Finding the perfect home-cum-portable EV charging solution

Question

As an EV6 owner, I've been looking for a charging solution that meets my home charging needs and is portable and easy to use.I would like to share my needs with you here and hopefully get some valuable suggestions and recommendations.

The problem I am facing is like this: I often need to charge my EV6 EV at home, but sometimes I also need to charge it when I am travelling outside, such as in a shopping mall car park or at a friend's house. Therefore, I needed a charger that is suitable for home charging but also portable and easy to carry around for me to charge in different scenarios.

During my search, I learnt that the EVDANCE Portable/Home 2 in 1 Level 2 EV Charger 40Amp might be perfect for my needs. It is known to have a charging capacity of 40Amp, which provides a fast and efficient charging rate, allowing my EV6 to be fully charged quickly. Additionally, it is designed to be a portable charger, making it easy to carry and use. This means that I can easily charge my EV6 whether I am at home or travelling outside.

I would like to ask if any other EV6 owners have used the EVDANCE Portable/Home 2 in 1 Level 2 EV Charger 40Amp and what is your experience with it? Does it really have the characteristics of both home and portable? Can it meet the demand of fast charging at home? Is it easy to carry and use when going out?

Meanwhile, if there are any other chargers recommended for EV6, I would be very grateful if you could share and provide suggestions. As an EV6 owner, I am very much looking forward to hearing your opinions and experiences, thank you!

Answer 1

For most people who have the ability to have a permanently installed charger at home - i.e., you have a garage or safe off-street parking where you can permanently install EVSE (a.k.a., a charger), permanent installation is preferred. It simply provides a better, more reliable setup than a "portable" charger. Receptacles larger than 20A are simply not generally designed for frequent plug/unplug and also not generally designed for long-term (i.e., several hours at a time) usage.

Yes, having a "permanent" charger and a "portable" charger does mean an extra equipment cost. But that is a few hundred dollars - something on the order of 1% of vehicle cost. Not much really in the grand scheme of things.

In addition, I think the frequent use of "portable" chargers on the road - i.e., plug in at friends and family or work where there is no "real" charger available is going to be relatively minimal in years to come for most people who have a permanent EVSE installation at home. Most charging will end up being:

• At home - if your car is at home 10 hours a day, you can typically charge 100 miles or more, and that's on a 20A 240V circuit. If you have a larger circuit available then you can charge more. But even 100 miles is more than enough for most people on most days, unless they are delivery or Uber/Lyft drivers.
• At work - another several hour chunk of time. Many employers will offer charging and can easily take care of most commutes.
• Publicly accessible high-speed charging - e.g., Tesla Superchargers. This is how you handle long trips. This is also the solution for most people who can't charge at home.

Which really leaves the "portable" charger as an emergency backup in case you get to very low charge level and are not near a Supercharger. Ideally it should end up used about as much as a jack and spare tire. Really.

Things will actually improve a lot over the next few years as:

• Public high-speed charging gets better - i.e., everyone else gets closer to the Tesla experience.
• More friends and family get EVs. Seriously. If you visit someone today in your EV 100 miles away, you need to either stop at a Supercharger or use the "portable" with your host's 15A 120V receptacle and hope it can charge enough to get you home. But 10 years from now it is likely your host will have their own 20A 240V or faster charger, with everyone using the same connector (NACS in US/Canada) and charging your car will be no more of a hassle than charging your phone.

Answer 2

First, some nitpicking about vocabulary:

• The battery charger is inside the car

• The EDVANCE device is not a charger, it's a charging cable. It's a simple device that contains a sensitive GFCI for protection, a microcontroller, and a relay. When it's plugged into the car, the microcontroller will detect the car, talk with it, and enable the relay to let power through. The plug on the car side of the cable is not energized unless it is plugged into the car. The microcontroller then tells the car's charger how much current it can use.

I often need to charge my EV6 EV at home, but sometimes I also need to charge it when I am travelling outside, such as in a shopping mall car park or at a friend's house

For example here (France):

• Public DC fast chargers have their own cables and connectors, you just bring your car

• Public AC charging stations have no cable and either Type 2 socket (7-22kW) or 230V 16A socket (3.5kW) and you need to bring your cable.

• When charging at a friend's place, unless they have an EVSE "wallbox" with a Type 2 socket, you'll have to use a standard 230V 16A socket and the charging cable limits it to 2.5kW.

Therefore you need to have two cables in the car: a type 2 cable and a standard 16A charging cable.

I have no idea what country you live in or where the plug at the end of your EDVANCE cable is supposed to go, but if it's a 40A socket, that's probably not a common socket you'll find everywhere.

I strongly recommend to look around, perhaps use a service like chargemap, and figure out what kind of sockets are offered in these charging spots you plan to use.

Is it easy to carry and use when going out?

I don't have this one, I've got the one that came with my Nissan.

The box is big, clunky, heavy, and it hangs from the wall socket so it better be fastened to the wall properly. The EDVANCE has an even bigger box. The cable is rather stiff and unwieldy. There's no place in the car to put it so it has to go behind a seat or something. Overall, I would rate user experience at a solid 1/10.

With a type 2 cable, it's also inconvenient due to stiffness but at least there's no huge box so it can be packed into a neat coil and... stored behind the other seat in the car. Rating 5/10.