EVCONN Level 1/2 EV Charging Extension Cable: Powerful and Reliable 20ft

How does this work?
I take my EV Charger’s SAE J1772 plug (J Plug), and instead of plugging the J Plug into my EV, I plug it within EVConn’s claimed 40A rated (where does it say that? Oh, yes, the listing only) EV Charger Extension Cord’s no-name SAE J1772 inlet, which terminates, on the other end, with a no-name SAE J1772 plug (J Plug), which I then connect to my EV. I have now extended my reach from my charger’s 25’ cable to about 45’. It’s a lot simpler than using a power extension cord from my wall outlet to my charger, to extend the charger’s reach.

Where can I use this, other than my residence?
In theory, I could also use EVConn’s extension cord at a public charger, to extend the charging station’s cable’s reach. For example, when an ICE motor vehicle parks in the EV charger’s spot, and I must park away, I could use this extension to possibly connect, nearby – but there are risks to that – like this extension cable being stolen, as there are no security features to lock in place. So, not so well thought out.

What do I think about this?
It’s a brilliant idea – if I don’t consider safety and the possibility of theft – at a public charging station.

Did it work? Nope, not immediately and I was….
So, I tried connecting, as noted above. Did it work? No and I was disappointed. I connected my “smart” charging station’s J Plug into EVConn’s extension cord inlet. I then plugged EVConn’s J Plug into my EV. I then turned on my charging station, only to watch my EV throw an error code that there was an external charger problem. So, I investigated. My findings, however, established that my super fancy and expensive USA made smart charger, both physically and through its app, showed no sign of their being any issue. But just to confirm, I plugged my USA charger into my other garaged EV. Charging started. Nevertheless, I wanted to give EVConn’s extension cord the benefit of the doubt.

Solution? I used another charger.
So, I located and pulled a “dumb” charger to use [it’s a 12A/16A, 120V/240V, portable spare charger]. This 2nd charger has no smart charging capabilities, whatsoever, such as, ethernet, Bluetooth, nor any app, it truly is a “dumb” charger that always works. I took a chance and gave EVConn’s cable a second try. I connected the dumb charger’s J Plug into EVConn’s inlet, then connected EVConn’s J Plug into my EV. I then turned on the power.

Did the second try work?
It worked, hooray. That dumb charger worked on EVConn’s extension cable perfectly.

Did it get hot?
No, but I was only running at 16A, at 240V, and not to its maximum potential of 40A.

Did this not at first work because?
Did this not work, at first, because my smart charger was too smart and sensitive? I think so, therefore, that’s something to consider for future connections.

Is there risk?
I think there is. My chargers’ instructions note not to use extension cables. This is an extension cable.

IP65 waterproof?
I did not see anything to support such on the extension cord.

It means
It means and shows, to me, that whoever fabricated this, at whatever factory, did “not” go the whole nine yards and get this cable certified for its intended use, which arguably is outdoor use.

CE marking?
No.

What is a CE mark?
CE marking indicates that a product has been assessed by the manufacturer and deemed to meet EU safety, health, and environmental protection requirements. True, CE is not recognized in the US, but this did not even have a visible CE marking, not even on the packaging.

UL listed?
Nowhere on the J Plug nor the inlet, was there any patent reference to anything being UL listed. There was on the flexible cable. So, I went to UL and sought corroboration. The resources I checked suggested that this was UL listed, E520187 [which is for Electric Vehicle Cable Certified for Canada – how about the USA?]. That’s a negative surprise because my decision to select this was because the listing noted this was UL listed, I expected from inlet, to outlet, not just in the middle – the cable.

What UL tells me
A UL mark tells me the manufacturer is trying to tell the world they seek high standards and stand behind what they sell.

A certification isn't a requirement to sell an electronic device in the US. But do I really want to trust a device that’s conducting high voltage and high amperage and where the manufacturer did not want a third-party to certify? Typically, certifications are boldly noted. Not here.

Reason selected
Again, a primary reason I selected this was because the listing noted it was UL listed, for everything. For instance, my charging gun (J1772) notes being UL listed and maximum amperage. This did not.

Was there any RoHS certification surrounding this extension cord.

RoHS stands for?
Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS), which are European Union rules restricting the use of hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment to protect the environment and public health. I wish this was certified as such, although there was no reference surrounding any California Prop65 warning. This lack of RoHS certification weakens this a bit more.

Wiring
EVConn’s charger extension cord has a medium thickness cable, there is reference to its “AWG” wiring gauge.

AWG means?
American Wire Gauge. The smaller the number, the bigger the wire is, so 10 AWG is thicker than 15 AWG. When pumping through higher voltage and amperage, I want thick, heavier wiring.

Was there any STW reference on the cord?
No.

STW means?
On an extension cord, S is for service; T is the coating (thermoplastic/vinyl); W is weather approved. Here, I could see NO reference to STW, on EVConn’s charger extension cord. That’s a bit of a negative surprise.

My experience
This is just an “okay” worthy candidate for me to use on any continuing basis. However, my requirements may not be the reader’s.

Features:
This is a charger extension cable that is listed as being rated (unknown by whom) at 40A. What that tells me is that this can be dialed-in to “draw” as much as 40A, so, I can plug my charger into a 50A circuit but make sure I only draw (80%), by code, which is up to 40A and not a fraction more. Looking at the wiring, it’s UL listed, for Canada, and it does not note STW wiring standards. Rather, everything is metric.

Country of origin?
Made in China

Value
Considering the above, I have a bit of remorse surrounding value and features.

Safety
Oh, yes, always shut power off at the circuit when plugging this in or taking the plug out, for optimal safety.

Security
EVConn’s charger extension cord has no security features to lock this with a public charge, none on either end. So, if my vehicle does “not” lock onto my vehicle, anyone could walk off with this. Typically, the J Plug has a small hole in the thumb trigger to place a lock, EVConn’s J Plug is “latch like,” which is standard, but thin, and it really does slide in or out with ease into my EVs.

I want to also note
EVConn’s extension cords “inlet” is “not” molded into EVConn’s cable, rather, it’s a simple, but bulky, inlet that looks as if someone took an off-the-shelf inlet and wired/connected/married the cable’s wiring into that inlet. Additionally, this is very generic in nature, EVConn’s brand name is nowhere to be found, other than a UPC sticker.

Strudy?
Yes.

For me, this is a weak four (4) star item. If it was not as sturdy in its manufacture, this would have been three (3) star.

I hope my thoughts added information.

This is a very very very heavy duty cable which extends J1772 EV charging. I was able to use this with my Tesla using adapters, but this would work for any vehicle that can charge using J1772, pretty much ALL modern EVs.

The cable is extremely thick and heavy and not very easy to move, but that gives me confidence that I am not losing a lot of voltage by using this extension cord, and I feel comfortable pushing 40A+. With my Tesla, I can accept 48A, and I think this should do it, but I rather not exceed the manufacturer's specifications which states this is limited to 40A. If you have a Tesla and the station can charge higher than 40A, I would recommend manually decreasing the amperage to 40A if using this extension cable.

At the price it's offered at, it's very expensive, but due to the thickness of the cable and the number of wires, it's actually quite justified.

I'm very pleased with this product and I will be carrying it with me for charging at hotel and public locations when spaces are blocked but the charger is available.

Very well made using HEAVY DUTY materials. I expect this extension to last use quite a while. Now we can charge vehicles that are NOT parked directly in our garage which is great because we cant always have them inside the garage due to us doing other tasks & needing the room. So this is a HUGE help for us. Very much comes in handy, we are glad we got it. We just wish we had gotten it sooner!

We have two EVs in the family and often have to park one behind the other. If we're careful, our charger can reach both cars, but if either is parked too far back, then the rear car can't plug in. This fixes that problem. It's also handy to keep in the trunk in case we need a longer cord at a hotel, office, or other location. It of course won't handle DC fast charging, but it works fine for level 1 or 2. It does seem expensive for an extension cord, but it is pretty useful.

I've gotten several of these units to test them out, so far they all stand up to the outdoor elements, and charges with no issues. I will report back if anything changes but so far so good. Checking the retail market on the pricing Amazon has the best pricing by far on these units. If anything changes i will let you know.

Actually, use this in combination with the longer 20 amp 220 V Nema 650 extension cord. So now I can reach a very long way with my cables, but this one is the one I use most because it actually spins the distance pretty easily and it's simple to use. Highly recommended for EVERY EV car driver or even hybrids.

This is a pricey but nice quality, UL rated J1772 extension cord. It is 3/4 the price of what you can purchase a portable level 2 1772 charger for. It has an interesting connection that you plug the J1772 into from the charger. It has some sort of mounting screw, but I'm not really sure what you would use them for. The J1772 connector fits well into this female connector and the other end of the extension has another J1772 connector that attaches to your vehicle. It is a nice thick, quality hose that is still somewhat flexible. We use it at our ski condo since we don't have reserved parking and sometimes people park in the spot in front of our condo forcing us to park further away, making this cord a necessity if we want to charge our vehicle. The cord works well and is weather proof at both ends.

This cable is exactly what I needed and filled a void that has left me stranded in the past when unable to reach the charger from certain parking spaces. The quality of the cable itself seems nice. I have not noticed any defects or issue with the cable whatsoever and I have not had any issues of overheating from the wires. The connections are nice and tight and I haven't even had any issues in inclement weather. The cable is quite thick and can be a little unwieldly but 20' of cable carrying 40amps is not going to be small. I have gotten two velcro straps to wrap around the cable when I have it wound up and that keeps the cable secure and neat when being stored inside my vehicle.

We have used this extension cable when someone was blocking the charging station but there was a nearby parking spot -- so we could extend the cable from the charging station to where our car was parked. It also helped in situations where the connector of the charging station was iffy and not recognized by our car, but putting this extension in-between made it work well with the car. Great cable. Only reason to not give five stars is because I cannot see any UL related label anywhere -- so is it really UL listed as advertised? Also unsure as to whether it's water resistant or not.

Our office building has an outdoor 220V outlet that I like to use for charging, but it doesn’t quite reach with my 20’ charging cable. This is perfect for me: I can reach the outlet from several parking places, and it fits easily onto the output of my J1772 portable charger. After charging for the afternoon, the cable was not hot, and the Lightning truck gained about 50 miles in battery power. This is not too heavy to leave attached to my charger, so I just keep it wired together in my frunk.