Electric Car in the Garage: Plan the Charger and Door Together

If an electric car is joining the household, the garage is where most people plan to charge it. That makes sense. The car is under cover, the charger can live on a wall, and you plug in when you get home. But a garage is built around its door, and if a charger and cable go in without anyone thinking about the door, you can end up with a setup that’s awkward every single day. The best time to plan the car, the charger and the door is together, before anything goes on the wall.

A quick word on what this post doesn’t cover. We’re garage door people, not electricians. Anything to do with the charger itself, its power supply or your switchboard is a job for a licensed electrician, and we’ll keep coming back to that. What we can help with is how the door, the opener and the cable live alongside each other.

Start with where the car will sit

Before anyone talks about charger locations, work out how the car will actually park. Charging ports aren’t in the same spot on every vehicle. Some are at the front, some at the rear, some on a side. That decides which way you’ll want to drive in, and which wall ends up closest to the port.

Then picture the space around the car with the door in mind. A sectional door slides along tracks up into the ceiling space. A roller door rolls into a drum above the opening. A tilt door lifts outward and upward on arms. Each one uses the garage differently and each has moving parts, so the charger, the cable and wherever the cable rests should all be well clear of the door’s travel and any tracks.

It also helps to think about everything else in the garage. If there’s a second car, bikes, a fridge or a workbench, the cable route needs to work around them without being stepped on, driven over, or shoved somewhere it ends up near the door.

Keep the cable out of the doorway

The doorway is the one strip of the garage floor that has to stay clear. A garage door closes down onto the floor, and anything lying across that line, a charging cable included, is in the way. Please don’t run a cable under a partly open door to charge a car parked out on the driveway. It leaves the garage open to anyone walking past, and a door that gets closed by someone pressing a remote while a cable sits in its path is exactly the kind of situation you want to avoid.

Your opener’s safety features are a backstop, not a reason to leave things in the doorway. If you’re ever unsure whether the door’s safety system is working properly, don’t test it with a cable, a foot or a hand. Ask us to check it.

A few habits make a real difference:

• Give the cable one home, such as a hook or holder beside the charger, well away from the door and its tracks.
• Hang it up every time you unplug, even if you’re heading straight back out.
• Close the door fully once the car is in, and charge with it shut.
• Show everyone who drives the car where the cable goes and why.

Power, the charger and the opener

This is where we step right back. Where the charger goes on the electrical side, what circuit it needs and whether your home’s setup can handle it are all decisions for a licensed electrician. Don’t take electrical advice from a blog post, ours included.

What we’d suggest is that you mention the garage door when you talk to the electrician. Your opener runs on power too, so point it out and let the electrician decide what that means for their plans. If you’re thinking about replacing the opener around the same time, tell them, so the two jobs can be planned around each other.

If your opener is due for replacement anyway, our garage door openers page shows the Merlin range we supply and install. Which model suits your door depends on its type, size and weight, so check the exact model and its manual, or ask us.

Power outages and checking the door

An electric car parked behind a closed garage door relies on that door to get out, just like any other car. If the power goes out, an automatic door may not open from the remote unless the opener has a working battery backup. Know where your opener’s manual release is and how it works for your model before you need it. Our manual release instructions are a good place to start, and your opener’s manual has the details for your exact model. If the release is hard to reach, or the door feels heavy or doesn’t move freely once released, stop and call us rather than forcing it.

We also stock a Merlin battery backup accessory. Whether it suits your opener depends on the exact model, so check the manual or ask us. And if you like being able to check from bed that the garage is shut after plugging in, the Merlin myQ Connectivity Bundle lets you see from your phone whether the door is open or closed, operate it remotely, and get notifications when it opens or closes. For a busy household in Doncaster or Glen Waverley, knowing the door is properly closed without walking back out past the car is handy.

If you’re planning an electric car charger in your garage and want to talk about the door and opener side of things, get in touch with Eastern Garage Doors. We’ll help you work out what suits your door, and leave the electrical work to your licensed electrician.