Overview
This particular client was looking for a home EV charging station and owned an older single-family home with no garage, in Old Town Alexandria. As there was no garage, the EV charging station would need to be installed outdoors, and as the outside of the home was all brick, we needed to develop a solution to run electrical power and install the outdoor-rated EV charger on their brick wall.
Project Details
As many clients do, this client asked for our team’s advice as to what EV charging system hardware to purchase and use. Given the desire of the client to have a modern system with remote access and monitoring via an app, and the need to have an outdoor-rated system, we recommended the Chargepoint system, which the client selected.
Given the age and location of the home in Alexandria, the first step was to test whether an electrical upgrade for the home was required. After testing it was determined that an upgrade was not required so we could proceed. The electrical wiring had to be run through the home and through to the exterior of the brick wall. CoreTrade applied for and secured the necessary Alexandria permits for the project.
The charging system included casing to ensure it was outdoor compatible and rated, and the amount of cable was measured to ensure that the client’s electric vehicles could be easily reached by the charging station. When installing outdoor EV charging systems at a home, it’s important that we measure all these variables to ensure the installation, hardware and accessibility all meet the client’s needs. Older homes especially in Alexandria present unique challenges which we researched and tested prior to installation.
Outcome
The client was extremely happy with the solution we developed for his system, especially given the age of his home and lack of a garage. Homes without garages can present unique challenges for home EV charging stations, but by installing it on the client’s external brick wall, it was both easily accessible and not clearly visible from the street.
