The EVSE the comes with the second Gen Volt can unofficially charge L2 if you just make a special pig tail.
I took my OEM EVSE out of the plastic bag for the first-time last week. I wired an outlet to 240 Volts and charged my car with it while fixing my EVSE.
That is the cheapest method. My 2013 volt could not be easily be converted to 240 volt charger.

I got the Levition cable on a black Friday special it was a killer deal. I will have to look I usually keep a detailed cost break out for my projects.
When I build mine, I had an EVSE that I bought from GM but it used a lot of standby power. I was on a mission to reduce standby power drains to net zero out for the year.

SPX EVSE L2 was Total Amount 545.21 shipped This was the cheapest cost at that time others were 750-1K at that time. Things have changed for the better now.

I moved my old EVSE to the out lake place and turn off the breaker when we leave so no standby power loss.

The EVSE market has really changed sense I build mine. They were all very expensive when I built mine.

Open EVSE has wifi and power monitoring now that would be nice, I did check into it but I would have to redo mine not worth it to me at this point.


Here are the main cost but I am sure I have more detailed cost on my old computer.

1x OpenEVSE Programmer - Programmer for $20.00 each
Total : $28.00 USD Shipped

RGB LCD Shield Kit w/ 16x2 Character Display 24.99 Not needed but I like it anyway.

OpenEVSE kit 155.00 USD Shipped

1 of 30 Amp J1772 Level 2 Electric Vehicle Charge Connector with 25 Ft. Cord, A3435-PEV
Order Total: $107.18 Shipped


I saw where others were buying cords from these guys.
http://www.tucsonev.com/
Price is $125 for a 20ft length.

Thanks for the update Pinball. I thought I'd seen a thread about this subject years ago. I need to open up the L1 charger that came with my eGolf. It's a Delphi that may be adaptable to 240V. It resembles a miniature version of the ClipperCreek HCS-40 I just bought.

I picked up the used ClipperCreek HCS-40 (32A) Level 2 charger off eBay (under $400 shipped). The first thing I did when it arrived was open it up to look inside. (because there is no warranty, right?) The four rectangular LED's are all in the same orientation on the Delphi (120V) and the ClipperCreek (240V) units I own. I wonder if they use the same communications board inside?

Used the Level 2 charger for the first time on Friday night, set the car at 13A charging rate (Options are: Max, 13A, 10A, 5A). Saturday morning, the car indicated 160 miles of range available. I put just over 30 miles on it today, and my remaining range is showing ~125 miles to empty. Not bad for a car with an estimated 125 mile range. :) I don't expect I'll be using the Level 2 charger on the 30A rate very often as the e-Golf doesn't have liquid cooled batteries and pushing 7.2kW into the pack with passive cooling sounds like roasting marshmallows. However, it's good to have the option in a pinch since it can add 100 miles of range to my car in under 3 hours. (It's probably also not as much heat as the DC fast charging connector would generate in the batteries). Using the supplied Level 1 charger, adding 100 miles takes ~18 hours.

7 ½ years ago I build this charger (EVSE). I now have a Gen2 Volt but the charger is still charging my car just fine.

I did add a couple vent holes in it since it is installed indoors. It just keeps the heat from building up inside the enclosure.