Home Charger Reviews and FAQs

[SpaceEVDriver]

I was asked to give a review of one of my EVSEs (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), more commonly known as a “charger.” Some pedants care if you call it a charger and not an EVSE. Technically, for power coming from a wall outlet in the form of alternating current (AC), the “charger” is built into the car and the EVSE tells the car’s charger how much current at what voltage it is allowed to pull. Nobody except those pedants cares about the distinction. The thing that gets the electricity from the source to the vehicle is the charger; part of it is offboard the vehicle and part of it is onboard the vehicle. I can sometimes be pedantic in my own writing, but I don’t care which term you use. I purposely used the term “Charger” in the title because EVSE isn’t as commonly understood.

I hope others will add their own reviews of their chargers to this thread too.

I do want to first go over some terminology that does matter. I will use North American standards since Scout’s target audience is North America. This will be math-heavy:

• Watt hours (Wh) = Energy
  • Generally when discussing EVs, we use kilowatt hours (kWh).
  • 1000 Wh = 1 kWh
  • A battery holds potential energy measured in kWh
  • An EV uses up energy measured in kWh
• Watts (kW) = Power
  • This is the rate at which energy is used
  • An EV draws power from the charger at a rate of kW
• Amps (A) = Current or flow rate of electrons through a circuit
• Volts (V) = Electric potential (how much pressure is measured between two electrically-active points of interest)
• Amps * Volts = Watts
  • Example: A 50 Amp, 240 Volt outlet can allow up to 12 kW of power to flow
• 80% or 125% rule
  • The National Electric Code requires that “continuous” (3 or more hours) loads be on a circuit that’s rated for 125% of the load
    • Alternatively, you shouldn’t be pulling more than 80% of a rated circuit for a continuous load.
    • Example: A circuit that’s rated for 50 amps is allowed to provide continuous loads of up to 80% of that rating, or 40 Amps
• Charging time: If you divide the amount of energy (kWh) you want to add to your vehicle by the rate (kW) at which you add that energy, you can calculate the charging time.
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 1.4 kW would take 100/1.4 = 71.4 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 11 kW would take 9.1 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 19 kW would take 5.3 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 150 kW would take 40 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 200 kW would take 30 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%

• Level 1 charging:
  • Using 120 volts, like from the standard 3-prong wall outlet.
  • This is limited to 16 Amps maximum by the standards developed by the industry.
  • 120 V * 16 A = 1.9 kW
  • More common is 12 A because of the 80% rule: Your standard outlet is on a 15 A circuit, and the 80% rule means the charger shouldn’t pull more than 12 A from it.
    • 120 V * 12 A = 1.44 kW
  • Charging times are long. You use this when you need to recover your commute, but don’t need to recover from a long trip right away.
• Level 2 charging:
  • Using 240 volts, like from an old dryer outlet or an electric range outlet
  • This is limited to 80 Amps maximum if the vehicle has two onboard chargers (this is where the distinction between EVSE and charger matters)
  • More common is 48 Amps or less
  • Some examples:
    • 240 V * 80 A = 19.2 kW
    • 240 V * 48 A = 11.5 kW
    • 240 V * 40 A = 9.6 kW
    • 240 V * 32 A = 7.7 kW
    • 240 V * 16 A = 3.8 kW
    • 240 V * 12 A = 2.9 kW
  • The slowest Level 2 charging is at least twice as fast as the most common Level 1 charging.
• Level 3 is misunderstood.
  • In the standard, Level 3 is > 20 kW of AC power and generally is three phase power, which most homes do not have.
  • A LOT of people, including automotive writers use "Level 3" to mean Direct Current (DC) Fast Charging (DCFC), which is a beast you won’t find in most homes, so I won’t discuss this here.

Okay, this first post is long enough. I’ll put my first review in the next post.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

TLDR; The ChargePoint HomeFlex 50 has been fantastic for us. It’s a nice middle-of-the-road capabilities “smart” charger. It’s been quite reliable and we’ve had no problems with it.


The first EVSE we purchased was a ChargePoint HomeFlex 50A charger. This was one of the few our local electric utility offered a discount on and it received decent reviews.

This charger was offered in three versions: With one of two plugs for plugging into 50 A wall plugs or a “hardwire” option to wire directly into the house circuit. I chose the hardwire option because the 50 A plugs are less reliable and have a lower maximum amperage allowed because of that lower reliability.

ChargePoint calls this a 50 A EVSE, but it can actually be hardwired into a 60 A circuit. The difference is that if it’s plugged into a 50 A circuit, because of the 80% rule above, it can only draw 40 A. If it’s hardwired into a 60 A circuit, it can draw 48 A. The maximum current the EVSE is allowed to draw is set by a dial internal to the hardware. The electrician is supposed to set that maximum current when they install.

I installed this EVSE on the outside wall of our previous house, using a 60 A circuit and breaker. We used it in this place until we moved, about six months after installing it. I then let it sit on a shelf for 18 months until I had the time to re-install it. More on that later.

This is what is called a “smart charger” in that it can be connected to the internet and you can download an app to your favorite phone to control it. You can use this app to temporarily set the maximum charge rate to any integer value between 8 A and 48 A. By temporarily, I mean until you change it again. This allows you to adjust it whenever you feel the need. I tend to set it at one value and then not to bother with it again until I have a compelling reason. The other aspect of it being a “smart charger” is that you can see your past charging sessions and you can tell it your utility rate so it can estimate the cost of charging at home. Since the ChargePoint app is also used to pay for charging at DCFC stations when you’re traveling, you can get a comparison between costs of charging while traveling and home-based charging.

You can also set a charging schedule on the ChargePoint, which is nice.

We use this to charge the Mustang and most visitors' vehicles.
We’ve had this charger in operation for those six months before moving and then for the past 18 months or so. It has never failed us. It’s currently installed in an non-air conditioned garage, so it gets quite hot, but has continued just fine. I generally run it at 40 A or so because it does generate a lot of waste heat as it’s charging the Mustang.

The only reason I didn’t get another one of these for the truck is that when I bought the Lightning, the Ford Charge Station Pro (FCSP) came with the truck as a “free” accessory. I’ll review the FCSP at another time.

 

[dreamweaver]

I was asked to give a review of one of my EVSEs (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), more commonly known as a “charger.” Some pedants care if you call it a charger and not an EVSE. Technically, for power coming from a wall outlet in the form of alternating current (AC), the “charger” is built into the car and the EVSE tells the car’s charger how much current at what voltage it is allowed to pull. Nobody except those pedants cares about the distinction. The thing that gets the electricity from the source to the vehicle is the charger; part of it is offboard the vehicle and part of it is onboard the vehicle. I can sometimes be pedantic in my own writing, but I don’t care which term you use. I purposely used the term “Charger” in the title because EVSE isn’t as commonly understood.

I hope others will add their own reviews of their chargers to this thread too.

I do want to first go over some terminology that does matter. I will use North American standards since Scout’s target audience is North America. This will be math-heavy:

• Watt hours (Wh) = Energy
  • Generally when discussing EVs, we use kilowatt hours (kWh).
  • 1000 Wh = 1 kWh
  • A battery holds potential energy measured in kWh
  • An EV uses up energy measured in kWh
• Watts (kW) = Power
  • This is the rate at which energy is used
  • An EV draws power from the charger at a rate of kW
• Amps (A) = Current or flow rate of electrons through a circuit
• Volts (V) = Electric potential (how much pressure is measured between two electrically-active points of interest)
• Amps * Volts = Watts
  • Example: A 50 Amp, 240 Volt outlet can allow up to 12 kW of power to flow
• 80% or 125% rule
  • The National Electric Code requires that “continuous” (3 or more hours) loads be on a circuit that’s rated for 125% of the load
    • Alternatively, you shouldn’t be pulling more than 80% of a rated circuit for a continuous load.
    • Example: A circuit that’s rated for 50 amps is allowed to provide continuous loads of up to 80% of that rating, or 40 Amps
• Charging time: If you divide the amount of energy (kWh) you want to add to your vehicle by the rate (kW) at which you add that energy, you can calculate the charging time.
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 1.4 kW would take 100/1.4 = 71.4 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 11 kW would take 9.1 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 19 kW would take 5.3 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 150 kW would take 40 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 200 kW would take 30 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%

• Level 1 charging:
  • Using 120 volts, like from the standard 3-prong wall outlet.
  • This is limited to 16 Amps maximum by the standards developed by the industry.
  • 120 V * 16 A = 1.9 kW
  • More common is 12 A because of the 80% rule: Your standard outlet is on a 15 A circuit, and the 80% rule means the charger shouldn’t pull more than 12 A from it.
    • 120 V * 12 A = 1.44 kW
  • Charging times are long. You use this when you need to recover your commute, but don’t need to recover from a long trip right away.
• Level 2 charging:
  • Using 240 volts, like from an old dryer outlet or an electric range outlet
  • This is limited to 80 Amps maximum if the vehicle has two onboard chargers (this is where the distinction between EVSE and charger matters)
  • More common is 48 Amps or less
  • Some examples:
    • 240 V * 80 A = 19.2 kW
    • 240 V * 48 A = 11.5 kW
    • 240 V * 40 A = 9.6 kW
    • 240 V * 32 A = 7.7 kW
    • 240 V * 16 A = 3.8 kW
    • 240 V * 12 A = 2.9 kW
  • The slowest Level 2 charging is at least twice as fast as the most common Level 1 charging.
• Level 3 is misunderstood.
  • In the standard, Level 3 is > 20 kW of AC power and generally is three phase power, which most homes do not have.
  • A LOT of people, including automotive writers use "Level 3" to mean Direct Current (DC) Fast Charging (DCFC), which is a beast you won’t find in most homes, so I won’t discuss this here.

Okay, this first post is long enough. I’ll put my first review in the next post.

The start of something great, Thank You!

 

[J Alynn]

I was asked to give a review of one of my EVSEs (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment), more commonly known as a “charger.” Some pedants care if you call it a charger and not an EVSE. Technically, for power coming from a wall outlet in the form of alternating current (AC), the “charger” is built into the car and the EVSE tells the car’s charger how much current at what voltage it is allowed to pull. Nobody except those pedants cares about the distinction. The thing that gets the electricity from the source to the vehicle is the charger; part of it is offboard the vehicle and part of it is onboard the vehicle. I can sometimes be pedantic in my own writing, but I don’t care which term you use. I purposely used the term “Charger” in the title because EVSE isn’t as commonly understood.

I hope others will add their own reviews of their chargers to this thread too.

I do want to first go over some terminology that does matter. I will use North American standards since Scout’s target audience is North America. This will be math-heavy:

• Watt hours (Wh) = Energy
  • Generally when discussing EVs, we use kilowatt hours (kWh).
  • 1000 Wh = 1 kWh
  • A battery holds potential energy measured in kWh
  • An EV uses up energy measured in kWh
• Watts (kW) = Power
  • This is the rate at which energy is used
  • An EV draws power from the charger at a rate of kW
• Amps (A) = Current or flow rate of electrons through a circuit
• Volts (V) = Electric potential (how much pressure is measured between two electrically-active points of interest)
• Amps * Volts = Watts
  • Example: A 50 Amp, 240 Volt outlet can allow up to 12 kW of power to flow
• 80% or 125% rule
  • The National Electric Code requires that “continuous” (3 or more hours) loads be on a circuit that’s rated for 125% of the load
    • Alternatively, you shouldn’t be pulling more than 80% of a rated circuit for a continuous load.
    • Example: A circuit that’s rated for 50 amps is allowed to provide continuous loads of up to 80% of that rating, or 40 Amps
• Charging time: If you divide the amount of energy (kWh) you want to add to your vehicle by the rate (kW) at which you add that energy, you can calculate the charging time.
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 1.4 kW would take 100/1.4 = 71.4 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 11 kW would take 9.1 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 19 kW would take 5.3 hours to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 150 kW would take 40 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%
  • Example: A 100 kWh battery charging at a rate of 200 kW would take 30 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%

• Level 1 charging:
  • Using 120 volts, like from the standard 3-prong wall outlet.
  • This is limited to 16 Amps maximum by the standards developed by the industry.
  • 120 V * 16 A = 1.9 kW
  • More common is 12 A because of the 80% rule: Your standard outlet is on a 15 A circuit, and the 80% rule means the charger shouldn’t pull more than 12 A from it.
    • 120 V * 12 A = 1.44 kW
  • Charging times are long. You use this when you need to recover your commute, but don’t need to recover from a long trip right away.
• Level 2 charging:
  • Using 240 volts, like from an old dryer outlet or an electric range outlet
  • This is limited to 80 Amps maximum if the vehicle has two onboard chargers (this is where the distinction between EVSE and charger matters)
  • More common is 48 Amps or less
  • Some examples:
    • 240 V * 80 A = 19.2 kW
    • 240 V * 48 A = 11.5 kW
    • 240 V * 40 A = 9.6 kW
    • 240 V * 32 A = 7.7 kW
    • 240 V * 16 A = 3.8 kW
    • 240 V * 12 A = 2.9 kW
  • The slowest Level 2 charging is at least twice as fast as the most common Level 1 charging.
• Level 3 is misunderstood.
  • In the standard, Level 3 is > 20 kW of AC power and generally is three phase power, which most homes do not have.
  • A LOT of people, including automotive writers use "Level 3" to mean Direct Current (DC) Fast Charging (DCFC), which is a beast you won’t find in most homes, so I won’t discuss this here.

Okay, this first post is long enough. I’ll put my first review in the next post.

As always. I am humbled by your wealth of knowledge and appreciate the time you dedicate to educating we the naive people. So again-THANK YOU

 

[J Alynn]

TLDR; The ChargePoint HomeFlex 50 has been fantastic for us. It’s a nice middle-of-the-road capabilities “smart” charger. It’s been quite reliable and we’ve had no problems with it.


The first EVSE we purchased was a ChargePoint HomeFlex 50A charger. This was one of the few our local electric utility offered a discount on and it received decent reviews.

This charger was offered in three versions: With one of two plugs for plugging into 50 A wall plugs or a “hardwire” option to wire directly into the house circuit. I chose the hardwire option because the 50 A plugs are less reliable and have a lower maximum amperage allowed because of that lower reliability.

ChargePoint calls this a 50 A EVSE, but it can actually be hardwired into a 60 A circuit. The difference is that if it’s plugged into a 50 A circuit, because of the 80% rule above, it can only draw 40 A. If it’s hardwired into a 60 A circuit, it can draw 48 A. The maximum current the EVSE is allowed to draw is set by a dial internal to the hardware. The electrician is supposed to set that maximum current when they install.

I installed this EVSE on the outside wall of our previous house, using a 60 A circuit and breaker. We used it in this place until we moved, about six months after installing it. I then let it sit on a shelf for 18 months until I had the time to re-install it. More on that later.

This is what is called a “smart charger” in that it can be connected to the internet and you can download an app to your favorite phone to control it. You can use this app to temporarily set the maximum charge rate to any integer value between 8 A and 48 A. By temporarily, I mean until you change it again. This allows you to adjust it whenever you feel the need. I tend to set it at one value and then not to bother with it again until I have a compelling reason. The other aspect of it being a “smart charger” is that you can see your past charging sessions and you can tell it your utility rate so it can estimate the cost of charging at home. Since the ChargePoint app is also used to pay for charging at DCFC stations when you’re traveling, you can get a comparison between costs of charging while traveling and home-based charging.

You can also set a charging schedule on the ChargePoint, which is nice.

We use this to charge the Mustang and most visitors' vehicles.
We’ve had this charger in operation for those six months before moving and then for the past 18 months or so. It has never failed us. It’s currently installed in an non-air conditioned garage, so it gets quite hot, but has continued just fine. I generally run it at 40 A or so because it does generate a lot of waste heat as it’s charging the Mustang.

The only reason I didn’t get another one of these for the truck is that when I bought the Lightning, the Ford Charge Station Pro (FCSP) came with the truck as a “free” accessory. I’ll review the FCSP at another time.

View attachment 8234


View attachment 8233

It’s like you have a small substation in your garage. WOW!

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

It’s like you have a small substation in your garage. WOW!

It’s our 14 kW solar + 24 kWh battery system. Today we had monsoon storms all day but we were still able to recharge the whole-house battery to 100% without pulling any significant power from the grid. Keeps my business servers running.

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

TLDR; The Ford Charge Station Pro (FCSP) is a fantastic charger if all you need is to have it provide very fast Level 2 charging. It has its limitations, mostly due to poorly-written software and the lack of long-term support. Also, most EVs cannot accept the highest charge rate available through the FCSP. Most vehicles have a single onboard charger and are thus limited to 48 A Level 2 charging. The Lightning is one of the few EVs with dual onboard chargers. Don’t buy an 80 A EVSE unless you have a good reason. Also, the FCSP is one of the few “bi-directional” chargers* on the market. However, the secondary system required to enable bidirectional is proprietary, is not cheap, has issues connecting with the Ford bluetooth radio, and has been frustrating to a lot of people who purchased it.

I don’t know if Ford included the FCSP with every Lightning purchase, with just the Extended Range Lightnings, or exactly why it was included in my purchase. I received a coupon to order the FCSP for no additional charge. I had the electrician wiring up the workshop install the FCSP in order to meet the city code requirement that all new builds include at least 50 A EV charging receptacle.

Since installation, I have had occasional issues with my app communicating with the EVSE, but it hadn’t been a major problem. After we installed our solar system, I began to worry about the power profile of our system and didn’t want to pull 20 kW when I didn’t need to. Via the app, I set the maximum charge rate to be 40 A. The app claimed that setting was saved. But the truck still pulled 80 A (19.2 kW) whenever it charged. I rarely need the 19.2 kW charge rate—usually only if I need to go on another long trip shortly after returning from a long trip. I spent a few weeks trying to diagnose the issue, but nothing I did fixed it. I was under the impression (mistaken, it turns out) that the FCSP only had a 1-year warranty and we’d just passed that date.

After spending too much time trying to figure it out, I gave up. I moved the FCSP to the outside wall of the workshop. I can still use it, I just can’t limit the charge rate to less than 19.2 kW. In its place, I installed an Emporia Pro with Vue 3 energy monitor. This will be the subject of another review in a couple of months when I have had more experience with it. Its documentation isn’t great, but I finally figured out how to make it work the way I want it to work.


*A note on bidirectional charging: Bidirectional charging cannot be accomplished with just an EVSE. It also requires an inverter, which is a device that causes the flat voltage of direct current (DC) to become a sine wave alternating current (AC). The truck’s battery is (all batteries are) DC. The house power expects AC. The inverter does the job of translating the truck's ~400 volts DC to 240 volts AC. You will not be able to use a bidirectional charger without also installing an inverter. And you’ll need several safety devices that will isolate the home from the grid so that the truck cannot accidentally send power to the grid while someone is working on it. All of the labor, equipment, permits, inspections, etc., for installation will require a significant investment. Probably between $5k and $15k. V2X hasn’t been fully implemented as a standard, so EV manufacturers have been doing their own thing. And they’ve not been fully successful yet. I don’t recommend anyone spend the money on a V2H system and instead get themselves a whole-home battery backup system. If they also have a generator input installed, that can be plugged into the 240 V AC output of the EV they’re considering. This is simpler and cheaper than investing in V2H from the vehicle. This also allows automatic failover even when the vehicle isn’t connected to the home. Bidirectional charging can’t work when the vehicle isn’t plugged in.

 

[bwdavis7]

Thank you for taking the time to educate us. I'm a retired electrical engineer and love this stuff. You have answered several questions that I had pondered but not yet tried to find answers. Who says you can't teach an old dog...

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

Thank you for taking the time to educate us. I'm a retired electrical engineer and love this stuff. You have answered several questions that I had pondered but not yet tried to find answers. Who says you can't teach an old dog...

I started with an EE in college, but ended up in pure math instead. If I’ve said anything that needs correcting or clarifying, please jump in!

 

[robothero]

I'd just like to hop in and say thanks for starting this thread. I know a lot of the EV early adopters/enthusiasts really geek out about chargers, but I'd wager that most of everyone else doesn't, so being able to common man explain the pros and cons to each charger is immensely helpful.