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Telefonix Level 1 Electric Vehicle Charger – Simple and Convenient, But Pricy

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Telefonix L1 Power Post Electric Vehicle Charging Stattion
Telefonix L1 Power Post Electric Vehicle Charging Stattion

If there’s any one thing that is keeping electric vehicles on the sidelines of the market, it is the lack of charging infrastructure.

Unlike the nearly 100,000 gas stations that are available in the US to refuel a conventional vehicle, there were just under 6,000 public-access electric vehicle charging stations. For an electric vehicle owner, this can present a problem if their commute is better than half their vehicle’s range. One solution would be to install chargers at work places and parking lots, but this has proven to be expensive and complicated.

Telefonix, a specialist in retractable cord reels for the aviation industry, is looking to make things a little simpler with the L1 Power Post. The Telefonix L1 Power Post features a retractable cord to keep it out of the way when not in use and a simple user interface for charging.

For those who work a 9-5 job, an LI charger could be a good idea, which could give electric vehicles a decent enough charge to get them back home.

The only thing that doesn’t convince me is the price which, at $1,500 each, is three times the cost of the $450 Bosch LII charger we discussed a few of days ago. [Is that half the capacity and $1,250 in armor plating?]

Image©Telefonix

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1 COMMENT

  1. In the last paragraph the writer made an inaccurate cost comparison.
    The $450 Bosch in/outdoor EVSE is designed for wall mounting (no stanchion or post), is a level-2 (208VAC 16A, 3.3kW) unit, not a level-1 (120VAC 12A, 1.3kW) unit, and you have to pre-order and wait for delivery. The level-1 product being touted is tailored for hosts that ”want’ the low cost wiring and electricity costs of offering level-1 EVSE to employees and business-visitors.
    While the aforementioned Bosch 3kW level-2 EVSE could be used in a public and or work-site charging environment, it would have to be mounted on a pole. t an additional cost, Bosch offers a (208VAC 30A) 6kW version of that EVSE model. But 6kW wiring and electricity cost are higher.
    The writer did not mention a big issue with public and or work-site EVSE, that they need to have use-logging (a log of how much it is used), and it does not offer an option to charge the driver for electricity via a network. While the initial host may know it is not worth the pennies of electricity used per 8 hour day, later another bean-counting person will want to count the pennies. Not having the ability to let the bean-counters count their beans means they will find a reason to disable the EVSE with a cost cutting decision (this is what happened at COSTCO stores, where the old EVSE did not have data-logging of how much revenue was generated, and the bean counters ripped the EVSE out = dumb).
    The advantage to Telefonix’s product, is convience for the driver. It may be level-1, but the driver does not ‘have-to’ come back out to move his now fully charged plugin-vehicle like with a 6kW EVSE. The plugin vehicle can sit there plugged-in all day/night long while the owner works their shift. Also, the Telefonix product offers a eacy to use j1772 coupler (the handle that plugs into the vehicle). 
    If the host offered the ultra low cost level-1 solution of individually breaker’ed weather tight enclosed 5-20 outlets in the parking lot spaced every 40 ft., the driver would have to use their own level-1 EVSE they carry with them, letting it dangle from the outlet to the vehicle, thus subject to the elements and vandalism. The Telefonix product is a step up from making the driver deal with that.

    IMO for what the Telefonix level-1 product offers, its price is much less than a level-2 EVSE, and has the convience for the employee driver to let them know, as a company, you care. Its a product that would fit a business need at a good price if it only offered the use logging I previously mentioned (one must always keep the bean counters happy).
    {brucedp.150m.com}

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