Call your local county/city (depends on jurisdiction) inspection office and they can tell you if there is a code conflict with that.

But even as general rule of thumb you don't want to have potential fire hazard near gas pipes. I would avoid.

you're required to have 18" between a gas furnace and any combustible material. Whether or not the EV charger is considered combustible material, I don't know, but that's the only applicable code I can think of. Just from my gut of being involved with a lot of code stuff, I would say it would probably be frowned on to put it where you are thinking. Seems too close to the furnace.

edit: Just fyi, this is fire code, not electric code. You're probably also going to want to check IRC and IECC, depending on what state you're in.

1. Can you move it to the other left side of the panel? For potential code issues, not safety. You have far more ignition sources - from the hot surface igniter in the furnace - than you’d ever have from the EVSE and associated cords.
2. EVSE is not a charger. Just a way to get 208/240 V to the car - and the onboard charger. It’s really only a dance cable hanger, with some added intelligence.

>EVSE is not a charger. Just a way to get 208/240 V to the car - and the onboard charger.

not according to the new 2024 IECC. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that's not how they look at it.

>It’s really only a dance cable hanger, with some added intelligence.

If my memory serves me, the cable is energized with low current only, when being plugged in. After the plug has been mated to the vehicle, the vehicle sends a signal to the wall unit to turn on the high power circuit.

That - as well as it signals to the car mounted charger how much current it can pull. An EVSE might be connected to a 30A circuit (and can handle 100A) but the onboard charger can pull a full 80A. If it did, it’d trip the supplying breaker, so the EVSE is signaling to the onboard charger (AC/DC converter, a rectifier) how much current that is ‘available’. Only side effect is longer charge times, which rarely is an issue in a home location.

Terminology. A charger is something that converts AC correct to DC current so the (DC) battery can be charged under controlled conditions. The EVSE neither is or does anything of the above. But people still call them ‘chargers’. Better would be ‘charge connection’, charge station, connection station, etc. More about educating the public in baby steps. Also so the consumer doesn’t buy more than what is ‘needed’. Many EVSE have added intelligence (for timed charging, to measure kWh, etc), intelligence that’s also present in the vehicle.

there is no code directly related to installation of an EVSE outside of specific states like California that has the Title 24 code. That's coming with the IECC 2024. Only relevant code would be related to the furnace or the electrical panel.

exactly, it's terminology. And the only terminology that matters, from code perspective, is what is defined in the code. Again, I am not arguing you're technical view here. I'm just saying it kind of doesn't matter. The question is about code. What you feel is right or wrong based on engineering principles is irrelevant.

Don’t disagree, but we don’t call a pickup truck a bus, just because it also happens to have 4 wheels 😉

there's volumes of stuff in the code I disagree with, especially the new IECC with all the new EV stuff. It's so wrong sometimes, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. But at least the intent is good. And they aren't fucking it up so bad with anything more than their definitions.

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I'm honest, and in the cell phone situation, we know it is actually a charger (115/240 VAC in, 5 VDC (in most cases) out. You can take in anywhere.

In the car scenario, you supply mains to the car (unless a SuperCharger/Fast charger when you actually do supply a DC voltage) and the 'charger' sits on board. One reason that in most cases, you cannot take a US spec car and 'connect it'/charge it in Europe, etc. The 'charger' is very specific to the market.

This might be a bit geeky, but I like the way this guy explains it:
https://youtu.be/RMxB7zA-e4Y

I don't expect to 'win the battle' but I do like to educate people on what it is. EVSE is not a charger :-)

And maybe as a poor analogy; we expect drivers to know the difference between a gasoline and a diesel engine (as it’s sort of important). Hopefully we can get drivers to know the difference between an EVSE and a charger as well.

Happy New Year!

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Because you can get the answer by calling your town/city code enforcement office.

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Yes.

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I believe there are low current "signal" connections that will be made before the high current is enabled. This "signal" is used to energize the high current contacts after insertion.

This info is kinda old and things may have changed. I'll have to look at my local charging station when I get a chance.