*Note: In the video, I mention that the GMC Hummer EV is one of the few electric vehicles with an 80-amp onboard charger. Currently, the Hummer EV only comes with a 48-amp onboard charger, but later this year it will be upgraded to accept 80-amps, which is why I added it to the short list of EVs with 80-amp onboard chargers.
Tom, does anyone offer a dual head charge station like the ChargePoint CT4xxx series, which can be purchased for under $3k. I would like to setup something like the CT4021 in my driveway which could be connected to my home WiFi to authorize charging for neighbors and friends....and my CyberTruck.
@@chargehanger I need a CordHanger, for my corded electric lawn mower.... To keep the corded out of the way... Years ago they used to sell them.... "Delivery time is usually a month to the USA"? Americans don't like to wait that long.... Maybe you can get an American distributor (such as Amazon) or produce them in North America?.... Good luck with your business....
I would like to know how the app looks like for all smart EVSE. I have a grizzl-e I thought I would have more option but its limited, not bad but not complete.
my vote: emporia has been solid. basic app support, UL rated, mounted outside and handling rain/snow/heat no issue. installed based on your recs and you were right!
Congratulations Tom! You’re now THE go-to source for EVSE reviews. Love your videos. I’ve learned so much and just made a decision on which charger to buy based on your reviews. Thank you for what you do for EV owners.
Tom, one of the things I don’t see on your videos and ratings is whether these smart units will charge if your Internet access is down. It’s been reported that the Chargepoint will not initiate a charge if you’re internet access is down which is a none starter for me as I live in hurricane country. When we get hit I can charge off my generator or solar but Internet access can be gone for days. Knowing which ones can work untethered is critical for me and many others.
I know you were concerned about the cost of the Charge Point Home Flex unit, but FYI I just purchased this unit (November 2023) directly from Charge Point and paid $599. plus tax.
Question, sorry new to EV world. I Drive very short distances everyday so 110v is great for me no need to upgrade now. But I have a safety question. I have a Honda prologue and when I use 110v it has a 12amp option that comes with a warning. I have 4 gfi plugs in my laundry room I have been using and they have one 20 amp breaker hooked up to them from the main panel. Is it safe to use the 12 amp option with these plugs?
Hey Tom. I love seeing the Emporia get the recognition it deserves. It actually goes down to 6A in 1A increments and can really make the most out of excess solar. Thank you for putting this great comparison together.
I've got the Emporia charger with the Vue2. You can manually set the charger to any level from 6A to max. I can choose to use excess solar for charging or not. I can also use it to turn on and off at specific times and there is also a feature called peak management which allows me to set a max household usage level and the charger will draw and adjust up to that level. @@AlexWaardenburg
What a great summing-up of the best products. My EVSE manufacturer sent a survey a few weeks after my purchase, asking about why I chose that product, etc. I made sure they were aware that your reviews and opinions were instrumental in informing my own thoughts and purchasing decision. You can bet I'll still be watching your excellent content even though my purchase is complete because there is a lot more in SOC than just EVSE recommendations that is of interest to me. I recommend your channel whenever I can! Also...You look like you are having much more fun doing this than being an owner in the cutthroat restaurant industry.
Your reviews are hands down the best on the net. Great job. Not too fast or too slow. All the info you are searching for. A must for any EV owners or those testing the waters.
Nine months later most vehicle manufactures to North America, have switched over to the North American Charging Standard N.A.C.S. aka Tesla connector charger. Who would have predicted that? I thought we in N.A. would have switched to the The IEC 62196 Type 2 connector (often referred to as Mennekes for the company that designed it) but that didn't happen.
NACS connector won out. That will be the standard. Can you do a view of chargers that comes with the NACS connector plug ( not using an J1772 adapter ). I can't find chargers with a NACS connector. And as you stated it is not good to use an adapter for daily use and since I have a Tesla, I'm looking for a non Tesla charger as Jersey Central EV Driven Program does not have the Tesla Chargers on their rebate qualification list. And I need to find a charger on their approval list for their rebate.
*Update* Tesla's NACS has been adopted by Aptera, Ford, GM, Rivian as well as many EV charging providers. Looking forward to hearing about how this changes the future of EVSE.
I don’t know why you have the Tesla charger as number1. My electrical company has done around 500-550 chargers in the last 8 years and by far the worst one in the Tesla charger. Reason why is they tend to need replacements. 1 out of every 7 Tesla chargers have gone bad. So much so that I tell my clients that not to buy them. Not only this, trying to get Tesla to fix or replace and honor their own warranty is crazy. They have done everything to the customer to not honor their own warranty. They are so bad that for every Tesla installation we do, I have to tell the client that we have to charge them to come out and replace them when they go bad. I have also had to tell Tesla this as well. They don’t care at all, but it’s by for the least reliable charger out there. Their self diagnosis system fails constantly. It’s a terrible unit. They have had 4 generations of chargers. The first one was very good. The 2nd and 3rd have been terrible. The new one we have not had any issues yet but only have done about 10 of them. But if something goes wrong, you then have to deal with Tesla and they are the worst company to deal with. The 2 we like best is the Juice box and charge point. Charge point is local to us and out of around 100 that we have installed, only 1 was bad. And we took it to Campbell ca and went to the shop and they gave me a brand new one and gave them the old one and it took less than 15 min to replace. They were very good to work with. Tesla, terrible to work with.
I use the Tesla J1772 wall connector for my Rivian. I chose that because I already have 2 wall connectors for teslas, and I needed the power sharing feature.
@@justduitman I like to park my Rivian about 30ft away from the wall connector. The Lectron extension I use works fine with the J1772 wall connector, but using an adapter inline causes some type of error on the regular wall connector. It’s also easier to have all 3 plugged in at once, to top them up at the Same time.
This channel is super valuable. Just want to add my thanks. I picked an EV last week and without this channel, I would have felt like a fish out of water. But I've got a Chargepoint flex setup thanks to you. Granted it was literally installed a year ago :).
I’m a fellow North Jersey Lightning ER owner. Like you I LOVE this truck and bought it from Maplecrest. I’m gonna keep my juice box for my Polestar and hook up my Ford 80 amp for my truck..btw Really enjoy your shows, thank you for sharing.
I hate to be that guy Tom but... waiting on your 2023 best of 40-amps to make my decision. Watched the individual tests many many times but with the new chargerator scale, not sure if which one is #1. I am leaning toward the Chargepoint (wish it was cheaper...) because of the swivel and backlit port as I will have to install the charger outside, behind a bush. Thank you for all you do :)
The Empora and Tesla "Chargers" look good, but for $400-$500 , I can't justify the cost, when an industrial NEMA 14-50 outlet and the "Charger" cable that was included with my EV are doing just fine
Chargepoint's biggest issue for me, is that since I have two of their chargers, I have to have two separate accounts. You can't have two chargers on a single account/app.
Great Video Tom! I want to mention that the Tesla wall connector with a J1772 connector for $550 is a great product. I’ve installed one of these units and it is great especially if you have a Tesla and a non-Tesla. This is also great for commercial installations because you can power share connectors for both NACS and J1772 units.
Tom, Your thorough analysis is the BEST! Please test the SPAN car charger. I'm not sure if one must use the SPAN Circuit Breaker in order use the auto charger? Cheers, Eric
By the way, on all the tables in which you resume the information you states that the working temperature ranges goes from 122 to -22F, and then you convert it to Celsius. In Celsius it should be from 50 to -30. You forgot to put the minus symbol
Love this summary video! So happy you are doing this series, great idea! Thanks for your supreme and thorough content, really love how genuine you are. It's obvious this is your passion, love your content.
How are you going to hard wire a charger without violating the manufacturer specifications of using the provided cord? NEC 110.3(B). I'm only aware of the Tesla charger being required to be hard wired.
Hey 👋 Tom it’s amazing the ChargePoint Home 12kW unit rocks, I got mine now for 3 years outside in the snow/rain etc.. works perfectly and deliver 12kW on a Lucid Air .. 11.5Kw on my Mach E / Audi eTron .. 10.6Kw on my Model 3 maybe the adapter caused the drop still one awesome charger and you get full mobile app support with all the different EV and charging history for each EV! You can see the cost to operate each EV not many other smart charger give you this level of charging history details per EV for homes with multiple different EV’s
With all due respect, 12kW 50 amp EVSE, makes no sense, if you're going to follow code. Since an 80 amp service has to be installed. Yes, 50 amp, 12kW EVSE is a marginal improvement (over the more common and logical 48amp units), for anybody with a 19.2 kW AC charging EV..... But it begs the question, why not install a 19.2 kW EVSE?
@@nc3826 I think it would have been better to ask then assumed, we had an 100amp circuit installed for our 80amp Tesla Charger back in the day, we used it on our model X and 3, 4 years later I drop that down to 80amps for the ChargePoint Home Charger, the limit for Lucia Air is 19KW and our ChargePoint home is setup for 80amps so it give the max of 12KW that is can support AC output, do some reading on the Charger or ask question before posting about something you don’t seem to know, anyways if seems you are new so just to let you know Tesla had 80amp level 2 changes before they stop making them and I still have mine, anyways it’s always a good idea to ask first.
@@fullyelectric that funny thing at the end of my last sentence, is called a question mark... So I did ask... was the circuit not able to handle 100 amps? it makes no sense to just say it was dropped down to 80 amps.... So it still begs the original quandary even more, why use an oddball slower 12kW 50 amp EVSEs, instead of a 19.2 kW 80 amp EVSE? FWIW the OBC for Lucid Air is 19.2 kW..... not 19KW for the Lucia Air, whatever that is? and it wasn't my intention, but all of your triggered assumptions about me were very amusing, so thank you...
I'll admit up front that I haven't read all 450+ comments prior to asking this: How do the EVSEs interact with the vehicle's onboard charging apps? Do you have to set up charging preferences for the EVSE independently and then adjust settings in the vehicle?
Interesting review. I live in South Australia & the Tesla Wall connector is $750 AUD ($475USD ) Comes with a CCS2 connector as Tesla’s here have the CCS2 standard connector as most EV’s do. There’s not another charger on the Oz market under $1200 so don’t understand why Wall Chargers aren’t the charger of choice. Also just changed energy companies to one with 8 c/Kw between 00:00-06:00 which is bloody good in the state with the most expensive electricity in the world! Yep 73% renewables cost a fortune.
In addition to the list you mentioned, at the start for onboard 19.2/22kw chargers. All the Audi e-tron (sadly not the GT), and the Porsche Taycan. Personally if I'm calling an electrician to hardwire a 60A circuit for the 48A charger, I'd rather get a 80A charger and do it once.
I'd like to use my car's V2H to charge my house solar battery. Basically during the day Charge my car + house battery and at night use my house battery to power the house (as it is now) and also use the car battery to supplement (my inverter accepts 2 AC sources) Which of these can do that dual role? I suspect it would need 1 input (grid) and 1 output (to Load) and a way to change the resistance on the ccs to tell the car it can discharge.
I went with the charge point home flex based upon your recommendation in late 2021. My power company originally said I could get a rebate on that. They then dropped the program and TOU billing. Fortunately at least, I got it before the big price increase.
Tom, thank you for your informative, helpful reviews. After watching your videos and reading your written reviews, we bought a ChargePoint 48A HomeFlex...the cable flexibility in extreme cold weather will be essential as we are in western Maine. Thanks!
I use Clipper Creek and am really happy with it. It's quiet (I've had others that have loud contactors or that make loud buzzing noises), it has a cord long enough to reach across a standard garage front to back, it's worked well so far, and I really appreciated the wide variety of options they were offering in terms of amp ratings and plug types. I was able to get a 40 amp unit (I had available a 50 amp circuit) that plugs into a NEMA 6-50 outlet, which is far less common than 14-50. At the time, most other manufactures only had 16 and 32 amp units, but Clipper Creek had a wide variety, almost every 8 amp increment. I don't know the state of things today between manufacturers, but I wanted to give Clipper Creek a shout out for some good offerings.
Well done as always. May I suggest that you have Qmerit evaluate, the EVSEs in terms of their repairability and add the evaluation to your reviews? Which they could repair in case there was a problem. They may want to create their own branded (or sub-branded) EVSEs, which could include an optional service contract. Especially when more expensive V2X, DC charges make it to the market.
If your EV charger failed, you don’t ask Qmerit to fix it. You send it back to manufacturer. If wired, you should have Qmerit or an electrician disconnect it.
We had bought the ChargePoint for our Chevy Volt, and future vehicles. In Phoenix it lasted just shy of 11 months outdoors. In the paperwork it says to not charge while 115+, the replacement unit didn't last 6 months, same location but never saw 120 like the first had, nor was it actively charging the 12A the Volt takes in 115 as it was scheduled to only charge during the off-peak night hours. The third replacement was faulty out of the box, the Volt couldn't communicate with the charger while the portable one that came with the car swapped with it and immediately began charging.
I have a Rivan and a Bolt. I had 2 Nema 14-50 installed on 1 circuit because Enel X told me their Juiceboxes use load share technology to run 2 boxes at once on a single circuit. Now the company has folded and the app shutdown. This was quite an investment in 2 juiceboxes and installation of 2 outlets. Any suggestions??
Looking at the Emporia from your link there is an option with and without load management. Do you have a video or insight advantages/disadvantages to load management and does it matter if it’s on its own 60a circuit?
hi just noticed this in at 16:10 you talk about how the chargers operating temperatures are between 122f to -22f (50c to 30c) i think a small typo happen shouldnt it be -30c ?
Totally agree with Emporia and Tesla for the win. We have a Tesla and Chevy EV. We also have a lot of guests driving EVs as well. A good host will offer a first-rate IPA and a charge. Hence, our garage has a Tesla and Emporia EVSE. Two independent J1772 holsters, one with a J1772-to-Tesla adapter. That way, it gives flexibility to both our EVs and a mix of guests. Honestly, at this moment, the Emporia smart EVSE for $399, the Tesla wall box for $425, and the Tesla mobile charger for $230 are wake-up calls for the rest of the EVSE industry. Accessories, like a $20 holster and $100 Tesla-to-J1772 adapter, are considerations. Add $80 to the Emporia EVSE for a Vue2 and you control excess solar generation, which sets the current renewable standard. Interesting to see how Tesla prices their driving on sunshine option.
Great video! I have the Emporia EVSE, and it's worked flawlessly for about a month now. However, there is a big design flaw for those opting to hardwire the unit to a 50 amp or 60 amp breaker. The front cover has to come off to remove the default NEMA 14-50 plug cable. The 3 mm Allen screws are in the back and screw into the front. Putting the front cover on once the unit is mounted on a wall with a metal conduit keeping it in place is extremely difficult. I see that most of your reviews are using the plug-in option (for those units that even have a hardwire option), so you may miss some of the pitfalls and subtleties of hardwiring these units to a breaker. There are several advantages of hardwiring, such as being able to use a 60 amp breaker (and therefore 48 amp charging), as well as cost savings compared to a installing a new NEMA 14-50 receptacle. Overall, I'm happy with the Emporia for our Mustang Mach-e! Just thought I'd put in my two cents worth on your number one recommendation.
I have heard that from some of the Qmerit installers. Some of the chargers are designed better to convert them to hardwired devices than others. I also know that Emporia is aware of it.
Great video. As of today, 3/23/24, which charger is the best value for an Ioniq 5. Don't know much about this since I just got this car, obviously want something that will charge my car the fastest. THANK YOU!
I know this is 7 months old. But as a counter to hard wiring with a real world example a friend of mine is going through. His charger has an issue an needs to be replaced. First get it installed 1 electrician visit. In troubleshooting the issue the charger company had him check the lines and rewire so that's 2 electrician visits Finally they sent a replacement unit which now needs 3 electrician visits With a pluggable charger, that final electrician expense would not be necessary nor would the 2nd one if you have another device you can plug in and test the outlet on. I myself have had a plug clipper creek for 7+ years and i haven't had any issues. but i also treat it like a permanent installation and never once unplugged it. Just something to think about when recommending hard wired.
How about a video featuring dual charge cords comparison? considering purchasing a second EV, would like to see what my best options are... a single dual cord charger (80amp 40x2 or a 40amp 20x2) vs 2x single cords daisy chained or wired individually etc..
I have the Emporia EVSE (48 amp hardwired) installed 2 months ago and used for my 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV LT trim. This unit has performed as you described - provides an accurate measurement of the TOTAL electricity delivered to the vehicle and I know the accurate amount not just the amount of juice in the battery. I think Tesla owners are happy with their Flux Capacitors and 99 % effuciency.. The wifi app is handy for real-time state of charge, total electricity used in a day, week, month, time needed for a desired charge, etc. Your reviews are a big help for general knowledge and specific comparison of the EVSE choices in our market.
I purchased the original Chargepoint Home CPH25 32A hardwired unit (it only came as a 6-50 plug back then) when I first taken delivery of our 2018 Outlander PHEV. After that the Fusion Energi joined the family, and after that A3 e-tron. Now the Outlander will soon depart as our first BEV is about to arrive, but I noticed that our 5+ year old Chargepoint is starting to have issues making a good connection to all of our cars, sometimes requiring multiple attempts to actually start charging. Seems like the Chargepoint is still the go to even after this much time later.
What about being able to digitally lock them to prevent someone from using them? How about automatic billing for house power at apartments like orange outlets or shinepay units? Some apps only support one unit per account? What's with the 15 points per category, a participation award?
I have asked Tom to review some of these and hopefully he will get to it. After considerable research a year ago, I installed an Enel-X Juicebox Pro 48 at my condominium. SemmaConnect, who was acquired by Blink, is a good one too. You need a model that does multiple accounts, direct billing at an economical rate, multiple pricing tiers, and phone app or RFID card access. Some models don’t support WIFi and require expensive cell rates. I would like to see scheduling so users are given a reservation for charger use. Beware of companies that manage billing and take a percentage of revenue. Don’t waste your time on ChargePoint’s $11K commercial charger.
@State Of Charge I'm not sure units that have access control be considered for "participation points." Those additional features can be a deal breaker for some. I dint remember you stating that the Autel MaxiCharger had that feature.
@@JohnMann858 i kinda don't want someone pulling up to my house and just plugging in. Also part of the adoption for apartments is the high cost for commercial chargers that do billing. Only a couple of companies have the software feature to bill using ordinary level2 hardware.
Which one is best suited for outdoor use? Completely new to anything EV, wasn’t even going to install a level 2 charger as it’s just a PHEV and overnight level 1 would have been good enough for me, but the level one charger cord that came with the vehicle is too short for me to be able to use.
Very informative! Thank you! I have a question - Can I charge my Hyundai Ioniq 6 in Tesla superchargers using Tesla to J1772 adapter? please advise. Thank you!!!
Have found your channel to be extremely helpful. I have a BMW iX and a Tesla Model S. Would it be better to install the Emporia and use an adapter to charge the Tesla or install the Tesla charger and use an adapter to charge the iX?
Another fantastic comparison video Tom! On a minor side note, your graphics showing the temps, show 50°C to 30°C, should show -30°. Not a big deal as I don't use Celsius measurements anyway 😉
I just bought a Kia Niro EV and am going to buy a level 2 home charger. I need some help with deciding which charger to bu and have installed. I am not sure what the niro on board charger will accept and dont know where to find out. Can you make a recommendation for us???
Have a question about charging I am currently using the charger that came with our Mach E had 240 outlet installed and that is what I use my question is if I buy say a ea home charger and use it is it any faster than the one I use now Thank you
I have the Chargepoint Home Flex and the one thing that I really dislike about it is that you can no longer adjust the amperage on demand. Chargepoint removed that feature from the app back in the summer of 2022. Chargepoint says if you need to adjust the amperage - after initial install - then call them. That's absurd! The key reason I want to adjust the amperage on demand is to better line with my charging with my solar production through out the day. I do not think Chargepoint understands that. What also chaps me is I feel their marketing is misleading when that mention flexible amperage - maybe during initial install but surely not after.
I find it easier to do this by adjusting the charge settings on my vehicle- Tesla and a few others can easily do this through respective phone apps, though I realize not all vehicles have this feature.
Thanks for the reviews. I think the Chargepoint is for me since I will be charging outdoors in a cold climate. One problem is that I want to install the evse next to my driveway and I need a freestanding pedestal with a built in junction box. I don’t see a pedestal like this for Chargepoint. Can you recommend something?
Hey Tom for an outdoor installation in NY in which the utility provider does not give any rebates on, do you like the Emporia, Charge Point Flex or the Tesla Gen 3? I know they’re all top ranked for various reasons but if you had to go for one based on my circumstances what would your choice be. This will be a hardwired connection from a 60a breaker using #4 wire directly to the EVSE.
Hi, love you're videos. I own the Charge point flex. I believe you have it underrated based on your own criteria and values. Under max charging power it should be rated a 3 & not 2 since it is adjustable and useable up to 50namos and not 48. Mine is on a 69 amp circuit and pumps out 50. I also purchased mine from Amazon 2 years ago for $600 and my electric company gave me a $150 rebate so my true out of pocket cost was $450. Keep up the excellent work! You and Kyle both! Love you guys!
Hey Tom, your garage looks great! Side note - some older Model S and X Teslas have dual chargers that can accept up to 72 amps. I've been very pleased with the CP Home Flex over the last 2.5 years.
Good evening. I have the Wallbot charger and it is awesome. My question is that I will not have access to it for sometime as they are replacing the lane so access to my garage will not be possible. Do you know of a portable fast charger that I can charge in my home and then take it out to the car without having it plugged in to an outlet?
Tom, thanks for your reviews. I had my Emporia EVSE installed today. I hope and expect it to do a good job for at least the 3 year warranty period (and well beyond ideally). One thing I could still use some help on is to choose a good travel charger to be a backup choice on road trips. I wonder if you have thoughts/information to share about that topic. I am a newbie here. Just bought my first EV (Kia EV6). Thanks again.
I am buying an ID 4 in late 2013 and want to have my home unit in place before taking delivery. We have a 13.6kwh solar system in place and would like to use the car as a home backup battery. Is there a good bi-directional unit available now or should we wait for the Emporia unit that is scheduled to be released in 2024?
*Note: In the video, I mention that the GMC Hummer EV is one of the few electric vehicles with an 80-amp onboard charger. Currently, the Hummer EV only comes with a 48-amp onboard charger, but later this year it will be upgraded to accept 80-amps, which is why I added it to the short list of EVs with 80-amp onboard chargers.
Tom
Thanks for yr response
Tom, does anyone offer a dual head charge station like the ChargePoint CT4xxx series, which can be purchased for under $3k. I would like to setup something like the CT4021 in my driveway which could be connected to my home WiFi to authorize charging for neighbors and friends....and my CyberTruck.
Thanks for the overview.
One thing to add: a Chargehanger :)
@@chargehanger I need a CordHanger, for my corded electric lawn mower.... To keep the corded out of the way... Years ago they used to sell them....
"Delivery time is usually a month to the USA"? Americans don't like to wait that long.... Maybe you can get an American distributor (such as Amazon) or produce them in North America?.... Good luck with your business....
I would like to know how the app looks like for all smart EVSE. I have a grizzl-e I thought I would have more option but its limited, not bad but not complete.
Your reviews and ratings are the gold standard. Nice job, Tom.
my vote: emporia has been solid. basic app support, UL rated, mounted outside and handling rain/snow/heat no issue. installed based on your recs and you were right!
Congratulations Tom! You’re now THE go-to source for EVSE reviews. Love your videos. I’ve learned so much and just made a decision on which charger to buy based on your reviews. Thank you for what you do for EV owners.
Tom, one of the things I don’t see on your videos and ratings is whether these smart units will charge if your Internet access is down. It’s been reported that the Chargepoint will not initiate a charge if you’re internet access is down which is a none starter for me as I live in hurricane country. When we get hit I can charge off my generator or solar but Internet access can be gone for days. Knowing which ones can work untethered is critical for me and many others.
I bought the Emporia for $400 and it works great.
I know you were concerned about the cost of the Charge Point Home Flex unit, but FYI I just purchased this unit (November 2023) directly from Charge Point and paid $599. plus tax.
Question, sorry new to EV world. I Drive very short distances everyday so 110v is great for me no need to upgrade now. But I have a safety question. I have a Honda prologue and when I use 110v it has a 12amp option that comes with a warning. I have 4 gfi plugs in my laundry room I have been using and they have one 20 amp breaker hooked up to them from the main panel. Is it safe to use the 12 amp option with these plugs?
Hey Tom. I love seeing the Emporia get the recognition it deserves. It actually goes down to 6A in 1A increments and can really make the most out of excess solar. Thank you for putting this great comparison together.
Can you manually set it to charge at 6A, or is that 6A only possible when it's modulating automatically to charge on excess solar?
I've got the Emporia charger with the Vue2. You can manually set the charger to any level from 6A to max. I can choose to use excess solar for charging or not. I can also use it to turn on and off at specific times and there is also a feature called peak management which allows me to set a max household usage level and the charger will draw and adjust up to that level. @@AlexWaardenburg
What a great summing-up of the best products.
My EVSE manufacturer sent a survey a few weeks after my purchase, asking about why I chose that product, etc. I made sure they were aware that your reviews and opinions were instrumental in informing my own thoughts and purchasing decision. You can bet I'll still be watching your excellent content even though my purchase is complete because there is a lot more in SOC than just EVSE recommendations that is of interest to me. I recommend your channel whenever I can! Also...You look like you are having much more fun doing this than being an owner in the cutthroat restaurant industry.
Your reviews are hands down the best on the net. Great job. Not too fast or too slow. All the info you are searching for. A must for any EV owners or those testing the waters.
Nine months later most vehicle manufactures to North America, have switched over to the North American Charging Standard N.A.C.S. aka Tesla connector charger. Who would have predicted that? I thought we in N.A. would have switched to the The IEC 62196 Type 2 connector (often referred to as Mennekes for the company that designed it) but that didn't happen.
NACS connector won out. That will be the standard. Can you do a view of chargers that comes with the NACS connector plug ( not using an J1772 adapter ). I can't find chargers with a NACS connector. And as you stated it is not good to use an adapter for daily use and since I have a Tesla, I'm looking for a non Tesla charger as Jersey Central EV Driven Program does not have the Tesla Chargers on their rebate qualification list. And I need to find a charger on their approval list for their rebate.
*Update* Tesla's NACS has been adopted by Aptera, Ford, GM, Rivian as well as many EV charging providers. Looking forward to hearing about how this changes the future of EVSE.
For EUROPANS 10:07 operating temps -25C to 40C
I don’t know why you have the Tesla charger as number1. My electrical company has done around 500-550 chargers in the last 8 years and by far the worst one in the Tesla charger. Reason why is they tend to need replacements. 1 out of every 7 Tesla chargers have gone bad. So much so that I tell my clients that not to buy them. Not only this, trying to get Tesla to fix or replace and honor their own warranty is crazy. They have done everything to the customer to not honor their own warranty. They are so bad that for every Tesla installation we do, I have to tell the client that we have to charge them to come out and replace them when they go bad. I have also had to tell Tesla this as well. They don’t care at all, but it’s by for the least reliable charger out there. Their self diagnosis system fails constantly. It’s a terrible unit. They have had 4 generations of chargers. The first one was very good. The 2nd and 3rd have been terrible. The new one we have not had any issues yet but only have done about 10 of them. But if something goes wrong, you then have to deal with Tesla and they are the worst company to deal with. The 2 we like best is the Juice box and charge point. Charge point is local to us and out of around 100 that we have installed, only 1 was bad. And we took it to Campbell ca and went to the shop and they gave me a brand new one and gave them the old one and it took less than 15 min to replace. They were very good to work with. Tesla, terrible to work with.
Thanks so much for taking the time to add your professional experience. You’ve potentially saved me from some pretty bad headaches.
Bull
All he has written in crap. None of it is nearly true.
This channel is the Gold Standard on EV chargers. Others are weak imitations.
I use the Tesla J1772 wall connector for my Rivian. I chose that because I already have 2 wall connectors for teslas, and I needed the power sharing feature.
what turned you away from using an adapter?
@@justduitman I like to park my Rivian about 30ft away from the wall connector. The Lectron extension I use works fine with the J1772 wall connector, but using an adapter inline causes some type of error on the regular wall connector. It’s also easier to have all 3 plugged in at once, to top them up at the Same time.
This channel is super valuable. Just want to add my thanks. I picked an EV last week and without this channel, I would have felt like a fish out of water. But I've got a Chargepoint flex setup thanks to you. Granted it was literally installed a year ago :).
I installed a chargepoint charger at my house last week too!
Valuable comparison that solidifies your concise videos. Thanks Tom 30:41
I found my group of people. 😊 love the thorough reviews of all these! Thank you Tom
I’m a fellow North Jersey Lightning ER owner. Like you I LOVE this truck and bought it from Maplecrest. I’m gonna keep my juice box for my Polestar and hook up my Ford 80 amp for my truck..btw Really enjoy your shows, thank you for sharing.
18:10 crazy how much that has changed in just 3 months :) would you say that changes your thoughts now on Emporia vs Tesla, Tom?
I hate to be that guy Tom but... waiting on your 2023 best of 40-amps to make my decision. Watched the individual tests many many times but with the new chargerator scale, not sure if which one is #1. I am leaning toward the Chargepoint (wish it was cheaper...) because of the swivel and backlit port as I will have to install the charger outside, behind a bush. Thank you for all you do :)
The Empora and Tesla "Chargers" look good, but for $400-$500 , I can't justify the cost, when an industrial NEMA 14-50 outlet and the "Charger" cable that was included with my EV are doing just fine
Chargepoint's biggest issue for me, is that since I have two of their chargers, I have to have two separate accounts. You can't have two chargers on a single account/app.
When are you releasing the 40 amp charger video?
Great Video Tom! I want to mention that the Tesla wall connector with a J1772 connector for $550 is a great product. I’ve installed one of these units and it is great especially if you have a Tesla and a non-Tesla.
This is also great for commercial installations because you can power share connectors for both NACS and J1772 units.
I do talk about that @27:50
Tom,
Your thorough analysis is the BEST!
Please test the SPAN car charger. I'm not sure if one must use the SPAN Circuit Breaker in order use the auto charger?
Cheers, Eric
By the way, on all the tables in which you resume the information you states that the working temperature ranges goes from 122 to -22F, and then you convert it to Celsius. In Celsius it should be from 50 to -30. You forgot to put the minus symbol
Well done Tom, the comprehensive rating system is excellent and will allow easy comparisons to any new units you test.
The Emporia system looks very interesting. Thanks for this list.
Love this summary video! So happy you are doing this series, great idea! Thanks for your supreme and thorough content, really love how genuine you are. It's obvious this is your passion, love your content.
How are you going to hard wire a charger without violating the manufacturer specifications of using the provided cord? NEC 110.3(B). I'm only aware of the Tesla charger being required to be hard wired.
Hey 👋 Tom it’s amazing the ChargePoint Home 12kW unit rocks, I got mine now for 3 years outside in the snow/rain etc.. works perfectly and deliver 12kW on a Lucid Air .. 11.5Kw on my Mach E / Audi eTron .. 10.6Kw on my Model 3 maybe the adapter caused the drop still one awesome charger and you get full mobile app support with all the different EV and charging history for each EV! You can see the cost to operate each EV not many other smart charger give you this level of charging history details per EV for homes with multiple different EV’s
With all due respect, 12kW 50 amp EVSE, makes no sense, if you're going to follow code. Since an 80 amp service has to be installed.
Yes, 50 amp, 12kW EVSE is a marginal improvement (over the more common and logical 48amp units), for anybody with a 19.2 kW AC charging EV..... But it begs the question, why not install a 19.2 kW EVSE?
@@nc3826 I think it would have been better to ask then assumed, we had an 100amp circuit installed for our 80amp Tesla Charger back in the day, we used it on our model X and 3, 4 years later I drop that down to 80amps for the ChargePoint Home Charger, the limit for Lucia Air is 19KW and our ChargePoint home is setup for 80amps so it give the max of 12KW that is can support AC output, do some reading on the Charger or ask question before posting about something you don’t seem to know, anyways if seems you are new so just to let you know Tesla had 80amp level 2 changes before they stop making them and I still have mine, anyways it’s always a good idea to ask first.
@@fullyelectric that funny thing at the end of my last sentence, is called a question mark... So I did ask...
was the circuit not able to handle 100 amps? it makes no sense to just say it was dropped down to 80 amps.... So it still begs the original quandary even more, why use an oddball slower 12kW 50 amp EVSEs, instead of a 19.2 kW 80 amp EVSE? FWIW the OBC for Lucid Air is 19.2 kW..... not 19KW for the Lucia Air, whatever that is?
and it wasn't my intention, but all of your triggered assumptions about me were very amusing, so thank you...
I'll admit up front that I haven't read all 450+ comments prior to asking this:
How do the EVSEs interact with the vehicle's onboard charging apps? Do you have to set up charging preferences for the EVSE independently and then adjust settings in the vehicle?
Interesting review. I live in South Australia & the Tesla Wall connector is $750 AUD ($475USD ) Comes with a CCS2 connector as Tesla’s here have the CCS2 standard connector as most EV’s do. There’s not another charger on the Oz market under $1200 so don’t understand why Wall Chargers aren’t the charger of choice. Also just changed energy companies to one with 8 c/Kw between 00:00-06:00 which is bloody good in the state with the most expensive electricity in the world! Yep 73% renewables cost a fortune.
In addition to the list you mentioned, at the start for onboard 19.2/22kw chargers. All the Audi e-tron (sadly not the GT), and the Porsche Taycan. Personally if I'm calling an electrician to hardwire a 60A circuit for the 48A charger, I'd rather get a 80A charger and do it once.
I'd like to use my car's V2H to charge my house solar battery. Basically during the day Charge my car + house battery and at night use my house battery to power the house (as it is now) and also use the car battery to supplement (my inverter accepts 2 AC sources) Which of these can do that dual role?
I suspect it would need 1 input (grid) and 1 output (to Load) and a way to change the resistance on the ccs to tell the car it can discharge.
What home charger would you recommend we tie into our solar system to charge our 2023 Chev Bolt EUV?
I went with the charge point home flex based upon your recommendation in late 2021. My power company originally said I could get a rebate on that. They then dropped the program and TOU billing. Fortunately at least, I got it before the big price increase.
Tom, thank you for your informative, helpful reviews. After watching your videos and reading your written reviews, we bought a ChargePoint 48A HomeFlex...the cable flexibility in extreme cold weather will be essential as we are in western Maine. Thanks!
I have a BMW i4 eDrive40 and using the portable charge that came with the vehicle. Do I need a dedicated charger?
I use Clipper Creek and am really happy with it. It's quiet (I've had others that have loud contactors or that make loud buzzing noises), it has a cord long enough to reach across a standard garage front to back, it's worked well so far, and I really appreciated the wide variety of options they were offering in terms of amp ratings and plug types. I was able to get a 40 amp unit (I had available a 50 amp circuit) that plugs into a NEMA 6-50 outlet, which is far less common than 14-50. At the time, most other manufactures only had 16 and 32 amp units, but Clipper Creek had a wide variety, almost every 8 amp increment. I don't know the state of things today between manufacturers, but I wanted to give Clipper Creek a shout out for some good offerings.
I've been following these reviews for a while now and I'm glad I bought the Emporia. Looking forward to seeing a portable evse compare review.
Well done as always. May I suggest that you have Qmerit evaluate, the EVSEs in terms of their repairability and add the evaluation to your reviews?
Which they could repair in case there was a problem. They may want to create their own branded (or sub-branded) EVSEs, which could include an optional service contract. Especially when more expensive V2X, DC charges make it to the market.
If your EV charger failed, you don’t ask Qmerit to fix it. You send it back to manufacturer. If wired, you should have Qmerit or an electrician disconnect it.
I 'm sorry for confusing you.... But thank you for the amusing irony....
"SuperCharger Stall IS BROKEN?" th-cam.com/video/kumlLFq_3Y0/w-d-xo.html
We had bought the ChargePoint for our Chevy Volt, and future vehicles. In Phoenix it lasted just shy of 11 months outdoors. In the paperwork it says to not charge while 115+, the replacement unit didn't last 6 months, same location but never saw 120 like the first had, nor was it actively charging the 12A the Volt takes in 115 as it was scheduled to only charge during the off-peak night hours. The third replacement was faulty out of the box, the Volt couldn't communicate with the charger while the portable one that came with the car swapped with it and immediately began charging.
The video is very useful, as a manufacturer of home charging stations from China, I feel very professional after watching it.
I have a Rivan and a Bolt. I had 2 Nema 14-50 installed on 1 circuit because Enel X told me their Juiceboxes use load share technology to run 2 boxes at once on a single circuit. Now the company has folded and the app shutdown. This was quite an investment in 2 juiceboxes and installation of 2 outlets.
Any suggestions??
Looking at the Emporia from your link there is an option with and without load management. Do you have a video or insight advantages/disadvantages to load management and does it matter if it’s on its own 60a circuit?
Tom, any news on when you will put out the review for best portable level 2 chargers?
Does using an adapter affect the level 2 efficiency?
Do you have an end of 2023 most recommended level 2 charger? I am running a 50 amp circuit.
Question. I have a hard wired Homeflex. It only slows me to program it for 40 amp charge. There is no option for 48 amp. Why ??
What are your thoughts on the Rivian wall charger? Is it worth buying it along with a Rivian vehicle, or should we go with the 48A Emporia model?
hi just noticed this in at 16:10 you talk about how the chargers operating temperatures are between 122f to -22f (50c to 30c) i think a small typo happen shouldnt it be -30c
?
Correction: 122F to -22F is 50C to -30C .. you forgot the - on the 30C. Great video.
EDIT: Nevermind. The graph is wrong but you said it properly.
Totally agree with Emporia and Tesla for the win. We have a Tesla and Chevy EV. We also have a lot of guests driving EVs as well. A good host will offer a first-rate IPA and a charge. Hence, our garage has a Tesla and Emporia EVSE. Two independent J1772 holsters, one with a J1772-to-Tesla adapter. That way, it gives flexibility to both our EVs and a mix of guests.
Honestly, at this moment, the Emporia smart EVSE for $399, the Tesla wall box for $425, and the Tesla mobile charger for $230 are wake-up calls for the rest of the EVSE industry. Accessories, like a $20 holster and $100 Tesla-to-J1772 adapter, are considerations. Add $80 to the Emporia EVSE for a Vue2 and you control excess solar generation, which sets the current renewable standard. Interesting to see how Tesla prices their driving on sunshine option.
Great video! I have the Emporia EVSE, and it's worked flawlessly for about a month now. However, there is a big design flaw for those opting to hardwire the unit to a 50 amp or 60 amp breaker. The front cover has to come off to remove the default NEMA 14-50 plug cable. The 3 mm Allen screws are in the back and screw into the front. Putting the front cover on once the unit is mounted on a wall with a metal conduit keeping it in place is extremely difficult.
I see that most of your reviews are using the plug-in option (for those units that even have a hardwire option), so you may miss some of the pitfalls and subtleties of hardwiring these units to a breaker. There are several advantages of hardwiring, such as being able to use a 60 amp breaker (and therefore 48 amp charging), as well as cost savings compared to a installing a new NEMA 14-50 receptacle.
Overall, I'm happy with the Emporia for our Mustang Mach-e! Just thought I'd put in my two cents worth on your number one recommendation.
I have heard that from some of the Qmerit installers. Some of the chargers are designed better to convert them to hardwired devices than others. I also know that Emporia is aware of it.
Great video. As of today, 3/23/24, which charger is the best value for an Ioniq 5. Don't know much about this since I just got this car, obviously want something that will charge my car the fastest. THANK YOU!
I know this is 7 months old. But as a counter to hard wiring with a real world example a friend of mine is going through. His charger has an issue an needs to be replaced.
First get it installed 1 electrician visit.
In troubleshooting the issue the charger company had him check the lines and rewire so that's 2 electrician visits
Finally they sent a replacement unit which now needs 3 electrician visits
With a pluggable charger, that final electrician expense would not be necessary nor would the 2nd one if you have another device you can plug in and test the outlet on. I myself have had a plug clipper creek for 7+ years and i haven't had any issues. but i also treat it like a permanent installation and never once unplugged it.
Just something to think about when recommending hard wired.
How about a video featuring dual charge cords comparison? considering purchasing a second EV, would like to see what my best options are... a single dual cord charger (80amp 40x2 or a 40amp 20x2) vs 2x single cords daisy chained or wired individually etc..
I'm planning for a 7.2kW Type 2 charger so what shd be a best charger. A Wallmount or a Portable one
I have the Emporia EVSE (48 amp hardwired) installed 2 months ago and used for my 2023 Chevy Bolt EUV LT trim. This unit has performed as you described - provides an accurate measurement of the TOTAL electricity delivered to the vehicle and I know the accurate amount not just the amount of juice in the battery. I think Tesla owners are happy with their Flux Capacitors and 99 % effuciency..
The wifi app is handy for real-time state of charge, total electricity used in a day, week, month, time needed for a desired charge, etc. Your reviews are a big help for general knowledge and specific comparison of the EVSE choices in our market.
Is it true that ev chargers have to be installed no more than 48” above the ground ? Do ChargePoint ones have to be lower?
What is the best home ev charger that can also do vehicle to home for backup in a blackout.
Does the Tesla and Tesla J1772 Wall Chargers have to be hard wired? Or can they work with a NEMA 14 50 outlet?
I'd suggest checking with your electric provider before buying. Mine gave me $500 off my charge point home flex
With the ChargePoint currently at $548 on Amazon where would that put it against the Emporia? I am currently in the market and ready to buy.
I purchased the original Chargepoint Home CPH25 32A hardwired unit (it only came as a 6-50 plug back then) when I first taken delivery of our 2018 Outlander PHEV. After that the Fusion Energi joined the family, and after that A3 e-tron. Now the Outlander will soon depart as our first BEV is about to arrive, but I noticed that our 5+ year old Chargepoint is starting to have issues making a good connection to all of our cars, sometimes requiring multiple attempts to actually start charging.
Seems like the Chargepoint is still the go to even after this much time later.
Hi. Which is best for outdoor rainy environments in Seattle?
What about being able to digitally lock them to prevent someone from using them? How about automatic billing for house power at apartments like orange outlets or shinepay units? Some apps only support one unit per account? What's with the 15 points per category, a participation award?
I go over that information in the detailed reviews. Yes, it's participation points, we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. :)
I have asked Tom to review some of these and hopefully he will get to it. After considerable research a year ago, I installed an Enel-X Juicebox Pro 48 at my condominium. SemmaConnect, who was acquired by Blink, is a good one too.
You need a model that does multiple accounts, direct billing at an economical rate, multiple pricing tiers, and phone app or RFID card access. Some models don’t support WIFi and require expensive cell rates. I would like to see scheduling so users are given a reservation for charger use. Beware of companies that manage billing and take a percentage of revenue.
Don’t waste your time on ChargePoint’s $11K commercial charger.
@State Of Charge I'm not sure units that have access control be considered for "participation points." Those additional features can be a deal breaker for some. I dint remember you stating that the Autel MaxiCharger had that feature.
@@JohnMann858 i kinda don't want someone pulling up to my house and just plugging in. Also part of the adoption for apartments is the high cost for commercial chargers that do billing. Only a couple of companies have the software feature to bill using ordinary level2 hardware.
what charger would you recommend for the Rivian R1T? not the Rivian brand charger for compatibility with the app?
Which one is best suited for outdoor use? Completely new to anything EV, wasn’t even going to install a level 2 charger as it’s just a PHEV and overnight level 1 would have been good enough for me, but the level one charger cord that came with the vehicle is too short for me to be able to use.
7:18 if you wanna jump right to the reviews.
Very informative! Thank you! I have a question - Can I charge my Hyundai Ioniq 6 in Tesla superchargers using Tesla to J1772 adapter? please advise. Thank you!!!
Have found your channel to be extremely helpful. I have a BMW iX and a Tesla Model S. Would it be better to install the Emporia and use an adapter to charge the Tesla or install the Tesla charger and use an adapter to charge the iX?
Another fantastic comparison video Tom! On a minor side note, your graphics showing the temps, show 50°C to 30°C, should show -30°. Not a big deal as I don't use Celsius measurements anyway 😉
Still should be corrected as the rest of the world uses Celsius.
I think that's very obvious.
Where do you review the Ford Charger Pro that is always in the background in your videos?
What NEMA 6-20 charger would you recommend?
We love our Clipper Creek Charger.
I just bought a Kia Niro EV and am going to buy a level 2 home charger. I need some help with deciding which charger to bu and have installed. I am not sure what the niro on board charger will accept and dont know where to find out. Can you make a recommendation for us???
Have a question about charging I am currently using the charger that came with our Mach E had 240 outlet installed and that is what I use my question is if I buy say a ea home charger and use it is it any faster than the one I use now Thank you
I have the Chargepoint Home Flex and the one thing that I really dislike about it is that you can no longer adjust the amperage on demand. Chargepoint removed that feature from the app back in the summer of 2022. Chargepoint says if you need to adjust the amperage - after initial install - then call them. That's absurd! The key reason I want to adjust the amperage on demand is to better line with my charging with my solar production through out the day. I do not think Chargepoint understands that. What also chaps me is I feel their marketing is misleading when that mention flexible amperage - maybe during initial install but surely not after.
I find it easier to do this by adjusting the charge settings on my vehicle- Tesla and a few others can easily do this through respective phone apps, though I realize not all vehicles have this feature.
@@petesjk Yea that would be convenient. I got a Chevy bolt and that is not an option.
Nice synopsis of a years worth of reviews
Excellent video, thank you!
I just got the ChargePoint Homeflex delivered yesterday. Purchased at $499.99. Based on your assessment, would you recommend me keeping this?
Thanks for the reviews. I think the Chargepoint is for me since I will be charging outdoors in a cold climate. One problem is that I want to install the evse next to my driveway and I need a freestanding pedestal with a built in junction box. I don’t see a pedestal like this for Chargepoint. Can you recommend something?
Hey Tom for an outdoor installation in NY in which the utility provider does not give any rebates on, do you like the Emporia, Charge Point Flex or the Tesla Gen 3? I know they’re all top ranked for various reasons but if you had to go for one based on my circumstances what would your choice be.
This will be a hardwired connection from a 60a breaker using #4 wire directly to the EVSE.
Hi, love you're videos. I own the Charge point flex. I believe you have it underrated based on your own criteria and values. Under max charging power it should be rated a 3 & not 2 since it is adjustable and useable up to 50namos and not 48. Mine is on a 69 amp circuit and pumps out 50. I also purchased mine from Amazon 2 years ago for $600 and my electric company gave me a $150 rebate so my true out of pocket cost was $450. Keep up the excellent work! You and Kyle both! Love you guys!
Hey Tom, your garage looks great! Side note - some older Model S and X Teslas have dual chargers that can accept up to 72 amps. I've been very pleased with the CP Home Flex over the last 2.5 years.
Good evening. I have the Wallbot charger and it is awesome. My question is that I will not have access to it for sometime as they are replacing the lane so access to my garage will not be possible. Do you know of a portable fast charger that I can charge in my home and then take it out to the car without having it plugged in to an outlet?
Great job as usual, Tom. Thank you!
Tom, thanks for your reviews. I had my Emporia EVSE installed today. I hope and expect it to do a good job for at least the 3 year warranty period (and well beyond ideally).
One thing I could still use some help on is to choose a good travel charger to be a backup choice on road trips. I wonder if you have thoughts/information to share about that topic.
I am a newbie here. Just bought my first EV (Kia EV6). Thanks again.
CORRECTION: The Aptera EV is classified as an "Autocycle," not a motorcycle. And it will use the Tesla plug (NACS). Great video. Thanks.
I am buying an ID 4 in late 2013 and want to have my home unit in place before taking delivery. We have a 13.6kwh solar system in place and would like to use the car as a home backup battery. Is there a good bi-directional unit available now or should we wait for the Emporia unit that is scheduled to be released in 2024?
Question on the wall connector: can you power share with one Tesla Wall Connector and another Tesla J1772 Wall Connector if they’re both Gen 3?
This was a great help, I just got my new EV two days ago.
By any chance is there a product that comes with a 30ft cable ? I haven’t been able to install one since in need 27’ min.
Do you still recommend Emporia? I am getting ready to install 48 amp EVSE
Does the Chargepoint Home Flex support power/current sharing if I want to add another charger?
No