7.2kw vs 9.6kw EVSE

[Charlestonleafer]

Are most people using the Leviton, or another unit? It seems as if Leviton is the only company that makes a 9.6kw unit, and it's on Amazon for $1099. You can get a Schneider 30a for $799. Is it worth the extra $300? My leaf and volt only charged at 3.3, so I feel like 7.2 or even 6.6 would be fast enough. would be a huge improvement. Also, I only have a 40a breaker for my EVSE, so would I even be able to utilize 9.6kw without tripping the breaker? I can't be the first one who's pondered these questions, but I couldn't find any previous posts.

 

[AvLegends]

Are most people using the Leviton, or another unit? It seems as if Leviton is the only company that makes a 9.6kw unit, and it's on Amazon for $1099. You can get a Schneider 30a for $799. Is it worth the extra $300? My leaf and volt only charged at 3.3, so I feel like 7.2 or even 6.6 would be fast enough. would be a huge improvement. Also, I only have a 40a breaker for my EVSE, so would I even be able to utilize 9.6kw without tripping the breaker? I can't be the first one who's pondered these questions, but I couldn't find any previous posts.

My feeling is I want to charge as fast as I can. The good lord gives you a 10kw charger so you use a 10kw charger.

The Rav4 EV has a bigger battery than the Leaf and Volt so with a discharged battery at 30A you are going to be charging longer... maybe it's not that big a deal if you are charging when home thru the nite but if you are charging during the day between trips it will be nice to have the faster charging capability. I know this is the case for me as we only have 120V at home in the garage. I charge at my work where I have a CC CS-60 and charge at 9.6 kw. Still takes 5+ hours if I let the battery get down pretty low. YMMV

Only you can decide if it's worth the extra expense to pull the larger wire and install the larger breaker needed for the 40A charging capability.

 

[eschatfische]

We got the Leviton 40A and don't regret it in the slightest. There are a few big advantages for us:

1) My wife leaves for work before 7am, and PG&E's low charging rates are from midnight to 7am, so being able to set the timer and always get a complete charge within that window no matter how low the battery gets will, eventually, pay for the added cost of the Leviton (and hopefully more) given our schedule.

2) When we need to "top up" - either to an extended charge for a long weekend trip, or for a distant errand at night when the battery is low - we can usually get the battery to where we need it in an hour or less, but we wouldn't really want to wait any longer than that for spur-of-the-moment type things.

3) This may not actually be related to the Leviton, but I suspect it is, given the other 3rd party charger compatibility issues - we still haven't had a missed timed charge. The timer is quirky: there was one time when the car decided to start early at 11:50pm when it was low and once when it started ridiculously late at 5:30am when it already had substantial charge (and didn't finish before my wife had to leave before the scheduled departure), but the car's always turned itself on to charge, which clearly hasn't been the case for most of the folks here.

 

[TonyWilliams]

There are several choices for 40 amp (9.6kW @ 240 volts):

1) Leviton that Toyota wants you to know about, since they have a marketing agreement

2) Clipper Creek, the industry workhorse for a decade and first to be UL listed (CS-50 up to CS-100 will pump out 40 amps continuous or higher)

3) Either the Tesla Roadster ($1500) or Model S ($500) portable "UMC" with a J1772 plug installed ($200, plus installation cost)

4) Tesla HPWC or HPC (High Power "Wall" Charger) for either Model S (made by Tesla) or for the Roadster (it's really a Clipper Creek CS-90, but becomes a TS-70 with a Tesla plug). Both require a J1772 plug installation

5) Build your own OpenEVSE to any size you want for the technically inclined

 

[miimura]

Are most people using the Leviton, or another unit? It seems as if Leviton is the only company that makes a 9.6kw unit, and it's on Amazon for $1099. You can get a Schneider 30a for $799. Is it worth the extra $300? My leaf and volt only charged at 3.3, so I feel like 7.2 or even 6.6 would be fast enough. would be a huge improvement. Also, I only have a 40a breaker for my EVSE, so would I even be able to utilize 9.6kw without tripping the breaker? I can't be the first one who's pondered these questions, but I couldn't find any previous posts.

On a 40A breaker, you can only use a 32A EVSE. You have to use a 50A breaker and minimum 8 gauge wire for the 40A EVSE.

For your situation, I would recommend this smaller 30A Leviton unit at Home Depot for $849. However, it "only" has a 18 foot cord. The 25 foot cord on some of the other units can reach when I park in either space in my garage or even the closer spot in the driveway. Also, Home Depot includes the install kit with this unit, which Amazon charges extra for. I have no idea why Leviton doesn't put the sheet metal wall bracket in the box with the EVSE. The rest of the parts in the install kit you can buy anywhere.

 

[Dsinned]

Are most people using the Leviton, or another unit? It seems as if Leviton is the only company that makes a 9.6kw unit, and it's on Amazon for $1099. You can get a Schneider 30a for $799. Is it worth the extra $300? My leaf and volt only charged at 3.3, so I feel like 7.2 or even 6.6 would be fast enough. would be a huge improvement. Also, I only have a 40a breaker for my EVSE, so would I even be able to utilize 9.6kw without tripping the breaker? I can't be the first one who's pondered these questions, but I couldn't find any previous posts.

On a 40A breaker, you can only use a 32A EVSE. You have to use a 50A breaker and minimum 8 gauge wire for the 40A EVSE.

For your situation, I would recommend this smaller 30A Leviton unit at Home Depot for $849. However, it "only" has a 18 foot cord. The 25 foot cord on some of the other units can reach when I park in either space in my garage or even the closer spot in the driveway. Also, Home Depot includes the install kit with this unit, which Amazon charges extra for. I have no idea why Leviton doesn't put the sheet metal wall bracket in the box with the EVSE. The rest of the parts in the install kit you can buy anywhere.

I have the Leviton 32A (7.7kW) L2 EVSE from Home Depot. I also got Leviton's installation kit. Last November I paid around $1100 and had to pay an extra $80, also to Home Depot, for the installation kit. It came with a 25' cord, which turned out to be essential. There is an identical 18' cord model for a $100 less, but then I could not have reached my driveway where I usually park my RAV4 (backed in place) to do overnight charging.

I also use the same unit to charge my Chevy VOLT parked inside the garage. Scheduled charging of the latter has been absolutely flawless unlike the RAV4 EV. It takes about 3.75 hours to fully charge my VOLT and about 5.5 hours to fully (standard) charge my RAV4 EV. I can complete a charge to either car between midnight to 7am at PG&E's lowest off-peak, "TOU" Winter or Summer rates.

Luckily, I had a spare 40A breaker, and hired an Electrician to wire a 240V 50A outlet for it in my garage. This outlet is weatherproof and came with Leviton's wall mount installation kit. The Electrician's labor cost me about $350.

I modified the charging station to attach an external, dual LCD display of AC Voltage and Current to complement the "Charging" status indicator on the front of the unit. The LCD has a back lighted display easily visible day or night, and for the relatively low cost ($15), is quite accurate.

I would have preferred a longer input cord than only 12" to have more flexibility for a mounting location, and even with a 25' output cord, I can just barely reach the car in the driveway with the garage door closed.

 

[Vach]

Although everyone has pretty much supplied all the input you need, I wanted to add something else.

Electric bill wise, you're going to be paying the same between 7.2 and 9.6, as I had the ability to test both chargers over the course of a week - so it's only about charge time. I ended up keeping my AeroVironment because it looks nicer IMO, and I don't have to use the stupid "pre-wire kit" to maintain the Leviton Warranty.

Although in my situation I put the cord harness in a different spot than the EVSE, and dragged some slack in place because my car is parked on the opposite site of the garage and it was easier that way... so I guess that's a plus for the AeroVironment if you come into that unique situation.