[ev6.excited!]

new member here. i always like coming to experts to see what they have to say. i will be getting my ev6 in a couple of months and trying to get the garage ready. very excited to have an electric car. so here is my question.

should i go for a smart evse or not. here is my situation. i want to be able to control the amp rate to my liking. i have a tesla powerwall system installed, and therefore want to use as much of my green energy as possible, and thus i want control of when tesla will pull from the grid, by decreasing the charge rate. the powerwall can only output at 5 Kwh maximum. i know its not fast, but thats ok. i plan to hardwire a level 2 charger to a 50 amp breaker to push 40 amp continuous when i need quicker charging. so i know with various smart chargers (i know its technically an evse) you can adjust the amp output (considering juicebox smart 40). but i also know this can be accomplished through car settings. i haven't came across how this exactly works via the car settings. so how low can you adjust the charging rate via the car?? does it work well? if anyone could share the various settings either in amps or Kwh (or better both) that would be much appreciated.

if the settings in the car are fairly robust, i might forgo the smart evse. please share if you went the smart evse route or regular non-smart and any pros and cons of each

thanks in advance for your time and assistance, i love these forums!

 

[mcgsp]

Choices choices and more choices and all are good it's what best for your peace of mind in and not sweat the small stuff.

So others will tell you that you can control your unit via the car settings as well as kia connect so why go to the expense to buy something you already posses via Kia Connect. And they will be right, up to a point..

There are two things to consider when making your decision.

!. the Kia Connect is a paid subscription once your initial period is done you loose that connectivity unless you to pay to renew.

And 2. Should you add another EV to your stable or you swap out your EV6 for another EV in the future and one with lesser connectivity with their inferior apps and there are some EVs currently in this category.

I personally would prefer to future proof not knowing what's around the bend. It's usually cheaper to pay upfront then on the backend. That being said not to be a hypocrite, and be fully transparent, I personally have rarely used my apps for charging if ever. For past 10 years of EV ownership of one kind and another before I left the car if I decided to delay the charging I set it before I left the car and just plugged it in. But that's me so go figure. It's what gives you peace of mind. Good luck

 

[Dylan]

The EV6 settings for charge speed are "Max, Reduced and Minimum", which is a bit opaque.

I have the ChargePoint CPH50, which I chose because my utility offered a $500 rebate for participating in their demand-response program. So I would check for available rebates first. The Grizzl-e also seems to be well-regarded.

A limitation of the EV6 scheduler is it's not location specific; so if you want a different schedule for e.g. home vs work, then the smart charger will help.

The ChargePoint app has some cool reports of your charging history and cost, which I like. Nothing I absolutely need in the smart charger, but I'm happy with it.

 

[Donmnsd]

I would mirror what the others have posted about the Kia App and car control. For your needs, I think you need a smart EVSE. Check out the Emporia smart charger. You can adjust from 6A up to your 40A, even up to 48A if its on a 60A circuit. Full control of everything and you can use it to monitor and manage energy flow. I have one and have been figuring everything out. So far I am impressed with the ease of use. It is also priced very competitively and is made in the US. They have other home energy products that might be of interest to you as well for your enitire ecosystem.

 

[ev6.excited!]

Choices choices and more choices and all are good it's what best for your peace of mind in and not sweat the small stuff.

So others will tell you that you can control your unit via the car settings as well as kia connect so why go to the expense to buy something you already posses via Kia Connect. And they will be right, up to a point..

There are two things to consider when making your decision.

!. the Kia Connect is a paid subscription once your initial period is done you loose that connectivity unless you to pay to renew.

And 2. Should you add another EV to your stable or you swap out your EV6 for another EV in the future and one with lesser connectivity with their inferior apps and there are some EVs currently in this category.

I personally would prefer to future proof not knowing what's around the bend. It's usually cheaper to pay upfront then on the backend. That being said not to be a hypocrite, and be fully transparent, I personally have rarely used my apps for charging if ever. For past 10 years of EV ownership of one kind and another before I left the car if I decided to delay the charging I set it before I left the car and just plugged it in. But that's me so go figure. It's what gives you peace of mind. Good luck

thanks for responding. i did not know that the kia connect was a paid subscription after trial runs out. i like the idea of future proofing as well. thanks again

 

[ev6.excited!]

The EV6 settings for charge speed are "Max, Reduced and Minimum", which is a bit opaque.

I have the ChargePoint CPH50, which I chose because my utility offered a $500 rebate for participating in their demand-response program. So I would check for available rebates first. The Grizzl-e also seems to be well-regarded.

A limitation of the EV6 scheduler is it's not location specific; so if you want a different schedule for e.g. home vs work, then the smart charger will help.

The ChargePoint app has some cool reports of your charging history and cost, which I like. Nothing I absolutely need in the smart charger, but I'm happy with it.

thanks for responding. yes i like the chargepoint as well, but my local utility service offers a $200 rebate for the juicebox. i am also techy, so i think i would enjoy the reports and detailed info from a smart evse

 

[ev6.excited!]

I would mirror what the others have posted about the Kia App and car control. For your needs, I think you need a smart EVSE. Check out the Emporia smart charger. You can adjust from 6A up to your 40A, even up to 48A if its on a 60A circuit. Full control of everything and you can use it to monitor and manage energy flow. I have one and have been figuring everything out. So far I am impressed with the ease of use. It is also priced very competitively and is made in the US. They have other home energy products that might be of interest to you as well for your enitire ecosystem.

thanks also, i will check out emporia. yes, i think i'm leaning smart evse, i just think it will give me more overall control.

 

[Pack66]

I bought a Tesla UMC and TeslaTap. Fills all my needs currently. As others have mentioned, you can control the charging speed within the car's settings if needed.

 

[Bkaklinv]

Just remember with a smart unit you then potentially have two sets of controls to coordinate for charging...the Car AND the EVSE.

I'm not really a smart guy so bought a dumb charger...GrizzlE

 

[dscoti]

Just remember with a smart unit you then potentially have two sets of controls to coordinate for charging...the Car AND the EVSE.

Potentially, maybe, but, at least not for the ChargePoint CHP50. In the app, it tells you to turn off the schedule in the car

I bought the CHP50 because my energy company has a $500 incentive if you allow them to review your charging data. At this point, they cannot turn it off, just view it. I also have a solar net metering and TOU plan. When you set up the app, it asks for your electric company and then to choose your plan. Yes, my electric company an plan were listed in the app. It also knows the approximate rate associated with that plan, so it tells me the approximate cost to charge along with how many kWh‘s were added.

Based on those choices, the CHP50 handles the scheduling and all I have to do is plug in when I need a charge and it starts when my TOU off-peak starts, either 7pm or 10pm weekdays, depending on the season, and all day weekends. It has worked every time and there is no schedule set in the car or in the Kia Access app.

As always, YMMV. 😬

 

[ev6.excited!]

Potentially, maybe, but, at least not for the ChargePoint CHP50. In the app, it tells you to turn off the schedule in the car
View attachment 6648

I bought the CHP50 because my energy company has a $500 incentive if you allow them to review your charging data. At this point, they cannot turn it off, just view it. I also have a solar net metering and TOU plan. When you set up the app, it asks for your electric company and then to choose your plan. Yes, my electric company an plan were listed in the app. It also knows the approximate rate associated with that plan, so it tells me the approximate cost to charge along with how many kWh‘s were added.

Based on those choices, the CHP50 handles the scheduling and all I have to do is plug in when I need a charge and it starts when my TOU off-peak starts, either 7pm or 10pm weekdays, depending on the season, and all day weekends. It has worked every time and there is no schedule set in the car or in the Kia Access app.

As always, YMMV. 😬

sounds like a nice set up. yes, with a $500 incentive, i would have gone that route as well. my local utility company only gives $200, so not too much. thanks for your input

 

[ev6.excited!]

I would mirror what the others have posted about the Kia App and car control. For your needs, I think you need a smart EVSE. Check out the Emporia smart charger. You can adjust from 6A up to your 40A, even up to 48A if its on a 60A circuit. Full control of everything and you can use it to monitor and manage energy flow. I have one and have been figuring everything out. So far I am impressed with the ease of use. It is also priced very competitively and is made in the US. They have other home energy products that might be of interest to you as well for your enitire ecosystem.

so i ended up going with the emporia smart charger. it is $300 less than the juicebox, that is a significant difference in my opinion. i can then use the $200 rebate from my utility company to put towards the install. by my reading and reviews i've watched and read, seems like a really good unit and well made. thanks for the tip, i hadn't heard of them. it will be interesting if they give juicebox and chargepoint a run for the money. do you like the app? is it user friendly? thanks again

 

[Donmnsd]

so i ended up going with the emporia smart charger. it is $300 less than the juicebox, that is a significant difference in my opinion. i can then use the $200 rebate from my utility company to put towards the install. by my reading and reviews i've watched and read, seems like a really good unit and well made. thanks for the tip, i hadn't heard of them. it will be interesting if they give juicebox and chargepoint a run for the money. do you like the app? is it user friendly? thanks again

I have only started using the charger myself but so far I find the app and unit very user friendly. I hadnt seen them either until others said they had purchased. After looking at reviews and learning more about their features as well as seeing how competitively priced they were I decided to give them a shot. I am not nearly as much of a tech nerd as others but I find the app great and it provides a lot of info. I had a few questions and their team answered quickly and in good detail. They also have other products that create a nice ecosystem which might be good to explore. I am definitely keeping an eye on their home battery system as currently the options are not cost effective for me.

 

[avh]

Emporia EVSE looks pretty well built and the newer models are UL listed. I removed the cover and the plug in order to hard wire it. The opening is 1-1/4 if anyone interested. The cable is thick to handle the 48 Amps but rubberized.

Picture attached.

 

[NH_EV6Wind]

Just remember with a smart unit you then potentially have two sets of controls to coordinate for charging...the Car AND the EVSE.

I'm not really a smart guy so bought a dumb charger...GrizzlE

I did Grizzl-e as well. I'm future proofing, but in the opposite mindset. I don't want to worry that in 5 years some evse startup is now out of business and their app no longer works and I can't change the settings anymore.

I did the Grizzl-e Duo.

 

[Soupskin]

I bought a Chargepoint and returned it without installing. I drive so little I just need a level 1 and my local stations to keep moving.

 

[MeanDrunkR2D2]

I ordered a ChargePoint Home Flex and will be having it hardwired in. I debated about just getting the 14-50 plug and doing it that way, but I'm not planning on selling my home for a long long long time so it makes more sense to do it that way. Right now they state 3-4 weeks until it ships and then 5-7 days for delivery. I'm at least another month out and probably 2 before I get super excited.

 

[ev6.excited!]

I did Grizzl-e as well. I'm future proofing, but in the opposite mindset. I don't want to worry that in 5 years some evse startup is now out of business and their app no longer works and I can't change the settings anymore.

I did the Grizzl-e Duo.

yeah i see your logic in that. my hope is that emporia has a lot of other home energy products, so hopefully the app will remain functional