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Level 1 or Level 2, from miles and hours, not a wall unit

A 48 A charger is a product. Overnight miles are a planning question. This page uses about 4 miles per hour on Level 1 and about 25 miles per hour on a 32 A Level 2 as placeholders, then asks whether 240 V is already at the parking spot. It will not pick a SKU.

4 vs 25 miles per hour, planning placeholders Level 1 at about 4 miles/hour, Level 2 at about 25 miles/hour on a 32 A circuit. Not the car onboard charger. 240 V work is licensed. HyreElectrical does not sell chargers.

Type daily miles, hours the car can actually sit on the plug, and whether 240 V already exists at the parking spot. Ten hours covers about 40 miles on Level 1 and about 250 miles on a 32 A Level 2 placeholder. If daily miles fit overnight on 120 V, a dedicated Level 1 circuit may be the whole job. If they do not, the conversation is a 240 V circuit, plus the load and panel-space tools. Not a charger model. Live work is not DIY.

Miles, hours, 240 V or not

Not a model and not a price. Nothing is emailed.

A commuting day, not a road-trip day. Road trips are not what home charging is for.

Clock hours at home, not "it is in the garage all night" if you arrive late.

— The conversation
— Level 1 ballpark
— Level 2 ballpark
— What this is not

What this assumed —

About 4 miles/hour on Level 1 and about 25 miles/hour on a 32 A Level 2 are planning placeholders, not a vehicle onboard charger. Not a SKU. 240 V work is licensed. Live work is not DIY. HyreElectrical does not sell chargers.

How this calculator works

The calculator multiplies the hours you type by two planning placeholders, then picks a sentence:

Level 1 miles ≈ hours × 4
Level 2 miles ≈ hours × 25   (32 A placeholder)

if daily miles ≤ Level 1 miles and 240 V is not already "yes":
    Level 1 on a dedicated 120 V circuit may cover this
if 240 V is "no" and daily miles > Level 1 miles:
    daily miles exceed overnight Level 1; 240 V is the conversation
else:
    a dedicated 240 V Level 2 circuit is the usual home charging job

On 30 miles/day and 8 hours, Level 1 covers about 32 miles and Level 2 about 200. Thirty sits at the Level 1 edge. On 80 miles/day and 8 hours with 240 V marked no, Level 1 covers 32 miles and the pick is the 240 V conversation plus the load and panel tools. The placeholders are not your car. They exist so a 12-mile commute does not automatically become a 48 A wall unit.

What each input means

Inputs on this tool, in the order they appear on the form.
InputWhat it is actually asking
Miles per day Typical weekday miles, the ones home charging has to replace. Not the 400-mile trip twice a year. Those are public DC fast charging.
Hours available Clock hours the car can sit on this plug. Default 8. If you get home at 10 and leave at 6, type 8 only if that is actually true. Overnight is not automatically 12.
240 V at the spot Unknown, yes, or no. "Yes" means a circuit that can actually serve a charger, not a dryer receptacle you hope to share. Unknown is valid and the usual answer.

Worked examples

Including one where the naive answer misleads, which is the example most calculators leave out.

A 30-mile commute and a real 10-hour night

Miles 30, hours 10, 240 V unknown. Level 1 ballpark 40 miles, Level 2 250. Thirty is under 40 and 240 V is not "yes," so the pick is that Level 1 on a dedicated 120 V circuit may cover this daily mileage if the hours are really available. Dedicated is doing work in that sentence. A garage receptacle already feeding a freezer is not a charging plan.

Eighty miles a day, no 240 V at the parking spot

Miles 80, hours 8, 240 V no. Level 1 covers 32 miles. Eighty exceeds that, so the pick is that daily miles exceed an overnight Level 1 fill and a 240 V circuit is the conversation, plus the panel-space and load tools. The circuit estimator then takes the current (32 A is a 40 A class at 125%). This page does not skip to a SKU in between.

The one where a 48 A wall unit misleads

Twenty miles a day, 12 hours on the plug, no 240 V yet, and a shopping tab open on a 48 A charger because a review site said "Level 2 is required." Level 1 covers about 48 miles in those hours. The naive answer is a heavy 240 V circuit for a commute Level 1 would have covered. The other naive answer is treating a 240 V dryer outlet as if it were already a charger circuit. Neither is a SKU this page will name. Hours and miles first, then the circuit tool, then a bid.

What changes the result

Hours move both ballparks linearly. Cutting available time from 10 hours to 5 halves Level 1 from 40 miles to 20. A commute that fit Level 1 at 10 hours does not fit at 5.

The 240 V prompt changes the sentence, not the miles. Marking "yes" when the only 240 V in the garage is a dryer is how people skip the circuit conversation they still need. Mark "yes" only if an electrician has said that circuit can serve the charger.

Miles above the Level 1 ballpark with 240 V marked no is the path into Level 2, the load calculator, and panel space. Miles far above even the Level 2 placeholder (a 200-mile workday, 8 hours at home) is not a home-charging failure. It is a day that needs a charge away from home. This tool will not invent a 80 A circuit to pretend otherwise.

Local considerations

Whether a 240 V branch circuit is licensed work, what the permit costs, and whether your utility offers a charging rate or a rebate are local. This page will not publish a 50-state rebate table. Rebates expire, stack with conditions, and are not a reason to skip the load calculation. Ask the utility and the building department. The circuit still has to exist.

The National Electrical Code is a model code. Continuous-load 125% is the shape used on the circuit estimator. Your jurisdiction adopts an edition. This page does not declare a dryer-outlet adapter illegal in your city and does not recommend one.

When not to use this

Do not use this as a charger model, a price, or a permit. It cannot see the onboard charger, cold-weather derate, a detached garage, or a panel with no spaces.

Do not use it to justify sharing a dryer circuit or installing a 240 V receptacle yourself. 240 V work is licensed. Live work is not DIY.

Do not use it for workplace or public charging, or for DC fast charging. Those are different power levels and different rules.

HyreElectrical does not sell chargers and does not perform electrical work. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not a booking.

Related on this site

Questions this calculator answers

Do I need a Level 2 charger at home?
Only if the miles you actually drive in a day will not refill in the hours the car can sit on a 120 V circuit. This tool uses about 4 miles per hour for Level 1 and about 25 miles per hour for a 32 A Level 2 as planning placeholders, not as the vehicle onboard charger. Short commutes with a long night on the plug often fit Level 1. That is still a dedicated circuit conversation, not a random garage receptacle shared with a freezer.
What is Level 1 vs Level 2?
Level 1 is 120 V, typically from a dedicated household circuit, slow. Level 2 is 240 V, typically 16 to 48 A depending on the equipment, and it is a continuous load. The circuit, not the plastic on the wall, is the job. The EV circuit estimator applies the 125% continuous-load rule to the current you set. This page decides whether that 240 V conversation is even the next one.
Which charger should I buy?
This page will not name one. Cable length, indoor vs outdoor listing, the car inlet, and whether the unit is smart are product questions. The electrical questions are voltage, current, panel space, and whether the service can carry the continuous load. Buy the equipment after those, not before.
I have a 240 V dryer outlet in the garage. Can I use that?
Not as a casual adapter, and not from this page. A dryer circuit is sized and switched for a dryer. Sharing it, splitting it, or plugging a charger into a receptacle listed for an appliance is a design question for a licensed electrician, plus whatever the charger instructions and the adopted NEC edition require. "240 V exists" on this form means a circuit that can actually serve the charger, not a plug you spotted.
How many miles per hour does Level 1 add?
About 4 miles per hour is the placeholder this engine uses. A 10-hour night is about 40 miles. The onboard charger, the state of charge you return with, and cold weather all move that. If your daily miles sit under that placeholder and the hours are really available, Level 1 may cover it. If you get home at 11 p.m. and leave at 6 a.m., type 7 hours, not 10.
How many miles per hour on Level 2?
About 25 miles per hour is the placeholder at 32 A. That is a common home current, not a maximum. A 48 A unit on a 60 A class circuit is faster and is a heavier panel conversation. The circuit estimator is where current becomes a breaker class. This page stays in miles vs hours.
Can I install a Level 2 charger myself?
A 240 V branch circuit is licensed work in most jurisdictions. This page will not walk you through live work, landing conductors, or pulling a permit. The person who pulls the permit is the person who should run the circuit.
Does the panel decide more than the charger?
Usually. Spare spaces, spare amps, and the length of the run move the invoice more than the wall unit. Put the current into the load calculator as EVSE amps, count spaces on the panel space checker, and use the electrification tool if a heat pump and an electric dryer are in the same plan.
Is this a price?
No. We do not have a sourced national installation average we can defend, and a SKU price without the circuit is the wrong number anyway. Type bid lines on the project cost tool if you have them.
Does HyreElectrical sell or install chargers?
No. HyreElectrical does not perform electrical work and does not rank charger brands. Matching is still being built. The enquiry form is not a booking.

Sources and methodology

Figures dated 26 August 2026. Last reviewed .

  • Charging electric vehicles at home (U.S. Department of Energy, Alternative Fuels Data Center, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited for the Level 1 / Level 2 distinction at home. Miles-per-hour figures on this page are planning placeholders, not an AFDC table for your vehicle.)
  • NFPA 70, National Electrical Code (National Fire Protection Association, retrieved 2026-08-26. Continuous-load 125% and branch-circuit rules live in the adopted edition. This page does not reprint them. The circuit estimator uses 125% on the current you enter.)
  • Home electrical safety guidance (Electrical Safety Foundation International, retrieved 2026-08-26. Cited for the standing rule that 240 V work is not a homeowner walkthrough.)

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