Safety : Not Worth Bargaining
Cheap
Cheap EV Chargers take a nosedive in terms of safety, it's likely that you're gambling away your safety when you consider EV Chargers below RM 1200. They will usually only have mandatory safeguards such as overcurrent and short-circuit protection. Additionally this begs of the question on the validity of certifications inclusive to the EV Charger.
Expensive
Expensive chargers will ultimately focus on additional safeguards against faults with GFCI, thermal sensors, overcurrent and overvoltage. It’s common that an EV Charger of such expense will have certifications that better qualify.
Build Quality
Cheap
The first thing that you’re going to absolutely notice is that the materials used in cheaper EV Chargers consists of lower grade plastics. This tends to directly affect things such as heat dissipation, in addition to that leads to overheating due over prolonged use.
Expensive
An expensive EV charger would be built out of high-quality materials such as industrial grade thermoplastics. Just like in the name it shows that heat dissipation is accounted for.
Features: Dumb or Smart?
Cheap
Cheaper EV Chargers won’t have smart features embedded and will mostly be labeled as a “dumb charger” but surprisingly some people prefer that it just charges their EV rather than succumb to smart features that they’ll unlikely use which would add up in cost.
Expensive
On the contrary, expensive ones will tend to tip the iceberg when it comes to features, especially smart. So if you're someone who enjoys making use of the array of features provided, then this will most definitely fit the bill.
Efficiency In Charging
Cheap
Poor wiring from within the internals of the cheaper EV charger will tend to show in voltage drops. Chances are there’s higher resistance in their usage of cheap cables which lead to additional energy losses. It's obvious that a charger within this price range won’t have something such as load balancing to help adjust power dynamically, making it a higher risk in tripping the electrical system if other appliances are running in your home.
Expensive
Compared to an expensive EV charger, it’ll make better use of the price tag through allocation of higher quality components that ensures minimal voltage drop.
Long Term Implications : Buy Now Pay More Later?
Cheap
It’s likely that you’d need to find a replacement as compared to a more expensive EV charger. The risk of it failing within the first few years is concurrent to the quality that goes into the EV Charger. The least of your worry would be the EV Charger itself failing and most of it should be directed to how your EV is holding up over the years of perhaps being plugged in by the cheap EV Charger.
Expensive
The TNB bills will be evidently less than the cheaper EV Charger due to how well it performs in addition to the efficiency and features such as load balancing that helps with power distribution from your household. An expensive EV Charger will have a better long term usage scenario of up to 10+ years due to how it’s built.
Solar Compatibility : The Green Divide
Cheap
Cheaper EV chargers will almost always ignore compatibility towards solar. If you’re a homeowner who has a solar PV array system. It's best that you manage the excess energy by making use of it on charging your EV. Purely drawing from the grid means you’re not making use of the potential savings from solar.
Expensive
Expensive EV Chargers will have solar compatibility that scales well with your solar PV array system. There are usually modes that you can take advantage of such as solar only charging or charging mixed with supplementation from the grid. This makes it a clear cut that
Design
Cheap
You’d probably recognize that some of the cheaper EV chargers that you’ve come across searching share an almost identical shell or body, that’s due to them sourcing already readily available bodies of EV chargers in order to cut cost. So variation in design is almost non-existent in this price bracket.
Expensive
There are more variations to design in this price bracket for you to explore and adapt to your home. Designs are made in mind to cater to those that want to make an impression that this isn’t just an EV Charger but a statement piece.
Installer : Make It or Break It
If you’re certain with the EV Charger that you’re willing to spend, you might have to start looking for an installer if not provided. An installer is just as important if not more as an EV Charger will not perform optimally without the proper installation process.
With an extensive 3 years of hundreds of installations for EV Chargers in the Klang Valley, we’ve made a name that you can look up and be confident that it’ll be a choice you won't regret. For more information regarding installations or our selection of EV Chargers, contact EV Sifu!
Conclusion
If you’re down with a temporary solution then a cheap EV charger might be the one for you, dumbed down chargers do and provide the most basic function of charging which will also please many. However, if you care about the long term effectiveness in your EV Charging Experience it's better to splurge on a better “expensive” charger. As you’ll be interacting with it on the daily as you plug in with your EV.
