Best Home EV Charger company?

We have quite a few threads already on this subject, like this one, in the Prime Plug-In Charging sub forum. There's a lot of information available throughout that forum from those who have been home charging for several years.

 

Back in 2013 we got ours which is a Leviton 40A unit. I liked the UL listing.

It stopped working once after a power outage. All I did was disconnect the plug and reconnect it, and it was happy again...

 

It's unclear what you're asking exactly. Are you looking for a charge cable? Or an electrician to run the wiring? They're two unrelated things. (Although you can probably find someone who'll sell you a charger at premium price and then charge you even more to run the wire from your breaker box.)

Here's my suggestion:j just have an electrician run a 110V or 220V line to your garage from your 220V stove or electric dryer wire, or separately from your breaker box, and use your existing charging cable. (You'll need an adapter for whatever 220V plug he installs.) Just don't charge the car and use your stove or dryer at the same time.

My dryer is about 4' from the carport wall. After weeks of messing around with different wires and plugs and whatnot, I finally got a combination of things that I like. It's really great to use the same cable with 220V and have the car charge in 1/2 the time.

 

We just asked something similar!
Here's our thread in the forum where others in the community shared their home setup!
We offer the ChargePoint Home and here's everything you need to know about it!

I second the tip to search throughout the forum here, there's tons of information from both new and experienced EV owners! Good luck, and don't hesitate to PM us with any questions you may have. - Rochelle

 

I have a ChargePoint Home (hardwired with 25’ cable), and use it for both our ‘16 Leaf and ‘14 PiP. No complaints, has served us well, only had to reboot it a couple times in the ~28 months we have had it. Also has a handy app for tracking usage, etc.

Just my $0.02.

 

I too, have posted on this in other threads. But, I have a Clipper Creek model. Be sure and get the longest cord available, which is about 25'.

 

Will the charge point ever pay for itself?

The 120 volt charge system supplied with the car works fine if you have 5+ hours for a full charge. Otherwise, burning a bit of gasoline is probably cheaper than the cost of the charge point and installation.

If you get one, consider the future. If you'll likely be in that location for many more years and likely to get another electric car, consider a charge station with greater capacity than the Prime requires.

 

Also for the harsher climates, FLO makes a couple great units. Additionally they're made in Canada, Quebec specifically.

 

The best is a 110 volt outlet. How mush gas well you save having a 220 volt outlet?

You can buy 20 or more tanks of gas for the cost of a 220 volt outlet wish you donot need at night.

 

Cost is one thing, convenience is another, in addition to the person’s individual driving patterns, such as if having a quicker charge would be helpful when you don’t want to wait as many hours.

Having he luxury of an L2 at home is nice, as it is quicker to park & plug than having to stow the cable away all the time, not to mention not having to worry about theft and locking the cable, since I am usually Harling my PiP outdoors.

I have a full EV as well so the L2 is justified, but I think I would find it annoying having to constantly lock and stow the cable with this car for such a small range. Still love the car, though.

 

If you're a DIY type, you can install a 240V dryer outlet for about $30 so that's only one tank of gas. 30 Amp breaker $9, dryer outlet $9, 10 gauge wiring $6, $3 outlet cover, $3 outlet box.

 

Don’t you still need to buy an L2 charger? They aren’t cheap .

 

Nope, the Prime's charger works as L2 if you make an adapter costing $20-$25, see the other thread.

 

As with all L1 and L2 EVSE's, they are glorified extension cables. The "charger" is in the car. The big BUT is that the EVSE, the thing you pay for, has a bunch of safety and convenience features built in. Lots of pilot probing current monitoring, temperature monitoring, source voltage monitoring, etc. A straight extension cord provides none of that and can melt in less than ideal circumstances. An EVSE will most likely throw a blinky light and refuse to charge, but no melty-ness.

The only external chargers are for L3 (DC) charging, which the Prime doesn't support.

 

It should be pointed out that this adapter cable doesn't meet the National Electric Code and uses a jack rated for 120 V in a 240 V application, which means there is an inherent safety hazard with it from a fire and electric shock point of view. So even if one is willing to do a "smoke test" on their charging cable, there is that to consider.

At work we have a "Kludge of the Month" award where there's an article in the engineering department safety newsletter for jury rigged/hacked fabrications found that violate code or otherwise present a safety hazard. This adapter cable might make a good candidate, but will probably have to enter the cue because I understand there's no shortage of kludges at work.


iPhone ? Pro

 

I agree with you that's its not up to code and is unsafe if someone plugs something else into it. I should have put up a disclaimer saying do it at your own risk. I'm just putting my experience out there with other owners who have tried it on 240V and it works. Just be aware of the risks.

 

Probably not in my lifetime.

 

I have to ask one question? What is your time worth waiting for the car to charge?
To me the Charge Point and the JuiceBox is worth it. If I have to wait it is worth a minimum of $150 per hour or more.
If my Clients network is down and my car is charging it could be worth thousands or 10 of thousands per hour is the value to them.

Now if I am not in a hurry I charge at 110V.

The question is What is your time worth waiting for the car to charge?

Note that my home is powered by solar power and some time soon I will be installing 3 Tesla Battery walls so I can be mostly off the grid..
On a sunny day in the afternoon a quick high speed charge takes 1 hour 50 Minutes and doesn't cost a cent.

Blue

 

My niece just had a tesla wall put in (as backup due to rampant power loss). The utility paid for the vast majority of the battery/installation. They are guaranteed a minimum of 2 hours of backup battery time, and the utility get's to use the rest for off-peak load storage.

If the utility can get enough of these working it has the potential to bridge gaps in downed lines. If you throw sufficient sensors and switches on the lines you can potentially turn a rickety transmission system into something that can have a very very high up-time (until the backup power runs out), basically turning the cut-off regions into their own battery-powered sub-network until the main is restored. They wouldn't need 100% penetration, but just enough to keep things going for a little bit until they can roll a truck.