Well my Zencar portable L2/L1 EVSE came yesterday and so far I have to say I really like it. I ordered it directly from Zencar in China and paid via PayPal:
$300 for the EVSE with 3 user selectable currents I specified to 13a(for a 15a circuit) 20a(for short term 20a circuit charging) and 30a(max they'd program it for with the L6-30 end I wanted) note if you chose the 14-50 end they would have programmed it for the max this unit puts out, 32a. I could chose from 6A 8A 10A 13A 16A 20A 32A so if you wanted to charge continuously on a 20a circuit I'd suggest a 16a setting instead of 20a like I did. I also wanted an 8M J1772 cable(~25') 5m is standard and a 30" input cable(I believe this is also longer than the norm but it's what I wanted).
$64 for express shipping from China, they said 8 days but mine took 3(amazing!) via FedEx after some delay getting it built during the Christmas holidays.
$16.40 PayPal Fee......
A total of $380.40 and I'm quite happy. It comes with a 12 month warranty(which I'd have to ship back to China since I am the importer, so here's hoping I never have to use it) and it's built to CE and TUV certification although not UL listed(norm for most all Chinese EVSEs).
Impressions:
Really like the charging cord, very heavy duty and stayed flexible even in 0F temps, the input cable got very stiff as they basically all do and it has a nice molded plug, again I specified L6-30 which is a nice locking 30a hot/hot/ground plug. Input cable is 5.6mm(10 gauge) and J1772 cable is 6mm(slightly thicker than 10 gauge). The actual J1772 plug is very nice and heavy duty and mates very well with my Leafs charge port(not too tight, not too lose) it's white and has a very nice rubber tethered cap very similar to the OEM Leaf EVSE. I have no doubt it will last for years, unlike my Ebusbar EVSE that broke off within days of use.
I like it's top in bottom out cable design, lets it hang from the outlet and the charging cable comes out the bottom and runs to the car. It's also nice and compact and has a LCD display screen that says:
Output set current, Output draw current and Kw, voltage, temp(in C) and total Kwh and time you've been charging(haven't really played with this yet).
This was the first time I've ordered directly from China, unless you count Amazon where some items ship directly from China but I don't really count that as Amazon is who I'm ordering from and everything went quite well. There is a bit of a disconnect with the language barrier but my sales rep was quite easy to work with and made sure I got exactly what I wanted. Her name was Dream and her direct email is:
[email protected]
or you could always start out at [email protected] as I did initially.
Selecting the current is a bit strange, when plugged in but not hooked to car you shake the EVSE quickly several times and it jumps to the next preset output current. In my case it came preset to 30a and while at first I was a bit hesitant about this method of changing the current I feel now it's just fine, avoids having external buttons which could potentially let in water. On it's totally weather proof, probably not submersible but I'd not hesitate(and will be) using it outdoors in possible rain.
Using it on my '13 Leaf I get 27.5a output current which should really be hooked to a 40a circuit for continuous use. If you only had a 30a circuit I guess you could specify maximum output current to be 24a.
While ordering directly from China might not be for everyone, for those more adventurous it can save you some good cash, at $380 I figure a similar US sold EVSE could easily cost $500 or more and probably wouldn't have some of the features this EVSE does, for sure not built exactly the way I wanted like this one was
Sellers website:
http://www.e-zencar.net/product/evse-32a/
Note you are ordering direct from the manufacturer so don't expect a retail type sale atmosphere and while I posted the prices I got, yours could vary, nothing is really written, you just tell them what you want and you get a quote. It sounds like you could save the PayPal fee by giving them your CC, it's just it wasn't very evident how you did that and I was willing to pay a little extra for that added insurance of using a company like PayPal. If anyone else goes this route I'd like to hear what you got and how you like it. Note the seller also sells a cheaper 16a non adjustable L1/L2 EVSE for around 1/2 the price, this thread talks about that one as ordered by another MNL member.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=22692
$300 for the EVSE with 3 user selectable currents I specified to 13a(for a 15a circuit) 20a(for short term 20a circuit charging) and 30a(max they'd program it for with the L6-30 end I wanted) note if you chose the 14-50 end they would have programmed it for the max this unit puts out, 32a. I could chose from 6A 8A 10A 13A 16A 20A 32A so if you wanted to charge continuously on a 20a circuit I'd suggest a 16a setting instead of 20a like I did. I also wanted an 8M J1772 cable(~25') 5m is standard and a 30" input cable(I believe this is also longer than the norm but it's what I wanted).
$64 for express shipping from China, they said 8 days but mine took 3(amazing!) via FedEx after some delay getting it built during the Christmas holidays.
$16.40 PayPal Fee......
A total of $380.40 and I'm quite happy. It comes with a 12 month warranty(which I'd have to ship back to China since I am the importer, so here's hoping I never have to use it) and it's built to CE and TUV certification although not UL listed(norm for most all Chinese EVSEs).
Impressions:
Really like the charging cord, very heavy duty and stayed flexible even in 0F temps, the input cable got very stiff as they basically all do and it has a nice molded plug, again I specified L6-30 which is a nice locking 30a hot/hot/ground plug. Input cable is 5.6mm(10 gauge) and J1772 cable is 6mm(slightly thicker than 10 gauge). The actual J1772 plug is very nice and heavy duty and mates very well with my Leafs charge port(not too tight, not too lose) it's white and has a very nice rubber tethered cap very similar to the OEM Leaf EVSE. I have no doubt it will last for years, unlike my Ebusbar EVSE that broke off within days of use.
I like it's top in bottom out cable design, lets it hang from the outlet and the charging cable comes out the bottom and runs to the car. It's also nice and compact and has a LCD display screen that says:
Output set current, Output draw current and Kw, voltage, temp(in C) and total Kwh and time you've been charging(haven't really played with this yet).
This was the first time I've ordered directly from China, unless you count Amazon where some items ship directly from China but I don't really count that as Amazon is who I'm ordering from and everything went quite well. There is a bit of a disconnect with the language barrier but my sales rep was quite easy to work with and made sure I got exactly what I wanted. Her name was Dream and her direct email is:
[email protected]
or you could always start out at [email protected] as I did initially.
Selecting the current is a bit strange, when plugged in but not hooked to car you shake the EVSE quickly several times and it jumps to the next preset output current. In my case it came preset to 30a and while at first I was a bit hesitant about this method of changing the current I feel now it's just fine, avoids having external buttons which could potentially let in water. On it's totally weather proof, probably not submersible but I'd not hesitate(and will be) using it outdoors in possible rain.
Using it on my '13 Leaf I get 27.5a output current which should really be hooked to a 40a circuit for continuous use. If you only had a 30a circuit I guess you could specify maximum output current to be 24a.
While ordering directly from China might not be for everyone, for those more adventurous it can save you some good cash, at $380 I figure a similar US sold EVSE could easily cost $500 or more and probably wouldn't have some of the features this EVSE does, for sure not built exactly the way I wanted like this one was
Sellers website:
http://www.e-zencar.net/product/evse-32a/
Note you are ordering direct from the manufacturer so don't expect a retail type sale atmosphere and while I posted the prices I got, yours could vary, nothing is really written, you just tell them what you want and you get a quote. It sounds like you could save the PayPal fee by giving them your CC, it's just it wasn't very evident how you did that and I was willing to pay a little extra for that added insurance of using a company like PayPal. If anyone else goes this route I'd like to hear what you got and how you like it. Note the seller also sells a cheaper 16a non adjustable L1/L2 EVSE for around 1/2 the price, this thread talks about that one as ordered by another MNL member.
http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=26&t=22692