The [5] Best Ev Home Chargers For Chevy Bolts
The Chevy Bolt is a great and popular choice among electric car drivers. However, as anyone who’s gone electric knows, the challenge in a world that’s still getting its collective head around the shift in technology isn’t the car you choose but the charging options available for it.
Any car without power is just a sculpture waiting to rust, and the home charging market is getting more robust daily as charger makers realize where the money is—making chargers that meet more of the needs you didn’t know you had, like faster chargers, better-connected chargers, and more accessible chargers.
Chargers that make your life as an electric vehicle driver as hassle-free – or freer – than traditional gas or diesel drivers. But which of these emerging hassle-killers is really the best? Come with us, and let’s find out.
In a hurry? Here are the best you can get for a Chevy Bolt.
🏆 Best Overall | ChargePoint Home Flex
🥈 Runner-Up | JuiceBox 40 Smart Charger
💰 Best Budget | Lefanev EV Charger
Best Ev Home Chargers For Chevy Bolt Reviews
1. ChargePoint Home Flex Electric Vehicle (EV) Charger
The
First, let’s talk about power delivery. Much of the competition is stuck with delivering 32 amps or 40 amps. The ChargePoint? 50 amps – much less waiting.
In fact, the magic 50 means it can charge your Chevy at its maximum rate, so it cuts your waiting time down to the very shortest it can be.
Beck check mark, there. Limp your way home on electric fumes, plug in, grab a shower and a sandwich, and boom – out you go again.
Rapid, full-power charging puts the ChargePoint out in front of the market, but it’s also among the most straightforward chargers for your Chevy Bolt.
Coming as a plug-in unit, there’s no hassle to set it up, and you can get it with either a NEMA 14-50 or a NEMA 6-50 plug.
Do you need a good long cable from the charging point to the Bolt? How does 23 feet sound? Long enough? Thought so.
Then there’s the fact that it’s a smart charger with its own phone app and is compatible with Alexa. The app lets you set reminders, view all your previous charging sessions (hey, some people love arcane data), and even de-rate the power delivery if needed.
Connect it to Alexa, and you can start or stop a charging session remotely. That’s got to be the ultimate in hassle-beating Bolt-charging. It’s also Energy-Star certified and comes with a 3-year warranty, so it should work brilliantly, and if it doesn’t, you haven’t wasted your money.
The only thing that should give you pause before you click the “buy” button on this one is the amount of money we’re talking about. There’s no disguising the fact that the
But if you view it as an investment in years of hassle-free home charging for your Bolt, the
Pros
- It charges at a maximum of 50 amps
- It’s an easy plug-in charger, so it’s hassle-free
- It’s a smart charger with an app and the ability to connect to Alexa for controlled remote charging.
Cons
- It costs about the same as a kidney on the open market
2. JuiceBox 40 Smart Charging Station
JuiceBox has it going on with the Juicebox 40. As the name suggests, this easy-install charger will let your Bolt chug power at 40 amps – yes, true, that’s not as much as the
Sleek and durable, it also brings the smarts, with its own app to control elements of your Bolt charge.
In particular, its reminder functions are useful because it means you can take advantage of lower local power demand, so prices are lower, too – maximize your budgeting but still get all the charge you need.
One thing lots of people ask is whether their chargers are compatible with a simple dryer outlet. The JuiceBox is, though it needs an additional adaptor (not supplied as standard).
Another pricy charger, it’s in the same league as the ChargePoint, but while it has a similar feel, there are points of difference – notably the 40 amp rather than 50 amp power transfer.
The JuiceBox will appeal to lots of Bolt drivers for its simplicity, street smarts (reminders and the like), and it’s inside/outside functionality, meaning you may not need that long a connecting lead to your car.
And like the ChargePoint, it comes with a 3-year warranty, so your investment is covered in the event of problems.
Pros
- Charges at 40 amps – up to 7 times faster than some chargers on the market.
- As a smart charger, you can use the app to set reminders and maximize the efficiency of your charge.
- It can be used indoors or outdoors.
- With an adaptor, it’s compatible with some dryer outlets for ultimate convenience.
- The 3-year warranty protects your investment in hassle-free Bolt charging.
Cons
- It costs a lot of money
3. Lefanev EV Charger Level 2 Station
Lefanev’s Level 2 station takes us out of the superchargers’ realms into a much more affordable place for regular Bolt drivers, but you notice the bump as you come down the scale.
Firstly, you only get a charge at 32 amps, which is starting to feel significant compared to ChargePoint’s impeccable 50 amps.
That said, charging is all about acceptable compromises – sure, the Lefanev will take a little longer to go from empty to fully charged, but on the other hand, you’re not spending the many extra bucks it would normally cost you to get 50 amp charging.
And let’s not pretend that 32 amp charging is especially shabby or low-end – it’s still more than enough to give you easy home charging without hassle.
You get roughly 35 miles of range per hour of charging at 32 amps, so once you’re in for the night, plug in your Bolt, go to sleep, wake up, and bang! You’re ready to drive wherever you need to go.
It works as both an indoor and outdoor charger (outdoor is preferable, of course, if you’re going to do overnight charging), and it comes with a smart chip that will monitor all the stats and details of your charge.
The slight downside to that is that those details are displayed on an LED screen… on the charger itself, meaning there’s no app and no Wi-Fi connectivity.
So you can’t do any remote charge programming or manage your charge, which happens only during off-peak hours.
In almost every way, the Lefanev marks a come-down in functionality from our first two options. But it’s still a highly effective at-home Bolt charger, and you’ll also notice a significant step-down in price.
Pros
- It works as both an inside and an outside charger.
- It delivers a steady 32 amp charge rate, equating to 25 miles of range per hour of charging.
- Unlike some chargers, the price on the Lefanev is mid-range affordable
Cons
- There’s no Wi-Fi connection, app, or personal digital assistant connection, so there’s no remote operation or off-peak charging reminder.
4. AmazingE Level 2, 240 Volt EV Charging Station
We’d hesitate to call the AmazingE Level 2 the best of both worlds, but it’s certainly been designed like the best of both worlds.
You can use it at home as a standard plug-in charger or take it with you in the trunk and have an emergency power booster if you overestimate your Bolt’s range and run electro-dry in the middle of nowhere.
That dual purpose is seductive, but we’d suggest the AmazingE is more of a portable power boost than a viable at-home option because it packs a distinctly less than impressive 16 amps of charging power, which means wherever you use it, you’re going to need a pretty long book to keep you occupied while it juices you up.
Granted, as a Level 2 charger, it’s still about 3 times faster than anything you’d get out of a Level 1 set-up, but you’d be looking at plugging it for most of the evening and night to get a full charge out of it come morning.
It does come with a generous 20 feet of charging cable, which is up among the levels you’d expect from the big players, and it’s also a distinctly compact unit, which means the 16 amps you get is more impressive than it initially sounds.
But ultimately, with the AmazingE, you’re paying as much for the portability – the equivalent of a spare tank of gas in the trunk – as you are for any advantages to using it at home.
Naturally, it also has none of the Wi-Fi bells or the Alexa whistles of some of the more expensive options on the market.
Pros
- It can be used at home or away, so it’s a great portable option
- The 20-feet cable gives you lots of options for finding a charging point
- It’s small and light enough to be easily used from any home location
Cons
- At 16 amps, it lacks some of the punch you need to rapidly charge your Bolt.
- There’s no Wi-Fi connectivity in this unit, so no remote charging or reminders.
5. Lefanev EV Charger Level 2 Cable (100-250V, 25FT)
Sticking with portable charging tech, and returning to Lefanev, let’s come right down the pricing spectrum and talk about charging cables.
Naturally, as a straightforward cable rather than a souped-up charging unit, you’re paying nowhere near premium prices for the Lefanev Level 2 cable, but you’re also getting significantly less juice per hour of charging.
How much less? Between 10-16 amps, that’s how much. As a home charger, it’s more or less a case of plugging in when you get home and forgetting about it till morning time. That will give you a decent amount of charge to start your day’s Bolting around the place, but it’s just as well to take the Lefanev with you in case of charge emergencies.
They’ll be… long-ish charge emergencies at that power transfer rate, but it’s still a more efficient charging cable than Chevy’s own level 2 model, which is a reason to pick a couple up.
In fact, that’s probably the best solution with the Lefanev Level 2 charging cable.
As it’s one of the cheaper options on the market, pick up a couple, and keep one permanently in your trunk for emergencies while plugging the other in overnight (standard full charge on this cable takes between 3-8 hours).
That will give you options both at home and on the road for significantly less than one of the top-price home-only charging stations.
Related article: The Best Portable EV Chargers
Pros
- It’s a cable, so it can be used comfortably at home or on the road
- It works more efficiently than Chevy’s own level 2 cable, so it’s worth the investment
- Because there’s nothing complicated about it, it’s at the budget end of the charging spectrum
Cons
- No sophisticated elements like an app or Wi-Fi connectivity
- Takes between 3-8 hours to fully charge your Bolt
Buyer’s Guide
Keep a few things in mind when buying a home charger for your Chevy Bolt.
The hassle/cost equation
You can pay out a lot of cash now and have a relatively hassle-free home-charging future, with all the apps, bells, whistles, Alexa alerts, and rapid charging at 40-50 amps, or you can pay much less now and train yourself in the art of budget charging.
The scale is simple – the less hassle you want, the more you pay. Find the point on the scale where you’re comfortable, and buy accordingly.
Station or cable
Similarly, you’ll pay more for a fancy charging station than you will for a relatively portable charging cable, but again, you’ll get more juice more quickly out of a charging station than a cable will ever be able to give you. Choose your comfort point and click the “Buy” button when you find it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a charging station worth it?
That depends. You get much faster charging, Wi-Fi connectivity, and fancy app action, but the price is much higher. The question is whether it’s worth it to you and your lifestyle.
How many amps should a home charger deliver?
The current maximum is 50, which gives you effective rapid charging. Some go as low as 10, which is still effective but will take much longer to fully charge your Bolt.
The price increases the further you go towards 50, so it’s a question of how much you’re willing to pay for, to get the speed of charging you need.
