A Guide to Portable EV Chargers

Author: Jesse

Aug. 26, 2024

A Guide to Portable EV Chargers

Things to consider before purchasing a portable EV charger

Portable EV chargers only offer around a 20-mile charge, which should be enough to get you to a nearby public charging station. This means portable chargers aren&#;t suitable for replacing home or public chargers. You shouldn&#;t rely on them to do the core of your charging due to the very limited range they provide.

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Think of a portable charger like an EV emergency charge pack. On long journeys with limited public charger coverage, they can offer some reassurance. If, for whatever reason, you get stuck and run out of charge, portable EV chargers give you the ability to get back on the road quickly, without having to call roadside assistance.

If you plan your journey ahead of time, you likely won&#;t ever need a portable EV charger. Before embarking on a long trip, we recommend:

  • Taking note of compatible charging stations on the route

  • Having more than one option for each planned charging stop in case your first charging option is out of order

  • Giving yourself extra time should you have to wait at the charging station

Want to know more about preparing for long journeys with your EV? Read our tips on how to plan a road trip with an EV in our guide.

Webasto Go Dual Voltage Portable EV Charger

Electric vehicle owners looking for a dual-voltage portable charger have many options today. However, in our opinion, not many good options, because many products are neither safety-certified nor well-made by an established company, and will likely fail well before you sell your EV or your lease is up, if you use it for daily charging.

The Webasto Go doesn't fall into that category because it is both safety-certified and well-made. It comes from a company that has sold more than 125,000 EVSE and is currently offered as the standard portable charging equipment for the Volkswagen ID.4, Vinfast, and both the Ford Mustang Mach-E and the Ford F-150 Lightning. So we ordered one, used it for a few weeks, and then put it through our rigorous EV charger tests.

The Webasto Go dual-voltage portable EVSE is the supplied charger for Ford and Volkswagen's electric vehicles.

The Go is a dual-voltage EV charger and that means it can plug into both 120-volt and 240-volt outlets. It comes standard with two adapters that enable dual-voltage charging, a NEMA 5-15 plug for 120-volt charging, and a NEMA 14-50 plug for 240-volt fast charging. 

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Charging from a 120-volt outlet, the Go will deliver up to 1.4 kW, and when plugged into a 240-volt outlet, the 32-amp charger will deliver up to 7.7 kW. In addition to the adapters, the Go comes with a wall-mounting cradle and a carrying case. 

Chapters:

  • 00:24 What comes with the Go
  • 02:39 The key features
  • 03:58 Mounting the Go 
  • 05:29 Holstering the connector and managing the cable
  • 06:52 Locating the outlet
  • 08:46 Charging Tesla vehicles
  • 12:07 The automatic restart test
  • 12:47 The cable deep freeze test
  • 15:19 The connector drop test
  • 16:14 The charger drop test
  • 17:51 The cable thickness
  • 18:20 The submersion test
  • 20:40 My impression after the review
  • 22:58 The ChargerRater scoring
  • 27:57 The final rating
  • 28:41 Hits and misses

The unit passed our cable deep freeze test, the automatic restart test, and the connector and charger drop tests. It did, however, fail the submersion test. We only conduct the submersion test on units that are IP67 (NEMA 6) or higher rated. Those ratings mean the unit should be capable of being submerged in up to 3 feet of water for 30 minutes without any water intrusion. 

Unfortunately, as soon as we lowered the Go into the bucket of water it immediately entered into a fault state and shut off. The good news is the Go wasn't permanently damaged and did work again once the adapter inlet was dry. That wasn't the case when we tested the Pergear P2 portable charger. In that test, water poured into the body of the unit and it suffered a catastrophic failure. 

The Go faulted when submerged in a bucket of water, but worked fine once the adapter inlet dried out. 

We gave the Go a final rating of 4.4 stars out of 5 and added it to our recommended charger list. If it didn't have the problem with faulting in the submersion test it would have probably finished with 4.6 stars. It's a very good overall charger, especially for those looking for a lightweight, portable solution.

The other two issues we have with the Go are the price ($549.00) and the fact that Webasto only offers a two-year warranty. Three years is the standard warranty length for quality charging equipment, and we're disappointed that Webasto doesn't support the product with a three-year term.

The cost is also a little higher than some competing portable chargers, but it is safety certified and very well built, so paying a little extra is sometimes the least expensive way to go over the long term. 

Webasto Go ChargerRater score

The company is the world’s best Portable Ev Charger supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.

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