I built a 30-amp OpenEVSE last April. I used all pre-built parts (no
soldering) and the $85 enclosure they were offering. It still took me a
couple hours to put it together and my final cost was $540. I plug it
into a 30amp twist-lock so it's considered "portable." $175 of that was
a 25 foot J1772 cable & connector from Leviton.
I'm building a second one and to save money I bought their
"mostly-built" version. That's meant a couple hours of soldering and now
I'm trying to debug why it doesn't work. (The savings over fully-built
was $35. I'm an idiot.) But since I built the first one, Chris at
OpenEVSE has put together a kit with all the pieces that I previously
had to source myself. That saved a lot of time and money. Sadly, the
enclosure is no longer available so I bought an off-the-shelf Hammond
NEMA 4 box (this unit was destined for outside). I haven't added
everything up but I think it will be about $475 complete. If you buy a
second cord from Leviton you get a discount.
I unexpectedly acquired a third EV last week and ya know what? I found
that Clipper Creek has a 30 amp, indoor/outdoor, made-in-the-USA,
certified EVSE with a 25 foot cord for "only" $590. Bosch has one for
$593 but it only has an 18 foot cord and I need the extra length. I
ordered the Clipper Creek one to go outside. The one I'm building will
go inside the garage. I decided my time was worth the extra $50-100 for
the Clipper Creek one. If I had to pay $800 I probably would have built
the third one too. But having done two and seeing how expensive the bits
really are I've become more sympathetic to $600 EVSEs.
--Rick
On 1/31/2014 6:46 PM, David Rees wrote:
[... some deleted...]
The cheapest OpenEVSE kit is $169 and you still have to do some soldering.
And you still don't have an enclosure for it all + misc wire cost and
you've already spent $350 if you don't value your time.
Pretty easy to see how these are getting marked up to $600 once you
factor in some profit on a low-volume product.
Expect prices to drop as volumes go up - eventually these will cost
around $200, but the volume just isn't there yet.
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