Where should I buy 15 amp portable charger for my electric car?

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by

Neerav Bhatt

Reader Steve sent me a great question:

“Can you recommend places to buy a 15A charger? I have an MG4 64 Essence EV with only the standard MG 8 amp charger which plugs into a normal power socket. I’m getting a 15A powerpoint installed to go up a notch!”

“From the 2 sites I saw recommended these are the 15A options, but one is almost twice the price of the other. I can’t work out whether I need to spend $549 or $275.”

Steve from Brisbane

The prices Steve mentions are for:

Type 2 Portable EV Charger 15 Amp sold for $549 by EVSE
8A-15A (adjustable) Portable Charger sold by EVchargers

Both EVSE and EVchargers are Australian companies that have a great reputation and I own cables sold by both companies:

My Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable (7 Metre 22kW) is from EVSE and I’ve been using it for over a year. EVSE is a big respectable Australian EV industry company.

My 5 metre Vehicle to Load (V2L) cable was purchased a few days ago from EVchargers after I had a talk with them on the phone and was impressed by their technical knowledge and commitment to selling high quality products. I’ll be reviewing this cable soon.

My Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable | 7 Metre | 22kW is from EVSE
My 5 metre Vehicle to Load (V2L) cable was purchased a few days ago from EVchargers and I’ll be reviewing it soon.

Back to Steve’s question. Both options he’s considering are good quality but I would choose the 8A-15A (adjustable) Portable Charger sold by EVchargers because:

  • it allows more user selectable charging current options (8A/10A/12A/13A/15A)
  • you can set a time delayed start, up to 10 hours
  • it is a lot less expensive

SAFETY WARNING: If you use a either the EVSE or EVchargers 15amp portable charger and want to plug it into a standard 10 amp power socket at home or holiday accommodation you need to use a 15 amp to 10 amp adaptor with built-in overload protection such as those sold by Ampfibian.

Make sure you choose the appropriate adaptor depending on if you plan indoor and/or outdoor use and change the charge rate to 10A or less.

These adaptor devices have a 10A circuit breaker which won’t trip immediately, but will trip if you try and draw more than 10A continuous, to protect the mains cabling from overheating.

Comments

13 responses to “Where should I buy 15 amp portable charger for my electric car?”

  1. Steve Palmer

    Thanks so much for taking time to reply to my query.

  2. Neerav Bhatt

    Glad I could help Steve 🙂

  3. securityblanka

    Why doesn’t Steve just put in a proper L2 charger? 7kW-22kW. If he’s going 15A anyway just go the distance (pun intended).

  4. Michael

    Buy a Juice Booster 2 at JETCHARGE or amazon. Up to 22 kW. Simple, with extension cable

  5. Neerav Bhatt

    Juice booster is definitely a good premium product but comes with a big price tag to match. Few ordinary EV drivers can afford it

  6. Nic

    We have a stand alone solar/battery system (12kw battery). How many kWh would the EVcharger draw?

  7. Neerav Bhatt

    Depends what EV charger you get.
    240v 10 amps = 2.4kWh/hr
    240v 7kW = 7kWh/hr

  8. Nic

    Ok, so the 8a-15a adjustable charger recommended above will use 2.4kw?

  9. Neerav Bhatt

    1.9kW – 3.6kW depending on the setting chosen between 8 – 15amps

  10. Nic

    Ah, I see – 10amps – 2.4kW
    Thank you

  11. Kevin John Adams

    Any other 15A portables you might npw recommend? Thankd

  12. Neerav Bhatt

    Are the EVSE and EVchargers ones not available? If out of stock I’m sure they’ll get new ones ASAP

  13. Peter

    This one here might be worth comparing to the others: https://inchargex.com.au/products/portable-ev-charger-type-2-adjustable-15-amp

    With free shipping and discount codes it costs similar to the one you recommend. And it actually shows the RCM mark in a photo, not just mentions that it is RCM compliant. With 2 buttons (one for current, one for delay), it should also be more user friendly.

    I own neither, but am currently researching the best option for a unit with RCM mark, as opposed to the significantly cheaper options found on Amazon without RCM.

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