3rd party wall chargers ok or not?

[hammick]

Honestly, avoid all of the chargers with "smart" features. All of those features are available through the Rivian app, and having conflicting settings between the vehicle and charger would be more a hassle than a help.

It's true the Rivian can do scheduling but our Sierra EV cannot (only has a departure time setting). So I'm glad both of our chargers have smart features. I set them both to only send power from Midnight to 6am for our time of use rates. If I need to charge during the day I can initiate a manual charge.

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[Joules Burn]

If you go with the 14-50 receptacle, it is imperative that you get a quality socket such as Bryant or Hubbell - not the $20 box store socket. And torque the connections.

 

[mmcool]

Tesla charger works like a charm. Tip for getting disc - get doordash gc from costco and then use doordash to order Tesla wall chargers.

 

[dleepnw]

Absolutely OK and I'd say might be better than the Rivian charger, which we've seen on this forum has problems. I've had the Emporia Level 2 EV Charger for 2.5 years and it has not failed even once. Solid. Whatever you get, make sure its UL-certified though.

Added bonus, the app is one of the best in the industry if you like digging into charging details.

 

[beatle]

If you go with the 14-50 receptacle, it is imperative that you get a quality socket such as Bryant or Hubbell - not the $20 box store socket. And torque the connections.

The torque rating for these terminals is pretty high. I used a torque wrench on my Tesla UWC to tighten the hex-head terminals. The cheap 14-50R that melted used phillips screws, and gutentight wasn't quite gutenough.

In addition to the Bryant/Hubbell receptacles, Leviton makes a 14-50Rs rated for EVSE use. But coupled with the requirement for a more expensive GFCI breaker (no GFCI needed for hardwired EVSE) and the extra conductor for the neutral line (wire is expensive!), it can be noticeably more expensive to put in a good receptacle.

 

[boney]

+1 for Tesla Universal Wall connector. It works as designed and never fails.

 

[jlstan]

Personally, Rivian does all the smart work, and my charger is outside open to the elements. Grizzl-E is overbuilt for just that sort of situation. It's been great.

 

[Bob S]

+1 for Tesla Universal Wall connector. It works as designed and never fails.

I have a Rivian charger at my house and a Tesla Universal at my vacation home. No problems with either.
the Tesla is outside and I wish it had a feature to only allow authorized vehicles. It has that feature for authorized Tesla vehicles only.

 

[Glembi2]

if getting power from an electric company, check whether the company gives discounts for particular chargers. Virginia Power (Dominion Electric) was giving yearly rebates per year for using chargers that could be set to reduce charging during brownouts.

 

[captainjp]

Tesla UWC is the way to go 100%. Skip all the other garbage

 

[BCondrey]

The Tesla UWC is a solid pick, I have one at a rental property and use it frequently. Make sure you turn on compatibility mode.

AT home my wife has a gen3 Tesla EVSE that is rock solid. I used that for a bit with an adapter for my R1T.

Then I graduated to my own EVSE, a Grizzl-e smart EVSE that works well enough. It only gets me 8.5KW when it should be closer to 9.6KW.

I bought a Rivian EVSE off ebay, new in box, for about $400. I'm replacing the Grizzl-e with that, and hardwiring it, which I should have done to begin with.

Unless you have need of a 14-50 or 6-50 outlet, hardwire it. It is cheaper, safer, and more better in general.

 

[BCondrey]

if getting power from an electric company, check whether the company gives discounts for particular chargers. Virginia Power (Dominion Electric) was giving yearly rebates per year for using chargers that could be set to reduce charging during brownouts.

I looked into the Dominion Power plan, and it is very lame. They aren't serious about incentivizing EV charging. They have to offer something, so they have this bullshit TOU plan and a rebate after a year of owning certain EVSE as long as they can control the EVSE anytime they want. No thanks.

 

[hudesigns]

Grizzl-E mini, 40A, 50A breaker, comes with multiple adapters for 120V-240V outlets, built tough. Zero issues so far over a year. Bring it along to different locations on the go. For overnight charging my max pack I often only need to use 20-30A. Happy with it.

 

[Aardvark]

I used the review articles on Insideevs.com and bought the basic, non-internet Grizzl-e. All the programming I need to do, I can do from the car.
Stick with name brands and UL-rated devices. This is not an item you want to get from a guy in a trenchcoat on a street corner. Your fire department would agree.
Don't forget to check your electric utility for rebates. I got $150 off of my $320 charger.

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