Jump over to DIYChatroom, there are a couple active and very recent threads on EVs. A bunch of licensed electricians and 1 really smart dude contributing to those. There's certainly knowledge here, but it doesn't seem like any licensed electricians.

What's the DIYChatroom?

Also GarageJournal (.com), but there would be a lot to weed through similar to your situation and if you post the pro comments are fewer in between the fluff.

So, an update here. I spoke to my electrician and he pointed out a problem: if I want to have a 100A service in my garage, I have to reduce the capacity of my house, since they both come from the same 400A meter. How do I reduce the capacity? I have two 200A panels, so would I replace the main breakers with 150A ones? Replace one with a 100A one? My second panel has a 125A breaker for the boiler for my heating system, and 4 20A ones. The first panel (which originally was the main panel) has 39 miscellaneous breakers, most of which are 20A but there are four bigger ones for my DHW heater, well, electric oven, and clothes dryer. He didn't seem concerned until I mentioned that I also have a solar panel system. Any comments?

New problem: the electrician who gave me the above advice and was going to do the job is now "too busy", and I haven't found any others. The foundation was poured yesterday, the slab will be poured next week and the framers are coming on August 1, so I decided to do it myself (I was aready planning to do the interior wiring). I was told by my local building code enforcer and he said that I can do it myself; the wires have to be 18" or more deep, and run through sch 80 PVC pipe where they are exposed. So my question is, what kind of wire should I get for 100A service. As far as I can tell, for copper wire I would need 3 GA and for aluminum I would need 1 GA. My run length is about 120 feet. A few questions:

1. Aluminum or Copper? AL is cheaper and CU is more flexible (because it's smaller).

2.Do I need 3 conductor or 4 conductor?

3. Do I need an external ground rod?

One practical problem is that some of the cables only come in 1000 foot rolls (for upwards of $900).

[Where have all the "PRO"s here gone?]

My take is that aluminum is fine if you have experience using it - I don't.

If you are installing conduit why are you buying cable?

I would assume that you need at least one ground rod - why not ask your "local building code enforcer"?

I need conduit where the cable runs under the driveway.

My excavator pressured to move on with this, so I bought 150' of 2-2-2-4 direct bury cable. As stated above, I then found out that the part of the run which goes under the driveway must be in sch 80 PVC, so I bought 120' of 2". The excavator dug the trench and helped me pull the wire through the PVC, glue the sections together (along with two 90° bends and two conduit bodies), and run the wires into the top of the sill plate of the garage and into my house near the existing panels. That's all I'm going to do until the garage is completed and I can wire the interior, and then connect to one of my panels. That will probably be in about one month.

Do I have to run the cable inside conduit in my basement and/or garage? I probably could run it inside 1" EMT if necessary. All the heavy wiring in my basement is in EMT already.

Also, how do I properly connect the aluminum wiring? Are there special connectors made for that?