Top Home & Portable EV Charger Picks From Wirecutter – CleanTechnica

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Wirecutter is a service of the New York Times that tests and reviews many electric and electronic devices. Think of it as a breezier version of Consumer Reports or CNET. Recently, its staff spent 58 hours researching and 95 hours testing an array of EV chargers. They make no claim to have tested every one currently available. Amazon lists 65 of them on just the first of 4 pages. Ford has its own line of EV charging equipment. For the EV owner trying to select a charger, plowing though all the specs and customer reviews would take all day every day between now and St. Swithern’s Day. That’s why services such as Consumer Reports, CNET, and Wirecutter exist.

Before we get to the recommendations, let’s talk a little about charging an EV. Many people are surprised to learn that any electric car can be charged by simply plugging it into an ordinary wall outlet, which in the US supplies electricity at 120 volts. Everyone assumes they must be able to charge their electric car as quickly as they can fill the gas tank of a conventional car. That idea is quaint, old fashioned, and false. Most cars sit unused overnight for 10 hours or more, which is more than enough time to replenish the battery after a typical day of driving, even from a wall outlet.

All approved chargers limit charging to 12 amps when using a 15 amp circuit and 16 amps when using a 20 amp circuit. Chevy Bolt owners know their cars automatically limit charging to 8 amps unless the driver manually overrides that setting to select 12 amp charging. The limits apply to prevent circuits from overheating. There is a difference between an air conditioner that cycles on and off and an electric car that draws power constantly for hours at a time.

In general, if your car sits parked and charges for 12 hours, a wall outlet will supply enough electricity to fully offset your normal daily usage, assuming your are an average American who drives less than 30 miles each day. If so, you can skip the discussion below and just use the 120 volt charging cable that came with your car. I own a Tesla Model Y and a Chevy Bolt. Both of them are charged 95 percent of the time using nothing but a wall outlet. Most people don’t think that is possible but it absolutely is.

All the chargers reviewed by Wirecutter are Level 2,which means they operate on 240 volts. But be aware that there are different types of 240 volt circuits. The lowest is 20 amps, which needs at least 12 gauge wiring. (Gauge refers to the thickness of the copper wires inside the supply line.) Next up is 30 amps, which requires at least 10 gauge wiring. Next is 40 amps, which requires 8 gauge wiring. 50 amps requires 6 gauge wiring. Most people will want to hire an electrician to run a new circuit for their charger unless they are very comfortable sticking their fingers inside their entry panel.

A word about outlets. 30, 40, and 50 amp circuits come in different configurations, depending on the application. Usually, the difference is whether they uses three or four wires, which is normally a function of what local building codes require. EV chargers can either be permanently installed or portable. If they are hard wired, no outlet is needed but the unit cannot be unplugged and taken with you. Portable chargers plug in to an outlet. That gives them an advantage because there are adapters available that allow you to plug them into a variety of receptacles. If you have an assortment of adapters, you can almost always find a place to plug in no matter where you are. Tesla sells a set of adapters for its portable charging cable that is quite complete.

One more tip. We have heard from various sources that if you hire an electrician to install a new circuit for your EV charger, do not say the word “EV.” Say you want a circuit for a welder. Anything with the word “marine” in the name is automatically double the price of the standard item and any time you say the word “EV,” the price goes up as well. This may not apply to your electrician, of course, but be aware that some are boosting their prices for EV charger installations because everyone knows people who drive electric cars are wealthy and can afford it. Caveat emptor.

Top Hardwired EV Charger

Wirecutter only considered an EV charger rated at 32 amps or higher, which means they need at least a 40 amp circuit. Not many people have a 40-amp circuit in their garage unless you have an electric stove out there, so you will need to have a new circuit installed. Be aware that if your electrical service is rated for 100 amps or less, adding a 40 amp circuit may require an upgrade to your entry cable and breaker panel. (If you still have an fuse box in the basement that uses screw in glass fuses, are you sure you should be driving an electric car?)

The top rated hardwired EV charger is the Emporia Level 2 EV Charger that comes with either a J1772 plug on the end of the charging cable for those cars that do not use the Tesla standard or a J3400 plug for cars compatible with the North American charging standard (all Teslas and many newer EVs). Make sure you order the right charger for your needs. In either configuration, Wirecutter says, “It is powerful, easy to use, and equipped with a long cord. And thanks to its streamlined shape, it doesn’t take up much space in the garage.”

The Emporia supports up to 48 amp charging, allowing you to fully charge most EV batteries in five to eight hours — a claim that Wirecutter confirmed in its testing. It has a 24 foot cord and supports either a hardwired or plug-in installation, although if plugged in, charging is limited to 40 amps. The plug-in installation requires a NEMA 14-50 outlet. The unit is UL listed for safety and compliance. It is also rated NEMA 4 (similar to IP66), which means it has total protection against dust and can withstand strong sprays of water. It sells for $399 on Amazon and at Best Buy and comes with a three year warranty.

Best Budget EV Charger

Selling for a little less money, the United Chargers Grizzl-E Classic 40A offers many of the same capabilities as the Emporia but costs about $50 less. It has a J1772 connector and an optional holster  ($20) where you can store a NACS adapter. The Classic supports up to 40 amp charging, allowing you to charge most EV batteries in six to nine hours. It has a 25 foot cord and is available in either a hard wired or plug-in configuration. The Grizzl-E is UL listed, and its IP67 rating indicates that it is totally protected against dust and can withstand shallow water immersion. It costs $350 and comes with a three year warranty (a five year warranty is an additional $100). If plugged in, the unit requires either a NEMA 14-50 or NEMA 6-50 plug outlet.

Best Portable Charger

If you want something that offers more power than most Level 1 chargers but is just as compact and portable, Wirecutter recommends the Lectron Portable Level 2 Charger in either the J1772 or NACS version). Like the Grizzl-E Classic, it supports up to 40 A charging, allowing you to charge most EV batteries in six to nine hours. It has a 16 foot cord and plugs into a NEMA 14-50 outlet. It cannot be hardwired. Its IP65 rating means it is totally protected against dust and can withstand light sprays of water but it is still ruggedly built. It has a two year warranty and costs $260 for the J1772 version and $275 for the NACS version at this time. It does not connect to the internet so using an app is not possible with this unit.

Charging Two Electric Cars

Some people have two electric cars and want to be able to charge them both at the same time. For them, Wirecutter recommends the United Chargers Grizzl-E Duo, which comes with two J1772 connectors and has an optional holster ($20) for a NACS adapter. When charging one car, the Grizzl-E Duo supports up to 40 amp charging. When charging two cars simultaneously, it provides up to 20 amps to each car. The Grizzl-E Duo has two 24 foot cords and can be plugged into either a NEMA 14-50 or NEMA 6-50 outlet. It cannot be hardwired. Like the Grizzle-E Classic, the Grizzl-E Duo has an IP67 weatherization rating, and it is UL listed. It sells for $800 and has a three year warranty.

The Takeaway

There is so much to know about charging an electric car and so much misinformation out there, which is why at CleanTechnica we try to give our readers the best information available so they can make choices that meet their needs. In one respect, the Wirecutter article does a disservice because it focuses on the the fastest available chargers that require the most expensive installations. When most people talk about charging, they quote the time needed to go from a 20 percent charge to an 80 percent charge. That can be misleading, because in order to use 60 percent of the available power in a battery usually means driving 150 to 200 miles. Most of us don’t do that, at least not on a regular daily basis.

If an electric car sits idle for 10, 12, or 14 hours at night, what earthly difference does it make how many hours it takes to charge, as long as when you get behind the wheel in the morning, there is enough energy in the battery to get you where you need to go and back home the next day? By focusing on chargers that can supply 32 amps or more power, Wirecutter overlooks the large assortment of chargers that operate at lower amperages. There are those who believe that charging more slowly prolongs battery life, and while the jury is still out on that question, there seems little need to shove electrons into your battery pack as fast as possible on a regular basis

The typical experience for an EV owner is to plug in every two to three days. If you drive less, you may be able to go a week without charging. Focusing on charging as fast as possible is counterproductive and may even deter some from driving an electric car because they think it needs to be plugged into a high power charger all the time. It does not.

Driving an EV is a little different than driving a conventional car. Different doesn’t mean better or worse, it just means different.  Think of it this way. A smartphone works differently than an old fashioned phone with a rotary dial. Once we were used to dialing but now we have gotten used to something else. We used to have to get up to change the channel or adjust the volume on our televisions. Now we do it remotely. That seemed strange at first but now it is second nature.

For any number of reasons, people are afraid of electric cars. There are those who feed that fear and they should be condemned for doing so. You don’t need a 50 amp circuit in the garage to charge an EV. In many cases, a standard wall outlet will do, and if it doesn’t, a 20 amp 240 volt circuit is easy to add without doing major electrical upgrades to your home. Our advice is: Drive an electric car. Be happy.