Can my house take an EV charger?

A full NEC load calculation on the service you already have. A couple of minutes, and nothing needs opening. If you are adding a heat pump in the same year, check that too, because the answer is not the same as adding either one on its own.

Before you start

Answer what you know and skip what you don't. Where something is missing we say so, and say what would settle it, rather than guessing and hoping.

Which calculation this is. The existing dwelling method, NEC Article 220.83. It answers one question: whether the service you already have carries what you are adding. It is not a design for a new service, and it will not tell you what size to install if the answer comes back short. The result names the exact table used, which depends on the code edition in force and on whether heating is part of the job.

1. What are you adding?

Check everything that applies. The calculation measures the electrical service already on your house against everything you want to add, so it needs the whole list. Adding two things in the same year is common, and the answer is not the same as adding either one on its own.

2. Your meter

Match the picture. Nothing needs opening.

Which meter base looks like yours?

This is the meter on the outside of your house, not the breaker panel inside. If you can, measure the metal box — about 15 inches tall is the standard 200 A size, and that one number tells us a lot about what your upgrade would involve.

Pick the one that looks closest. If none of them match, choose “Not sure” — a photo settles it faster than a description.

Whatever you pick here, the utility has to cut power and give us access to the meter before any work on the service can start. We arrange that with them.

Only if you know it for certain — from an inspection report, a previous permit, or an electrician who told you. Please don’t open the meter to check. Leave it blank if you’re not sure; the picture above is enough to get started.

3. The panel

Check anything that matches. Skip anything you're unsure of, because a wrong guess here is worse than a blank.

What's on it

Room inside

4. The house

Seattle amends the electrical code separately from the rest of the state, and the EV charger figure is one of the things it changes.
Not counting an unheated garage.
An ADU, a mother-in-law unit, a wet bar with its own circuits. Rare, but each one adds about 3,000 VA before a single appliance is plugged in.

5. Kitchen appliances

The two small-appliance circuits every kitchen has already cover whatever is plugged into them. An appliance only gets counted separately if it is built in, hardwired, or on its own breaker.

A countertop microwave on a kitchen outlet: already counted, leave it unchecked. An over-the-range or built-in one: check it. Dishwashers and disposals are almost always hardwired or dedicated. Refrigerators vary and are hard to tell from the outside, so if you are not sure, check it anyway. That is the cautious side and it will not undersize you.

6. The big ones

Gas appliances draw nothing electrically, so a house on a gas range has more room than the same house all-electric.

7. Heating and cooling now

What is in the house today, before anything you are adding. Heating and cooling never run at the same time, so only the larger of the two counts.

8. Anything else

Sauna, pool or well pump, shop subpanel, welder, second panel. Anything fastened in place that the list above missed. Use the nameplate figure, not an estimate of what you think it draws.

Already have an EV charger?

This is a planning estimate from Hanco Electric, based on what you entered and on the code edition and local amendments for the city selected. It is not a design, not a permit submittal, and not a substitute for a licensed electrician evaluating your installation on site. The authority having jurisdiction has the final say on any load calculation.