The EV Owner's Garage, wired.

The EV Owner's Garage is one garage with two jobs: a Level 2 charger, and backup power. This build turns daily EV charging into a solved problem instead of an extension cord — and covers what happens when the grid does not.

It comes in three tiers. Essential gets the car charging today from an outlet you may already have. Complete adds a hardwired 50A charger on its own 70A circuit. Full Build adds the fastest Level 2 charging we carry and 12 kW of portable backup for the whole garage.

Any hardwired charger, and any circuit sized above what an existing outlet already supports, needs a licensed electrician to confirm panel capacity and run the circuit. Plug-in chargers using an existing correctly rated outlet are the exception.

The Autel AC Lite Home 40A is charging that works with the outlet you already have — it plugs into an existing NEMA 14-50, no new circuit if yours already supports it. 9.6 kW is a full overnight charge for almost any EV, and a plug-in install is typically same-day.

The step up is a dedicated circuit: the Autel AC Elite Home 50A gives full 50A hardwired charging with CSA certification behind it — whether your panel can take the circuit is the electrician's call (see 02). 12 kW turns any overnight stop into a full battery, with headroom for the second EV when it arrives.

The Autel MaxiCharger 80A delivers 80A of continuous output for the household running two EVs or a large-battery truck — the fastest Level 2 charging we carry.

Backup comes from the POWISER VOLIX 3 ULTRA 12K: 12 kW of portable hybrid backup on locking casters, with pure sine output, 10 ms transfer, and solar, grid, or generator charging inputs. When the grid drops, whatever is plugged into it keeps running. Feeding house circuits through a transfer switch waits on the UL 9540 listing, which POWISER has pending.

Every charger on this page ships standard ground parcel — no freight appointment needed. The MaxiCharger 80A ships parcel at approximately 20.3 lb. The POWISER VOLIX 3 ULTRA 12K is the exception: at 309 lb (about 400 lb packed) it ships freight, a flat $750 within the continental U.S., shown at checkout.

See the charger buying guide for the sizing decision, or head back to Build Your Garage for the rest of the project pages.