ClipperCreek Unveils New Level-2 EV Charging Station — The HCS-30
Originally published on EV Obsession.
The electric vehicle (EV) charging station provider ClipperCreek has unveiled a new 24-amp Level-2 EV charging station (EVSE) offering, according to a recent press release. The HCS-30, as it’s known, is capable of recharging most EVs in around 4 hours — and is priced fairly reasonably, at $565.
The new offering is intended for use in the residential and workplace markets, and is housed in a “rugged” enclosure making the unit suitable for outdoor installation. It’s probably worth noting that EVSE will include a 3-year warranty.
Personally, I’d recommend getting a more powerful EVSE than this. Even if this works well enough for current EVs, future EVs will have larger batteries and benefit from faster charging. ClipperCreek, the leading EVSE provider on the market, offers higher-end EVSEs with 32-amp, 40-amp, and 48-amp charging capability as well, but it presumably saw a hole in the market and enough demand to provide this new 24-amp EVSE.
“As the popularity of electric vehicles increases, the demand for Level 2 charging stations for home use is growing. EV owners want faster charging, but don’t necessarily want to upgrade their electrical service panel. This 24 Amp model allows more people to use their existing infrastructure, making the installation much more affordable,” stated Jason France, the President and Founder of ClipperCreek. “ClipperCreek is proud to offer another solution that provides value to our customers. Level 2 charging at home does not have to be a luxury. You can own and install the most durable, powerful, popular, and reliable station on the market at an affordable price.”
“The HCS-30 provides the maximum charging power available through a standard 30 amp circuit. With 24 amps available to the vehicle, the HCS-30 can deliver approximately 20 miles of range per hour of charge for vehicles capable of accepting this level of power for charging,” commented ClipperCreek Sales Manager, Will Barrett. “We expect to sell the majority of these stations for residential use, but the HCS-30’s rugged design and ample 25 foot charging cable make it an excellent solution for workplace and commercial charging as well. We have a rugged pedestal mount available for all HCS models, which makes it perfect for the parking lot. There are many companies who want to offer Level 2 charging for their employees or customers, but don’t want to make a large infrastructure and hardware investment. The HCS-30 is an excellent solution for those companies.”
A couple of final notes: these charging stations are made in the US; they are safety listed by ETL; no mounting kit is required, and neither is any assembly.
Those interested can find out more on the company’s website, or via the company’s phone line at 877-694-4194.
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It’s like $100 up to the 40 amp circuit, sure, but if you already have an existing 30 amp circuit to your garage, for a welder, compressor, or other, I can see a market for this.
I’ve been looking at the HCS-40P:
http://www.clippercreek.com/store/product/hcs-40p-32a-240v-charging-25-cord-nema-14-50-plug/
It can charge up to 7.7kW, so it won’t get outdated as quickly as older EVSEs that match the 6.6kW max on current vehicles and can even charge a Tesla in under 10 hours. It’s also only $24 more but can charge EVs 33% faster than the HCS-30. As a bonus, it is detachable and plugs into the NEMA 14-50 outlet that’s present at hundreds of RV parks, campsites, etc. This could help fill in the gaps by turning our country’s RV hookups into a cheap, near-supercharging network. The reactions I’ll get as I pull a LEAF up to a camping spot and plug in while I put up a tent and start a fire will be priceless as well.
They need to add WiFi and smart charging features.
Imagine this:
It’s winter, you drive your normal commute, but it takes nearly all your charge to do the trip. You’re left with a 20% reserve. You plug the car in.
But! Horror of horrors, the smart charging feature is broken. It doesn’t kick on at 7:00 like it’s supposed to. It sends you a warning, but you miss it. you’re a busy guy, you have things to do, people to see.
You walk up to your car the next morning, climb in, and right when you have to leave, you realize for the first time that your car isn’t charged, and the 3-5 hour charge time you need to get to work just isn’t an option.
This is the worst case scenario for a charger. Above all else, I want my charger to be reliable. This is why the Clipper Creek is one of the best selling chargers on the market. Come hell or high water, these things will always charge your car when you plug them in.
I’ll pass on the wifi and smart charging. My car has all those features built in anyways.
So what happens if the car’s smart charging feature fails, and you don’t get a charge?
What happens if your alarm clock does not go off?
Lots of what ifs. Don’t sweat it so much and accept the risks.
Turns out, the massive engineering facilities that GM, Nissan and Tesla have, are about 4 orders of magnitude less likely to have that bug then some schuck in his garage, who may or may not have a relevant degree.
I want my charger to charge things. Nothing else. Just like I don’t want my TV to make phone calls.
It’s just an option.. that you can choose not to use. Just like LG, Samsung, Sony and many others sell so many Smart TVs…. that can do way more than most people need.
You may want your charger to only have one feature, but there is value in having the option. Especially if that one charger is used for multiple kinds of EVs.
Also, this is ClipperCreek… a very well known company with plenty of Engineers.
I would trust an engineer from a company known SOLELY for making EV Chargers… long before I trust an Automotive Engineer whose focus is on making cars and probably has all sorts of other projects going on that has nothing to do with EVs.
In fact, the automaker may even outsource the onboard charging components to another company you’ve never even heard of before. Who makes the speakers in your car? Not the automaker. Bosch makes more electronic components in cars, than automakers do. Does Bosch make EV chargers yet? Nope.
Bosch makes EV chargers. Google it.
The long and short of it is that these features increase the cost of the charger, while making the product less reliable, without offering substantive value.
Once again, there is a reason why clipper creek chargers are among the best selling. They’re inexpensive, and bulletproof.
No WiFi, thanks anyways.
Bosch doesn’t make an onboard EV charger… I wasn’t talking about an EVSE. Hence, the previous sentence formed the context, “Bosch makes more electronic components in cars, than automakers do.”
Right now, you think that the on-board charging software is somehow more reliable than ClipperCreek… but there is nothing to support that claim.
“increase the cost of the charger” – It’s just software. The cost doesn’t go up by any perceptible amount. If there is a slightly higher price, it will be due to the value demand (people would be willing to pay a bit more for more features).
“while making the product less reliable” – that is completely unsubstantiated nonsense. That is just some conjecture based on nothing.
“without offering substantive value.” – just because YOU don’t value it, doesn’t mean others don’t.
The point about liking a TV to only be a TV is poignant. Just because you don’t want a feature, doesn’t mean that millions of people don’t value it.
Only a fool accepts a risk, no matter how limited, without a reward. And the reward of ‘smart’ chargers is still pretty much nonexistant.
All that may change if/when the smart grid arrives and much greater use is made of price signals and home storage. But that is years away, and until then Steve has a point.
Convenience and Time-of-Use charges is a HUGE value…. for a risk that is “pretty much non-existent”.
Show me 3 instances where the smart charging feature failed someone and left them stranded… and I will show you 300 instances where people enjoy the value of smart charging.
I don’t think you have an electric car. Or if you do, you’re not very involved in the community. EV chargers actually seem to fail a lot, including the ones that are factory recommended, with or without smart charging features.
Here’s one failure case:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R16QZFVBBKBCDO/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B008RZXWNM&channel=detail-glance&nodeID=15684181&store=automotive
Here’s an instance where a bunch of chargers fail to charge cars at all, on specific cars:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a11926/the-tangled-mess-of-ev-chargers-11016411/
And just for lols, here’s a review of Clipper Creek chargers:
“ClipperCreek produces some of the most reliable electric vehicle charging stations on the market”
http://www.evelectricity.com/reviews/2015-electric-vehicle-charging-stations
And that’s the first thing they say about this charger? “Reliability”. It’s important, far more than you think.
So, really, no, this risk isn’t “Non-existent”. EV charger reliability has been an issue for years. Clipper Creek has won the tag of ‘Most Reliable’, and is now one of the best sellers.
As for the alleged benefits of time-of-use charging, these are some of the cars that already do this:
Leaf
Volt
Tesla
Smart
iMiev
I’m sure others do as well, I’m just not going to do all your homework. But, like, that’s most of the EVs on the road. What car do you have that doesn’t have this feature, that you feel adds so much convenience?
Like I thought… none of your examples are about the “smart charging” feature. Just the standard failures from high power electronics that are common.
Just as common as these failures… are electric cars themselves.
But these failures do NOT happen more often because of a timer feature like “smart charging” software.
You’ve got an irrational paranoia based on fear of more complexity. Problem is, that well written software features don’t really destroy reliability.
“Problem is, that well written software features don’t really destroy reliability.”
Problem is that embedded software as used in this kind of device is rarely well written – and the many bugs in embedded code usually aren’t even fixed post-release either because of the hassle.
Even embedded software for highly regulated devices like medical aids (insulin pumps, scanners) or cars is riddled with flaws. Less regulated sectors like car chargers are even worse.
Heck, even million dollar research instruments have poorly written code more often that (which is part of the reason why most have ‘not for diagnostics – research purposes only’ written on them).
A simpler device is generally speaking more reliable, so only buy the more complex option if the advantages are large and the device has a proven track record.
Why do you think an electric car is more reliable than an ICE vehicle to begin with? It’s not because of magic or fancy engineering, but simply because an electric motor and drivetrain are much, much simpler than their ICE counterparts.
You made my point again with medical devices. Even with all their code flaws/bugs… They still are reliable enough to “rely on” for life and death.
You are complaining about even simpler software that is really just an alarm clock feature.
People can “rely on” this alarm start the charging without worry.
You are kinda sounding like Cavuto, when he tried to spread fear that EVs would cause divorces because someone would forget to plug in.
The Smart does not do time of use charging. It will pre-condition the car for a time, but will begin charging immediately regardless of that. Only an EVSE that itself controls charging can provide a delayed charge to a Smart ED.
How big a deal is time of use charging when most utilities still only have a simple ‘peak or off-peak’ tariff structure?
As prices begin to vary more frequently during the day (perhaps even continuously rather than discretely), smart chargers are a must. But when it is as simple as remembering to plug in your car after 9 PM rather than before 9 PM, it’s not rocket science.
Also, much of the convenience of scheduled charging is negated by the fact that you have to manually override the schedule on days that you want to actually charge at peak times (i.e. because you have an appointment later that evening).
Plug your car in whenever. Preset the timer for 9pm/1am charging.
Charging should be controllable by smartphone. If your needs change just tap on the screen a few times to start charging right away.
If your batteries aren’t charged to where they should be by 2am/whatever time you pick, then your car should call you to let you know that something’s wrong.
Basically, your phone should be a full interface with your car, letting you do just about anything you can do from the car’s internal screen/controls.
Anyone with a detached garage shouldn’t be expected to go back to the car to plug it in. Some people work or leave for the gym very early and are in bed by 9 pm.
A truly SMART charger won’t need a manual override, since it’s trivial to add additional times to charge.
With smart phone apps, they could even integrate calendars so that the system knows when, and how far the car needs to go.
I understand the Leaf already has timer-controlled charging built in.
A truly smart charger would allow the grid to control time of charging so that the EV can be used a dispatchable load, soaking up supply peaks and dropping out in troughs.