Michael Mittag and Penne Tompkin’s EV Journey
Michael and Penne have long been followers of Elon Musk’s and Tesla’s trajectory from zero to hero in car making. There was in South Burlington a very early adopter at the Healthy Living food store, so Michael was able to inspect a very early model Tesla roadster.
Some years later one of their closest friends bought an early Model 3 and he asked them when they were going to do the same. They weren’t sure if a Tesla was a good fit for their lifestyle and travel needs in that they often drive to see family in New York, Montreal, Ottawa, Erie and Miami and doing so with a Tesla would add charging time to those journeys.
Typically and justifiably the friend asked (in more colorful language): “What is the matter with you? You are 80+ years old and retired so you can afford to take your time and stop for a cup of coffee or a meal while charging your EV”. Michael did not have a good answer and they had long wanted to own a Tesla. So, after consulting with a few other Tesla owners, they ordered a 2020 Model Y Tesla.
The car came with 2000 free miles at Tesla superchargers (like those at Healthy Living) so they had time to consider how to set up charging at home, which in their case was complicated by the fact that their garage is 120 feet from our house and has power only for lighting and a garage door opener.
They would have to run a 50 amp power line the 120 feet from the house panel to the garage, but they live in a Homeowners Association and the power line would have to cross association common area.
That meant retaining a lawyer to draft an easement acceptable to the association, marking out the path the line would follow with little white flags and having Dig Safe check and confirm with their water, gas and electricity utilities that it was safe. That done, they hired an electrical contractor to dig a 24 inch deep trench from house to garage, lay in the conduit and cables, add a breaker to the panel in our basement and install the 50 amp plug in the garage.
Fortunately, there are excellent incentives here in Vermont that offset these costs!
From GMP they received a cash incentive of $1500 for buying an EV as well as signing up for GMP’s EV Charging Rate 74 to receive a free ChargePoint Home Flex 16A-50A Flexible Amperage Charger (a $600 value). These two incentives covered all but $300 of the cost to take the 50 Amp line 120 feet from our house to our garage.
They are very happy campers!
Charging at home with GMP’s Rate 74 plan costs the equivalent of about $1.50/gallon of gas. In addition to that they are able to fully utilize all the power generated by our rooftop solar installation. Michael would love to answer any of your questions and can be reached at mittag.michael@gmail.com.