HCS-40 NEMA 14-50 Plug EV Charger

I was attracted to this product because of Clipper Creek's on-line reputation for customer service, the fact that it's made in the USA, and the fact that the company's Web site features a female electrician installing one of the units. (Nothing against men or male electricians, I just thought the photo evidenced a forward-thinking attitude.) I chose a plug-in unit, and had an electrician (male - that's all I could find) install an outlet in my garage. The unit arrived earlier than promised. It was well-packaged, came with all hardware, and features a printed manual with mounting instructions. The unit is reasonably light so it wasn't cumbersome to position. I was able to mount it myself easily and it works perfectly. It doesn't have "smart" features like WiFi and a phone app, but the car has that so I can still keep track of charging status. And, isn't life complicated enough already? You should be aware of the fact that the power cable for the wall outlet comes out the bottom and is large and stiff enough that you don't have much flexibility in distance or lateral spacing from the outlet for positioning the unit. If in doubt, don't have the outlet put in until you receive the unit and you or your electrician can verify where the outlet needs to be located. My outlet is roughly knee-high. See photo.

I've had this charger for a couple of months now. My electrician had no issues installing it and it looks nice in our garage. This doesn't have any sort of WiFi or scheduling software, but I use the app for my car for that, so it wasn't necessary. The cable is a great length and I like that the cable management is part of the unit. So far it works great; it charges up my car in just a few hours and automatically shuts off once it's done. It has simple indicators on the front to let you know if it's still charging or not.

Bought this for my Bolt. Works fine. Able to fully charge overnight easily. Comes with the charging cord which is great. Great price. The mounting screws are huge, so due to that and where I had to mount it in my garage, I had to figure out another method to keep it on the wall. If you're installing a new 240V outlet. Pay attention to the orientation of the plug as the ground is on top (according to how it's meant to be mounted). My outlet was installed the other way around by the electrician so I had to change it. The power plug is short and not flexible enough to make that configuration work.

Had an electrician install it of course but it works great with my Chevy Bolt EV and this model is a great power match for that car's on-board charger. Our panel is in front of the garage so I had him run conduit to mount it closer to the garage door so I can charge vehicles not in the garage too. During scheduled charging I found that the unit is barely warm. The 110v emergency charge cable that comes with the car gets much warmer. Note: I went with a simple non-WiFi EVSE due to reading some people having trouble with WiFi EVSE's from other brands and I just need the charge. But ComEd did switch our home to a smart meter last year and I have heard on EV forums that in the future that utility companies may want more control over devices like this (and our A/C units, etc.) so they can better balance demand through out the day. So I went with the "portable" unit in case I need to swap it out in a few years. I also switched our ComEd billing to hourly rate which is cheaper overnight when I'll have the car plugged in to charge. I expect during the winter I'll plug it in almost every night just for the early morning preconditioning so I get into a defrosted and toasty warm car.

I bought an Enphase brand EV charger from Amazon because it was one of the few “approved” by SMUD (Sacramento <CA> Municipal Utility District) for a $500.00 rebate. To my immense disappointment it doesn’t work! It charges my 2023 Ford Mach-E for a few minutes, then then just stops charging with no error lights illuminated. When I pull the charging plug out of the car a solid red light (never a good sign) on the cars charge indicator illuminates and the error message “charge fault” shows up on the Ford EV phone app. Multiple repeated attempts at charging gives the same result. The charger that came with the car of course works fine. ARGH! So back to Amazon it goes.

I did a large amount of research for 3 weeks looking into Level 2 charger EVSE's for our LEAF and chose the ClipperCreek for several reasons: #1 The track record of ClipperCreek. They have been making EVSE equipment for a long time with a proven track record. #2 The ClipperCreek products meet not just the SAE 1772 and UL Listed requirements but also NEC 625. After my research I would never plug in a EVSE into my LEAF without knowing if it met the NEC 625 standard. #3 It is U.S. Made in California by hand and tested 3 times before it leaves the factory. It's not made in some unknown place in another country. #4 It comes standard with a 3 Year Warranty. No this is not a fancy EVSE with a retractable cord (which isn't an issue) or a wifi enabled, LED clad fashion statement. It is a no frills high quality EVSE with certifications to back it up. The LEAF communicates with it perfectly and the LEAF charging timer works with it too. (NEC 625 Compatible) There are no buttons to push on the unit which is nice, just plug it in and go on with your day. This EVSE is highly portable, light, durable, and fits behind the drivers seat on the floor or in the trunk easily. The NEMA 14-50 plug makes fairgrounds or campgrounds places to charge. My one and only slight issue is that the wall plug is very short. It is however, replaceable with a longer cord if you were to get in a bind mounting it. The 25ft charging cable is the right size for a 2 car garage. The short length does come in handy in the the aformentioned places and for transporting it in the car though. All together the best EVSE for the money. I am impressed.