As I live in a townhouse and don’t have a garage, charging my Volt outdoors in all kinds of weather is a serious need and challenge. I solved the problem by building a portable curbside 120/240V charging station.

The Nissan Leaf EVSE Upgrade is key to this solution, as it enables charging at both 120 and 240V, is highly weather-resistant, and has 12 gauge wire (in comparison the Voltec EVSE is, shall we say, a weak sister). I had an electrician run a underground 240V line to an all-weather curbside outlet. Then using PVC pipe and Acrylic sheet I built a stand for the Leaf EVSE. The stand slips into a PVC pipe in the ground and the EVSE hangs from two hooks, with Velcro to hold it tight.

I store the stand in the back of the car along with the EVSE. I can set up and tear down the whole assembly in about a minute, and everything in the curbside ground/grass (the hole for the stand and the 240V outlet and cover) is layered over with artificial turf when not in use, making it all disappear.

Here are few photos of the setup.

http://photos.imageevent.com/artsci/volt/websize/DSC_0523.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/artsci/volt/websize/DSC_0531.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/artsci/volt/websize/DSC_0533.JPG

http://photos.imageevent.com/artsci/volt/websize/DSC_05291.JPG

Cool setup Rick enjoyed meeting you and the others today.

It was great to meet everybody today and especially to see your beautiful blue car, Jim.

I remember your original drawings. Nicely executed, artsci. How about a closeup of what the pipe slips into as well as the electric box? Others townhouse owners may get inspired!

Great solution to your charging needs. Thanks to you, and many others, for sharing your solutions to assorted problems.

Will take and post these closeups tomorrow.


I remember your original drawings. Nicely executed, artsci. How about a closeup of what the pipe slips into as well as the electric box? Others townhouse owners may get inspired!

Very nice!. Thanks for sharing. May all your commuting miles now be EV.

Nice meeting with you guys today! Even though I've owned my Volt for nearly a year, I am still learning new stuff! I look forward to next time!

Great setup, nice work.

Looks like a nice setup. I'm still a little concerned about water getting into the outlet but other than that this is a very slick setup.

Good luck and enjoy your Volt, now with fast charging!

Just a suggestion. You could install a small concrete pad and install the box on top of it. Thus during rains there will be no ponding in the box. However, it will stick out and hope no one gets curious and try to pry it away. lol

Appreciate the advice but I'm trying to do a stealth install so that nothing shows when the car is not plugged in. It's set up so the entire installation can be disassembled and stored in the back of the car. The hole for the mounting post and the outlet are covered with artificial turf plugs so they can't be seen. All of this because I don't want the ire of my community association, which can be a PIA about these kinds of things.

Very interesting!

How do you deal with water pooling and getting into the 240V socket in the ground?

This is a question that troubled me before the installation was made. The third or fourth day after the install we had pouring rain for two days and the outlet was completely flooded. At first I thought it would short out and trip the circuit. But nothing happened. When I plugged in (it was still pouring) I approached it with great care, wearing electrician's rubber gloves. But again no problems -- no sparks, no shorts, nada. The Nissan EVSE as well as the 240v circuit are ground fault protected and I guess my electrician did a fabulous job. But to be safe I always wear the electrician's rubber gloves when I plug the EVSE into the 240V side of the connection. There have been a number of other days when the outlet has been flooded, but again, no problems.


Very interesting!

How do you deal with water pooling and getting into the 240V socket in the ground?

Very nice job! I am interested in the charger. I frequently park my car in an aircraft hangar where there happens to be a 240 volt dryer outlet accessible. I didn't know there was a portable 120/240 volt charger available. Tell us a little more about it, please. What type of plug, etc?

It's the EVSE upgrade of the Nissan Leaf charger, available here: http://evseupgrade.com/ The electronics are modified so that it can work on both 120 and 240V. It's far better made than the Voltech 120V unit and completely weather proof. It comes with an NEMA L6-20 plug plus you can order adapters of various kinds on the EVSE upgrade site. I used a Nema 6-50P to Nema L6-20R 1FT Converter Power Cord 14/3 SOOW 90C NA from Americord. This is a dryer plug that plugs into the outlet in the ground. It's right angle, so it lies flat to the ground. The L6-20 plugs into the other end. So if you have access to a 240 V dyer outlet you probably want this Americord Convertor power cord.

Thanks! Did you get the 16 amp upgrade, or the standard 12 amp?

The 16 amp upgrade.

Water couldn't have flooded the plug if it didn't short out or trip the GFCI... but if you have the GFCI nothing to worry about really. Good job, looks great! :)

Great to see your install, I hope to do something similar, but with slightly more weather resistance and almost as much stealth.

Just FYI all, rainwater is fairly pure (most of the time), and pure water makes a lousy conductor. However trace amounts of salt or other ionically active compounds (which happens) and that changes in a hurry. So while it's great you're not getting fried in the rain currently (no pun intended, that's later), I'd keep the gloves on.

While ground fault (GCFI) is good, there is also Arc Fault(AFCI), which is more prone to trip with noisy loads but may be worth looking into. Dang, now I have to look into it. One of my options that I'm also considering is to have the charger leads out to the curb instead to allow the charger safety protocols to be implemented regardless of plug state. That may require rather heavy gauge conductors, but it can't be worse than what I ran for the arc-welder...

YMMV, but of course, with a plugin it's generally better... ba-dump-tish.

Great to see your install, I hope to do something similar, but with slightly more weather resistance and almost as much stealth.

Just FYI all, rainwater is fairly pure (most of the time), and pure water makes a lousy conductor. However trace amounts of salt or other ionically active compounds (which happens) and that changes in a hurry. So while it's great you're not getting fried in the rain currently (no pun intended, that's later), I'd keep the gloves on.

While ground fault (GCFI) is good, there is also Arc Fault(AFCI), which is more prone to trip with noisy loads but may be worth looking into. Dang, now I have to look into it. One of my options that I'm also considering is to have the charger leads out to the curb instead to allow the charger safety protocols to be implemented regardless of plug state. That may require rather heavy gauge conductors, but it can't be worse than what I ran for the arc-welder...

YMMV, but of course, with a plugin it's generally better... ba-dump-tish.

I've built a new charging station that addresses all of these concerns. I posted a thread about it here: http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?14938-New-Chevy-Volt-and-Tesla-S-Outdoor-Curbside-Level-2-charging-station&highlight=outdoor+charging+station