Guide · 3 min read

Adding an EV charger when your panel is already full

A full 100A or 125A panel does not always mean a service upgrade. Load management, circuit sharing and a smaller charger are three ways around it.

Written byRafael Ortega

Applies toSunnyvale homes

A finished garage with a wall-mounted Level 2 EV charger plugged into a gray electric car.

Start with the load calculation

The NEC lets us calculate what the house actually draws rather than adding up breaker sizes. Many 125A homes have 40A of headroom on paper, enough for a 32A charger on a 40A breaker.

Load management modules

A small device watches the main feed and pauses the charger when the house is busy. Your car still fills overnight, when the oven and dryer are off. It is accepted by Sunnyvale and most South Bay cities and avoids the PG&E wait entirely.

Circuit sharing

A charger can share the dryer or range circuit with an interlock that allows only one at a time. Cheaper than load management, slightly less convenient.

When an upgrade is the honest answer

Two EVs, a heat pump and an ADU on a 100A service is not a load-management problem. We will say so on the site walk and show you the numbers.

Want us to look at yours?

No cost, no obligation. We measure, you decide.

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