A few weeks ago we posted an unboxing and first impressions video of the Wallbox Pulsar Plus 40-amp EV charger. At the time, we still needed a few weeks to test out the unit before we could give it a thorough review.
Now that we've used the Pulsar Plus for about a month, we've put together the latest of what we call our "Ultimate Review" series for EV charging equipment. No other EV news site provides such detailed and comprehensive EVSE reviews as we do here at InsideEVs.
The Pulsar Plus from Wallbox has been available in Europe for a few years, however it only recently launched in the US about two months ago. It's a 40-amp smart charger that costs $649.00. However, Wallbox is currently offering $50.00 off as a new product launch special, but that deal may end soon. At $599.00, the Pulsar Plus is a very good deal, in our opinion.
It's a long review that covers many topics, so here are some timestamps of the important topics if you don't want to watch the entire review.
- 1:42 Dimensions
- 1:54 Overview
- 2:10 Power delivery & charging times
- 2:35 NEMA 14-50 plug
- 2:45 25-foot long cable
- 2:58 Adjustable power delivery
- 3:08 NEMA-4 Rated Enclosure
- 4:09 Connector & Cable Comparison
- 4:44 The Pulsar Plus for Tesla vehicles
- 9:06 The connector holster
- 12:08 Cable deep freeze test
- 16:23 Installation
- 19:12 Smart charging features
- 21:49 Separate accounts w/ direct billing
- 25:13 Notifications
- 26:29 Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa
- 28:00 The Pulsar Plus Light Halo
- 30:28 The WallBox App
- 33:05 Pricing & warranty
- 34:00 ChargerRater scoring
- 38:32 The final score
The unit is NEMA-4 rated for extreme weather events, which makes it a good choice for outdoor installations. I even soaked it with a garden hose for a while to demonstrate the enclosure's ability to keep out unwanted moisture.
As we always do in the ultimate reviews, we froze the Pulsar Plus in a deep-freeze ice cream freezer to see how the cable responded to the extreme cold. Unfortunately it failed out cable deep freeze test, and that was one of the few areas where the Pulsar Plus comes up short.
It comes standard with a 25-foot cable, which is the longest cable you can get on home charging equipment. It also has a NEMA 14-50 plug which can be removed if the customer prefers to hard-wire it. The customer also has the ability to de-rate the power delivery of they prefer, all the way down to 6-amps.
While delivering the full 40-amps the Pulsar Plus is capable of delivering, the unit can charge an EV at a rate of 9.6 kW, which should be good enough to recharge any EV overnight.
As mentioned, the pulsar Plus is a smart-charger, and comes with an app. You can check the charging status, start/stop a charging session, review past charging history, set reminders and even remotely lock the Pulsar Plus to prevent unauthorized use.
The Pulsar Plus can powershare across multiple units, and in the future, Wallbox is going to introduce the ability to directly bill users that are sharing the units, which is a perfect solution for multiple-unit dwellings (MUDs).
We really like the Pulsar Plus and gave it a rating of 4.6 stars, tying it with the ChargePoint Home Flex and the Enel-X JuiceBox for the highest-rated EVSE that we've reviewed. It's compact, powerful, full of smart-charging features with a nice app, it has a long cable and a great, rubberized connector.
It's appropriately priced when you consider the competition and with the current $50 discount, it's a pretty good deal. it really ticks all of the boxes and if the cable didn't get a poor rating in our cold weather testing, it may have achieved the highest rating that we've given a charger to date.
Those interested can check out and order a Pulsar Plus directly from the Wallbox website. So check out the video and let us know what you think in the comment section below.
Source: State Of Charge