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I am running a #6 wire from my sub-panel to an electric car charger. The car charger only has 3 inputs, for the hot, neutral, and ground. It's the Tesla Gen 3 charger with the manual and diagram found here.

Home Depot doesn't carry a 60 amp, single pole Square D breaker. I picked up this 60 amp double breaker here.

Can I run both hot wires from the 2-pole breaker into a single slot on the Tesla Wall Charger?

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  • The 2 hot wires from that breaker will have 240V between them. You can't connect them together. – brhans Feb 27 at 4:33
  • Correct @brhans the charger is rated for 200-240V AC single phase, so it should be okay right? – Brian Feb 27 at 4:35
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    @Ecnerwal Long day, got confused looking at what I did previously for my 120v 20amp outlets. Time to go to bed. – Brian Feb 27 at 4:41
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    Good that you stopped and asked, rather than forging ahead. Have to be wary of where fatigue can get you, and when stopping is more sensible than forging ahead. – Ecnerwal Feb 27 at 4:45
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    @Ecnerwal Agreed. It's always very difficult to call it quits for the night or wait until the next day to start, but that's often the best move when working on any project. Thank you for the help! – Brian Feb 27 at 4:48
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As a 240V load in the US, that takes two hots (from opposite legs of your service) - NOT hot and neutral. The two-pole breaker is exactly what you need. If you’re using cable with white/black/ground wires, you’ll need to re-mark the white to a hot color (such as red or black), and connect one to each pole of the breaker.

A 60A breaker on just 120V would not be done. A ~6KW load would have four times the voltage drop (and require larger more expensive wire) compared to the same power at 240V, so loads that big are always at the higher voltage.

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    I just had a real "duh" moment. Thanks for clearing that up. The 2-pole breaker is correct and both wires going from the 2-pole should go in space 2 and space 3 on the charger. My ground then goes in on space 1. I got caught up in looking at what I previously did for my outlets and was trying to figure out where the neutral went and obviously 240v doesn't take the neutral, it takes 2 'hot' wires to create the 240v (120v each). – Brian Feb 27 at 4:38
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    Some 240V things (stoves, ovens, dryers, etc) do also use the neutral - so they can power lights, motors, etc on 120V. Those need four-wire connections, not just three wires. – nobody Feb 27 at 4:39
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    To add to the confusion, it is perfectly acceptable to use "/2 cable" (2 conductors + ground) to wire 240V-only loads like EVSE and water heaters. /2 cable comes from the factory with black and white wires. You are required to re-mark the white wire with hot-color paint or tape (black, red, etc.) to indicate it is a hot in your installation. – Harper - Reinstate Monica Feb 27 at 18:17

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