Tethered or untethered?
Discussion
Personally I went for tethered at home, and use untethered at work so have experience with both regularly. The benefits of a tethered charger is mainly that you can just pull up and plug in, without having to rummage around for a cable potentially left under everything in your boot. The other main benefit i've found is that you're not having to mess around with a wet and potentially dirty cable in the interior of your car. That being said, with a tethered charger the cable will become dirty/wet over time and you'll end up having to interact with it anyway if you need to wind it around the charger for storage like I do with my Hypervolt unit. Most of the time during the winter I just attach the plug into the wall holder and leave the cable loose to avoid having to mess with it, but this looks pretty untidy.
Using the untethered chargers at work can be a pain if I've had to put items on top of the cable in the boot, or vice versa when i've loaded the car and forgotten to unplug and stow the cable first. My Renault Zoe has no frunk where I can keep the cable away from the main boot area, so if your car has a small amount of storage up front this is less of an issue. I could get around all this by just being a bit more organized I guess
. On a day to day basis the tethered charger is just easier, when you're feeling tired or lazy on a cold wet day not having to deal with faffing with a separate cable is worth it
Using the untethered chargers at work can be a pain if I've had to put items on top of the cable in the boot, or vice versa when i've loaded the car and forgotten to unplug and stow the cable first. My Renault Zoe has no frunk where I can keep the cable away from the main boot area, so if your car has a small amount of storage up front this is less of an issue. I could get around all this by just being a bit more organized I guess
. On a day to day basis the tethered charger is just easier, when you're feeling tired or lazy on a cold wet day not having to deal with faffing with a separate cable is worth itIt's purely down to personal preference depending on how often you charge and where you want to place the unit.
We went untethered because we only charge about once a week and the unit is next to our front door. It's an Easee One charger so quite small and neat and no cable potentially looking untidy. You can lock a cable into the charger too so effectively making it tethered. It takes no time to take the cable out of the boot and plug in.
Having said that, if we were charging most nights and could place the charger at the side of the house then we'd probably have gone tethered.
There's no right or wrong answer really.
We went untethered because we only charge about once a week and the unit is next to our front door. It's an Easee One charger so quite small and neat and no cable potentially looking untidy. You can lock a cable into the charger too so effectively making it tethered. It takes no time to take the cable out of the boot and plug in.
Having said that, if we were charging most nights and could place the charger at the side of the house then we'd probably have gone tethered.
There's no right or wrong answer really.
I have untethered because it means I can easily replace the cable if I need to, leaving it plugged in at the charger end. There's a shorter cable in the car just in case and I bought a cheap longer cable on FB Marketplace. 
If so, I wondered about that (not doing it as a form of side hustle but whether crims would do it or not).
carinatauk said:
Some areas are experiencing cable theft
As in they slash the fixed cable?If so, I wondered about that (not doing it as a form of side hustle but whether crims would do it or not).
My car cable lives plugged in/tethered! It is locked in the charger which is also in the garage, with the cable sneaking out and we leave the end of it sheltered under a porch roof. On a long journey we do need to remember the cable, and i think I might buy a second cable to leave in the car.
Tethered.
Why would you want to be dealing with having to be dealing with coiling up and nicely stowing your cable in the car? Particularly if its raining.
Unless you're doing it in the comfort of a nice car port or garage and even then it would be a pain to have to do every time. Far better to have something you just quickly hang up/loop round and leave.
Why would you want to be dealing with having to be dealing with coiling up and nicely stowing your cable in the car? Particularly if its raining.
Unless you're doing it in the comfort of a nice car port or garage and even then it would be a pain to have to do every time. Far better to have something you just quickly hang up/loop round and leave.
Hoofy said:
As in they slash the fixed cable?
If so, I wondered about that (not doing it as a form of side hustle but whether crims would do it or not).
I don't know about home chargers but our local rapid charger station had every cable cut and nicked within a couple of months of it being built.If so, I wondered about that (not doing it as a form of side hustle but whether crims would do it or not).
i have unthreatened, with a bracket to hold it.
in the even of a cable fault / theft its a 10 second job to fit my spare cable (i have 3m 5m and 10m), rather than hoping the part is in stock and having to pay a sparks to fit it
ironically just after 5 years my car stopped charging with no apparent faults, fitting a new cable cured the problem instantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8XkiOFWIQ
in the even of a cable fault / theft its a 10 second job to fit my spare cable (i have 3m 5m and 10m), rather than hoping the part is in stock and having to pay a sparks to fit it
ironically just after 5 years my car stopped charging with no apparent faults, fitting a new cable cured the problem instantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8XkiOFWIQ
raspy said:
Untethered I have. It's a cleaner look for the front of the property too.
It's not an issue to take the cable out of the car, even if it's raining.
I don't get what all the fuss is about.
This. Tethered if fine if you have an Anderson with a big box to put the cable in. Without that you have a nice small charger with a 'hosepipe' wrapped untidily around it.It's not an issue to take the cable out of the car, even if it's raining.
I don't get what all the fuss is about.
I went tethered so I know that I haven't left the cable at home. No need to faff around putting the cable back in the car as it is always there if I need it.
Price were the exact same for the charging unit I have.
Personally I don't care what it looks like outside as there's a car in front of the charger 99% of the time. Plus if we sell the house, the charger will be removed unless the new house has one.
Price were the exact same for the charging unit I have.
Personally I don't care what it looks like outside as there's a car in front of the charger 99% of the time. Plus if we sell the house, the charger will be removed unless the new house has one.
Untethered on an Easee One charger.
You can choose to have the cable locked in place so it's essentially becomes a tethered setup. As said if anything was to go wrong with the cable or the connector I can just get a new cable easily.
I always charge via rapid DC charger when public charging so don't need to carry a cable as they are always tethered.
Depends on what charger you get I suppose.
You can choose to have the cable locked in place so it's essentially becomes a tethered setup. As said if anything was to go wrong with the cable or the connector I can just get a new cable easily.
I always charge via rapid DC charger when public charging so don't need to carry a cable as they are always tethered.
Depends on what charger you get I suppose.
Dave Hedgehog said:
i have unthreatened, with a bracket to hold it.
in the even of a cable fault / theft its a 10 second job to fit my spare cable (i have 3m 5m and 10m), rather than hoping the part is in stock and having to pay a sparks to fit it
ironically just after 5 years my car stopped charging with no apparent faults, fitting a new cable cured the problem instantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8XkiOFWIQ
Yep. That's why I went for untethered... and just leave it tethered, knowing that I can easily buy another on FB Marketplace should I need one. And my original one stays dry in the boot, anyway! Best of both worlds. in the even of a cable fault / theft its a 10 second job to fit my spare cable (i have 3m 5m and 10m), rather than hoping the part is in stock and having to pay a sparks to fit it
ironically just after 5 years my car stopped charging with no apparent faults, fitting a new cable cured the problem instantly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww8XkiOFWIQ
Edited by Hoofy on Monday 13th April 11:48
lornemalvo said:
From those with experience, which is better in terms of convenience etc? I have posted this here because, inexplicably, I've been banned from the EV thread. Absolutely no idea why, there seems to be no system for querying why or appealing.
Yet you did, yesterday, and received a reply: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff