Didn’t want to resurrect old “recommend” threads, decided to create new one.
Preface: I’m total noob in anything EV.
Looking for EV charger recommendations. Electrician is coming to evaluate panels and all that good stuff and give me the quote. He mentioned something about wired vs plug-in chargers and something about universal NEMA outlets?
My goal is to have level 2 EV charger installed that could be used to charge any brand of PHEV or EV in the future. My current understanding is that electrician will install some sort of universal outlet to where all these “universal” chargers could be plugged in and it will work for any PHEV or EV.
With all that said looking for recommendations for specific chargers that I could order.
I haven’t done much research since I bought mine last year, but the best universal charger was Tesla’s Universal Wall Connector to support both NACS and J1772 connectors. I’ve actually never used the NACS connector yet, but many are manufacturers switching to NACS (many have already for MY25), so I wanted to future-proof my charger at the time.
The Tesla charger is hardwired, so it’s not simply plugging it into a plug.
My costco pulsar wallbox connected to nema 14-50 gives me no issue so far. I can do scheduled charging from its apps.
For NACS vs J1772, tesla has a good nacs to j1772 adapter, it’s working fine when I have my parent’s tesla, thus it’s better to have J1772 & use that adapter instead of the other way around.
What are those NACS and J1772 connectors? Are these the types of plug/cord that goes into EV’s charging port? I assume they have different pins and layout and diff brands use one or another?
Check if ConEd offers any rebates on wall chargers. I got something like $1k off on my chargepoint homeflex + installation through Eversource. Its a great unit.
So “universal” actually means that charger has both NACS and J1772 plugs/cords, but I can just buy J1772 charger and use NACS to J1772 adapter in case I have EV with NACS?All this stuff is kinda confusing.
No I only had a basic wall plug. Eversource doesn’t do anything they just provide the rebate. In their case, they send you through to Qmerit who will work up a quote for you and account for rebates. I did all of that through their site and then a local installer followed up with the final cost and we scheduled it. They had to run a new line from my box in the basement to my garage and put that outlet in + the charger install.
Most non-Tesla wallchargers come with J1772 because that’s what non-Tesla cars used until until this year, but for home charging it doesn’t matter, because Teslas come with adapters to charge from J1772 and adapters to plug Tesla/NACs cars into J1772 is like $20 on Amazon. For whatever reason though the adapter to plug a non-Tesla car into a Tesla wall plug are much more expensive, so either get a cheap J1772 charger and you can charge all cars, or get the Tesla branded charger that has both plugs and you can also charge all cars, it’s a bit more expensive but it’s a well built nice looking unit and you don’t need any adapters so it’s probably worth it.
Most of the controversy around plugs/charging is for public DC fast charging which is a different kettle of fish.
Where are you looking to install this? Outside of the house or inside of a garage? Do you plan on moving any time soon and subsequently bring the charger with you? That will help determine going plug in or hard wired. Recommendation is to go hardwired, dedicated 60amp circuit so you can get the full 48A that most cars top out at.
I recently had the Chargepoint Home Flex installed and like it a lot.
Very helpful, thanks! Things finally starting to make sense.
I don’t have a garage, it is going to be installed on the side of the house very close to main entrance and the driveway where the cars are. I’m estimating about 30 feet from charger to a parked car. I guess I do need to think about cord length, because from what I have seen, most chargers come with 25 ft cords.
