The project
A 2006 two-story home in the Breckenridge neighborhood of Morrisville with a 150-amp electrical panel that was already at capacity. The homeowner had just leased a Hyundai Ioniq 6 and wanted a Level 2 charger in the garage, but the panel couldn’t support a new 50-amp or 60-amp circuit without shedding existing loads.
The math was straightforward. The existing 150-amp panel had a calculated load of 138 amps — an HVAC system, an electric dryer, an electric range, and 30 branch circuits for a 3,200-square-foot home. Adding a 48-amp continuous charging load (which requires a 60-amp circuit per NEC 625.41) would push the total well past the panel’s rated capacity. The options were a load management device to share capacity between the charger and another large appliance, or a panel upgrade to 200 amps. The homeowner chose the panel upgrade — they were planning to lease a second EV for their spouse within a year and didn’t want to be capacity-constrained again.
The charger location also mattered. The homeowner wanted the charger on the left wall of the garage, 6 feet from where the car’s charge port sits when parked. The panel was on the opposite wall, 22 feet away. We’d need to run a 22-foot conduit path along the garage ceiling and down the wall to the charger location.
What we did
Day 1 — Panel upgrade
- Coordinated the Duke Energy meter disconnect — pulled the meter release permit and scheduled the utility disconnect for 7:30 AM
- Removed the existing 150-amp Siemens panel — disconnected and labeled all 30 existing circuits
- Installed a new Square D QO 200-amp main breaker panel — 42-space, 84-circuit capacity, flush-mounted on the same wall location with a new backboard
- Replaced the meter base — installed a new 200-amp Milbank meter socket to match the upgraded service
- Upgraded the service entrance cable — new 2/0 aluminum SE cable from the meter base to the panel
- Re-landed all 30 existing circuits — tested each circuit under load after reconnection
- Installed whole-home surge protection — Square D CHOM2CAFI surge protective device at the main panel
- Added AFCI breakers on all bedroom circuits per current NEC requirements
- Printed and installed a new circuit directory — every circuit labeled clearly
Day 2 — EV charger installation
- Installed a 60-amp double-pole breaker in the new panel for the EV charger circuit
- Ran 6-gauge copper wire in EMT conduit — 22-foot run from the panel, along the garage ceiling joists, and down the left wall to the charger location. EMT was secured with straps at 4-foot intervals and within 12 inches of each fitting, per NEC 358.30
- Mounted the ChargePoint Home Flex (CPH50) — hardwired (not plug-in) at 48 amps, 11.5 kW charging capacity, wall-mounted at 48 inches to center with a cable management hook
- Connected and configured the charger — set the amperage to 48A, connected to the homeowner’s Wi-Fi for app-based scheduling and energy monitoring, and tested with the vehicle plugged in to confirm full-rate charging
- Installed a NEMA 14-50 outlet on the adjacent wall — a second 50-amp circuit for a future second EV charger, fed by its own 50-amp breaker and wired with 6-gauge copper. The outlet is labeled and ready to go
Day 3 — Inspection and testing
- Final testing — verified all circuits under load, confirmed proper grounding and bonding, tested the surge protector, verified AFCI and GFCI breaker operation, and confirmed the charger was pulling 48 amps at 240 volts
- Inspection — the Town of Morrisville electrical inspector arrived at 10:00 AM, inspected the panel, meter base, service entrance cable, charger circuit, and NEMA outlet, and signed off with a passing inspection
- Homeowner walkthrough — showed the homeowner the new panel, explained the circuit directory, demonstrated the ChargePoint app features, and confirmed the NEMA 14-50 outlet location for the future second charger
Trades involved
This was a single-trade project requiring our electrical license:
- Electrical (NC #28-LA-9214): Duke Energy meter release coordination, meter base replacement, service entrance cable upgrade, 200-amp panel installation, circuit re-landing, AFCI breaker installation, surge protection, 60-amp EV charger circuit, ChargePoint Home Flex hardwired installation, 50-amp NEMA 14-50 outlet for future second charger, load testing, and final inspection coordination
The electrical permit was pulled through the Town of Morrisville. The inspection passed on the first visit.
Timeline and budget
- Duration: 3 days — Day 1 for the panel upgrade and meter base, Day 2 for the EV charger and second outlet, Day 3 for testing and inspection
- Budget: On budget — the final invoice came in within the written estimate range
- Crew: Two licensed electricians for all three days
- Permits: Electrical — passed first inspection
- Utility coordination: Duke Energy disconnected the meter at 7:30 AM on Day 1 and reconnected at 1:45 PM. The home was without power for 6 hours and 15 minutes. We provided a generator for the refrigerator and the homeowner’s home office
- Charger charge rate: The ChargePoint Home Flex at 48 amps delivers approximately 37 miles of range per hour of charging. The homeowner’s Ioniq 6 charges from 20% to 100% in about 6 hours overnight — plugged in at 10 PM, fully charged by 4 AM
The NEMA 14-50 outlet for the future second charger added approximately $350 to the project. Running that circuit during the same project — while the panel was open and the conduit path was already established — saved the homeowner the cost of a separate service call, permit, and inspection later.
The result
A garage set up for the EV era. The 200-amp panel replaced a maxed-out 150-amp panel and added capacity for two EV chargers plus future electrical loads. The ChargePoint Home Flex charges the Ioniq 6 overnight, every night, without the homeowner ever needing to visit a public charging station. The second outlet is ready for the day the second EV arrives.
The panel upgrade also solved problems the homeowner didn’t call about. The old panel had no AFCI protection on bedrooms, no surge protection, and a handwritten circuit directory that was wrong on four entries. All of that is corrected now.
EV charger installations are one of the fastest-growing electrical projects in the Triangle. Most homes built before 2015 don’t have the panel capacity for a Level 2 charger without either a load management device or a panel upgrade. When the homeowner is planning for two EVs, the panel upgrade is the right call — it solves the capacity problem permanently instead of managing around it.