[R1S in NJ]

Hi - pre-ordered a R1S in 2019, hopefully will have it by end of the year!
I am certainly not an electrician and have very little knowledge about charging/electricity, etc. Sorry. I've looked in some of the past posts but didn't really find a great answer to my question.

So I do have a Rivian Wall Charger ordered but found out that my state, NJ, has rebates available on a few residential chargers (Rivian not being one, at least as of today).
Rebates are valid on installs of both ChargePoint HomeFlex and JuiceBox 40 14-50 Plug In chargers.

I certainly would like to have a charger installed before the delivery of the truck as well, which likely won't be possible with the Rivian charger.

If I went with either the Chargepoint or JuiceBox - any major disadvantages (or advantages?). I understand I may only be able to get 40 amps with the non Rivian chargers and thus a slower charge rate - not that important for me as most of my charging will be overnight and I would almost never need the fastest charging.

Thanks!

 

[thebishman]

I have a Chargepoint Flex and it’s great. Plugged in you are limited to 40 amps but if you have it hardwired you can go up to 60 amps, 48 amps continuous.

 

[racekarl]

Since most of the "smart" charging features (e.g. timed charging, charge limiting, etc.) are baked into the Rivian itself, there should be no real downside to using a different brand EVSE. Those EVSEs can match the Rivian one for charging speed (the charger is in the truck itself) when wired and configured appropriately.

 

[Tomgriff]

I use a Wallbox for my Model S and Chevy Bolt with a 26' cord. I have it limited to 32 amps for a bit of safety buffer but it is a 50 amp circuit so could use the full 40 amp capacity if needed. The bigger pack of the RIvian might cause me to reconsider but guessing that 32 amps will still be fine. I haven't particularly looked at the Rivian charger so don't know if it provides any features that are particularly better. When you get it installed make you sure you consider where you want to park, particularly if you are getting a second EV in the future.

 

[vetmann]

On my 4th day of R1T ownership it was time to charge last night. I used the tesla mini tap and my Tesla charger on a 50 amp breaker, wired by an electrician and I recorded about 23 miles per hour charge. Is that in the range I should expect.
The Rivian doesn’t seem to charge as quickly as the teslas but I’m an overnight charger so I really haven’t paid attention to the differences.
Drove 80 miles in the rain last night and the truck handled very well with the 22’s
Glad I made the purchase

 

[Cali Electric Adventures]

Hello all, very helpful discussion here. Thank you. This answered a few of the questions I had.
I'm in the same situation. R1S should be here in the next few months, and I'm working on getting hard wired at home charging set-up before the truck is available. I can't help to notice that the Rivian branded chargers are $800 now in the Gear Shop. There are other more cost-effective options out there, particularly if there are no advantages with going with the Rivian one.

 

[Dr. W.]

For what it is worth, I bought the Autel charger on sale on Amazon at half the price of Rivian charger. I'm running it at 40amps load through a 220v 50amp breaker with no problem. The truck picks up between 19 and 21 miles per hour, plenty for my daily overnight charging needs. The Autel does not speak clearly to the Rivan... I get messages from the charger whenever the truck cuts off charging when the limit. That is annoying but no big deal. The savings on the charger are substantial... the 50 amp unit is on sale on Amazon right now, and it is even $50 cheaper if you only have a 50 amp breaker and therefore can get downsize to the 40 amp version of the unit (that's the second link below). There is no reason to splurge on the 50amp unit if you only have a 50amp breaker because you can only use 80% of the rated capacity continuously.

Amazon.com: Autel Home Smart Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger up to 50Amp, 240V, Indoor/Outdoor Car Charging Station with Level 2, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Enabled EVSE, 25-Foot Cable : Automotive

Buy Autel Home Smart Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger up to 50Amp, 240V, Indoor/Outdoor Car Charging Station with Level 2, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Enabled EVSE, 25-Foot Cable: Charging Stations - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com: Autel MaxiCharger Home Smart Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger, 40 Amp Level 2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Enabled EVSE, Indoor/Outdoor Car Charging Station, with in-Body Holster and 25-Foot Cable（6-50 Plug） : Automotive

Buy Autel MaxiCharger Home Smart Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger, 40 Amp Level 2 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Enabled EVSE, Indoor/Outdoor Car Charging Station, with in-Body Holster and 25-Foot Cable（6-50 Plug）: Charging Stations - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[Yossarian]

Beyond the ability to remotely monitor charging and set limits what are the advantages of using a charger like the Autel or the Rivian? I'm new to the EV world, but my understanding is that once connected, the software in the vehicle controls charging. Wouldn't something like a simple NEMA 14-50R receptacle be sufficient? You can buy a complete RV power outlet kit (weatherproof box & cover with receptacle) for under $50 versus >$500 for something like the Autel.

 

[Dr. W.]

You need some way to get the current from the NEMA 14-50 to the car safely, and with some controls, monitoring and of course with some reporting.

With the latest Rivian software update, you can control the main parameters of charging from the phone app (Start/stop charging, set the charging limit to 70, 85 or 100%) and monitor the whole charging session. That is true with ANY charger. Scheduling is managed from the vehicle... it is location sensitive but otherwise very primitive. You can also monitor an ongoing charging session from the Autel app.

The Autel charger comes wired with a 14-50 plug, and you can mount the unit near an outdoor receptacle and just plug it in instead of hard wiring. The permanently-wired rig is both more weatherproof and much better looking in front of your house or in your garage if it is hard wired.

My Autel runs at 40 amps = 8.8kw per hour = about 19 miles per hour, a bit more in the warm weather and a bit less in winter weather. That is about 10 hours from 20% to 85% which is more than you will need to do for most daily charging needs... and doable from 9pm to 7am when the electricity rates are lower in many utility plans.

All of the chargers out there do the exact same thing electrically... so you can choose your brand based on, first, the right connector for the Rivian (J-1772) Second, buy only the maximum amperage your circuit will support. No reason to buy a 60amp-capable charger if you have a 40amp or 50amp or even a 60amp circuit. You can only run any device with a sustained load of 80% of the breaker's amperage or it will blow. Third, quality: Look for reviews to make sure there are no known build quality or ergonomic design flaw reason NOT to buy any particular charger. Fourth, aesthetics (not that any are particularly pretty or ugly). And fifth, price: No need to pay more than you have to for the same aesthetic, quality, amperage and connector. They all do the same thing.

Then, with all that done, you can relax and enjoy your new truck!

 

[John B R1T]

If you watch Sandy Munro's video on the subject, chances are you will give up on the notion of using ANY plug-in charger on a regular basis, particularly if you are "exercising" the plug by disconnecting the charger and hauling it off to your work or weekend house to use there. I have the "50 amp" Autel (48 amps on a 60 amp circuit, hardwired). You can hardwire the 40 amp charger as well by just unwiring the pigtail and running the appropriate gauge wire to the lugs in the charger.

Dr. W. mentions the notifications as being annoying. You can actually control these through "Settings"..."Notifications" in the Autel app. You have a choice of any (or none) when Charge Starts, Charge Stops, or Charge Suspends...and they are separately settable for the Home Charger and any public charger you use. There is a detailed history available for your charging sessions and includes the cost for each one (if you have set your home electricity use rates in the app). It does have some interesting aspects to the app...Charging Duration is actually the amount of time that you're plugged in. The graphic representation shows when the charger kicks back in to top off the battery (due to phantom loss), and what the peak kW and/or amp draw is. This "topping off" all gets packed into the previous charge session, so...if you plugged it in and went off and left it for a week or a month, it would look pretty strange as far as efficiency is concerned...in reality, it's no different than if you had a "slow leak" in the gas tank of an ICE automobile (except that you won't be blowing up the garage).