Level 2 Charger Miles per Hour and Eaton Dry Type Transformers: A Purchasing Story

Zach from marketing sent me a chat on a Tuesday afternoon in late February:

“How do you see Snapchat Solar System?”

I read it four times.

Two weeks earlier, leadership had approved the project I had been quietly asking for since 2024: six Level 2 EV chargers, rooftop solar, and battery storage. My brain had rearranged itself around words like inverter sizing, grid interconnection, and load calculations. So when Zach mentioned “solar system,” I assumed he was asking about the equipment we were buying.

I replied: “Which Eaton portal are you looking at?”

He wrote back: “No. Snapchat. The planets thing. How do you see it?”

I did not know. I looked it up and found that Snapchat’s Solar System is a feature for Snapchat+ subscribers. Open a chat with a friend, tap their Bitmoji at the top, and scroll through the Friendship Profile. The solar system diagram shows your closest friends as planets, and your closest friend gets Mercury. If you can’t see it, you probably don’t have Snapchat+, or the friend isn’t in your top eight.

That interaction stayed with me for the next two months. Because there are two kinds of “solar system” in the world. One is a social media gimmick. The other costs about $190,000 and comes with an Eaton dry type transformer.

Why I Ended Up Buying an Eaton Dry Type Transformer

A quick background. I’m the office administrator for a 180-person equipment distribution company. Since I took over purchasing in 2020, I have managed roughly $400,000 a year in facilities and maintenance purchases across about ten vendors. I am not an electrical engineer. I am the person who asks engineers “why” until they draw pictures.

Our company runs electric service vans. For the first year, drivers charged them overnight on Level 1 outlets, which is painfully slow. Our operations manager wanted six Level 2 charging stations in the parking lot. Finance wanted to know why six.

That’s when I learned the phrase “level 2 charger miles per hour.”

The number is not fixed. At 240 volts and 32 amps, a Level 2 station supplies roughly 7.7 kW. If the van gets 3 to 4 miles per kWh, that adds about 25 to 30 miles per hour of charging. A 48-amp station supplies about 11.5 kW and adds more like 35 to 40 miles per hour. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center (afdc.energy.gov) says Level 2 charging generally provides 12 to 80 miles of range per hour depending on the circuit and the vehicle.

For our vans, that math made a 32-amp station practical. An overnight charge could easily cover a 100-mile delivery day. So we ordered six.

Then the electrical engineer’s design came back, and the chargers were not at the top of the list. The transformer was.

Our building gets power at 480 volts. The chargers want 208 or 240 volts. That mismatch is why the drawing specified a 75 kVA Eaton dry type transformer, 480V to 208Y/120V. “Dry type” means the unit is air-cooled rather than filled with oil, so it is safer for indoor installation and needs less maintenance. It is also not small. It is a floor-standing cabinet, not something you hang on a wall.

Here is my opinion: if you’re buying EV chargers without checking the transformer requirement, you’re not done buying EV chargers.

Why We Also Needed an Eaton Disconnect Switch

The next line on the drawing surprised me even more: Eaton disconnect switch.

At first, I thought the charger’s own breaker would be enough. The electrician explained why it wasn’t. Hardwired Level 2 chargers need a lockable disconnecting means so maintenance staff can work on them safely. A visible-break switch makes it clear that the circuit is open, and it can be padlocked. That requirement lives in Article 625 of the National Electrical Code.

So we installed an Eaton disconnect switch next to the charging area. The name on the spec did not seem important to me at the time. It turned out to be very important.

The specification said: “Eaton disconnect switch, UL listed equivalent acceptable.” I read that as permission to buy a cheaper 60-amp disconnect from an online distributor. I was proud of myself for saving about $127.

The electrician took one look and said, “This is an air conditioner disconnect. It does not have the short-circuit current rating we need, and it can’t be locked in the open position. I will not install it.”

I paid for expedited shipping on the Eaton disconnect switch that should have been ordered the first time. I also paid for an extra electrician trip. That $127 “saving” turned into roughly $400 of extra cost. If you see a brand name on an engineer’s drawing, ask why before you substitute something else. Usually the brand is the summary of a rating.

The Air Cargo Lithium Battery News I Should Have Paid Attention To

While I was waiting for the transformer, I also needed to replace a lithium-ion battery module in the Eaton UPS that keeps our server room running. I asked the supply house to overnight it.

The answer was fast: “Not via air. Lithium. It has to go ground.”

The air cargo lithium battery news that came out of IATA in early 2025 felt abstract until that moment. Airlines and freight forwarders were tightening the rules for shipping lithium batteries, and certain packs could no longer move as ordinary air freight. They either needed dangerous goods declarations or had to travel by ground. The UPS module arrived by truck five days later, which pushed an already tight maintenance window.

That delay was my fault, not Eaton’s and not the freight company’s. The distributor had flagged the restriction when I placed the order. I ignored it because I was focused on the transformer delivery. If you are buying anything with lithium chemistry - a UPS battery, a storage cabinet, power tool batteries - ask about the shipping method before you order. Add it to the P.O. notes. Don’t assume “expedite” means “air.”

What I Learned, and Yes, How to See Snapchat Solar System

When everything finally arrived, installation went smoothly. Six chargers went in. The 75 kVA Eaton dry type transformer hummed in its enclosure. The Eaton disconnect switch sits beside it in a lockable gray box. The project passed inspection on the first try.

Zach from marketing walked out to the lot with me when we commissioned the system. He asked how fast the chargers were. I gave him the level 2 charger miles per hour explanation and pointed out the transformer and disconnect. Then he asked to see the “real solar system,” so I opened the monitoring app and showed him the battery flow.

He said, “I know how to see Snapchat solar system now. This is cooler.”

If you arrived here because you searched for how to see Snapchat solar system: open a chat with the person, tap their Bitmoji at the top of the chat, and scroll down on the Friendship Profile. The solar system appears there for Snapchat+ subscribers. If you don’t see it, that is almost certainly why.

If you arrived here because you are planning EV charging, keep these three things in mind:

• Level 2 charger miles per hour is a calculation, not a rating. Amps and vehicle efficiency change the answer. Roughly, a 32-amp station adds 25 to 30 miles per hour, and a 48-amp station adds 35 to 40.
• The Eaton dry type transformer and the Eaton disconnect switch are not optional bolt-ons. They may be required by your building voltage and by code. Read the one-line drawing before you buy anything.
• If your project involves any lithium battery, ask how it ships. Air cargo lithium battery rules are changing, and ground transport is often the realistic option.

The word “solar system” can mean a Snapchat feature or a serious energy project. I cannot tell you which one you were looking for. But if yours involves an Eaton dry type transformer and a disconnect switch, start with the engineering drawing, not with the charger. And read the spec sheet before you decide that a cheaper version is equivalent.