Rivian Wall Charger and other brands

[ark205]

Good morning,

We have an R1s, Model Y, and BMW i5. In the past we have charged wth an Emporia and it worked great. We then installed the Rivian wall charger and it has been nothing but problems. Both sat on a dedicated 60A circuit, professionally installed.

It charges the rivian just fine -- but it times out with the Tesla and the BMW. A quick google search suggests others are having issues with this but there are no robust conclusions. I think I am ready to ditch the rivian charger and move back to the cheap-o looking Emporia.


Anyone else experience this? Any tips or advice?

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[captainjp]

Go with Tesla Universal Wall connector. Price is right and works with all your vehicles.

 

[Spaceball1]

Rivian wall charger is garbage. I have one and have had several issues with it. Plus it’s pretty dumb with no features like power sharing or data collection.

Best I’ve read about is the Tesla universal since it has both SAE and NACS plus they are reliable, not too expensive, and can be setup for smarts like power sharing.

We have an Autel one too and it’s been great. Got it Black Friday deal last year.

 

[ElGuano]

I just don't see the benefit of the Rivian charger.

Tesla's universal is way cheaper ($550), "natively" supports both J1772 and NACS ports, and has built-in support for:
1. Access control
2. dynamic load management
3. multi-charger load management.

 

[SwampNut]

EVSEs are all about the same, but the Rivian seems to be problematic. Mine dies about once a month and has to be rebooted. And since the car doesn't warn me in any way, one day I'm going to come out to an uncharged car and be fucked. So I'm considering replacing it with a cheap unit from Amazon and selling the Rivian charger to someone who doesn't know better. I've had a Tesla and EV motorcycle for some time, and charged from multiple portable EVSEs, with no issues until now.

Edit to add: Mine was already replaced once under warranty with an updated model that is slightly different.

 

[Mathme]

I have a Wallbox Charger and it's very dependable and charges the Rivian with no muss nor fuss. Occasionally when it finishes charging the Tesla Roadster it will error and need to be reset at the fusebox. I credit this more to the Tesla (which is a hand made tempermental little shit that likely doesn't talk nice to the charger) than to the Wallbox.

 

[SoCal72]

I would agree, the Tesla Universal Wall Charger is great. Not had any problems with it. Would buy again if ever needing another one.

 

[ark205]

This is very helpful. Thanks everyone. Now, hopefully, when others google this issue this thread will come up with a definitive answer.

 

[iamnid]

The added bonus of going the Tesla Universal route is that, in the future when your next EV has NACS, you can keep it without having to get an adapter.

That said, Grizzl-E makes good ones as well. I'd go with this one if I wasn't going Tesla:

https://grizzl-e.com/products/grizzl-e-ultimate-48/

 

[ndmiller]

Chargepoint Flex, been using for years now on EV's. Or the Tesla Universal, whichever is cheaper or with a better install deal.

 

[ark205]

I did flip the breaker on the Rivian wall charger to reset it. It has been working but the damage is done. I’d be in big trouble if I head to the garage in the morning the car isn’t ready.

 

[onthebrake]

My Rivian wall charger has been flawless with my Rivian. Rivian only though. Almost 3 years now. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Roads76]

We have a Tesla and an R1T. I picked up the Tesla universal because it can charge both equally as well without having any kind of separate adapter. In the future if I get a newer Rivian with a native Tesla plug, the charger charger won't need to be replaced.

 

[sub]

My Rivan wall charger was awful for the first year. The computer in it crashed about once a week and required circuit breaker reset to get it going again. I would have returned it but it was free so no point in asking for a refund.

But then one day it just stopped misbehaving and it hasn't crashed once in the last 6 months. There was a short transition period where it would crash and loose Internet but still charge the car (which was good enough, the internet adds nothing useful) and now it seems to be totally rock solid.

I assume it must have been software updates finally being pushed to address the instability but it doesn't alert you about updates so I don't really know.

Even with it now working, it has absolutely no redeeming features other than a Rivian logo and I would not recommend it to anyone (who doesn't get it for free).

Even when it was acting up a lot there did not appear to be any Tesla incompatibility though. Used it to charge our Tesla everyday and it worked just as good on the Tesla as on the Rivian.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

I highly recommend the universal wall connector. It can charge EV no matter which port they have (no adapter needed). It can also power share with additional Tesla wall connectors which saves you from costly service upgrades.

https://amzn.to/3UXNKSV

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