Exterior Tesla Wall Connector Install in Vancouver, WA (Minnehaha)

We mounted a Tesla Wall Connector outside at a home in the Minnehaha neighborhood of Vancouver, WA. The homeowner uses the garage as a home gym and wanted to charge the Tesla without opening the garage door. So we put the charger on the driveway side of the garage wall and fed it through from the panel inside.

Outside or inside

Most EV chargers go inside the garage to keep them out of the weather. But there are good reasons to mount one outside:

• The garage is storage, a gym or a shop, and you don’t want to step around the cable every day
• A detached garage with a driveway, where mounting on the house is cheaper than running power out to the garage
• Two cars, where the second one parks in the driveway
• You’d rather plug in with the car outside

Tesla Wall Connectors are rated for outdoor use, so mounting one outside meets code as long as the hole through the wall is sealed against the weather.

The Tesla Wall Connector

The Gen 3 Wall Connector uses Tesla’s own NACS plug, so a Tesla plugs in without an adapter. On this job that meant:

• 48 amps on a 60-amp circuit, as fast as Level 2 home charging gets
• Wi-Fi for monitoring and updates
• A clean look that works fine facing the driveway
• Up to 4 chargers can share one circuit with load balancing, handy if a second Tesla shows up

For non-Teslas or a mix of cars, Tesla sells a version with a J1772 plug, or we can put in a J1772 charger like a Wallbox, ChargePoint or Emporia.

Why outside takes longer

This one took about 3.5 hours because it’s mounted outside. A charger next to the panel inside usually takes under an hour. Outside adds:

• Drilling through the garage wall and running 6/3 Romex through it
• Switching from Romex inside to outdoor-rated conduit and a box outside
• Sealing the hole with flashing and sealant. Skip this and it looks fine for a year, then water gets in, the wall rots, and the charger dies
• A test charge to make sure it’s putting out the full 48 amps

That’s the difference between a permitted install and a handyman job. Every EV charger we put in goes under an L&I or City of Vancouver permit, depending on where you live.

Planning an EV charger install around Vancouver, inside or out? We’ve put in 120+ home EV chargers, and we handle the panel upgrade when the service can’t carry a new 60-amp load. Call 360-828-7143 or book a free estimate.