Licensed Nevada contractor NSCB 0032580A · C-2 Electrical · A Simmons has been licensed here since 1991 · Bonded and insuredVerify our licenseCareersContact
(725) 248-0578chris@simmonsolar.com
Get a free quote

EV charging

A charger is a circuit, and the circuit is the hard part

Buying the charger is the easy decision. What decides the job is whether your panel can carry it, and the code is specific about how that gets worked out.

Why a charger so often turns into a panel conversation

Under the 2023 NEC, Article 220.57, electric vehicle supply equipment is calculated at 7,200 volt-amperes or the nameplate rating, whichever is larger. It counts as a continuous load, and it is deliberately not folded into the fixed appliance load the way a dishwasher is. In a Las Vegas house already running two condensers through a July afternoon, that is often the load that takes the calculation past what the service can carry.

Which is the honest answer to a question we get a lot. The charger did not cause the problem, the calculation revealed it. If the service was already at its limit, whatever you added next was always going to be the thing that showed it.

What a good installation settles before anyone drills

  • The load calculation first

    Article 220 against your actual panel. If it does not fit, you find out now, not after a charger is on the wall.

  • Hardwired or a receptacle

    A hardwired unit and a NEMA 14-50 receptacle are different installations with different breaker, ground-fault and continuous-load consequences. Neither one is automatically right.

  • Where the car actually parks

    Cable length is fixed. The unit goes where the charge port ends up, which is not always where the panel would prefer.

  • The permit

    A new 240 volt circuit is permitted and inspected work in all four local jurisdictions. Anyone offering to skip that is offering you an unpermitted circuit on your own house.

If you have solar, or are about to

Charging in the middle of the day against your own production is a different proposition from charging at 7pm, when NV Energy summer on-peak pricing is at its worst. That is a scheduling decision rather than an equipment one, and it is worth making before the charger goes in. We do both sides of this work, so it is one conversation.

It runs the other way too. If a panel upgrade is coming anyway for solar or a battery, doing the charger circuit in the same visit costs far less than doing it twice.

Where these requirements come from

  1. Clark County Building and Fire Prevention, codes library: 2024 International Codes effective January 11 2026, and the 2023 National Electrical Code read 21 Sep 2026
  2. City of North Las Vegas, current adopted codes and ordinances, including the 2023 National Electrical Code read 21 Sep 2026
  3. NFPA 70, National Electrical Code, 2023 edition, free read-only access from NFPA read 21 Sep 2026
  4. Clark County Building Department fee calculator, labelled estimates only read 21 Sep 2026

Codes change. Every line above carries the date it was read. If you are here long after that date, check the source before relying on it, and tell us if it has moved.

Tell us what you drive and where it parks

Send a photo of your panel and of where the car sits. That is usually enough to tell you whether the circuit is straightforward or whether the service has to grow first.

We usually reply the same business day. Prefer to talk? Call (725) 248-0578. Any contract you sign with us carries Nevada's cover page and cancellation right: three business days, ten if you are 60 or older. Actual utility rates may go up or down and actual savings may vary.

Thanks. We got it and will call you shortly, usually within the hour during business hours.