Install & Inspection

Load calculations, ways around a panel upgrade, hardwired versus receptacle, and the permit and inspection steps a home charger has to pass.

Install & Inspection September 11, 2026 Hardwired vs Plug-In EV Charger: Where the Code Decides A 50-amp ceiling, a GFCI rule the charger maker tells you to skip, and an outdoor line that cuts the other way: most of this choice is made before you pick. 17 min read
Install & Inspection August 23, 2026 Level 2 Charger Without a Panel Upgrade: Four Ways A quote that says service upgrade required is one answer to the load calculation, not the only one. Four routes around it, and who has to approve each. 9 min read
Install & Inspection August 17, 2026 NEC 220.87: Do You Have Room for an EV Charger A load calculation can use twelve months of your own meter data instead of a worst-case estimate. Here is how to pull that data and run the arithmetic first. 12 min read

About this section

The first charger took a board vote and nine months; the second took a permit, a load calculation, and one afternoon. Tessa Vandermolen kept the paperwork from both installs — applications, the inspector's correction notice, utility EV tariff sheets — and PlugPath is where those documents get explained. She is not an electrician or an electrical inspector, so nothing here is an instruction to wire anything: it is a record of what the code sections, statutes, and forms actually say, each one linked.

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Every guide cites the agency, statute, or document it was checked against, and carries the date it was checked. Rules change — if something here is out of date, tell us and it gets corrected.