EV Charger Recommendations for a Facility Manager

[Blup85]

Purely hypothetical .
Your a Facility Manager and are tasked with specifying and installing electric vehicle chargers (Not Tesla this time, but they will be right near by of course!).

So, my question for you multi-EV folks out there, and Tesla owners too since we can use j1772, what charging brands out there does everyone like?

Chargers would be J1772 standard for fleet vehicles charging in municipal lots at night, allowing public/employee use during daytime hours and any empty spaces not used by fleet since most vehicles will not need to charge every day or during the middle of the day. We will not be charging for power, so electronic payment or authorization is not an issue.
These will be mounted outside, either on posts or streetlight standards.
I'm leaning on clipper creeks units, they seem pretty durable and very cost effective but it would be nice to have a dual single unit since we are placing some on a streetlight standard that could feed 4 vehicles at once (both sides) and clipper creek doesn't seem to have a dual charger.

Ideas? Comments? Options?

 

[AEdennis]

Clipper Creek for AC charging is rock solid

 

[swaltner]

Particularly since you're not concerned about being paid, your options are pretty much wide open.

ClipperCreek makes high quality gear and you can't go wrong with their products or their support if you happen to encounter issues. I don't remember hearing any people complain about their gear. I personally had them advance ship a replacement (no credit card required) when my EVSE didn't behave well with my Leaf when I first activated the charging timers.

I've switched to an OpenEVSE unit and really like the open-source aspect of it and the wi-fi connectivity in recent firmware updates, but that's just a personal preference really. As far as the dual systems, you'll save quite a bit of money going with a pair of single units on a pedestal than if you install a single dual EVSE on the same pedestal. Everyone will have their own favorite brand, but in reality, they're all very similar since they all follow the J1772 standard.

 

[Blup85]

Thanks for the tips. just cruised their website and I can get a dual clipper creek pedestal, and two chargers for under $1200, very affordable! So will probably go that route.

 

[REDSP]

Charge Point is a widely used option too.

 

[Blup85]

Charge Point is a widely used option too.

Yeah, got some initial quotes.. ouch!

If we charged it might make sense, but unless it was a profit center it wouldn't make sense and as a public entity we can't make a profit and charging just because doesn't make sense.

 

[REDSP]

I see.
I was recommending them based on customer support, as they are good. Do not go with Blink, support is not there at least in Central NJ. Not sure about Clipper Creek's support but their product comes highly recommended in the EV world.

 

[Blup85]

I see.
I was recommending them based on customer support, as they are good. Do not go with Blink, support is not there at least in Central NJ. Not sure about Clipper Creek's support but their product comkidses highly recommended in the EV world.

Yes, I agree they are pretty good. More times than not the failures I've had with plugshare chargers has been with the rfid card not turning on the unit that requires a 10 min call to customer support to remotely activate the unit. I am hoping to avoid that bottleneck, but if we charged for charging, they would be our first choice.

 

[TexasEV]

Go with Clipper Creek. No reason to pay several times the price for ChargePoint, since you’re not needing them networked for billing.

 

[Blup85]

Particularly since you're not concerned about being paid, your options are pretty much wide open.

ClipperCreek makes high quality gear and you can't go wrong with their products or their support if you happen to encounter issues. I don't remember hearing any people complain about their gear. I personally had them advance ship a replacement (no credit card required) when my EVSE didn't behave well with my Leaf when I first activated the charging timers.

I've switched to an OpenEVSE unit and really like the open-source aspect of it and the wi-fi connectivity in recent firmware updates, but that's just a personal preference really. As far as the dual systems, you'll save quite a bit of money going with a pair of single units on a pedestal than if you install a single dual EVSE on the same pedestal. Everyone will have their own favorite brand, but in reality, they're all very similar since they all follow the J1772 standard.

Has anyone seen an Openevse used in a public system? Seems like a fun project to give to some college or high school kids and integrate them in to something retro, like and old gas fill station. Could be really cool. I like the wifi connectivity as well. Metrics would be helpful..

 

[swaltner]

There are a bunch of them out there, many of which might have their OpenEVSE underpinnings hidden from the public.

One that I remember seeing documented here was a TMC member in the Northwest US that was installing WattZilla units with credit card integration to fill in gaps for long distance travel before the Supercharger network was fully developed. WattZilla took the basic OpenEVSE unit and added UL Certification as well as optional credit card integration, which you had said you aren't needing. I found it in my posting history at Riverton and Lander Wyoming Breadboards Getting 80amp Chargers.

Also, the big installation at CalTech is based on OpenEVSE. Not much detail was released on what was done since this was either a pilot install for a commercial system or morphed into that company. What I understood was done was that they purchased the OpenEVSE kits, but installed them inside a larger case and also mounted a touchscreen and Raspberry Pi in the case to add some controls. Add in a little external control to coordinate between various EVSEs at the site and you have the ability to give individual vehicles high amperage charging without going over a pre-determined electrical demand (measured in kW). Sample UI

OpenEVSE firmware already has a little bit of this demand control ability in it. It's currently designed to have the EVSE track the amount of power available from your on-site solar panels, but with a little work, it could be enhanced to something that is useful in many more instances.

 

[jelloslug]

I would install Clipper Creek units. Not only are their products robust, their customer service and tech support is top notch.

 

[Blup85]

amazing Find! Great. Now I want all these features! I was so content on K.I.S.S...

We have wifi nearby, so using Openevse really peaks my interest. Id like to put the guts in to something cool.. like an old gas pump.