What lack of maintenance? The wires and panel work fine. The house is the same as it has been for years no electrical issues.
That "quick job" costs a lot of money probably $15K not to mention the labour and time involved. And to a garage that doesn't exist.
My point being adding modern things more power hungry like an EV are not easy for older homes. Renovating to update the entire electrical system is not cheap.
The lack of maintenance is updating the circuit panel first and wires second, I believe this is the _
$15k you're referencing. Cloth wiring, no grounds, no gfi around water, and fuses create for a very dangerous fire and electrocution hazard; any electrician or home inspector would have recommended changing it out 20 years ago; without electric cars being in the conversation.
You don't have to rewire the rest of the house to extend the 240 across the width of the house. 240 is the least integrated wiring. And every house (new and old) that needs a driveway or garage placement requires the same wiring change.
If you wanted, the cheapest option is to move the service point (no cost)
50yr ago is 1971. They weren't using cloth insulated wiring in 1971.
From the 1930s through whenever romex became common they used BX shielded cable which only relies on the cloth to provide color coding and UV shielding for the rubber that insulates the wire and the cable shielding acts as the ground.
>the lack of maintenance is updating the circuit panel first and wires second, I believe this is the _ $15k you're referencing.
Not fixing stuff that isn't broke isn't "lack of maintenence"
The vast majority of people do not live in the world of million dollar properties where half of everything gets renovated with each new owner.
15k? Are you buying cocaine for your electrician and his hookers, or are you hiring him to run a 240v outlet? Because the latter should cost about 1/10th of what you’re expecting..
I was commenting to the person above who seemingly wants my parents to rewire their entire home. And to do so every few years since apparently that's what proper maintenance means.
Insurance companies charge a significant premium for houses that still have fuses for a reason. We've learned a lot about electrical (fire) safety in the past few decades. cf knob and tube wiring.
Most likely you wouldn't have to rewire the branch circuits. A panel swap and new service entrance should run you about $3k (depending on location and inflation).
So you're saying that your perfect example of a house that is behind on maintenance...
would only require...
A quick job to wire the 240 to the garage that every other house that isn't behind on safety maintenance.
If you're lucky, the electrician would install a modern code compliant panel while on the job.