Best Home EV Chargers: So Amped It Hertz

Top 8 Home EV Chargers

Like it or not, electric vehicles are making up a steadily larger slice of the automotive pie. We will leave the timeline of the total shift for another post, but suffice it to say there are enough customers in this country buying EVs to make a list like this worthwhile.

While there are a plethora of companies making EV chargers for home use, when was the last time you saw someone install a fuel pump in their own garage? The concept, after all, has some parallels. Topping off a vehicle battery while one sleeps is an undeniable convenience.

Before diving too far into this sea of electrons, it should go without saying that any installation of this type of unit should be undertaken by a professional. We don’t want any of our readers lighting up like a Christmas tree or melting into a puddle of chemicals because they (literally) got their wires crossed. Be safe with this stuff and don’t cheap out on the install.

With that out of the way, we’ve assembled a group of EV chargers that will keep your electric car juiced and your anxiety at bay. May your drives be smooth and your range be long.

This Level 2 EV charging cable will allegedly cram up to 5x the charging speed into your rig in comparison to an OE charger. Boosting 240-Volt and up to 32 Amp, it is said to provide a rapid charging rate of 7.2kw/hour, which equates to approximately 23 miles per hour of charge based on advertiser claims.

Said to be rugged and robust, the cord should be flexible in most weather, an oft-overlooked attribute of these things when most of them are about as easy to coil up as an oak tree. It is equipped with overvoltage, overheat, and overcurrent protection. This is unlike when my father used to string 94 sets of Christmas lights together off the same extension cord, producing enough heat to melt the snow in a two-inch radius around the cord snaking out the front yard. It’s a wonder the house didn’t burn to the ground.

Unlike some other commerce posts of this type bouncing around the internet, this site actually takes care to read the real-world reviews left by customers before including a product in one of our lists. This particular EV charger has accumulated a remarkable 94 percent of 4- or 5-star ratings. For any product, that's huge; for something as technical as a home EV charger, it's borderline stunning.

Two cord options are available and we strongly recommend you go with the 50-foot option. The 240V connection is said to charge a car with up to 12 miles of range per hour thanks to its 16A wiring and ability to shovel out 3.84kW per hour

Every gearhead worth their weight in Castrol knows of more than a few easily recognized brands that would likely be obscure to anyone outside the car world: Brembo, Öhlins, Old Man Emu - names that would evoke a chuckle elsewhere are spoken with respect around these parts. Going forward, add ChargePoint to the list. They’re one of the few companies to emerge as a household name in the EV charging game.

It’s not cheap but this unit does come with a monetary credit to use at ChargePoint’s public stations. A good many EV owners probably already permitting this company’s app to take up space on their smart device, a bit of tech which works with this unit, too. Various cord length are available but you’d be silly to get anything but the longest one. This charger works with Alexa, too.

Sounding for all the world like a jacket or pair of pants from L.L. Bean, the ClipperCreek charger is another unit that purports to charge up your EV faster than the standard unit that came with the car.

The advertiser is quick to note this unit works with all electric cars. However, its 16A of power (3.3kW) is better suited for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) like the Chevy Volt, Prius Prime, and the Ford Fusion Energi. This one also has a 25-foot cord, which seems to be the industry standard. A simple padlock system looks decidedly low tech but will keep 10-year old (and 39-year old) pranksters from unplugging the thing in the middle of the night. Otherwise, you’ll jump in the car to go to work and find the range just says "2."

Here’s a home charging unit bearing a brand name I wish was appended to my particularly ratty 1989 Ford Escort back in college. It boasts a compact size with 25ft charging cable for flexible installation and usability. All you need is just a 220 Volt or 240 Volt NEMA14-50 outlet into which to plug the thing – in other words, a dryer plug will do just fine.

A 20-foot extension cord is available, super handy for the proles who don’t have a wired garage or carport. It is also said to be “lightening-proof” which we can only assume means it never loses mass. No mention is made of it being “lightning proof,” a much more common claim amongst these manufacturers.

Mor-ECK? Mor-EEK? Mork? However it's pronounced, this is one of the most affordable options on this list. Of course, it's rarely a good idea to cheap out on electrical devices that could potentially cause a conflagration but the real-world ratings of this device are solid and there are no reports of severe problems.

The seller makes a big deal out of this unit being super portable, not unlike the charger that comes with most plug-in hybrid vehicles your author has driven in recent memory. However, this product is said to be compatible with Level 2 amounts of electricity though note this is a T-Slot plug that requires a NEMA 6-20 outlet.

Sometimes, cleaning up one's parking area brings a bit of clarity. Here is a charger that's advertised as being of a slim yet durable design that is outdoor rated and mounts discreetly in a garage or parking space. This is aided with a simple plug-in installation to get its 32 amp output on the go.

This product apparently has a footprint smaller than an 8.5” x 11” sheet of paper, which is very compact indeed. This would make for a can't-hardly-notice-it install in someone's condo parking spot (assuming power connections are available) which would be super handy for city dwellers. Cleans up a residential garage wall, too.

Another well-known brand name, Siemens is one of the only chargers on this list to run off a 30 amp circuit rather than a more robust 40A service. We’ll leave that to the buyer if that is enough juice or not. At least it makes this a good option for people living in older homes which may not have much extra space in their panel boxes.

This particular unit is recommended for indoor use only but a variant is available for outside use as well. The seller says the casing is made out of 60 percent recycled material, adding further to your green cred and providing more fodder for the buyer’s insufferable bragging at parties. The 14 foot cable for hardwired units is nothing to brag about, however.

Home EV Charger FAQs

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(Editor’s note: This post is meant to both help you be an informed shopper for automotive products but also to pay for our ‘90s sedan shopping habits operating expenses. Some of you don’t find these posts fun, but they help pay for Junkyard Finds, Rare Rides, Piston Slaps, and whatever else. Thanks for reading.)

[Main photo credit: Thongchai Pittayanon / ShutterStock.com. Product images provided by the manufacturer.]