[bronco7777]

Finally looking to buy a dual level (L1 & L2) portable charger. I want the ability to charge at 120 or 240 anywhere I travel. Preferably with a NEMA 14-50 plug on the 240 side. But I also want something UL listed. I've looked at Muststart Travelmaster cables but the one I wanted is sold out. Grizzl-e still hasn't released their "Mini" portable charger. Webasto had the popular "Turbocord" a while back but that model was discontinued in favor of a new Webasto "Go" unit which is supposed to launch this summer. The Shell cable is available and it has some interesting features but it's seems quite bulky.

I know Amazon has a million cheap options for sale from unknown companies with no safety certifications or listings. I'm not looking to go cheap. I'm looking for reliable and safe.

Recommendations please?

 

[Baker]

Finally looking to buy a dual level (L1 & L2) portable charger. I want the ability to charge at 120 or 240 anywhere I travel. Preferably with a NEMA 14-50 plug on the 240 side. But I also want something UL listed. I've looked at Muststart Travelmaster cables but the one I wanted is sold out. Grizzl-e still hasn't released their "Mini" portable charger. Webasto had the popular "Turbocord" a while back but that model was discontinued in favor of a new Webasto "Go" unit which is supposed to launch this summer. The Shell cable is available and it has some interesting features but it's seems quite bulky.

I know Amazon has a million cheap options for sale from unknown companies with no safety certifications or listings. I'm not looking to go cheap. I'm looking for reliable and safe.

Recommendations please?

WoW, you know charging with 120v a battery of over 100kwh will probably take closely 2 days!!!

 

[bronco7777]

WoW, you know charging with 120v a battery of over 100kwh will probably take closely 2 days!!!

Yeah, not making 120 my primary charging choice. Just want to have that option when I'm somewhere I don't have access to 240. Also this dual charger will not be used exclusively on the Ocean. It will be shared with another car with a different battery size.

 

[sirozha]

Are you saying that the Ocean will not have a travel charger? I just bought an ID.4, and it comes with a L1 travel charger (using the regular 120V American plug), but it's been discovered that if you purchase a plug adapter and connect this charger to a 220V - 240V outlet, it actually becomes an L2 charger.

 

[BayouCityBob]

I have been looking at the Mustart as well. It can handle anything from regular old wall plug to a NEMA 14-50 at 32 amps (which would be my every day setup). My thinking is that I can use the 14-50 at home and throw it in the trunk if I go out on a road trip. This is what I do today with the Tesla Mobile Charger. At $379 is it pricy but not awful for a 2-for-1 home/travel charger.

Amazon.com

 

[TT97]

I have several friends that charge their cars using Level 1 only. They do not drive much and always make sure to keep it plugged in and charging whenever possible. For when they do have longer trips, they just fast charge. For any new EV owners (unless they do drive far each day), I always recommend starting with Level 1 and then figuring out the best system for them after driving for a few months. We still do not know for certain what the Fisker will come with but assuming it will have some type of mobile charger.

 

[bronco7777]

Are you saying that the Ocean will not have a travel charger? I just bought an ID.4, and it comes with a L1 travel charger (using the regular 120V American plug), but it's been discovered that if you purchase a plug adapter and connect this charger to a 220V - 240V outlet, it actually becomes an L2 charger.

No, never suggested the Ocean would not have a charger. Although it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't. Just looking to get feedback from others as many folks on this forum are already EV owners of other brands and may have likely made that purchase. This question is not exclusive to the Ocean. My other car does not come with a charger and so I want to have one so I have multiple options when I travel.

 

[Baker]

Are you saying that the Ocean will not have a travel charger? I just bought an ID.4, and it comes with a L1 travel charger (using the regular 120V American plug), but it's been discovered that if you purchase a plug adapter and connect this charger to a 220V - 240V outlet, it actually becomes an L2 charger.

It's not a good idea to use a 120V cable in a 240V outlet, it will heat up and cause a fire. 🤨

 

[Daytime]

A level 1 charger will meet my daily needs. No bells and whistles but the ClipperCreek PCS-15, 5-15 plug, 12 amps, UL and Energy Star, 3year warranty, made in the USA and up to 6 miles per hour of charge. At $390 it is expensive compared to most you find on Amazon. But you are buying quality and safety.

 

[Baker]

A level 1 charger will meet my daily needs. No bells and whistles but the ClipperCreek PCS-15, 5-15 plug, 12 amps, UL and Energy Star, 3year warranty, made in the USA and up to 6 miles per hour of charge. At $390 it is expensive compared to most you find on Amazon. But you are buying quality and safety.

It will take you days to charge your vehicle after a trip! The Ocean should have a 105 Kwh battery according to the latest rumors, so it's a big battery. For $600 you can have an L2 plugged into a 40A breaker that will charge the battery in a few hours. I highly recommend it. 😉

 

[BayouCityBob]

I will stick with travel chargers that swap between 115 / 220 and do double duty as my home charger (Tesla, MUstart, Shell, etc.). BTW is just noticed the 40 amp portable "Shell" charger is on sale for $429 and the 32 Amp version is available for $329 at Amazon with coupon.

Amazon.com: SHELL Electric Vehicle Charger Level 2 40 Amp Fast Charging EV Charger 240V EV Home Charge Station with 30ft Cable Electric Car Charging Adapter with NEMA 14-50R Plug Compatible with SAE J1772 EVs : Automotive

Buy SHELL Electric Vehicle Charger Level 2 40 Amp Fast Charging EV Charger 240V EV Home Charge Station with 30ft Cable Electric Car Charging Adapter with NEMA 14-50R Plug Compatible with SAE J1772 EVs: Charging Stations - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[sirozha]

It's not a good idea to use a 120V cable in a 240V outlet, it will heat up and cause a fire. 🤨

Do you know the cable is rated for 120V? The three-prong North American plug used on that cable doesn’t deterministically rate the cable for 120V

It will take you days to charge your vehicle after a trip! The Ocean should have a 105 Kwh battery according to the latest rumors, so it's a big battery. For $600 you can have an L2 plugged into a 40A breaker that will charge the battery in a few hours. I highly recommend it. 😉

14 hours 0% to 100%. With a battery that large, it makes sense to charge at 11.5 kW to reduce the charging time from 14 hours to 9 hours.

 

[Daytime]

It will take you days to charge your vehicle after a trip! The Ocean should have a 105 Kwh battery according to the latest rumors, so it's a big battery. For $600 you can have an L2 plugged into a 40A breaker that will charge the battery in a few hours. I highly recommend it. 😉

If it was only $600 I would consider it. My all electric home with solar and hot tub has filled out my electrical panel. I would want a level 2 charger outside the garage. Adding a sub panel located outside a concrete wall, plus charger I am looking at $2000+. Why when there are many days my current vehicle does not leave the driveway and then it is generally 3-4 miles.

 

[BayouCityBob]

If it was only $600 I would consider it. My all electric home with solar and hot tub has filled out my electrical panel. I would want a level 2 charger outside the garage. Adding a sub panel located outside a concrete wall, plus charger I am looking at $2000+. Why when there are many days my current vehicle does not leave the driveway and then it is generally 3-4 miles.

Your wish is granted:

https://cleantechnica.com/2022/07/31/installing-home-ev-chargers-just-got-much-easier-and-cheaper/

ConnectDER - Integrate Distributed Energy Resources with the Grid

Our meter collar adapters allow utilities and installers to get distributed energy resources quickly on the home and working with the grid.

connectder.com

Well, depending on where you live anyway. This is a good solution.

 

[BayouCityBob]

14 hours 0% to 100%. With a battery that large, it makes sense to charge at 11.5 kW to reduce the charging time from 14 hours to 9 hours.

Obv you situation may vary, but after nearly 5 years of driving only EVs with our two Model 3s, the ability to charge at the 48 amp vs 40 amp vs 32 amp has never once made any difference whatsoever. FWIW, here is why, and I think my experience is fairly typical:
• I have rarely arrived home with less than, say, 20% battery (maybe a two dozen times across two vehicles or say an average of a couple time a year per vehicle). But even when I have...
• I normally charge to 80%, so even a large battery will recharge from say 20% - 80% easily overnight.
• I have almost never arrived at home with say, 10% or 15% need to turn around and drive another 100+ miles an hour later (this has happened maybe twice that I can recall)
• In those instances where I have rare charging demand that exceed a 7.7 kw capability, I have plenty of DCFCs around to stop in for 10 minutes and add an extra 100 miles or so if I need it.
• So my personal rule of thumb on this is a 70% charge in 10 hours is most I need to buy, 60% charge in 10 hours is fine. On a 100 kwh (useable) battery, a 7.7 kw charger (32 Amp) is more than enough. If I have a 125kwh+ Rivian or similar, I would bump to 40 Amp 9.6 kw.

As I say, others may have different needs, but after 11 years of plugin vehicles and almost 5 years of EV only driving, I have discovered that I paid for more charging than I needed (two NEMA 50 plugs) and that I would certainly never pay for more. My personal lessons learned:

• I will never buy another wall charger (I own two, one is broken) - they are expensive, have lots of redundant features and they can only be used in one place for one purpose
• I will especially never buy another hard-wired charger (I own one) - they are expensive to repair and even less flexible than a wall charger with a NEMA plug
• I will never use an EVSE wifi app/connection - they do nothing for me and so-called "smart" EVSEs break more often and offer nothing I cannot get already from the vehicle I will not pay for this feature and I prefer units without a wifi connection at all
• I will only buy EVSEs that are portable and can be used on a minimum of a NEMA 14-50 and standard 115V wall plug
• For reasons above, I will not pay extra for a 40 Amp charger unless I get a vehicle with >110kwh battery

I hope someone finds this perspective useful.

 

[SeaPhil4]

Obv you situation may vary, but after nearly 5 years of driving only EVs with our two Model 3s, the ability to charge at the 48 amp vs 40 amp vs 32 amp has never once made any difference whatsoever. FWIW, here is why, and I think my experience is fairly typical:
• I have rarely arrived home with less than, say, 20% battery (maybe a two dozen times across two vehicles or say an average of a couple time a year per vehicle). But even when I have...
• I normally charge to 80%, so even a large battery will recharge from say 20% - 80% easily overnight.
• I have almost never arrived at home with say, 10% or 15% need to turn around and drive another 100+ miles an hour later (this has happened maybe twice that I can recall)
• In those instances where I have rare charging demand that exceed a 7.7 kw capability, I have plenty of DCFCs around to stop in for 10 minutes and add an extra 100 miles or so if I need it.
• So my personal rule of thumb on this is a 70% charge in 10 hours is most I need to buy, 60% charge in 10 hours is fine. On a 100 kwh (useable) battery, a 7.7 kw charger (32 Amp) is more than enough. If I have a 125kwh+ Rivian or similar, I would bump to 40 Amp 9.6 kw.

As I say, others may have different needs, but after 11 years of plugin vehicles and almost 5 years of EV only driving, I have discovered that I paid for more charging than I needed (two NEMA 50 plugs) and that I would certainly never pay for more. My personal lessons learned:

• I will never buy another wall charger (I own two, one is broken) - they are expensive, have lots of redundant features and they can only be used in one place for one purpose
• I will especially never buy another hard-wired charger (I own one) - they are expensive to repair and even less flexible than a wall charger with a NEMA plug
• I will never use an EVSE wifi app/connection - they do nothing for me and so-called "smart" EVSEs break more often and offer nothing I cannot get already from the vehicle I will not pay for this feature and I prefer units without a wifi connection at all
• I will only buy EVSEs that are portable and can be used on a minimum of a NEMA 14-50 and standard 115V wall plug
• For reasons above, I will not pay extra for a 40 Amp charger unless I get a vehicle with >110kwh battery

I hope someone finds this perspective useful.

that’s a pretty concise and helpful summary. So, in my situation where there is a good chance of multiple consecutive long range drives (250 +), my ideal charger would be the 40A version then, right?
Wa state has an abundance of Tesla chargers and is only now beginning to ramp up other L2/3 charging systems.

 

[TT97]

Obv you situation may vary, but after nearly 5 years of driving only EVs with our two Model 3s, the ability to charge at the 48 amp vs 40 amp vs 32 amp has never once made any difference whatsoever. FWIW, here is why, and I think my experience is fairly typical:
• I have rarely arrived home with less than, say, 20% battery (maybe a two dozen times across two vehicles or say an average of a couple time a year per vehicle). But even when I have...
• I normally charge to 80%, so even a large battery will recharge from say 20% - 80% easily overnight.
• I have almost never arrived at home with say, 10% or 15% need to turn around and drive another 100+ miles an hour later (this has happened maybe twice that I can recall)
• In those instances where I have rare charging demand that exceed a 7.7 kw capability, I have plenty of DCFCs around to stop in for 10 minutes and add an extra 100 miles or so if I need it.
• So my personal rule of thumb on this is a 70% charge in 10 hours is most I need to buy, 60% charge in 10 hours is fine. On a 100 kwh (useable) battery, a 7.7 kw charger (32 Amp) is more than enough. If I have a 125kwh+ Rivian or similar, I would bump to 40 Amp 9.6 kw.

As I say, others may have different needs, but after 11 years of plugin vehicles and almost 5 years of EV only driving, I have discovered that I paid for more charging than I needed (two NEMA 50 plugs) and that I would certainly never pay for more. My personal lessons learned:

• I will never buy another wall charger (I own two, one is broken) - they are expensive, have lots of redundant features and they can only be used in one place for one purpose
• I will especially never buy another hard-wired charger (I own one) - they are expensive to repair and even less flexible than a wall charger with a NEMA plug
• I will never use an EVSE wifi app/connection - they do nothing for me and so-called "smart" EVSEs break more often and offer nothing I cannot get already from the vehicle I will not pay for this feature and I prefer units without a wifi connection at all
• I will only buy EVSEs that are portable and can be used on a minimum of a NEMA 14-50 and standard 115V wall plug
• For reasons above, I will not pay extra for a 40 Amp charger unless I get a vehicle with >110kwh battery

I hope someone finds this perspective useful.

We are a 2 EV household sharing a single EVSE with 40 amp charging (9.6 kW; although typically closer to 9.2 kW due to voltage drop). We have never had an issue sharing a single EVSE and take turns using the EVSE. There have only been a handful of occasions where we both had to charge on the same day (and typically due to both of us being negligent in charging earlier). We typically charge once the car gets below 30% or if one of us has a long trip the next day. We have never been in a situation that we both of us were facing separate 200+ mile trips the next day (in that case we would just use a DCFC).

We own a Wallbox Pulsar (which will be the Fisker branded unit in the U.S.). We bought that unit as it has the ability to power share with a second unit. The original plan was to get two units on the same circuit and be able to charge both vehicles but we found out there is no need (although nice to know we still have that option later on).

The one use case I would recommend a faster unit is for the person that does put a lot of miles on their vehicle and they live in an area where the utility company has a very short window for base electrical rate with a significant price difference from the other rates. I have seen people state their cheapest rate period is only four hours each night - for those people, I highly recommend getting a unit that allows you to finish the charge within the period as often as possible.

 

[Daytime]

Your wish is granted:

https://cleantechnica.com/2022/07/31/installing-home-ev-chargers-just-got-much-easier-and-cheaper/

ConnectDER - Integrate Distributed Energy Resources with the Grid

Our meter collar adapters allow utilities and installers to get distributed energy resources quickly on the home and working with the grid.

connectder.com

Well, depending on where you live anyway. This is a good solution.

Oh yes, I am very aware of their product. I sent information to my local electric company, Puget Sound Energy, and the response was BS about the device would put undue stress on the meter and policy is that nothing can be attached to it. The link I sent list numerous utilities that have partnered with them. Yes it would save lots of money. Scratching my head as to how to encourage them to explore the Connectder.

 

[BayouCityBob]

Oh yes, I am very aware of their product. I sent information to my local electric company, Puget Sound Energy, and the response was BS about the device would put undue stress on the meter and policy is that nothing can be attached to it. The link I sent list numerous utilities that have partnered with them. Yes it would save lots of money. Scratching my head as to how to encourage them to explore the Connectder.

That sucks. It will come. Now that Siemens is selling their unit it will help a lot I expect, and I know they are pushing to get regulatory approval in a bunch of places. This will be the solution for situations like yours but local monopoly Utilities run by pigheaded self-dealing bureaucrats will make it more difficult than it needs to be. Stress on the meter ... puh-leeze.

 

[BayouCityBob]

The one use case I would recommend a faster unit is for the person that does put a lot of miles on their vehicle and they live in an area where the utility company has a very short window for base electrical rate with a significant price difference from the other rates. I have seen people state their cheapest rate period is only four hours each night - for those people, I highly recommend getting a unit that allows you to finish the charge within the period as often as possible.

^^^ Such an important point and one that always slips my mind because we are on a fixed rate no TOD system. Thanks for noting. Would certainly payback the higher capacity unit and associated upgrades if you were able to get ver reduced prices for a small number of hours (e.g. the 4 hr example).