This portable EV charger from Tera is popular on Amazon and it is a good alternative to the official Mobile Connector product from Tesla. Tera even markets this charger as “Tera for Tesla” because it comes with required adapters for charging Tesla vehicles as well as other EVs using a J1772 connector. Although it is primarily designed to work with NEMA 14-50 (240-volt) receptacles, Tera also includes an adapter for connecting to standard NEMA 5-15 (120-volt) wall outlets. After putting this product through a series of tests, we have no hesitation in recommending this Tera portable EV charger for Tesla owners looking for third-party charging options.
Our Rating: 4.4/5
What we loved
- Great value, includes adapters and accessories
- Durable 10 AWG charging cord
What could be better
- J1772 connector made of light plastic
- Minor Wifi/app issues
Hardware Overview
The Tera P01 Portable EV charger comes with a wall mount, cord holder, Tesla (NACS) adapter, a Level 1 (NEMA 5-15) adapter, and a travel carrying case. This is a lot of kit for the money.
The charging block itself is integrated into the cord and features an IP66 weather resistance rating. This is fine for indoor charging, and outdoor charging in moderate weather. It should not be used in extreme weather or be submerged underwater.
The package includes all necessary screws and mounting hardware to set up at home. If you already have a NEMA 14-50 outlet, installation can be done easily in about 15 minutes. Being a portable unit, it is easy to unplug and stow away into your car for road trip use. This is a particularly useful charger to take on the road because it can charge both over 120-volt (Level 1) and 240-volt Level 2 outlets.
The front face of the Tera P01 charger has an OLED display, a status LED, and two hardware buttons. The first button allows the user to toggle between 32, 24, 20, and 16 amp modes. While the second button allows for delayed charging. This unit also includes BT/Wifi connectivity, more on that below.
Although the Tera P01 undercuts many competitors on price, it doesn’t skip safety. The product has ETL safety certification, is Energy Star compliant, and the cord is UL listed. In addition, this portable charger is backed by a 5-year warranty.
Charging Cord and J1772 Connector
Tera’s portable EV charger comes with a generous 25-foot-long charging cable that matches many dedicated home charging stations in length. What is even more impressive is that this 32-amp portable charging unit uses 10 AWG gauge wiring inside the cord. Wire of this thickness is typically needed in more powerful 40-amp EV chargers.
The wiring of this gauge is an excellent choice for safety, preventing heat loss, and potentially better resistance to wear and tear. However, the tradeoff is that this portable charger will be larger and more cumbersome to handle while traveling.
The insulation material feels grippy and durable to the touch. In the current sub-freezing December winter weather, the cord remains pliable and easy to wrap.
While we were impressed with the cord quality, the J1772 connector appears to be where Tera had saved some costs. While the unit is okay and functional, the materials feel inexpensive and hollow to the touch. The J1772 connector had no problems latching to a J1772 port of a VW ID.4 and the included Tesla adapter. However, we are not certain how this connector will stand up to long-term use or accidental drops.
Screen and Charging Performance
This portable EV charger includes both a status indicator LED light as well as an OLED display with charging session metrics. Most portable EV chargers (including Tesla’s Mobile Connector) do not have displays, so Tera’s product has an edge over the competition.
We like units with displays because you can quickly see session metrics at a glance, such as voltage, duration, amps, energy in kWh, and temperature.
Charging performance was solid and reliable during our testing. We ran the unit at the maximum 32-amp for hours on end with no interruptions of overheating problems. Despite the unit enclosure being made entirely of plastic, the Tera portable charger did not get too hot. We didn’t see the enclosure exceed more than 86°F (30°C) in our testing, but we expect it to run a bit hotter in the summer. In either case, it appears there is enough thermal headroom for users not to worry while charging at 32 amps.
The Tera portable EV charger also includes Bluetooth and Wifi connectivity. This is a nice bonus feature not typically seen on portable chargers. You can connect the Tera charger to your household Wifi network, and pair the unit to the Smart Life phone app. From the app, you can start/stop charging sessions as well as monitor the charging session in real-time.
We ran into small issues with the smart features of this charger. Firstly, it took several attempts to connect the charger to our Wi-Fi network from the same location where we tested all our chargers. This indicates that perhaps the Wifi reception is not the strongest. However, once we connected to the network, there were no dropouts or delays in data transmission. The second issue is with the app; while we can see the kWh consumption of individual charging sessions, the app screen that is supposed to keep track of monthly electricity consumption did not display any data. Perhaps this will be addressed with a future software update.
We must note that these small issues are not critical to the functionality or performance of actual EV charging. The Tera charger is a good portable product with bonus features that may need some additional polish.
Conclusion
The Tera Portable 32-amp EV charger is a great value and a good alternative for the Tesla Mobile Connector. Tera’s product is often on sale and can be found between $200-270. We can recommend this to Tesla owners who want the ability to charge other J1772 EVs, and also non-Tesla EV owners who want a future-proof product that is ready for a time when the Tesla NACS connector becomes the leading standard in North America. This product has no issues operating at 32 amps for many hours, the included accessories and adapters make it convenient to use. The only downside is that it’s physically larger and bulkier than a Tesla Mobile connector for travel, and the Wifi/smart features are functional but could use more improvements.
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EVchargerReviews.net EVSE Review Methodology
We get the product into our facility, unbox it, inspect it, and install it just like the end user. We have a two-EV car garage with many electric miles accumulating weekly. We take EVSEs through a suite of tests, from short charging sessions, to long overnight charging sessions. We look at whether the claimed features work as expected. We check performance under challenging conditions; does the cord hold up to cold weather? Does the charging station throttle down amps due to heat and thermals? Does the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth drop the connection? Software bugs and glitches will surface during longer-term testing rather than a one-day trial. Measurements are taken on cord thickness and performance, and a thermal camera is used to look for surface hot spots after a 50 kWh stress test.
After living with the charging station product for at least two weeks, we are able to determine how the product compares to rivals, and if it deserves to be recommended to our readers.
Disclosure: Independent review by Michael Kim from EVchargerReviews.net. We participate in affiliate programs, and we may earn income when you use our links. We hope you think that is fair, based on the amount of work that goes into our reviews.
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