Assuming you are going to run a new circuit (dedicated) for the vehicle charger you could either use a ordinary 20-amp duplex GFCI receptacle or protect the circuit at the panel with a GFCI breaker.

Off hand I don’t know if a 240v vehicle charger requires a neutral but if it doesn’t then 12/2 cable would suffice. Typically indoor 240v circuits don’t require GFCI protection but I’m not sure about outdoor.

I think I'm going to do this in two steps - I have the 20A GFCI already, and can easily wire that into a new 120V circuit. I'll worry about the 240V if and when it becomes necessary. It's easy to change the wires, as needed. Thanks

Mike is right. A 20A/120V plug absolutely requires some sort of GFCI protection as the options he lists.

I've never seen a EV charger on 240 that requires a neutral. Mine has an 6-20 plug on it. It would be fairly easy to convert that.

Of course, 20A is not the way chargers are going. You get a serious EV, you're probably talking much higher amperages (that won't be cord and plug connected). You're looking at 30A and upward.

The thing you're talking about by the way is an EVSE. The charger is built into the car. The EVSE is really just a smart device that negotiates with the car about how much power is available for it to draw (&&#@$&^ GM gets this freaking wrong on the later 120V EVSEs). The output of the EVSE is the same 120V or 240V that it draws from the breaker. The EVSE does include its own GFCI circuitry so you don't have to worry about killing yourself with the hose that you're plugging into the car.

I would be looking at least at 10/2 or /3 for 30 amps for future usage. And I would price 50 amps as well. I put in 10/3 for a friend with an RV. It wasn't that hard to work with.

I've built EVSE's that are good to 50A. They are all two wire hookups (one of mine will run on either 120 or 240, but the 240 mode doesn't require the neutral). It's realtively easy plucking off the 5V for the electronics in these things without regard to the mains voltage. Just checking a few commercial ones and they all are either 2-wire hardwired or connect with a NEMA 6 series (240V, no neutral) plug.

Thanks, all, for your comments. I decided to go the simple route and simply put in a standard 2-outlet GFCI receptacle. If I get a car with higher requirements, I would probably want the charging port to be in a different location. Now, however, my current car has a 240 volt charger (EVSE?) available, for $500; not sure if I want to go that route. My current car is a PHEV and has a range of only about 20 miles. I can fully charge it on 120 volts overnight, and that is adequate for driving around town. When I get a "real" EV, I will probably still have my PHEV. (I have range anxiety as I have to drive 350 miles between my two houses).

I did wire it into an existing circuit (had no spare breakers), but am thinking about putting in a double GFCI 20A breaker and replacing my GFCI receptacle with one which can handle 120 and 240 volt but do those exist? It would have one 120V outlet and one 240 volt outlet. I searched the internet and cannot find one, so maybe they would be illegal.

Its fairly common to have a 240 volt electric appliance (like a range or cooktop) that has timers, clocks or other accessories that run off 120 volt. However, the range/cooktop uses a 4 wire receptacle (two hots, neutral and ground) and the voltage breakout is done within the appliance. I'm not sure there is a code compliant way to do this yourself.

You could also wire the receptacle for 240V and use a step-down transformer to get 120V. This type of voltage converter is readily available, but most are designed for European use and the 240V plug is a European design.

If it was my house I would just continue to use the 120V GFCI receptacle for the current car, and then plan to run new 6/3 wire to a 4" square weatherproof box right next to it. Once you buy a new car and know the actual requirements, then buy a GFCI breaker and the receptacle needed for your new charger. 6/3 copper wire would allow you to use up to a 50 amp breaker.

Bruce

Thank you, Bruce, that is what I plan to do. But when I get the new car, I'll still have the current one and the charging requirements are different (are the parking spaces!). Anyway, I've solved the problem for now....

I'm sure Ron will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you could feed a small subpanel from a 2-pole GFI, then use that for both 240 and 120 volt feeders to your parking area.

If you only need 20 amps at 240 volts, you can mount both receptacles in a 2-gang box with a 2-gang in-use cover, as long as the box has enough cubic capacity for all the wires.

If you need more than 20 amps, you'll need a separate box for the 240 volt receptacle. But it's kind of a moot point, since you'll most likely need an EVSE for the BEV anyway.

I don't have the 240 volt EVSE yet and I don't know what it's current requirement would be, so I'm going to stick with what I have for now. I have my 120 volt EVSE plugged into one outlet and the other is a spare - my wife now wants to use it for Christmas lights (even though it's Jan 1!).