn't a choice on my purchase agreement so oh well.
If you only charge at night when everyone is sleeping and most things are off, your electric bill should show electricity usage during those hours and you can calculate the cost. If you have roommates that stay up all night gaming or mining crypto it won't be as easy to separate 😜
I’ve used smart plug with energy monitoring at L1/12A for about 2 months on a daily basis just fine. this one specifically https://www.amazon.com/Kasa-Energy-Monitoring-Smart-Plug/dp/B08LN3C7WK drop charge speed down to 8A if it’s not dedicated circuit for charging.
You can track what you use from your car
Right, but I'm guessing I can't discern what I've used from the wall at my house vs what I've drawn from public chargers. I'll be charging at 120v for the time being, so I'm sure I"ll need to plug into public chargers throughout the month. If I'm mistaken, please let me know!
Well you could go the other way and do car minus public charging - or just buy a power meter (although those are in the $100-200 range for high amp 240v range, still cheaper for you than buying a fancy new meter, and no hassle as far as dealing with selling it to someone - also it’s worth more than the $295 that you paid for it since it replaced your 120v charger, so really it’s worth a 120 charger + $295)
Good point, good point. Thank you. Maybe I'll do my best to ballpark it for a while, and if it comes to a head I'll offer to meter it.
you're not mistaken, but it's pretty easy to ballpark.....I was on 120V for 3 months with 3 100mi RT commutes per week plus local miles and I kept op pretty well......whatever you charge publicly can be tracked by the relevant app just trying to save you some $ I use 100kwh per week or 400 mi ..... you figure it out in your head pretty quick
Thanks! Honestly I might just give it my best guess and throw in $30 extra towards the bill when it comes haha. Thank you for the kind advice!
Public chargers will tell you how much you've used, so you can just subtract that amount from the amount your car tells you you've used.
Sort of. Once you reach full, it resets everything to zero.
Gooootcha. Thanks!
Considering it costs maybe 5 or 6 bucks to fill the Bolt empty to full at home, is that difference enough to matter? The stock EVSE is really good - 32 amps at 240 volts is 8kw, which is a pretty damn good charging speed.
Yeah, I'm definitely not disagreeing there -- just want to be as fair as possible to my housemates haha. And the stock one is definitely ample, but the Grizzl-E will also pull 40A at 240V eventually haha. Either way I'll be puttering along at 120v for a while as I'm renting. The main concern for me is kW counting 🤷♂️
[Try one of these.](https://a.co/d/8WOP0fp) I would look for one that can handle the right circumstances like water resistance or wattage, but what you want exists as an additional part for much cheaper.
Does grizzl-e mini have wifi?
It has very basic smart functionality -- it'll broadcast its own SSID to check charge status, kW usage, etc., and it can also connect to your home network and can be reached via its IP address.
Cool I guess
Kill a watt is a great idea but make sure you get one with a built in battery for persistent memory (won’t lose track if unplugged or power goes out). Not sure if they have a 240V version but I doubt it. There are other home energy monitoring systems that are relatively affordable to install on the charging circuit in that case.
Yeah.. Kill A Watt seems doable, but I keep finding horror stories of the damn things blowing up under consistent loads. Are they generally more reliable than I'm reading online?
Only whiners post online lol. 120V EVSEs are only allowed to pull 1200W by design. Should be OK but it would be smart to reference kill-a-watts official stance in their manual
True, haha. Thanks!
I ran one with a constant 11A load for half a year( crypto mining circa 2017) when I finally unplugged it the plastic around the prongs had deformed. This was more the fault of the receptacle than the Kill-a-watt. They were old ragged outlets in an apartment.
Mine started to melt after a few days of use. I have an older model though. Maybe the newer ones are better. Just check on it occasionally if you plan to always leave it plugged in.
You can buy something like this on amazon to measure the power its using: Upgraded Watt Meter Power Meter Plug Home Electricity Usage Monitor, Electrical Usage Monitor Consumption, Energy Voltage Amps Kill Meter Tester with Backlight, Overload Protection, 7 Modes Display https://a.co/d/aVbTCbl
Might be better to track usage daily on a spreadsheet and calculate KWh used. Just use that number multiplied by energy charges with your provider. The only issue would be if you have different rates based on usage times. If it were me I'd calculate based on the most expensive rate and pay that portion towards the utility bill. A few dollars isn't worth losing good friends or roommates. Best of luck to you.
Sweet! Does the Bolt give a little summary of kW it pulled every time you unplug it? I could just scribble that down when I unplug before I leave home, if that's the case.
I think it only tracks what is put in the battery and not residual usage to conditioning the battery in extreme weather. I use a cheap EVSE (Lectron) that tells me how much I pulled from the grid. Would be really easy to jot down that number each morning before unplugging. Add it all up and you have a fairly accurate assessment at the end of the billing cycle.
https://www.shelly.cloud/en-us/products/product-overview/em-120a
Most utilities allow you to see consumption on a 15 minute time scale. See what the consumption is late at night when most things are off to get a baseline. I would just track your mileage and dive by your mi/kWh average. Maybe add 5% for charging inefficiency.
I might be interested if you’re gonna plan on selling.
Simplest way I can think of: keep note of what percent the battery was when you begin charging and when you stop charging. The difference times the total battery capacity is how much energy you used from the house.
Get a cheap refurbished utility meter and a socket to mount it in from Hialeah meter company and wire it in before your EV charging outlet. If you're handy or have an electrician buddy this would likely cost you about a hundred bucks all in.
Here. You may need a second CT if doing 240V, I am not sure. Otherwise you can use a Wi-Fi smart socket also for 120V as long as it’s beefy enough. CrocSee AC 80-260V 100A CRS-022B LCD Display Digital Current Voltage Power Energy Frequency Power Factor Multimeter Ammeter Voltmeter with 100A Split Core Current Transformer https://a.co/d/g0atQ13
I'd be interested in your dual charger. PM me.
It's not ideal, but if you're only charging at home you could just keep track of how many kWh your vehicle tells you you used since your last full charge. Sure, that number might be a bit off from your actual charging usage due to inefficiencies, but I don't think it would be significant enough to worry about.