Installation Cost for Volt In-Home Charger May Shock You
On the heels of the soon-to-be-released Chevrolet Volt, GM has announced its in-home charger, which will sell for the reasonable price of $490. Once you factor in what it would cost for gas, you’re probably willing to dip into your wallet. But it’s the installation cost for the in-home charging unit that will shock you.
If you’re looking to get the 240 volt Voltec installed, it’s going to cost you about $1,500 to install – it depends on the region and amount of electrical work required to install the charger. We try to look on the positive side of things – since it’s a 240V charger as opposed to a standard 120V plug, the Voltec will fully recharge a Volt battery in about 4 hours (that’s half the time it would take with a standard electrical cord).
Still, that price tag is a hefty one, especially since you just shelled out a wad of cash for the Volt. It may take awhile to recoup the charger costs, depending on your driving habits. But it looks like costs such as these are going to become the industry standard – Nissan Leaf owners will be spending anywhere from $2,000 to $4,200 for a Level 2 charger, depending on the costs of labor rates.
You won’t have to worry about the cost if you were one of the first 4,400 customers how bought a Chevrolet Volt – they get one for free, courtesy of a Department of Energy grant. Both the Volt and Leaf both use the J1772 charging system, so it stands to reason that if the Voltec can charge a Volt, it can also charge a Leaf.
[Source: Cnet]
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