240V EV-ChargeAmerica EVSE - (likely scam buyer beware)

[garygid]

I have to admit, this "company" seems a bit (a lot) flakey to me at this point.

 

[smkettner]

I think there is just nothing to talk about so no one is in the office or conducting retail business.
There are no Leafs yet, No UL rating yet, No actual product to sell yet.
When these three get resolved I would believe they will become active again.

Anyway they are probably after the commercial market mostly.
They might well answer the call if you are actually the purchasing manager of a city and need a bid on 500 of the commercial units

 

[evnow]

Didn't someone say they were in the alt car expo ?

 

[tomguy]

I saw them at the AltCar Expo and spoke with Bob Rosinski who has been very helpful in answering my questions.

 

[smkettner]

That is exactly why I am not using AV- they are price gouging and quick to make a buck! SAY NO TO AV! I ordered my EV Charge America yesterday! I will have it first week of December and I will not be charged until the charger ships!

Is the price still $649?

 

[Boomer23]

For those trying to reach a distributor for the EV CA EVSE, here is the guy I spoke with at Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica:

Jeffrey P. Bay
President, Green Bay Group, LLC
2215 First Street, #108
Simi Valley, CA 93035
(805) 584-3060

He was quoting a $699 Alt Car show price. He wasn't aware of the $649 price.

 

[garygid]

Well, it seems to me that EVCA has been stringing me along, recently with no answers to email, so they might be "misleading" others, even their "dealers".

I am somewhat concerned about the "treatment" that I've gotten (or haven't gotten) from EVCA, so I suggest caution.

Perhaps they are just having "startup" pains, or really do not know when they will have working UL units.

First, they showed "in stock" on their website, then about 3 or 4 weeks ago they told me the wait was about 2 weeks. In Santa Monica, they apparently said 8 weeks wait, now ... who knows?

 

[EVDRIVER]

I will say this again, this company has every sign of at the best being poorly run, I would not advise anyone to buy anything from them even if they begin shipping. This is going to be a tough market for even strong companies to survive and these guys are not in for the long run. If you can't get pre-sale help don't ever expect tech support and I doubt this company will last long. With so many choices coming why bother, if one is that much in a hurry then buy the AV unit. I won's support AV or recommend them to anyone but I would get an AV unit over this one.

 

[smkettner]

Has any additional info come out of Leviton? (just to give comparison)

Seems like EV ChargeAmerica has answered many many questions. Just look at the FAQ
Now it is just time to wait (same with Leviton)

 

[EVDRIVER]

Has any additional info come out of Leviton? (just to give comparison)

Seems like EV ChargeAmerica has answered many many questions. Just look at the FAQ
Now it is just time to wait (same with Leviton)

There is no comparison to a company like Leviton that will be here to support their 10 year warranty. Leviton has release dates, videos and professional marketing materials. This is a company that came from no where to sell EVSEs in a very competitive market. Leviton products are in almost every US home. Even if they CA were well organized they will have a tough time in this market without large long-term contracts, the consumer market will be controlled by players LIKE Leviton because of economies of scale and distribution (for quality products with good warranties).

 

[smkettner]

Leviton has a message board that is just as responsive as the email to EV-ChargeAmerica with many questions unanswered.
Just saying

 

[EVDRIVER]

Leviton has a message board that is just as responsive as the email to EV-ChargeAmerica with many questions unanswered.
Just saying

Just call them, I did and they answered my questions. It says on their materials the launch dates. The specs are there, so what's the issue?

 

[garygid]

As with EVCA, price and ACTUAL availability?

 

[EVDRIVER]

As with EVCA, price and ACTUAL availability?

Gary, they have clearly posted that info on their site and it's been posted here. The L2 3.3 is supposed to be in Nov and L2 7.X is supposed to be Q1, I doubt they have an exact day and who would expect such info. It may be a bit later, whatever. The point is Leviton is a reputable, solid company not some out of the ground, no-name startup with a high probability to fold. People are so desperate to get an EVSE they loose common sense. If one needs a EVSE then order an AV unit this year and get the credit. I would bet the credit is going to happen next year as well and most people won;t even have a car until then. Why take a chance on a company with no record and no real business deals to keep them going in such a competitive market?

 

[smkettner]

From the Leviton thread:

I emailed Leviton yesterday in reference to the Evr-Green chargers.

Response: "Unfortunately, we do not have pricing just yet. We are targeting a Q1 2011 release (sometime in January) for our Evr-Green 160 Home Charger. I will be sure to reach out to you again in the coming days or weeks if any news becomes available. Thank you for your interest in Evr-Green and please feel free to respond to this email with any additonal comments or questions. Thanks, The Evr-Green Team." send by [email protected]

This is quite disappointing

Just saying people are getting the same response from the big boys so don't discredit the reletively new EV-ChargeAmerica.
Actually EV-ChargeAmerica seems to have many more commercial products available than Leviton... not sure I would call them a small player.

 

[EVDRIVER]

From the Leviton thread:

I emailed Leviton yesterday in reference to the Evr-Green chargers.

Response: "Unfortunately, we do not have pricing just yet. We are targeting a Q1 2011 release (sometime in January) for our Evr-Green 160 Home Charger. I will be sure to reach out to you again in the coming days or weeks if any news becomes available. Thank you for your interest in Evr-Green and please feel free to respond to this email with any additonal comments or questions. Thanks, The Evr-Green Team." send by [email protected]

This is quite disappointing

Just saying people are getting the same response from the big boys so don't discredit the reletively new EV-ChargeAmerica.
Actually EV-ChargeAmerica seems to have many more commercial products available than Leviton... not sure I would call them a small player.

I'm saying that they are in a tough market and not an established player with assets to support a product long term. In addition I believe they said you could order, then not, then something else. Wishy washy and their website is not confidence inspiring. It's not a $100 item and it supports a vehicle that may be driven daily so why go with a company like this? Form my years of dealing with electric vendors I would not buy from these guys when even established EVSE companies have it rough. I will be interested to see how many people here actually buy one.

 

[detlefo]

Without comment, here is the complete text of the email ChargeAmerica sent me on October 13th.


Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, we are offering our EV2104 Level II Charge@Home unit at a limited time “special” price of $649, plus tax and S/H. Normal Delivery is 10 to 14 working days for delivery. Because of the limited time special pricing, we are currently back-ordered as you stated. We are shipping on a confirmed order basis.

To ensure early 2011 delivery, we would recommend ordering ASAP. We can take your credit card number over the phone. Simply call at the number listed below.

The EV2104 comes with a TWO year warranty.

Dwight Dagenais
EV Charge America
Sales Manager
702-204-7099

 

[smkettner]

I am not so sure what is so tough about this market. In five years it might get tough. Right now there is government money to grab, virtually no consumer product available and a bunch of cars (including Volt, Coda etc) coming very soon with many willing to buy whatever evse they can find. First year or two is the gravy then it will get competitive. I really think they will be in business to cover the initial two year warranties.
JMHO

 

[garygid]

Sorry, I did not know Leviton had announced their prices.
Perhaps I should look in the Leviton thread?
This is the EVCA thread, right?

 

[smkettner]

This is EVCA thread. I only brought up Leviton as a comparison on answering questions, getting a price quote(not), and the delivery nonsense is similar before we declare EVCA a has been.

There is no price yet to my knowledge for Leviton...... EVCA at least has a ballpark on that