Hi all,

Got a few questions on the L2 home charger that you will use. Please keep in mind that I'm a first time EV owner "to-be" so I have no experience with charging, but a bunch of my neighbors have Tesla or Taycan so I have picked their brains as well.

1. What charger do you recommend? I'm looking at this one: https://ev-lectron.com/collections/l...arging-station

2. Should I go hardwired or 14-50 plug?

3. I think the circuit should have a 60amp braker to charge at 48amps, but what amperage do you usually charge at? Any heating issues on the cable when charging at high amps? I have recently heard about Porsche telling all their owners to reduce the charging amps because of issues with high amp charging with their devices.

4. Does the Mercedes app have the ability to regulate what amperage the car is charging at, so I can charge at 30amp for a normal overnight charge if I have enough time? Or do I need to make sure the home charger itself has the ability to regulate the amps via their app (e.g. chargepoint charger)?

5. Is it recommended to charge at lower amps?

6. The Tesla charger that came with my neighbors car (Tesla mobile connector) has the ability to switch out the plug cable so you can charge at 120V (12A/16A) or 240V(12A - 32A). I think the Porsche charge is similar. Anyone know if the Mercedes charger option is a similar charger?

Any other things that I should be aware of?

 

1. What charger do you recommend? I'm looking at this one: https://ev-lectron.com/collections/l...arging-station.

After watching numerous reviews, I selected the ChargePoint Home Flex.

https:/www.chargepoint.com/drivers/home/chargepoint-home-flex

2. Should I go hardwired or 14-50 plug?

The EQS SUV has a maximum AC charge rate of 9.7 kW per hour, so a 50 amp circuit is all you need or could use. You can order it with a NEMA 14–50 or a NEMA 6–50 plug. Only three wires are required for the charger so the 6–50 plug makes more sense. I ordered the 14-50 plug because I didn’t realize only three wires are needed. It can be hardwired if you’d like but if you go with a plug, it will be easier to replace if something happens to it.

3. I think the circuit should have a 60amp braker to charge at 48amps, but what amperage do you usually charge at? Any heating issues on the cable when charging at high amps? I have recently heard about Porsche telling all their owners to reduce the charging amps because of issues with high amp charging with their devices.

The ChargePoint home flex can do 60 A but once again, the EQS SUV has a maximum charge rate of 9.7 kW so you would be wasting money to install a 60 amp circuit and heavy duty 4-gauge wire.

4. Does the Mercedes app have the ability to regulate what amperage the car is charging at, so I can charge at 30amp for a normal overnight charge if I have enough time? Or do I need to make sure the home charger itself has the ability to regulate the amps via their app (e.g. chargepoint charger)?

I haven’t found a way to regulate the charge rate from the app or the car but the charge point home flex is configurable so if you wanted to lower the charge rate to something less than 9.7 kW per hour, it can be done.

5. Is it recommended to charge at lower amps?

Yes, slower charge rates promote better battery health.

6. The Tesla charger that came with my neighbors car (Tesla mobile connector) has the ability to switch out the plug cable so you can charge at 120V (12A/16A) or 240V(12A - 32A). I think the Porsche charge is similar. Anyone know if the Mercedes charger option is a similar charger?

You can plug it into a 110 outlet. I will double check tomorrow if it can be plugged into a 220 NEMA outlet.

Any other things that I should be aware of?

You will need to buy 6-gauge romex wire to run from the 50 amp circuit breaker to the charger. Once again, you only need three wires to wire it from the circuit breaker to the charger.

 

1. I'm not familiar with the charger in your link. Here are the 4 recommended by Tom Moloughney who has tested many chargers for InsideEVs. I personally have two JuiceBoxes in my garage.


2. I prefer hardwired because it reduces the connections in the system (no plug) and likely generates less heat. There is no reason to need to unplug one of these units.

3. You need a 60amp breaker for 48amp charging, or 50amp breaker for 40amp charging. Basically you can charge at 80% of the breaker value. 48amp charging is probably more than you need unless you are regularly coming home almost empty and need a full charge in the morning. Save some money and go with a 50amp/40amp setup.

4. I haven't seen a way to change the charging amps through the EQS MBUX or app, but many of the chargers (JuiceBox for example) you can change the amperage through their app. Kinda annoying but makes it easy to adjust.

5. I typically charge at 16-24amps and then up it to 40amps if I need to charge faster. That is a rare occasion. No need to stress the electrical panel.

6. The basic Mercedes charger is 120V only and does not appear to be upgradeable to 240V. If you want to portable 240V charger (120V is almost worthless) I would buy an aftermarket charger. There are plenty of good options on Amazon that will be much cheaper than a Mercedes branded charger.

 

Here is a link to ChargePoint for the EQS:

https://www.chargepoint.com/mercedes

 

I have 3 of these. Only charger I would use. Very high quality. Great app too.

 

While not the cheapest to buy, it is a high quality charger and the ChargePoint app tracks how much electricity you're buying to charge your car.

 

We have a Tesla charger at home. Any recommendations on adaptors?

 

Teslatap. I would order the 80amp so you can use it on road trips as well. I have one and it works great.

TeslaTap

 

I was lucky to be able to order the ChargePoint Flex with an instant $500 rebate, so was a no brainer for me. Bought 2.

 

The Georgia Power rebate for me made this cost competitive with any other option.

 

I've been VERY pleased with this
https://ev-lectron.com/products/lect...waAhvLEALw_wcB

 

This is the one im looking at. How is the app? Can u control the charging amperage and does it show your charging history etc?

​​​​​​​

 

unless I’m mistaken there’s no app

controlling the amperage is via a dial on the back panel and based on the position is whether you want 48, 49, 32, etc

I like the display, the power options and overall good value

 

I agree that needing the speed of 48 amp charging is going to be extremely rare but as far as cost difference for a nonGFCI circuit 50 vs 60 amps would be negligible (I think they are only like $20-30 to begin with). The Charging units (charpoint, Juicebox etc) themselves have built in GFCI protection so you do not need a GFCI protected circuit and if you do have one it may cause nuisance" tripping as I understand it. GFCI protected circuits would be closer to $100 if needed. What the electrician is charging you for 50 vs 60 amp circuit is another story but the material cost for the breaker is negligible. The wiring is probably the biggest cost factor and I guess if they recommend 6-3 instead of 8-3 wire when changing from 50 to 60 amps that could be a factor. Another thing to consider is if using a 60 amp circuit it would require hardwiring the unit because 14-50 or 6-50 plugs can be tied to a 50 amp circuit max.

 

The Lectron adapter would be best suited. Will go to 48 AMPs which would more than achieve the 9.7 kW that the EQS would charge off any Tesla wall connector (including destination chargers) — just to be clear this won’t work at Tesla Superchargers.

we have Tesla wall connectors at both our homes and have used these for charging an ID.4

I prefer this over TeslaTap as it’s UL approved.

can be found on Amazon as well for same price.

https://ev-lectron.com/products/lect...nnectors-black

 

Thanks, I purchased the Lectron and it will arrive today!

 

awesome. I am waiting on my EQS 580x to be built in January. I plan to get 3 of them. 2 for each home and one in the car

 

My EQS SUV 580 is on order with a January build date. When hardwiring a ChargePoint on a 60 amp 240 volt circuit, will I be limited by the EQS's 9.6 kW charging to only 40 amps? I was hoping to get 48 amps.

 

correct. The onboard charger is the limiting factor here.

 

I have read that the EQS SUV can charge at 11kwh (48amps). I have also read there is an optional upgrade to 22kwh on board charging, but assuming that is something for other countries.

https://evchargeplus.com/ev-specific...-benz-eqs-suv/

I'm interested in where you folks have read max charging is 9.6kwh

 

A copy of the 2023 EQS SUV Order Guide dated 9/27/2022 was posted in another forum.

EDIT: The order guide is available in this forum:https://mbworld.org/forums/eqs-suv/8...der-guide.html

 

the order guide states 9.6kW AC charging

looking forward to seeing some real life YouTube videos on range and DC/AC charging

 

I just had a ChargePoint Home Flex installed on a hardwired circuit capable of delivering up to 50 amps. Nonetheless, the maximum charge rate that I'm seeing it deliver to the EQS in the ChargePoint and MercedesMe Connect apps is 9.7 kW, which is approx. 40.4 amps.

When I use the same charger to on my Tesla Model 3, it charges at 48A, which lines up with the 11.5 kW max capacity of that car's onboard charger.

 

Thanks for sharing the video. I'm going with the Chargepoint Flex. But here is my question. There are 2 versions on Amazon - one with a Nema 14-50 and the other one with a Nema 6-50. There is a $170 difference between the 2 and it seems like the only difference is the plug type. Is there a compelling reason to pay $170 more tor the 14-50 plug?

 

No. List price for both is $749. Because of scarcity third party sellers are selling it over list. If you’re not in a hurry go to ChargePoint home page where you can order it at list. (It may be backordered). Also Amazon sells both at list. They go fast when Amazon has both versions in stock. I was lucky, I still haven’t got my car yet so when I ordered thru my friends electric company there was a $500 instant rebate. It took about 4 weeks but I have the charger, just not the car.
I just went to City Electric Supply website. They have both versions in stock at $749.