In this episode, John Maher speaks with Brian Sadler, Vice President of Solaris Renewables, about the Tesla Universal EV Charger. They discuss its compatibility with all electric vehicles, thanks to the innovative “Magic Dock” that integrates Tesla and J1772 connectors. Brian explains the charger’s installation process, cost (starting at $2,200 installed), and its four-year warranty. The conversation also highlights the charger’s seamless integration with Tesla’s app, enabling smart scheduling and compatibility with solar systems and Powerwalls for optimized energy use. They further explore its value for both residential and commercial applications, such as malls and grocery stores, offering potential revenue through charging fees.
John Maher: Hi, I am John Maher, and I’m here today with Brian Sadler, vice President at Solaris Renewables, a solar company in Massachusetts providing premium solar and storage technologies with exceptional customer service, and designing, installing and servicing solar systems in Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire and Maine. Today we’re talking about the Tesla Universal EV Charger. Welcome, Brian.
Brian Sadler: Hi John, thanks for having me on.
Solar Systems and EV Cars
Maher: Sure. So Brian, we’re talking today a little bit about something solar adjacent, if you will. We’re talking about EV chargers for your electrical vehicle. Do you find that a lot of people who are installing solar systems also are getting EV cars, and they want to be able to power their cars through their solar panels?
Sadler: Absolutely, yeah. We’re seeing more and more folks either already have an EV or preparing for. They know they’re going to get one in six months, a year or maybe even a few years out. And there’s certainly more interest in EVs in general. And I think a lot of peripherals around solar and integrating more smart home, and communications and electrification into the home. We’re seeing much more of that across the board.
It’s a natural thing for us to take on as being… Starting out as an electrical outfit 30 years ago, and then a solar company 12 years ago, and taking on batteries when they first came out. We were one of the first certified installers in the region for Tesla. And then it just made sense to… The EV charging solutions are a natural fit and attribute to what we’re doing. And then for Tesla for instance, it’s all built into the same app.
And that’s a lot of the guidance that we give our customers, is you should go with the EV charger that is as advanced as you take your solar system or your energy system. So if you’re just doing solar on a solar inverter, let’s look at these charging solutions. And we do level two charging from just a plug. Folks sometimes, their car comes with a plug and they just want to use that, and they don’t want an app and that’s great. We’ll give you a 50 amp plug, you plug your car in that way.
And then other folks want the experience of having it integrated, which makes it a lot more seamless. I think you get a lot more information. It starts to interact with your solar, your home, the interaction with the grid. And then if you have a battery, even more so. And then of course if you get a smart panel, now there’s other integrations and information that you get from integrating all those at the same time.
So, we do a lot of the Tesla charges, because either folks have Tesla vehicles, so they want that, or they have a Powerwall or now the Powerwall 3 system where your solar can be landed into the battery. And now they’re going to be looking at that app, so let’s use the same charging solution to keep you… We all have enough apps, so we try to be mindful of that. The Tesla app is really intuitive and a great experience, so it’s a good place to land for sure.
What is the Universal EV Charger?
Maher: So, when we talk about the universal EV charger, does that mean that you can use this EV charger from Tesla to charge any type of electrical vehicle?
Sadler: Yes, which is a new piece. So Tesla used to have their all vehicle charger, which is basically a protocol that’s for all charging solutions that are not Tesla called J1772. And that’s basically every other vehicle aside from Tesla. And then they had another charger that was Tesla charger that was for the NACS charger, which is the new standard, which is the Tesla charging protocol. And now a lot of other manufacturers are adopting that, and a lot of that’s to do because of Tesla’s supercharging network. It’s so expansive. If you’re on any major highway in the United States, you can find a Tesla supercharger.
And what they’ve done with the Universal Charger is put them both into one, which is obviously really bright. So you basically have the same exact looking charger. They call it the wall connector. So the wall connector is Tesla’s EV charging solution. All three of them look identical. And these can also be a commercial charging application as well, and there’s a different protocol for that.
But they basically have what’s… They call it the Magic Dock, and that is you… If you just pull the charging connector out, it’s the Tesla charging connector or the NACS. And if you hold a button and pull it out, now it’s the J1772 or every other vehicle that you can charge with. So it charges every vehicle on the market with the same charger. Instead of essentially having a separate adapter, it has the adapter built in.
If you go charge with a Tesla vehicle at a Tesla charging station, you plug in. If you have a different charger, you need an adapter and vice versa.
Maher: Okay.
Sadler: And now it’s all in one, very easy.
How are Charging Speeds on the Tesla Universal Charger?
Maher: Yep. How does the charging speed on the Tesla Universal Charger compare to maybe other Tesla chargers, or even other brands of EV chargers?
Sadler: Yeah, a good question. Typically, the speed is boiled down to the size of the breaker that it’s landed on, and there’s… For most level two, you can go up to 60 amps a breaker, which gives you 48 amps of charging. So that’s usually the peak that you can get. There are some other brands and companies, and it depends on the application, where you can’t go that high. So sometimes you can’t go that high because of the customer’s electrical service, or it could be the equipment that it’s attached to. We have some other level two chargers that attach directly to an inverter, or directly into a smart panel, and there may be limitations to those at times.
So, Tesla doesn’t have those limitations, so to speak. So, you can go up to 48 amps of charging, which is the highest level of level two charging you can typically get. They did, for a time, have a special higher amperage charger, or they would let you use a higher breaker, and I think it was primarily for the Model S.
And there might be something still floating around like that, maybe even for the Cybertruck. They have a dual charging, what’s called PowerShare where you can do vehicle to home charging, and that’s right now only available on the Cybertruck. But that’s coming soon to all the other vehicles, and the Universal Charger will be compatible with that as well.
How Does the Tesla App Work?
Maher: Talk a little bit more about the app, and your flexibility with that. Are you able to program it to say, “Oh, okay, overnight I want it to draw the power from my Tesla Powerwall, and charge my car from the Powerwall specifically,” or something like that?
Sadler: Yeah, absolutely. And you can set all kinds of timing, so you can schedule when you want to charge. Ideally, if you’re making a lot of solar, let’s charge then. But not everyone’s home and charging at that time, so you charge at night. And then here in most of Massachusetts and New England, we don’t have what’s called time of use rate schedules with the utility. California is a big one that does have it, Hawaii. And even there’s some utilities inside of Massachusetts, some of the municipal light plans that do have that. So you could charge and schedule to charge when your rates are the lowest.
And there’s actually an incentive program through Eversource and National Grid that incentivize you on charging at non-peak times. So, actually there’s a rebate available for folks that will participate, and then there’s also an ongoing. There’s a one-time fee, and then there’s an annual fee that they’ll pay you if you’re willing to participate in charging on off-peak hours. Because obviously that lessens the demand on the grid.
We all are looking forward to electrifying, and more EVs and a cleaner energy future. But our grid, the way it’s currently constituted, can’t withstand that overnight. So not everyone could plug in an EV tomorrow, it wouldn’t work out for us. So, the utility is also responding with incentives and ways to help support that electrification movement, and make it smarter and continue to keep the grid more resilient. Obviously batteries help with that, EV charging at the right times help with that as well.
Installation Requirements for a Tesla Universal Charger
Maher: What are the installation requirements for the Tesla Universal Charger? Are there any special things that a homeowner needs to consider?
Sadler: Not necessarily. It’s really where do you want it, and then where do you want it in relationship to where your main service panel is? So the breaker’s going to need to land in your main service panel, or it can land in the sub panel. And then it just depends on solar energy storage, and other factors depending on what you’re doing, on what recommendations we would make. But just in a general sense, you want to land in the main service panel.
And if your main service panel is on one end of the house, and your garage and your driveway’s on the other end, obviously we need a path to run the wire. And if it’s an unfinished basement, usually no problem at all. If it’s finished, well is there a drop ceiling? What other considerations do we need to look at to get there?
But typically speaking, people want it either in their garage or just outside of the garage. And then you want to think about which side is your charging port on? Is it front or back of vehicle, and which side is it on and how do you normally like to park? And let’s just align the charging solution to how you’re already living and operating with your EV. And normally it comes with a 20-foot cord. So provided you get it in a reasonable spot, there’s plenty of cord length to get to the charging port.
Can You Charge Two Cars with One Charger?
Maher: If you were in a situation where you actually had two electric vehicles in your family, can you charge them both with one charger? Do you need two separate chargers for the cars?
Sadler: Amen. Right, that’s what the Universal Charger is so good for, is that you don’t need to buy two separate chargers now you have two separate cars with two separate charging solutions. We can buy the Universal Charger and have that installed, and be able to satisfy both vehicles. And that’s what we have in our home.
My wife has a plugin hybrid, and I have an EV, and they have different charging protocols and we’re able to charge both cars seamlessly with the Tesla all-vehicle charger. Or if you had an adapter, it’s the same idea. It’s a convenience factor that the Universal Charger has thought of this ahead of time, and built the whole thing into one piece.
Maher: And then it’s just a matter of figuring out-
Sadler: Fighting over it, yeah.
Maher: With the infighting over it. Well, I’m going to need to go out, so I need to charge my car now and you don’t get it until later. That kind of thing.
Sadler: Well, we all know who wins those battles. The plug-in hybrid has a lesser capacity, and we have a little bit different schedule, so it works out generally fine. And I actually do a lot of my charging outside of the home. For me, it’s awesome to have at the home, and it’s a great backup. And if I need to in a pinch, because I’m going to go for a long ride first thing in the morning, I can charge. But we have a charger here at work, which is a great benefit selfishly for me.
Maher: Right. So, as long as you can make it to the office in the morning, then you can always plug it in and get it charged up.
Sadler: Yeah, which hasn’t been an issue. And then similarly, my vehicle works with the Tesla supercharging network. So literally any major highway, I’m within a reasonable distance to a supercharging station and able to charge very quickly. That’s a level three or DC charging, which is a lot faster, a lot higher power. Well beyond what we can do at our homes. So, there’s the convenience of that as well, which I think is a huge benefit.
But I was resistant to an EV. I’ve had two hybrids, and just was… I had range anxiety, I was nervous about it. But I’ve had an EV, and I’ll never go back and I haven’t looked back. It’s been remarkable of how between home, work and the supercharging network that I’ve… We go to the mountains, we’ve driven hundreds of miles in a day and it’s never been an issue and I’ve never been without. I might’ve pushed it a little bit a couple of times, but it’s the same.
I’ve driven all over our country with a gasoline vehicle, and very few times have I worried about gas. A couple of real remote places, I hadn’t seen a gas station or any civilization in a couple of hours, and I started to wonder what’s on the horizon? Am I going to make it? But I haven’t had that experience with an EV, and it’s a really great driving experience. And the Tesla Universal Charger being something you can have in your home.
And then for those that own multi-families, apartment buildings, businesses, especially mixed-use businesses, it’s a great solution for commercial charging where you can have four or more of these same Universal Chargers put on pedestals installed for your business. You get your business on the Tesla map. And so when people are charging, when they’re driving or anywhere in the country and they’re looking for a charger, you’ll pop up and that will drive folks to your business.
And of course, charging does take slightly longer than pumping gas, and most folks want some amenities around where they’re charging. Be it grab a cup of coffee, grocery shopping or whatever, or just take a walk in a nice little spot. And so it helps bring folks into the businesses, and it gives those businesses the opportunity to give a value add to their customers as well.
Maher: Right. So it makes sense for malls, or shopping areas, or even just, like you said, grocery stores and things like that.
Sadler: Just all businesses as well. And you can monetize it. You basically charge what the going rate is per kilowatt-hour, and Tesla actually takes the least amount of fee. It’s only a penny per kilowatt-hour. So, it’s a huge driver commercially for any business to investigate how the Tesla Universal Charger can work for them as well.
How Much Does the Tesla Universal EV Charger Cost?
Maher: What’s the cost of a Universal Charger?
Sadler: So, we typically charge $2,200 fully installed, and then just if there’s additional electrical work or the situations that are required in order to install it, that would be extra. The charger itself is a bulk of that cost, and then it’s essentially labor and some balance and materials, which is usually some conduit wire and basic electrical equipment that’s needed to install it.
How Long Does Installation Take?
Maher: And that installation process goes pretty quickly. Can you do that in a single day?
Sadler: Yeah, absolutely. And then it depends on the thing that we talked about earlier, like location, and relative to your main service panel or a sub panel that can handle having a higher amperage breaker in it, things like that. So it depends. But we found that generally speaking, there’s a pretty clear path, and it’s usually within a reasonable distance from the main service panel, it hasn’t been an issue.
Is There a Tesla Universal Charger Warranty?
Maher: Does the Tesla Universal Charger come with a warranty? And if so, how long is that and what’s the expected lifespan of the Universal Charger?
Sadler: It does, good question. It’s a four year, 48-month warranty, and there’s no moving parts. It’s basically a breaker with wire and a connector passing through, so it should have a significant amount of time. Most of the time we find with electronics, if they’re going to fail, they usually fail early on. There’s just a faulty capacitor or a piece of the board, and they usually blow within first 90 days or even six months. And then otherwise you would expect the thing to carry on and tick right on.
Information on Solaris Renewables
Maher: All right, well that’s really great information, Brian. Thanks again for speaking with me today.
Sadler: Thank you, John, I appreciate it.
Maher: And for more information, you can visit the Solaris Renewables website at solarisrenewables.com, or call (781)270-6555.