Focus Electric 240v available DIY from Best Buy - Compatible with Volt?

[igotzzoom]

I just took at look at the Focus Electric post at Autoblog Green, and in the post, they say the 240v charger for the car will be available from Best Buy as a stand-alone installation. This seems a lot simpler than the official rigamarole GM wants you to go through to get a home charger installed. As far as I know, the Volt, Leaf and presumable the Focus all use the J1772 charger. Is there any reason you couldn't use this charger with the Volt?

[ChrisC]

No, no reason. J1772 standard is J1772 standard. That's the whole point. Any J1772 charger will charge any J1772 car.

Clipper Creek is about to come out with a smaller home charger as well.

[larry4pyro]

Still not cheap. The charger costs $1500 and requires professional installation.

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...tations-99152/

So what happens when cheap J1772 compliant chargers start arriving from China or wherever, will it invalidate the Volt's warranty if I buy one and install it myself?

[Fluke]

The GM/SPX unit is currently not too difficult to get. I was able to get one without setting up an SPX installation (I'll use my own electrician). I don't live in an early Volt market area and am at status 1100, so my Volt's production date is not yet determined. It was a surprisingly easy process given some of the stories I have read on the board. They did ask if I wanted to setup an installation, asked for my Volt order number and when it would be produced. For the production date, I just gave my best estimate.

It seems like SPX may have worked out some their early supply issues. Or, I just got lucky.

[maynard]

I bought a Voltec charger from SPX in December. The total with tax and shipping was $528. 50% of the total bill including wiring and breaker is refundable by an income tax credit. I installed it myself as my garage is wired for 50 amp 240 with a sub panel. I just installed a double 20amp breaker and ran 12ga. wires in a flex conduit to the charger. The whole job took 2 hours. Very simple if you have 240 available nearby. My total cost was less than $300.00