Side by side, from the makers’ own pages
| Spec | EVIQO 48A | Grizzl-E Classic Connect | Grizzl-E Ultimate 48A |
|---|
| Output | 48 A / 11.5 kW | 40 A / 9.6 kW | 48 A / 11.5 kW |
| Circuit required | 60 A dedicated (70 A for the 50 A DIP setting) | 50 A (NEMA 14-50 receptacle) | 60 A dedicated |
| Install | Hardwired only | Plug-in, NEMA 14-50 | Hardwired only |
| Connector | J1772 | J1772 | NACS (the live Amazon listing) |
| Current control | App slider 6–48 A in 1 A steps, hardware DIP caps at 16/32/40/48 A | Adjustable 40 A down to 16 A | Adjustable, app |
| Cable | 25 ft, plus a 40 in input lead | 25 ft | 25 ft |
| Enclosure | IP66 / NEMA 4 | UL Type 4 (NEMA 4), metal | UL Type 4 (NEMA 4), metal |
| Temperature range | −22°F to 122°F | −22°F to 122°F | −22°F to 122°F |
| Certification | UL, ETL, FCC, ENERGY STAR | UL/cUL file E510712 (no ENERGY STAR figure published) | UL/cUL file E510712 |
| Warranty | 3 years, extendable to 4 | 3 years, or 5 years as a purchase option | 3 years |
| Range added per hour (3.5 mi/kWh) | about 40 miles | about 34 miles | about 40 miles |
The eight amps, priced honestly
Forty-eight amps at 240 volts is 11.5 kW; forty is 9.6 kW. At a middle-of-the-road 3.5 miles per kWh that is roughly 40 miles of range an hour against 34 — six miles an hour, or sixty miles across a ten-hour night. For a driver doing 40 miles a day, both finish long before breakfast and the difference is invisible. For a household on one car doing 150 miles a day, or two EVs sharing one charger, it stops being invisible.
The honest way to read it is that you are not really choosing eight amps. You are choosing a circuit. The EVIQO needs a 60-amp dedicated circuit, because EV charging is a continuous load and the breaker is sized at 125% of the output — 48 × 1.25 = 60. The Grizzl-E needs a 50-amp circuit with a NEMA 14-50 receptacle on the end of it, which is the most common EV circuit in America and the one a lot of garages already have for a welder, a dryer or a previous car. If yours is one of them, the Grizzl-E is the cheaper install by the entire cost of the install. Our how many amps do I need guide works through that from your own panel outward.
Where the current limit lives
Both chargers let you turn the current down, and they do it in different places, which matters more than it sounds.
EVIQO publishes two layers. A hardware DIP switch inside the unit sets the maximum at 16, 32, 40 or 48 amps, and the app then slides anywhere from 6 amps up to that maximum in single-amp increments. That is the most granular control in our registry, and the hardware cap is the part worth paying for: once an electrician sets the DIP to match the circuit, no app setting and no firmware update can raise it past what the wire can carry.
Grizzl-E publishes an adjustable range of 40 A down to 16 A on the Classic Connect, and the Mini’s manual — the same company, the same mechanism — states the thing every charger owner should read once: the charger cannot detect the circuit amperage limit. It ships at a 40-amp factory default. If it goes on anything smaller than a 50-amp circuit, somebody has to set that number correctly, and nothing in the box will check the work. Our guide to setting your charger’s amperage covers how to get it right.
The box itself
This is where Grizzl-E earns its following. The Classic Connect and the Ultimate are metal, UL Type 4, made in Canada, and Grizzl-E publishes the UL file number (E510712) rather than the words “UL listed.” The Classic Connect’s enclosure is 10.25 × 6.25 × 3.75 in — a brick, deliberately.
EVIQO’s answer is IP66 / NEMA 4 with the same published temperature range, UL and ETL and FCC certification, and an ENERGY STAR listing the Grizzl-E does not carry. That ENERGY STAR line is not just a sticker: a number of utility rebate programs require it, so on a rebate application the EVIQO can be the cheaper charger by more than its price difference. Check your own utility’s list before you buy either — our rebates guide covers the certification box that decides most programs, and our ENERGY STAR roundup lists what qualifies.
The warranty, and the one thing only Grizzl-E sells
Both publish three years as standard. EVIQO sells a fourth year as an extension. Grizzl-E sells the Classic Connect with the warranty as a purchase option at checkout — three years or five. Nobody else in our registry does that, and five years is the longest term we can point at on any home charger we cover. If you rank reliability the way we do on our most reliable chargers page — on what a manufacturer will put in writing rather than on anecdotes — that option is the strongest card in this matchup.
The Tesla question, which decides the Ultimate
Grizzl-E’s Ultimate 48A removes the amperage argument: same metal Type 4 case, same UL file, 48 amps hardwired, 25 ft cable, three-year warranty, OCPP support and a 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi app. On paper it is the Grizzl-E answer to the EVIQO.
What stops it being the default recommendation is the listing. Grizzl-E still builds the Ultimate with a J1772 or a NACS output cable, but the only child ASIN left live on Amazon is the NACS one, and every buy link on this site resolves to Amazon. For a Tesla driver that is exactly right and the Ultimate becomes a serious pick — see our NACS roundup. For anyone driving a J1772 car it means a NACS-to-J1772 adapter hanging off the connector permanently, which is a worse daily experience than a native plug and one more thing to lose.
The verdict
New circuit, non-Tesla car: buy the EVIQO 48A. If an electrician is coming anyway, the marginal cost of a 60-amp circuit over a 50-amp one is small, and you get the faster charger, the finer current control, the ENERGY STAR listing for your rebate paperwork, and the ability to buy a fourth year of warranty — at the lower price of the two.
Existing NEMA 14-50 outlet: buy the Grizzl-E Classic Connect. You keep 34 miles of range an hour, which covers almost everyone, and you skip the install entirely. You also get the metal box, the published UL file, and the 5-year warranty option. If the charger is going to live on an exposed wall for the next decade, that last one is the argument.
Tesla, and you want the Grizzl-E build: buy the Ultimate 48A. Native NACS, 48 amps, the same metal case, three years. Just go in knowing it is hardwired, needs the 60-amp circuit, and that choosing it is choosing the connector as much as the charger.
