Recommendations for light-duty commercial EVSEs

My Nissan Leaf Forum

Help Support My Nissan Leaf Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

jlv

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 24, 2014
Messages
2,005
Location
Massachusetts
My company is planning on installing another 20 EVSEs on campus and our facilities folks asked for recommendations. Our first dozen EVSEs were all Eaton units, but they got out of the commercial EVSE business when we went to add more. The next two dozen they bought were Schneider EV230WSRs, but Schneider just announced they are also getting out of the commercial EVSE business. Hence the need for a recommendation for this next round.

Our usage typically has the EVSE shared with 2 parking spots and used by 3-4 cars each day, with between 5-8 hours usage over a workday. The mix of cars is just about everything you can imagine. Lots of LEAFs and Volts. The 5th Bolt just showed up on campus. Half a dozen Teslas (and half a dozen people with reservations on a 3). A smattering of PIPs and Prius Primes. 1 or two each of the eGolf, Merc B, Ford Focus, Soul EV, etc. I think we have well over 50 plug-in vehicles.

FWIW: the Eatons have been rather unreliable (one fails every few months). The Schneider units seem to be holding up fine, although more than half of them are not being used yet as they are at another site that is still under construction.

Facilities is looking for 30A/240V units that can be wall mounted in a parking garage, are appropriate for light-duty commercial use, and require no service contract (no ChargePoint, no RFID, etc). They are not interested in networked units at all (no WiFi is available). They want something reliable from an established manufacturer that can be installed and will just work.

Minor update: they are looking for units that can be hardwired.
 
Does your campus have EE students? If so, have them assembly a bunch of OpenEVSE's. As an incentive, whomever's fails within a month has to redo their project or fail their class!
 
We're a business. For this we want "off the shelf" and "just works". Is there a commercially supported OpenEVSE vendor?

They are already investigating Clipper Creek and Bosch stations.
 
I've seen CC's used in a few small installations but personally, consider their design to be more residential.
I'd think something more like this Siemens wall mount to look more like a typical commercial installation, and includes a nice plug to hold the j1772 end when not in use.
https://www.amazon.com/Siemens-VC30GRYU-Versicharge-Electric-Flexible/dp/B00MFVI92S/ref=pd_cp_60_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QJKQ0EGMFNHZYQF3MQ7W
GE also makes a wall mount unit and at the $399 they were when I got mine, I'd consider them a good deal but at the $500+ they not regularly sell on Amazon to be somewhat over priced. The GE also lacks a holder for the j1772 end although myself and many others have purchased a separate female j1772 end and mounted it to the front cover of the GE, to hold the end when not in use, about $10 from Amazon.
Home Depot still shows the GE for $399, not sure if it's available or not. The Siemens is nice in that it has a power button and ability to use a shutoff timer, the GE is very basic and only has a power/charge light.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-EV-Charger-Indoor-Outdoor-Level-2-DuraStation-Wall-Mount-with-18-ft-Cord-EVDSWGH-CP01/205808537?keyword=ge+evse
The Bosch has been around for years, a bit higher priced than the others I mentioned but still within reason I'd think, and has a j1772 holder.
https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-EL-51254-Electric-Vehicle-Charging/dp/B00FA44WX2/ref=sr_1_24?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1504129608&sr=1-24&keywords=level+2+ev+charger
 
The CC design being more residential was in fact the concern the facilities group had on their units.

GE's EVSE business was apparently just bought by ChargePoint and those units will soon be no longer available.
 
The CC units are simple and have a 3 year warranty (although it may not apply in this case). I think they are rugged enough. Just take more care mounting them, as the mounting holes are in plastic.
 
okay, how about emotorwerks? https://emotorwerks.com/store/commercial/juicebox-pedestal-commercial-use-pedestal-evse-bundle

They've been around for quite a while. Maybe ask if they'd be willing to make their european EVSE available for commercial installations stateside? https://emotorwerks.com/products/charging-stations/juicetower
 
jlv said:
We're a business. For this we want "off the shelf" and "just works". Is there a commercially supported OpenEVSE vendor?

I believe Wattzilla is producing several varieties of rugged UL-certified EVSE units based on the OpenEVSE project. Looks like everything from a portable cable to a four-head 80A pedestal. They have a trade-in program for older EVSEs as well.

https://www.wattzilla.com
 
So the challenge is to have a cord that can be changed as they get damaged, are UL listed for safety and law suits. The e motor works are nice and can be regulated for shared circuits and it is easy to add more EVSE later with out adding circuits. E works has data tracking and controls for management. the group I have, work well for us. At times the network needs to be worked on for shared EVES on one circuit. The juice boxes stopped the fire drill at lunch of swapping EV cars around. We have a 50 Amp feed with 4 shared EVES, most days all cars get a full charge and most workers like to not have to move the cars at lunch. We were able to add more EVES with out having to add power and wiring. a shared EVSE is helpful imho..
 
I don't think there have been any damaged cords in 5 years since we installed our first EVSE. The failed Eatons all had internal failures of one sort or another; swapping out the EVSE (replacing it with a Schneider) was the solution. Some of these are in use 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Also, all these units are going on their own circuits (I don't know the details, but the cost of the installation is several times the cost of the EVSEs themselves).

WattZilla doesn't seem to sell anything less than 40A. They were considering the possibility of some 40A units in this new section, but they primarily wanted 30A units. But I'll forward on the link and highlight the Wall Wattz (which is what I think we would want).

Similarly, eMotorWerks only has the JuiceBox in 40A. (we don't want the pedestal mount, though; our first two EVSEs were pedestal mounts, and the installation costs are far higher). Will these just work without WiFi, as we have no need for authorized users or monitoring/billing?
 
jlv said:
Similarly, eMotorWerks only has the JuiceBox in 40A. (we don't want the pedestal mount, though; our first two EVSEs were pedestal mounts, and the installation costs are far higher). Will these just work without WiFi, as we have no need for authorized users or monitoring/billing?

Yes, the juicebox lite will function without network access. The WiFi access is so that you can limit the charge rate to whatever the circuit can handle. Obviously that makes it no longer "plug-n-play". But that amount of configuration is minimal compared to running a new circuit out to the unit and only needs to be set once.
 
Unless something has changed both the JuiceBox and OpenEVSE are not UL approved.

The beauty of the J1772 spec is that the car only takes what it needs. My 30A eGolf will happily charge from a 40A evse. It will only take the 30A that it needs. In fact my EVSE is 40A left over from my totaled Mercedes B.
 
GlennD said:
Unless something has changed both the JuiceBox and OpenEVSE are not UL approved.
I checked that when they were first posted. The JuiceBox Pro 40 is UL listed, as is the WattZilla Wall Wattz. (At least, it says so on their website(s))
 
The Juice Box was nice that we could put 4 chargers on a 50 amp circuit , charge 4 cars and as one car was "full" the amps would be sent to the remaining cars until all were "full" for us this would fill the most cars over a shift with out having to add more power, or move cars around. It also tracks power use if you need that info. AeroVironment, has a model with JuiceNet.
 
jlv said:
WattZilla doesn't seem to sell anything less than 40A. ... Similarly, eMotorWerks only has the JuiceBox in 40A.
They'll run at whatever maximum amperage you set. They don't require 40 amp (really 50 amp, but that's another subject) circuits.

The JuiceBox does need WiFi for its initial setup, at least the model I have. After that, I think it should be OK without.
 
jjeff said:
I've seen CC's used in a few small installations but personally, consider their design to be more residential.

LeftieBiker said:
The CC units are simple and have a 3 year warranty (although it may not apply in this case). I think they are rugged enough. Just take more care mounting them, as the mounting holes are in plastic.

Clipper Creek has commercial units in metal housings. I've charged at a few of these. I think CC has been making these for far longer than the plastic-bodied units.

At $1750 for a 32 amp unit, not cheap though: https://store.clippercreek.com/commercial/cs-40-32-amp-ev-charging-station
 
RonDawg said:
jjeff said:
I've seen CC's used in a few small installations but personally, consider their design to be more residential.

LeftieBiker said:
The CC units are simple and have a 3 year warranty (although it may not apply in this case). I think they are rugged enough. Just take more care mounting them, as the mounting holes are in plastic.

Clipper Creek has commercial units in metal housings. I've charged at a few of these. I think CC has been making these for far longer than the plastic-bodied units.

At $1750 for a 32 amp unit, not cheap though: https://store.clippercreek.com/commercial/cs-40-32-amp-ev-charging-station
Yep. I charge sometimes on Fridays and weekends on the version of that w/Liberty access (https://store.clippercreek.com/commercial/cs-40-32-amp-ev-charging-station-with-liberty-keypad-access-control) at free public L2 charging. Been using those for years.

They aren't trouble free though. We've had a station or 2 down not due to handle problems on occasion (out of 8) Also, I've seen a station with a failed charging indicator light.

Funny enough, despite their rugged appearance and high price, they have only 1 year warranties. Their newer stuff seems to have 3 year warranties.
 
Just an update: The facilities folks told me they've selected a Clipper Creek unit in a ruggedized housing. They are getting one unit on site for testing and then will place the order for the rest. Orders are apparently delayed because of downtime after the hurricane.
 
Final update:

After several delays (including some bitter cold in December), all of the 20 additional Clipper Creek units have been installed and today half of them have been turned on and made available. The other half will get turned on and made available as needed (future growth, but I personally think we already need them). When they are all opened we'll have almost 60 EVSEs serving about 120 charging (not parking) spaces - fully 3% of the parking spaces on campus.
 
Back
Top