Portland metro area Home Integration System electrician recommendations; Sunrun or (insert electrician w/EV speciality here)

[RidetheLightning]

Hey all,
Got the Lightning in October 2022 and everything has been pretty smooth sailing, with the exception of getting software updates to trigger normally/with a trickle charger) but that’s a story for another day. With the recent snow/ice storms and power outages, I’m starting to get serious about the HIS. Here are a few details for my situation and I’m hoping someone with experience with an install in the Portland metro area can chime in. I think Transport Evolved/Nikki is on here and I saw her installation but I thought I’d see if anyone else had any recommendations. I might contact her and ask what electrician she used as well.

With the recent snow/ice storms I’m thinking I would really like to get this backup going as (most?) of the bugs seem to be worked out of it by now and there’s at least some installer experience out in the field by now. Pro Power Onboard is only good to power so much and I’m not looking to do the transfer switch solution as I’d like something that works when I’m away, at least in theory. (don’t want to come home to a frozen house/pipes for example)

Some details:

1. ’22 Platinum, have FCSP but have not installed it yet.
2. 200a panel on the north-facing outside wall of the home, FCSP and HIS would be installed here and about a 10’ cable run would get to where the truck is parked. I’d probably put a small enclosure over the setup but it doesn’t see much sun/weather where the panel is.
3. All breakers full on the panel; I would probably need a subpanel or possibly a full new panel. (ouch)
4. 240 dryer, electric oven, and potentially up to 3 small portable AC units would have to be powered by it.
5. Looking to do the full charging rate on the FCSP and the full backup power off the HIS as well.
6. (Edit) no solar currently at the house so that should be one less level of complexity, may add later though

Thanks in advance and hope everyone was able to weather the storm(s) safely,
Joe

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[Caduceus]

I’m in the same boat as you with these storms. Thankfully we didn’t lose power for long but a pipe did burst

In any case, I was going to contact Westside Electric when I was ready to install a FCSP. They did a great job installing my current Level 2 charger. I haven’t heard anything but horror stories about Sunrun so I wasn’t even going to contact them. Let me know who you go with so I can get an estimate from them for my home.

 

[RidetheLightning]

Thanks, sorry to hear that. We had a washer line (PEX) that froze that wasn't well insulated. I was able to heat it up with a blow dryer and thaw it and it's OK for now but I understand that each freeze/thaw cycle makes the PEX weaker even though it can expand a little. I added pipe heating wrap and insulation that we can plug in when the weather gets below freezing for a few days, hope we don't see anything like that again soon.

Thanks, will look into them. I might look into Green Box Mechanical as well; they look mostly focused on Tesla installs but I'm sure a lot of the same experience app. Young Electric came up as well in a search and they specifically mention DC fast charging so they're no stranger to higher charge rates hopefully. May also see who Nikki/Transport Evolved ended up using. I'll update this post but it's currently in the research/back burner stage. (updated original post to reflect no solar for a simpler install)

 

[Redwood]

Following this thread (also Portland based). I'm also considering how far to take the backup situation in my home. Please keep us updated!

 

[Squirrel Master]

Looking to grab the emporia charger and have the level 2 installed. I've been getting quotes for around $1,000. Is that about right or who would you recommend

 

[Squirrel Master]

I'm not sure why PGE makes it so complicated to get a straight answer but... Correct be please if I'm wrong. Off peak is 10pm to 6am and the rate/kWh during that is $.06/kWh?

 

[Redwood]

Before taxes and other fees it's listed as $0.0516 - Time of Use Pricing (portlandgeneral.com)

Those other fees are generally added at a /kW rate, so look at your latest bill. In my area, the charges & credits added up to an addition $0.02271/kW, so around 7.4 cents/kW total if I went TOU.

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