Rivian charger vs 3rd party charger?

[Attesan997]

Both the ChargePoint Home Flex and Wallbox Pulsar Plus are good units, and I have had experience with both.

If you have one circuit and need one EVSE, then the ChargePoint is the best in my opinion. The cable is great length and it is VERY flexible even when it's cold. The application is also great.

However, if you have one circuit and are thinking about installing multiple EVSE's to share that one circuit, then Wallbox is the best option. I have one line, which I had installed when we had our basement finished. If I had known we would potentially have multiple EV's, then I would have run a 100A line to the garage and installed a sub-panel there.....but hindsight is 20/20. Anyway, the Wallbox is great at PowerSharing and their customer service is also great. I, as well as 2 members of a Volvo XC40 Recharge forum I'm on, had issues with the Wallbox dropping the PowerSharing every few days.....you had to power down and restart. I spoke with Wallbox and within a month or so they had a software update pushed out for all EVSE's that has fixed this issue for everyone. The Wallbox cables are not nearly as flexible as the ChargePoint though.

Thank you for the insight it is much appreciated. I'm leaning towards the CP flex mostly because I won't need two EVSEs in the short term and long term moving is likely on the horizon and I could probably switch to Walbox or whatever the equivalent 2 EVSE option is at that point. It sounds like you had Charge point installed indoors, I'll be installing outside and am looking into any reviews that mention any issues as a result of weather. I don't get anything often in NJ but I was curious since you've actually seen the thing up close.

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[Rousie13]

Thank you for the insight it is much appreciated. I'm leaning towards the CP flex mostly because I won't need two EVSEs in the short term and long term moving is likely on the horizon and I could probably switch to Walbox or whatever the equivalent 2 EVSE option is at that point. It sounds like you had Charge point installed indoors, I'll be installing outside and am looking into any reviews that mention any issues as a result of weather. I don't get anything often in NJ but I was curious since you've actually seen the thing up close.

You are correct, I had mine installed inside. However, It seemed sealed pretty well and I believe it is rated for outside use. I would honestly call ChargePoint and discuss it with them, but as long as the 14-50R plus is in an enclosed area, then I think you should be good to go. The ChargePoint will be much better for outside installation with cold temperatures for the flexibility on the cable.

 

[Attesan997]

You are correct, I had mine installed inside. However, It seemed sealed pretty well and I believe it is rated for outside use. I would honestly call ChargePoint and discuss it with them, but as long as the 14-50R plus is in an enclosed area, then I think you should be good to go. The ChargePoint will be much better for outside installation with cold temperatures for the flexibility on the cable.

The flexible cable was also a big plus

 

[MoreTrout]

I'm still struggling with this same decision. While it won't be an issue for an actual vehicle in my garage until my "first half of 2023" max pack R1T, I have my second call today with an Enphase rep to give my recommended size of solar installation with IQ8s and start to get connected with installers. I'm hoping it will be at least a little more cost effective to bundle in any needed work and possibly even an EVSE as part of the solar installation. The house we just bought was a bottom up renovation of an old farmhouse, so everything but the original wood stair banister is brand new. We have a brand new 200A main panel and a 100A subpanel in the detached garage. The subpanel is essentially a blank slate with only 2 15A breaker spots currently used for the outlets and lights. Now that Enphase owns Clipper Creek, I'm assuming that is what they are going to recommend/offer, and I would likely be fine with that if the cost was comparable. And while the solar should be installed long before my R1T arrives, it might not be that long since they already said the IQ8s are in high demand and short supply right now. My bigger issue is the more limited options at my camp about 3.5 hours away. It's an even older house. Has a 100A main panel with room on it, but not sure how capable it is. When the furnace kicks on the lights flicker. The surge protector with the microwave, toaster, and coffee maker trips if more than one of them is used at a time. (shares an outlet with the fridge). My goal is to get a NEMA 14-50R installed there, and have a plug in EVSE that I can take back and forth. I put many more miles on my vehicle when at camp then when at home, and it is always 10-15 degrees colder there and frequently in single digits or below in the winter, so 16 mi/hr with just the charging cord and outlet at 32A is probably more like 8-10 mi/hr. The main panel is just inside the door and only 8-10 feet from where I park outside, so other than potentially needing a main panel upgrade, the actual installation of an outdoor outlet on the other side of the wall shouldn't require anything major. So my thought is to have 14-50Rs at both locations with a portable EVSE, likely Clipper Creek, that can be used outdoors. Anything big I am missing? Any other thoughts or suggestions highly appreciated.

 

[endress14]

Now that they’ve been in use by the general public, anyone with the Rivian wall charger find that’s it’s more convenient or has more features/compatibility than a third party charger? I.e. and functional benefits and reason to get one aside from the price and charging rate?

 

[zipzag]

I don't have the truck yet, but the vehicle controls the charging. You will adjust charging by interacting with the vehicle through the screen and the app. The wall "charger" is a fancy extension cord with a few safety features. The actual charger is in the vehicle. (This is not true with DC fast charging)

With old pricing I suggest buying the Rivian wall connector. The new price is too expensive compared to other options. In volume Rivian pays about $200 wholesale for the device assume no shortages. So in normal times a well made wall connector can retail for $400-500.

Fancier charger share limited power between multiple EVs. Rivian hasn't implemented this feature yet, and its unlikely that the current model can be upgraded to this functionality.

The new wall charger price of $750 is very expensive and likely buys no future functionality. Like Tesla, Rivian can't get enough wall connectors from suplliers.

 

[garrettchill]

I have a Rivian wall charger that I have been using on my R1T for the last five weeks. I also have a legacy Juice Box that has been faithfully charging my Nissan Leafs' for the last six years.

The Juicebox is on a 50a plug. The Rivian charger is hard wired to a 60a breaker.

I installed it myself without much problem, but I am an engineer, which makes me a dangerous electrician!!

I still can not get the Rivian charger to connect to my WiFi, but it works anyway. I am not sure what cool features I get with WiFi. I notice that my rivian app does not have charge history detail, so maybe that is related.

The Rivian charger is well built (slightly better than my seven year old DIY JuiceBox). I think it is worth $50 more than a juicebox at this point.

What I have not done is charged my leaf with the Rivian charger (I have both chargers installed to charge two cars at a time).

I hope this helps, ask questions, I am happy to run tests.

 

[SANZC02]

I have a Rivian wall charger that I have been using on my R1T for the last five weeks. I also have a legacy Juice Box that has been faithfully charging my Nissan Leafs' for the last six years.

The Juicebox is on a 50a plug. The Rivian charger is hard wired to a 60a breaker.

I installed it myself without much problem, but I am an engineer, which makes me a dangerous electrician!!

I still can not get the Rivian charger to connect to my WiFi, but it works anyway. I am not sure what cool features I get with WiFi. I notice that my rivian app does not have charge history detail, so maybe that is related.

The Rivian charger is well built (slightly better than my seven year old DIY JuiceBox). I think it is worth $50 more than a juicebox at this point.

What I have not done is charged my leaf with the Rivian charger (I have both chargers installed to charge two cars at a time).

I hope this helps, ask questions, I am happy to run tests.

I thought I saw some people say they had that issue when a cable was not properly connected to the front plate. Maybe you can check that.

 

[godfodder0901]

I thought I saw some people say they had that issue when a cable was not properly connected to the front plate. Maybe you can check that.

It won't even charge if that isn't connected.

 

[Greenwater]

The tesla wired charger is now 'only' $400 and supports 48 amps - the max power of the rivian as well as recent model teslas note it's the tesla plug, not j1772. The tesla tap 50 amp adapter (which allows any j1772 vehicle to use that l2 charger at 48amps inc Rivian vehicles) is $150 on amazon, so that $550 seems to match the $550 price I saw on rivian.com for their j1772 - was there a cheaper price for that for pre-orders?

• The key feature of the tesla charger is if you add a second tesla charger on the same circuit it will share the power communicating using wifi and when a vehicle is 'full' switch full power to the other but split the power when both vehicles are charging.
• I have a tesla so will have 2 cars soon, I can later buy a second tesla charger if I get tired of manuall switching, but if I do I can share my 48amp power source between those plugs.

My tesla already has a j1772 adapter that it came with, so I could use a native j1772 like Rivian's just fine, but the Rivian evse doesn't have 'sharing' capability like Tesla's does.

 

[C.R. Rivian]

I've been very happy with my Clipper Creek ( ClipperCreek: America's Most Popular EV Charging Station ). IT has served my Kia Niro EV for 3 years and is doing just fine with my R1T. Does it have wifi or a modem and an app. No, and no thank you. The Kia and Rivian apps do just fine on charging issues communicating with the respective vehicles. Anything extra simply introduces additional points of failure.

 

[ajdelange]

Enphase rep to give my recommended size of solar installation with IQ8s

Didn't think IQ8s were being installed in residences.

 

[MoreTrout]

Didn't think IQ8s were being installed in residences.

They started shipping them at the beginning of the year. My move to the new house was perfect timing. I had read that a lot of installers had backlogs and waitlists for them and figured I might have to wait a bit extra to get them, but once I signed the contract my installer assured me the only wait would be the usual 3-6 weeks to get the permits approved. Should have them in the next couple of weeks. Now the big wait is for the truck. Just downsized from the max to large pack yesterday, so now there is at least a remote chance of it happening in 2022. The NEMA 14-50 I'm putting in the garage when they install my solar system will be done with wiring adequate to future proof it in case I want to upgrade to a hardwired option in the future.

 

[Khaos]

I'm curious....Are there any inherent benefits to having a Rivian charger instead of just a 3rd party charger on 14-50 plug other than speed? Do we get better stats in the Rivian app at all or any other benefits?

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I'm curious....Are there any inherent benefits to having a Rivian charger instead of just a 3rd party charger on 14-50 plug other than speed? Do we get better stats in the Rivian app at all or any other benefits?

The charing history is visible in the Rivian app when using the Rivian wall charger. But if you’re okay using two apps and not having it integrated then there are other EVSEs that give you more information.

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