Will EVs ever need a neutral wire for charging?

Since the wrangler is now a plugin, it's only a matter of time before the Tacoma is. Most AC charge circuits that I've seen are plugged in to a 14-50, or 14-30 outlet (both are 4 prong, hot+hot+neutral+ground). 6/3 romex(4 wire) is much more expensive than 6/2 (3wire).

The couple charger wiring diagrams don't have a hookup for the neutral so it would be wasted. In an effort to future proof the installation, is there any reason to run the extra neutral cable?

As for the plug that connects to the vehicle. There are 2 basic (common) types in norther america. J1772 which are the ones you see at grocery stores, and Tesla which are not. Picture below.

The Tesla mobile chargers have 2 addition pins that are unused right now.. picture below.

 

Be wise.

Run the the 2 hot lines, 1 Neutral and 1 Ground.

240 Vac is nothing to "cheat" with saving a few $$. The Ground gives the current a path to dissipate, instead of making the box or person the ground.

Copper is expensive in any form. Not too long ago I needed 50' of 12-2 w/ground....it was over $75, previously it was around $50. I just closed my eyes and went to the check out. Told the wife that electrical projects were on hold for a while.

 

How is that wise? What is the neutral wire getting me? It's about $120 difference for $50.

 

Do a little reading on why you can’t cheat and run ground and neutral off the same connection. It will trip a GFI breaker. Sounds like the same connection is needed as a hot tub circuit.

 

That's not what I mean. The Tesla chargers do not have a neutral hookup. There is currently nothing to connect it to.

 

The Tesla side of the outlet doesn't matter.

You probably have grounded plugs throughout your home. You probably have 2 prong and 3 prong plugs.

Some appliances need only the Neutral. Others need both the Neutral and the Ground.

Make the connection as you wish. Matters little to me. Just trying to offer the correct path to make the outlet connections and to comply with codes.

 

The reason they use a 4 wire receptacle is because it is standard for a 50a rv hook up which requires a neutral. The hardwired chargers do not require a neutral.

 

Put a level 2 charger in my garage. I pulled 4 strands of 6ga through conduit to the outlet it plugs in to, just to future proof it, but because the charger was wired for NEMA 5-50, I just hooked hot/hot/ground up to the receptacle, and terminated the neutral in the box behind it. So yes, I could have gotten away without running the neutral, but that’s very dependent on the manufacturer of the EVSE, and whether they provide the option to wire for three prong vs four. If I had to do it again, I’d still spend the money to pull the fourth wire, just to be safe. If you’re running romex, you especially don’t want to have to do it again.

 

I'm not familiar with Tesla chargers. At what point does it convert to DC, at the charging box or on-board?

It absolutely needs to be grounded all the way to the AC-DC converter.