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Comment by nickff | Hacker News Reader

I think the idea is that these low ‘trigger levels’ on these new and mandatory devices will erroneously trip on a semi-regular basis, because EVs are often charged in adverse conditions. The erroneous trips will then be inconvenient enough so as to dissuade people from buying EVs.

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To elaborate a bit more, it sounds like the new rule would require the GFCI breaker (which requires a manual reset) to be more sensitive than the required protection already built into the EV charger (which auto-resets). So at any hint of a potential problem, the GFCI would trip first, before the EV charger could respond, forcing a manual reset.

> the EV charger which auto-resets

I wonder if there is any telemetry that gives statistics on how often the EV chargers already trip?

Not sure about directly accessible metrics. However I have power metering in fronts of the charger so I can detect any power drops there.

Also if my charger trips it doesn’t enable automatically I need to that cycling the power on it.

but surely the millions of people that already own an EV will demand a solution?

The solution is easy: rip the GFCI/AFCI breaker out and put a normal one in. Keep the code-compliant one in a plastic sack and reinstall it before you sell or get inspected for another reason.

Used to be the advice was to put in a hardwired charger and bypass this entirely, but now they’re ruining that. This is one of those cases where having a screwdriver and a phone with YouTube is a huge advantage.

Easy except you should make sure you understand the implications for your insurance and liability (not so easy to judge that risk).

Insurance (typically) covers negligence, but not intentional bad acts. Put a non GFCI breaker in post inspection (assuming you are comfortable doing so). “Breaker failed and I replaced it.” Change it before home inspection when you sell.

“How did you know it went bad?”

…

“It kept flicking off every time I plugged my car in! Got a new one and it did the same thing, finally the helpful guy at the hardware store suggested using this one and now it works fine!”

I’d argue you aren’t taking on much fire risk anyway. Your medical insurance would probably be more interested than your home insurance. Also, don’t bathe with a plugged in car charger. In case that needed to be said…

Even that would probably be fine so long as you were only bathing with the plug end. The charger doesn't enable until it's established through the low power pins that it's connected to a car and has negotiated the charging parameters.

Absolutely. This is well within my comfort level for messing with inside my private home - I understand the underlying system, the problem they’re trying to solve, and why it’s a bad solution.

Certainly don’t go screwing around with mains electricity until you can articulate all of the above, and have an electrician friend show you how to make proper connections and such. But for most of HN… it wouldn’t be hard at all. Stripping insulation off 6/3 wire would be the hardest part of the process for most people here to install a whole new outlet for their EV. Changing a breaker is nearly child’s play.

Stripping wire insulation isn't so bad, fishing the wire from the panel to the outlet is almost certainly much more difficult.

Ostensibly their solution already exists as anything they are currently using to charge their vehicle will be grandfathered in.

Anyone that owns an EV currently won't be affected. New building codes usually allow for grandfathering in existing installations until the next time there's renovation requiring an update to the building's electrical.

This only affects new builds after the codes come into force. EVSE manufacturers will just have to adapt.

The market for back-dated romex grows bigger every day...

I guess the solution is that only specific existing American EV makers will be exempt.

It won't affect them, assuming that they already have an EV charger - this would apply to new installations.

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