An electric vehicle may have a pricey upfront price tag, but owning one has several benefits. The most important of which is that you don’t need to rely on gas stations to refuel. Simply plug that baby into a dedicated wall outlet and watch as your car’s battery fills up in only a matter of hours. Of course, that’s assuming you have the right EVSE.
Most cars come with their own standard chargers which work great, but if you’re looking to upgrade for better charging efficiency, perhaps AmazonBasics could be of help.
The AmazonBasics Electric Vehicle Charger is a super-affordable Level 2 charging station that’s not exactly feature-rich, but it does the job extremely well. Let’s see what this charger can do for us.
Full-Charge in Six Hours
Even though EVs don’t need to go to the gas station to refuel, waiting around for hours for the battery to fill up requires extreme levels of patience. This means planning everything out in advance to ensure you’re not charging during peak hours if at all possible.
This is hardly an issue with the AmazonBasics. The Level 2 240V, 32-amp EVSE can quick-charge batteries up to six times quicker than most Level 1 chargers. By rough calculations, this charger can provide up to 25 miles per charging hour. This means spending less time waiting around and more time cruising the open road in your beautiful electric vehicle.
Before purchasing the AmazonBasics, or any EVSE for that matter, make sure you know what your car can handle and all required pre-installation steps needed to get the charger working optimally.
Quick and Easy Installation
This charging station comes with a NEMA 6-50 Plug that requires a 50-amp circuit breaker. Assuming you have the proper receptacle installed (or plan on installing one in the near future), setting the AmazonBasics is a plug-and-play device that’s instantly ready to roll.
If not, then without technical know-how of tampering with your home’s electrical system, you shouldn’t hesitate to hire a professional electrician to do it for you.
This may be a costly process, but considering how much time you’ll save on charging, the investment pays for itself.
Amazingly Portable
The AmazonBasics does need to be hardwired to your home’s existing electrical system so it can be taken with you on the open road.
The device itself is pretty compact, taking up only about 11 x 8 x 3 inches of space in your trunk, and it uses the oh-so-common NEMA 6-50 plug that’s available on most highways and supermarket public charging spots.
Red Dot Award Winner for Innovation and Design Concept
This Level 2 EV Charger by AmazonBasics may not look particularly appealing, but its simplicity is what led to its winning the Red Dot Award for innovation and concept. Setting this baby up in a garage is as quick and easy as ever, and it hardly takes any wall space.
Furthermore, the device itself isn’t too bad on the eyes either so it shouldn’t clash horribly with whatever color or design scheme you have going on in your garage.
Decent Cord Length with Angled Connector
The AmazonBasics comes either an 18- or a 25-foot power cord. We’d personally recommend opting for the longer power cord since it allows for better flexibility and maneuverability in your garage and around your EV. However, the right size depends on how much space you have to play with.
The length of the cord allows you to park your car at virtually any angle while also being plugged in. The connector that plugs into your vehicle is an angled design that means less twisting and turning of your wrist to get it hooked up.
On the end of the connector is a neat dust cap that, when not in use, prevents dust, bugs, and other creepy crawlies from wandering where they shouldn’t.
No Wi-Fi Compatibility
Remember how we mentioned several times that this Level 2 EVSE is a simple one? Well, it becomes even more apparent after realizing that this unit does not connect to your home’s Wi-Fi router. It’s a simple plug-and-play device where users will need to manually measure how long they’ve been charging and make rough estimates of how far they can go.
Verdict: Should I Get the AmazonBasics Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger?
First of all, you need to determine whether the AmazonBasics Electric Vehicle is even compatible with your car. It’s a Level 2 EVSE, 240V 32-amp model that should work on most modern EVs. It can quick-charge a battery to full capacity in just about six hours and is as portable as they all come (small size with NEMA 6-50 plug).
It’s safe for indoor and outdoor use (minor splashes of water) so finding a spot for this EVSE shouldn’t be too challenging.
- Electric vehicle (EV) charging station (level 2, 240 volt, 32 amp) with an 18-foot...
- Charges up to 6X faster than a standard wall outlet; adds up to 25 miles of range per...
Last update on 2023-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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