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My i3 charging from the HSC-40p. You can see my older ClipperCreek CS-40 all the way on the left. When it comes to electric vehicle charging equipment, there’s certainly no shortage of choices. Even though it’s a relatively new market, there are dozens of manufacturers selling products that allow owners to safely and conveniently charge their electric cars. Although this equipment is commonly referred to as a "charger" or "wallbox", the proper term is actually EVSE, which stands for Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment.  These devices don't actually charge the car; they provide the electricity to do so. That's because the actual charging equipment is built into the car. The EVSE's purpose is to safely deliver the correct amount of electricity to the onboard charging equipment.  Now that electric cars are beginning to gain momentum in the marketplace, there are a lot of companies jockeying to get a market share of the EVSE business. The vast majority of thes...

Charging in the snow can be problematic when the charge port ices up and won't close Charge ports on electric cars are similar to the fuel tank filler openings on gasoline and diesel cars in that the fuel or energy is transferred into the vehicle through an opening that is typically concealed by a small door or flap. However, since electric vehicles take much longer to recharge than conventionally powered vehicles take to refuel, the charge port is open much longer than a fuel filler door would be. While a gasoline stop may mean the filler door is open for two or three minutes, an EV's charge port will likely be open for many hours, and even all night long. In adverse weather conditions that may cause problems. Wind blown snow will pack the charge port full. Photo credit: Andre Hakedal I'm just about through my second winter with my i3. This winter hasn't been too bad, as it has only snowed a couple times here in Northern New Jersey. Last winter was much worse and we ha...

The latest addition to my EVSE obsession collection is the JuiceBox Pro 40, seen here charging my i3 One of the first things many first time electric car owners ask once they've bought (or are about to buy) their new car is what home charging solution should they choose. Other than asking for advice on specific plug-in cars, it's the most popular question I get from readers here. Luckily, there are some really good choices on the market now, and the prices for home EVSEs are considerably less than they were when I first started driving electric in 2009. Back then, the only level 2 home EVSEs that I would recommend were from Clipper Creek. Clipper Creek still makes very good products, and I still recommend them, but the competition is getting better all of the time, and one company in particular, eMotorWerks has been gaining momentum in this competitive market. Before I get into the review, I'd first like to explain some basic EV charging levels and terminology. This applie...

My name is Fred and I was born electric on July 30, 2014.  Today I have just a little over 1,000 miles on my i3 REx—over 1,000 happy miles I should add. I live in Huntington Beach, California and use my i3 regularly for running local errands, for meetings of 80 to 120 miles across the Los Angeles basin, and for pure pleasure. Indeed, it is now the only car I own. I sold my Lexus LS460L and my Lexus SC430 for the i3, and while both are great cars, the i3 meets my needs so well that I have no regrets about giving up either of them.    I never intended to own an electric vehicle and paid little attention to them believing that they were in general impractical. I was raised on the internal combustion engine and had no intention of doing anything other than sticking with what I knew and what worked for me. Adding to my mind set were two facts:  first, America is awash in fossil fuels with the potential of freeing us from the importation of foreign oil; seco...