Choosing An Electric Vehicle Charging Station — The Basics
This is a short section of our new, free 2021–2022 EV Chargers Guide. More sections of the report will be published shortly, or you can just download the full report now. The report is free thanks to sponsorship from NeoCharge and EV Connect.
While people mostly use the term “EV charger,” the technical name for a charging station is EVSE, which stands for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment.
This is a device that safely supplies electric energy to electric vehicles to recharge them. Charging an electric vehicle is safe and easy, as long as it is done with proper, safety-certified equipment. Common EVSE use established protocols to ensure electrical safety throughout the charging process — for the user, the vehicle, and the power grid. Almost every charger on the market is suitable for indoor or outdoor use these days.
Choosing the right charging station may seem like a complex process, but it does not have to be overwhelming. The first step is to make sure you have the capacity in your electrical panel for the charging station to be installed. It’s also advisable to make sure that the EVSE you want to buy has a warranty and customer support is available.
All charging stations included in this guide are safety tested and certified by a nationally recognized testing laboratory (NRTL), such as Intertek (ETL) or Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL). The NRTL certification marks are provided on the product itself (present on the rating plate). The building inspector will look for the rating plate to make sure the product has been installed according to its certification.
Most EV charging station manufacturers offer a 3 year warranty for their products. Some of the warranties are extendable to 5 years. (Please see the table to find warranty information for the specific charging stations that interest you.) One important thing to note regarding warranties, though: many of these warranties are for the parts only and do not include the labor. Some companies will offer full parts and labor warranties. Look at the fine print or contact the company if it’s not clear which is offered before buying the product.
There are two types of home chargers available: Level 1 chargers and Level 2 chargers. In coming sections, we will discuss pros & cons of each, and also share a variety of products from both categories.
Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution!
Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.
Sign up for our daily newsletter for 15 new cleantech stories a day. Or sign up for our weekly one if daily is too frequent.
CleanTechnica's Comment Policy