[AmerikanMatt]

Hey guys! I finally get a chance to join the folks who have a pending delivery! I couldn’t be more excited. I got the email yesterday and my call with my guide is schedulefor tomorrow at 10 AM.

It happened so suddenly that I just realized I don’t know what I don’t know. As this will be my first EV, I’m guessing my next call is to an electrical contractor to put a charger in my garage. I’m sure I can scour this forum and find other posts on this topic, however I was wondering if maybe someone could just tell me - Is there a specific charger out there that I should be buying for this car that makes the most sense? Can anyone point me in the right direction or tell me some pros/cons of any good choices?

Also, I have an R1S on order also. Should I be buying some sort of dual-port charger now to be ready for two EVs?

For you EV experts out there, Gimmie some advice! What would you do?

thanks as always!

 

[racekarl]

The good news at the top is that basically any EVSE you choose to have installed will work with your R1T and R1S, so you really can't make a bad decision. I would suggest you get the highest amperage one your house's electrical system can accommodate.

EVSEs tend to come in two varieties: smart and dumb. Smart EVSEs like the ChargePoint Flex or JuiceBox have features like timed and delayed charging, etc. Dumb EVSEs like Clipper Creek or Lectron do not have these features and will just supply power immediately and all the time. Rivians have relatively sophisticated on-board charging software that can handle these tasks, so you don't need a smart charger for a Rivian to get some smart charging features, but they may offer some other feature you find compelling (The Flex for example knows your electricity rate and can tell you how much each charge cost you).

I can't really comment on a dual port charger since I have never used one, but you can't deliver more power than your house can supply. If you have both cars connected at the same time each one is going to charge at half the speed, which doesn't seem like it offers a huge advantage over charging sequentially. We have two EVs and one ChargePoint Flex and it has never been a problem, but YMMV.

One thing to pay attention to is cord length, especially with two EVs. You need to be sure the cord can reach the charge point on both cars when they are both parked, as in two sides of a two car garage.

 

[AmerikanMatt]

This is awesome intel @racekarl. Thanks so much for sharing. You gave me the confidence to just start researching chargers on my own and some good things to consider so thanks again.

One thing I don't understand is, I'm being told that if you have a 240V outlet installed in your garage, you can plug directly into it with the cord that comes with the truck and because it's 240V, it'll charge at a Level 2 speed.

My question is, if that is the case, why would anyone buy a charger at all? Why not just run an outlet and use the car-supplied cord?

 

[O. horridus]

My question is, if that is the case, why would anyone buy a charger at all? Why not just run an outlet and use the car-supplied cord?

Convenience. If you keep the car-supplied cord in the car, then you will have it if you need it when traveling, and won't have to keep packing it up / unpacking it every day when you leave/return home. Also, in theory a NEMA 14-50 outlet can charge your car at 40A if you have a wall charger, while the car-supplied cord can only do 32A. That might be enough for your needs. If you have more than one EV and they both have to use the same outlet to charge, you might appreciate having the greater charging speed and the ability to charge one vehicle while the other is gone. Plus some chargers have some smarts, so they can be connected via WiFi and you can see the data about charging, schedule charging, etc.

No harm in starting with just the car-supplied cord and seeing how that works for you, then buying a wall charger later if you find out you want it.

 

[O. horridus]

I have a hardwired 48A Wall Box charger that can be easily daisy chained with another on the same breaker to automatically share charging between two vehicles. I do not currently have it configured that way, and this is not the only charger that supports this feature.

The Rivian charger is relatively inexpensive for a 48A hardwired charger, and comes with a good warranty, so I would recommend adding it to your configuration if it's not too late. If you end up not wanting it then there are others who would buy it from you.

 

[racekarl]

The National Electrical Code requires that a receptacle (outlet) in a garage or outdoors intended for use with an EVSE must have a GFCI breaker. Many people report nuisance trips of a GFCI breaker when used with an EVSE because they generally include an internal GFCI. As a result, if you don’t already have an outlet and you’re running a new circuit to install an EVSE, you will want it to be hard wired.

 

[ridgebackpilot]

Several years ago, I installed a Level 2 Tesla Wall Charger on my garage. It worked well while I owned my Tesla Model 3. Now that I've sold the Tesla and moved to two Mustang Mach-Es, I still use the Wall Charger everyday with a TeslaTap Mini 60 amp adapter. The same setup will work great on my Rivian when it's eventually delivered.

My garage is limited to 50 amps maximum, so I de-rated my Wall Charger to 40 amps, the maximum continuous load allowed for EV charging. The Wall Charger and TeslaTap adapter deliver 40 amps flawlessly to my current EVs. It's far more convenient than plugging in the Ford or Rivian chargers every time I want to charge.