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Should you buy a smart level 2 EVSE charger for home?

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If you’ve purchased a new EV, you’re probably looking for a way to charge it at home. Some automakers will give you a free charger and help with install, while others do not offer such a program. Those types of programs seem to come and go depending on the time of year and if the manufacturer needs an added incentive to move metal.

If you’re in the situation where you need a charger, and most home users will benefit from a level 2 charger, you’re going to exposed to a plethora of options. Some of these chargers are “dumb” chargers, meaning once installed they deliver power to your vehicle, but don’t really do much beyond that. A “smart charger” will connect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to the internet, typically have an app for your phone, and allow you to program things like time of day charging and track energy usage.

Picking the right charger

Before making a decision, you should check with your power company. They may offer a program that offers a discounted rate if you use equipment they recommend. Why? Because they can better track energy usage and potentially control charger output during peak demand times or in an emergency. While that is something that could happen, it hasn’t happened en masse yet. It’s mostly just the power company collecting more data about when and how you use your electricity.

Those chargers, however, have to be smart enabled. But again, they’re recommended by your power company, typically will save you money, and something you can purchase directly from them. They’re often brand names you’ll recognize – or can quickly find reviews on by Google searching – and the power company might even have recommended installers who can come in and help you hook it all up.

If that’s not an option, you’ll have to decide between getting a smart charger or not. We’ve used the Emporia EV charger quite a bit, and the company offers a kit that makes it super simple to install a level 2 EVSE without having to spend money upgrading your home’s electrical system. It’s packed with smarts, and something we’ve seen working in action. But, for it to all work properly, it has to have an app on your phone and an internet connection.

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When can an internet connection be a bad thing?

When Enel X announced that it was pulling out of North America, it didn’t leave much of a recourse to the thousands of home users using their product. The chargers will still work – in dumb mode – but the app and connected features are dead. So if you were using one of these chargers and had everything you wanted set up through the app, you’ll lose those configurations. If your power company was giving you a deal due to having a connected charger, it’s unclear what’ll happen in the future.

So you might be thinking, “I should just get a dumb charger.” By going with a charger that doesn’t require a connection, there’s less likely something will break or stop working as designed. Instead of having to put a Bluetooth module or a Wi-Fi chip – potentially of dubious sourcing – in the unit, it just needs to deliver power to the vehicle. They tend to be more reliable in all weather conditions, and in some cases are less expensive to purchase.

If you have a dumb charger and need to set up time of use charging, you can often program that right in the infotainment system of your electric vehicle. Your car can’t talk to your electric company directly, at least not yet, but it can handle some of the smart management that a smart charger provides.

One potentially advantage to a dumb charger is that it’s often a portable cable. Yes, there’s home mounting options, but they often just plug into a NEMA 14-50 plug in your garage (which is cheaper to have installed in most cases), and you can disconnect it and take it with you if you’re going on a trip or move to a new location. Many automakers don’t include a charging cable – especially for free – with a new EV purchase so you might want to have one anyway.

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What would we do? It really depends on the situation. We have a unique case where we’re often in multiple different vehicles over the course of any given month, and setting up time of use charging in each one is a pain in the rear end. But for regular home users who have typically just one EV, it’s not any more difficult to set it up in your vehicle as it is to set it up with a smart charger.

We’d go with what your power company recommends, or use the free one provided by the OEM if they include a home charger at the time of purchase. Beyond that, it’s up to you. Having a connected charger can certainly help future-proof you if your power company offers a connected discount in the future, and it is nice to have a charger that can integrate with other home monitoring systems. The Emporia charger, for example, uses its smarts to manage power throughout your home, and they claim they can save you money on your electric bill without changing any habits. That could be a compelling reason to get a smart unit.

But if you just want something that works, there’s nothing wrong with a basic, dumb charger. At the end of the day, the goal of these units is to charge your electric vehicle, and they’ll do that regardless.

  • Chad Kirchner

    Chad is the Editor-in-Chief and founder of Destination Charged. He has nearly 15 years of experience in the automotive industry, working for a variety of publications in both print and online. He was also the co-founder of EV Pulse, another site devoted to electrification in automotive.

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