2022 Best EV charger If you're taking the plunge and buying your first electric car, pickup or SUV, you'll also want to buy and install a Level 2 home charger. There are things to think about when you pick a Level 2 EV charger, but the value in one is straightforward. For the vast majority of drivers, Level 2 will limit and probably eliminate reliance on a public charging station, and it will remove the anxiety that goes with finding an unoccupied public charger when you need it. Just about any Level 2 charger should fully charge your electric vehicle's battery overnight, even if the battery is nearly depleted. A Level 2, 240-volt home charger will charge your electric car much much faster than the Level 1 charger that comes with the vehicle. There are more Level 2 chargers to choose from each month, and they might be less expensive than you'd guess. Set up and installation don't have to be complicated or expensive, either, depending on your circumstances. Many Level 2 EV chargers can be plugged into an outlet just like the Level 1, which comes with your car. Others can be hard-wired into household electrical if that's the better option for your purposes. Many have their own phone apps to manage charging and minimize cost.
Is a Level 2 charger worth it? The short answer: A Level 2 charger is always better at charging than a Level 1 charger, which typically comes with every electric vehicle. Whether a Level 2 is worth the additional cost depends on your living circumstances, your driving habits and your access to public charging stations. That cost runs from maybe $200 on the low end to $2,000 on the high end, installed, contingent on the charger and required electrical upgrades.
If your daily electric-car rounds amount to 20 or 30 miles, you can probably live with Level 1. But if you happen to pull your electric car into the driveway with its battery nearly depleted, it can take literally days with a Level 1 charger to replenish to full capacity. Or you can find an open public charging station in convenient proximity to your home. If you want maximum convenience and don't want to have to rely on public, high-speed stations, you probably want Level 2. If your daily rounds regularly use 100 miles of range or more, you absolutely want Level 2. If you live in a rural area with less developed infrastructure, you probably need Level 2. Wherever you live, the further you drive your electric car, pickup or SUV, the more valuable a Level 2 charger will be. Level 2 can substantially reduce the small hassles and anxiety of owning an electric car. The right Level 2 home charger will charge any electric vehicle from nearly depleted to nearly full in the typical overnight time frame, or say 8 to 10 hours. For upwards of 95% of the driving public, Level 2 can eliminate reliance on public charging stations, unless or until you take your electric car on a long-distance driving vacation. Are all EV home chargers the same? Definitely not. There are Level 1 chargers (3 to 5 miles of range per hour of charging in the typical electric car) and Level 2 chargers (12 to 60 miles of range per hour, depending on the car and the specific charger). Level 2s can be portable, plug-in or hardwired, with different max charge rates and different operating features.
That said, you don't need to worry about buying the wrong charger, because certain hardpoints are the same. Any Level 1 or Level 2 charger will safely charge any electric car, truck and SUV sold in North America. You can't charge your vehicle too quickly, or over-charge it, because its own on-board electronics will protect it. Every electric vehicle comes with the same connector in its charge port -- or at least every electric vehicle that's not a Tesla. This standard connection is called SAE J1772, and every charge cord and station, home or public, will plug into every electric car -- including Tesla. That's because every Tesla vehicle comes with an adaptor that allows a J1772 plug to fit in its proprietary charge port.
Which is the best charger for electric cars? The best EV charger for you depends on a host of circumstances: how and where you plan to use it, how soon or frequently you expect to move, whether you want to use an app to manage it and even the electric vehicle you plan to charge. Read the full report above for more thorough guidance
If you're looking for a fairly guideline on what to buy, this can help: Choose a plug-in Level 2 charger with a peak charge rate of 40 amps. In 2022, a 40-amp Level 2 charge station almost certainly delivers the best cost-benefit breakdown for your electric car, pickup or SUV, and it should deliver sufficient charge speed for years to come. A plug-in is easy to move. Even if your current electric vehicle charges at a maximum rate less than 40 amps (most do), there's nothing to worry about. The electric car controls how much electricity its battery absorbs when it's charged, so you can't damage the vehicle with a charger capable of a higher rate. Can you buy a Level 3 charger for home? Level 2 is the best most of us will get for home charging -- or at least those of us who aren't certified millionaires or better. There are 480-volt fast chargers that can theoretically be installed for residential use, but they're very expensive to begin with and have very specific power requirements, including a dedicated power line. In short, the cost of a 480-volt charge station is prohibitive for the typical homeowner, and rarely necessary to begin with.
Really high-voltage chargers will typically convert residential and commercial alternating current, or AC, to direct current, DC. Fast-charge public stations use DC, because DC is by far the fastest way to charge your electric car. If you happen to have reasonably expansive solar array, you can take advantage of DC at home without a full Level 3 charger. There are a couple of expensive home charge stations (and probably more coming) that can take the DC collected by solar panels and dump it straight into your electric car. When the sun shines full bore, they can charge faster than the typical Level 2. When there's cloud cover, or it's dark, these chargers will revert to operating on household AC and charge at Level 2.