ChargePoint Home Flex EV Charger Complete Review

The ChargePoint Home Flex is Chargepoint's latest offering for home EV charging. It's a powerful 50-amp EVSE with smart-charging capability in a compact, stylish form.

In this video, we review all of the ChargePoint Home's features and put it to our deep-freeze cable test. We give the ChargePoint Home Flex a 4.6 out of 5 overall rating, and add it to our recommended charger list.

This video is powered by Qmerit, North America’s leading provider of installation services for EV charging, home energy storage, and other electrification technologies.

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[skyemalcolm]

We installed one of these ChargePoint Flex units, hardwired on a 50 A breaker. Set up was as straightforward as Tom described. The WiFi setup, the app integration, and high quality mentioned are all exactly as described. We love it and use it to charge our LEAF and Clarity every day.

[JohnnyC]

That "cold test" is a detail few (if any) other channels would cover. Good job.

[ericapelz]

Just hope you never need support. Two tickets were placed through the website with no response. Then a phone call where I asked about screws for the bottom edge of the faceplate (there are holes in the faceplate and threaded brass inserts in the body). The gal who answered simply told me there was no mention of the screws in the install manual and then assured me someone would call me back about the lack of response to the first two tickets. With some of the worst possible support, so far, I should have saved some money and bought something else. I purchased this unit because of how flexible it was after the ice cream freezer test, but I could have purchased an Open EVSE and a replacement Chargepoint flex cable for less money. We need reviews of customer support.

[richardnelson]

Tom. I just bought a 2023 Toyota RAV4 PRIME and Home Flex charger. An electrician did the install. I opened the app and it wanted me to hold my phone on the charger which didn't look like mine and didn't work at all (Nearfield). My circuit breaker is 30A requiring the charging current be limited to 24A. The App had only 2 choices: 40A or 50A. The first night I let it charge and the Toyota limited the charge to 6.6kW or 27.5A. This was confirmed by the graph of that night's charging. I then called Chargepoint support. He said 24A was not a choice, but he could set it to 20A. So after a bit of a process, he said it was now set to 20A. I cannot find a way to verify this in their App. So I'm disappointed that the unit does not function as you indicated and as shown online at Amazon, etc. I could not find any written manual or an explanation on what the colored lights specify. Additionally, the App only allowed the selection of a 2021 RAV4 PRIME. Best regards, Richard

[BenShutUp]

This is so helpful, thank you! I've been an EV driver for years but recently had to move to the suburbs where there are very few EV Charging stations near me. Therefore, I am considering an at-home EV Charging appliance.

[johnv]

State of Maryland requires either this unit or the JuiceBox in order to get a 40% of purchase Rebate back from the State.. I have an EV on the way and the Chargepoint box sitting in my living room waiting for installation.. Watching this video makes me think I got the right unit.. I had ordered the Grizzl-E but canceled for the Chargepoint. Good video content!

[kevyNova]

This is one of the best reviews I've ever seen, kudos man, you covered absoulty everything.

[fullyelectric]

Tom, truly excellent review!

I got mine the last time I post up about it on your other video .. been using it with the wife new Audi eTron, get up to 10.5kW flat all the time, it’s setup to deliver full 12kW but as you stated the car has to support it too .. will have to check on the max for the Audi eTron and Porsche .. plus the new Mach E.. I know they come with 48amp chargers included however the onboard AC to DC may have a higher rating, will need to check on that..

Thanks again for all that you do Tom .. truly very helpful and informative information!! More please..

[spat]

Great video. Thank you. Nice review. The freezer test is a great idea.

We have the first generation ChargePoint Home charger. We got it in 2017. I checked my account on the CP website and it shows to date the unit has had 1100+ charge sessions and has delivered 15, 500kWh of power to our two electric cars (2017 Chevrolet Volt and 2017 Bolt EV).

I love the ChargePoint EVSE. It is mounted inside our attached garage, so it is not subjected to harsh weather, etc. It has held up well and shows no signs of stopping. Yes, it cost more than some other brands, but I highly recommend the ChargePoint.

[lewartsimmons]

Tom - Thank you for the well articulated review! It is extraordinary the knowledge I'm learning on EV ownership in preparing for my purchase. I would never have considered cable flexibility as a purchase consideration. Your demonstration raises the creditability of your review. Thanks.

[duanepieri]

This was by far the best review for any product I’ve ever seen. Super informative and objective. Thank you!! I’ll be watching, liking and subscribing.

[scottkiliany]

It would be interesting to see an abrasion resistance test on the cables. Let's face it, most of us will drag the cables across our garage floor or driveway. My garage floor is like rough sandpaper, a soft outer casing might wear thru over months and months of dragging it across the floor. That would be more important to me than the freeze test, as I am not in an area where that is a concern.

[crayzieap]

For "Smart" EV chargers that will depend on a mobile app, you should factor in the app rating for both iOS/Android --- which likely indicates how useable the companion app is with the charge station.

[christopheryanosev]

great point about the cord being flexible under cold weather conditions. I am sure this is very important for many users.

[BrianOlmsted]

How do you lockout people using the Chargepoint if you go away on vacation with the car and your car isn't in the driveway, etc? I see Chargepoint says to prevent unauthorized usage to set up schedule when you are home (e.g. 23:00-07:00).

So does that mean you schedule something like 23:00-23:00 to lock out people pulling into your driveway to use the juice or have to shut off the breaker?

When I do go and eventually mount an EVSE it will be on the front of the house since I don't have garage/carport and there is a gate attached to the front corner of the house so I can't really put the EVSE cord under the gate especially in winter conditions and having to open the gate.

Looks like the Wallbox Pulsar Plus has the ability to lock out people even remotely from the app, etc and looks to have move smart features and better reporting, etc but the biggest thing going against it from my perspective is the charing cord flexibility as I live in cold climate and this is the big thing going for the Chargepoint and they are roughly the same price point. Also the Wallbox doesn't look feasible to wrap the cord around it so you have to mount a holster to the wall as well for that and I have a tight space

The Emporia charger that Tom highly rated only has bottom power supply and not through the back like the Chargepoint Home Flex or Wallbox Pulsar Plus and I was hoping to have a clean setup and come through the back if possible. The other big thing going against the Emporia is the holster as Tom points out and I'd be inclined to buy another one and plug into that and wrap the cord around the EVSE unit. I'm kind of keen on the Black version to make it blend in from the street level but Amazon lists this as non-UL for some reason but perhaps that was before they got the certification as I think Tom said they raised the price recently and that may be part of recouping that.


All of these units assume you are mounting to drywall with anchors or going into a stud but in my case I would be mounting on Brick exterior and I would really prefer to have clean install and have the wires come in from the back instead of having a conduit awkwardly coming up the wall from the rim joist area.

I'm trying to figure if the interior wall bottom plate is a 2x3 rather than 2x4 and if the wires would come out in the basement in front of the floor joist or behind because of the bay window floor joist protruding towards the street is another 2 joists worth from the joist in the corner that I would have to come through.

If I want to come in through the back of the unit it means having to make a hole in the drywall and looking down at the bottom plate to see how wide it is. Perhaps I can take the baseboard trim off and poke in behind that and put it back.

In my jurisdiction (Ontario Canada) we are allowed to run NMD90 NMSC (I believe NMB in the US) in conduit in dry and damp locations and the ESA (authority) has said this is ok to EVSE so I have two option
1) run a conduit from rim joist up along side the downspout and then over underneath EVSE mounted on wall and then having to paint the conduit afterwards to be brown (downspout colour) or black to blend in with most EVSEs, etc as i don't want a white EVSE sticking out like a sore thumb.
2) come in through the back and then open up the drywall behind it and make a bend to go down in the wall (I'm assuming it is 2x3 at this point) and then go down through the bottom plate and hope the hole doesn't go in the joist cavity between the joist for the corner area and the joist in the bay window area that is spray foamed off or hit the joist. I'm trying to use the floor register as a reference point so I think the supply is about 9-10" to the edge of the joist in the basement and about 12" on the top to the baseboards so I'm thinking its a 2x3 there but will have to do exploratory surgery.

My wife really doesn't want me making a hole in the house but you gotta do that to get an EVSE hooked up and I previously did this to wire a 30 amp circuit to our garden shed and she was saying we didn't need juice in the shed but she turns it on whenever she goes in the shed :D

[Rollermonkey]

My local electric utility sells this charger, and offers an instant $500 rebate on the regular $700 price. Near as I can tell, that would add 6 points on the cost factor.

Yeah. I definitely bought this charger through them. How could I not?

[davemartin]

Hey Tom, are there any chargers that allow you to adjust the charge current on a 120V circuit? I sometimes charge a Tesla (which lets you throttle down the current) at 8A on a shared 120V circuit and would like to be able to do the same with another EV that doesn't have (as far as I know) a self-throttling capability. Are there any other BEVs that can self-throttle?

[RockhollowCNCServices]

Great videos Tom. we are going to purchase the new Equinox EV shortly and looking at chargers. This video is now 3 years old. Any changes or new thoughts on this unit? Thanks again, love your stuff.

[jedisith]

Great video Tom, we are currently shopping for an EV and home charging is important to us. This detailed review is extremely helpful. I just have one question, since they all have lights and wi-fi capabilities. How much power do the chargers draw when not charging the car?

[Poeticnotes]

You are the only person to answer my question. So it is ok to order a 14-60 cord/plug, connect it to the CP Flex and plug it into a NEMA 14-60 outlet on a 60 amp breaker. My other question is what happens or can you plug a 14-50 plug into a 14-60 outlet on a 60 amp breaker?