I just talked to an inspector. No. He said,"...unless the charger has a built in GFCI protection..." So, no. As long as it is GFCI protected, either in the unit or from the breaker or from a GFCI outlet, it's protected.
No. You should not depend on your inspector for advice. Many inspectors and electricians don’t know the new requirements yet. And not all towns have adopted the new code yet. But if they have not adopted the new rules are you really gonna try to save $100 to avoid adding a bit of safety that is now the rule?
If it’s hardwired and protected your fine.
If it’s “portable” then you need to cover anywhere the user might get exposed that’s not GFCI.
Do you think a hair dryer with GFCI on the cord eliminates the need for GFCI in the bathroom outlet? And you promise to only ever use a hair dryer with GFCI.
Part of the argument is how often will you be plugging into the wall outlet. For some folks not at all, they will dedicate their UMC. So it becomes like an appliance (like a dryer). Others will plug in daily. And it can easily be wet conditions.
Problem is, you are not the only person that will ever use that outlet. And you can’t control future applications if that outlet. The code looks at it from a worse case point of view.
It’s now, correctly IMHO, required by code. It’s a no brainer and I put GFCI in before the obvious change.