Where should I buy 15 amp portable charger for my electric car?

Reader Steve sent me a great question:

“Can you recommend places to buy a 15A charger? I have an MG4 64 Essence EV with only the standard MG 8 amp charger which plugs into a normal power socket. I’m getting a 15A powerpoint installed to go up a notch!”

“From the 2 sites I saw recommended these are the 15A options, but one is almost twice the price of the other. I can’t work out whether I need to spend $549 or $275.”

Steve from Brisbane

The prices Steve mentions are for:

• Type 2 Portable EV Charger 15 Amp sold for $549 by EVSE
• 8A-15A (adjustable) Portable Charger sold by EVchargers for $275

Both EVSE and EVchargers are Australian companies that have a great reputation and I own cables sold by both companies:

My Type 2 to Type 2 EV Charging Cable (7 Metre 22kW) is from EVSE and I’ve been using it for over a year. EVSE is a big respectable Australian EV industry company.

My 5 metre Vehicle to Load (V2L) cable was purchased a few days ago from EVchargers after I had a talk with them on the phone and was impressed by their technical knowledge and commitment to selling high quality products. I’ll be reviewing this cable soon.

Back to Steve’s question. Both options he’s considering are good quality but I would choose the 8A-15A (adjustable) Portable Charger sold by EVchargers because:

• it allows more user selectable charging current options (8A/10A/12A/13A/15A)
• you can set a time delayed start, up to 10 hours
• it is a lot less expensive

SAFETY WARNING: If you use a either the EVSE or EVchargers 15amp portable charger and want to plug it into a standard 10 amp power socket at home or holiday accommodation you need to use a 15 amp to 10 amp adaptor with built-in overload protection such as those sold by Ampfibian.

Make sure you choose the appropriate adaptor depending on if you plan indoor and/or outdoor use and change the charge rate to 10A or less.

These adaptor devices have a 10A circuit breaker which won’t trip immediately, but will trip if you try and draw more than 10A continuous, to protect the mains cabling from overheating.