Two chargers in one box, and what each half is worth
Start with the honest numbers, because “Level 1 and Level 2” hides a very large gap.
On the 240V head at 40 amps, this is about 9.6 kW, which at our standard 3.5 miles-per-kWh reference is roughly 34 miles of range per hour. That is not a compromised, travel-sized version of Level 2 — it is the same 40 amps a wall-mounted plug-in charger delivers, and it will refill a normal day’s driving in about an hour and a half.
On the 120V head, you are at Level 1: Lectron publishes 12 amps and 1.44 kW, which is roughly 5 miles of range per hour. Across an overnight stay that is about 50 miles — enough to get home from most places you would visit, which is exactly the job it is there to do.
The point of carrying both is that you stop having to ask what a destination has. A house with a 14-50 in the garage gets you real Level 2. A house with nothing but a wall socket still gets you fifty miles overnight. Our Level 1 vs Level 2 comparison covers how differently those two rates behave in practice.
Two settings, and the judgment call they leave you
Twelve amps or forty. That is the whole ladder, and it is the most important thing to understand before you buy this particular unit, because it moves a decision from the charger onto you.
A plug tells you what shape the receptacle is. It does not tell you what is behind the wall. NEC Article 625 treats EV charging as a continuous load and sizes circuits to 125% of the draw — but that governs how a circuit should have been installed, not what you will actually find at a twenty-year-old cottage. Plenty of 14-50 outlets were put in for an occasional dryer or welder cycle on wiring that has never been asked to carry 40 amps for six straight hours.
On a charger with an adjustable range you answer that by dialing down to 16 or 24 amps and charging conservatively. This one does not offer that, so the honest rule is binary: fit the 40-amp head only when you can confirm the circuit— breaker size known, receptacle sound, no heat or discoloration around it. If you cannot confirm it, fit the 120V head and take five miles an hour instead. That is slower than a dial-down would be, and it is the trade this charger asks of you. Our outlet types guide covers how to read a receptacle, and our RV park guidecovers the pedestal case specifically — including the common trap of a 30-amp pedestal that physically will not take a 14-50 plug at all.
The same limitation follows it home. If your panel cannot support a full 50-amp circuit, you cannot install a smaller one and turn this charger down to match — you need a unit that publishes an adjustable range, such as the Grizzl-E Classic Connect at 40 to 16 amps. Our panel capacity guide works through that calculation, and our load management guide covers the alternatives to a service upgrade.
Native NACS: who this is and isn’t for
The connector is NACS — the Tesla-style plug, standardized as SAE J3400 and now being adopted across the industry. If you drive a Tesla or a newer NACS-native EV, this plugs straight into the car with nothing in between: no adapter to seat properly, none to lose, and no extra connection point in a circuit carrying 40 amps for hours.
If your car is J1772 — which is every non-Tesla EV of the last decade — this is the wrong purchase. You would need a NACS-to-J1772 adapter permanently in the chain, and while that works, the Lectron 40A is a comparable portable charger with a native J1772 plug and no extra part. Buy the connector your car actually has. Our J1772 vs NACS explainer covers which way the adapters run and which certifications matter on them.
What you give up
No app, no Wi-Fi, no account.You get LED status lights on the unit and whatever your car does for scheduling. On a Tesla that is genuinely not much of a loss: the car’s own scheduled charging, charge limits and off-peak timing are better than most charger apps, and they travel with the vehicle rather than with the parking spot.
No middle setting. Twelve amps or forty, with nothing in between. On a circuit you cannot verify that costs you the conservative 16-or-24-amp option an adjustable charger would give you, and at home it means the charger cannot be trimmed to fit a smaller circuit. This is the single biggest reason to look elsewhere.
No published warranty term.Lectron publishes an IP67 body and the UL 2594 / UL 2231 listings, but no warranty length for this model. We record that as “Not published” rather than guessing. Worth factoring in against units that publish two or three years — our outdoor roundup covers the units built to live on a wall for the long term.
Forty amps, not forty-eight. The 14-50 receptacle it plugs into is a 50-amp device, so 40 amps of continuous draw is the ceiling by code regardless of the charger. If you want more, you are hardwiring, and our 48-amp roundup is the relevant page.
It is ETL listed to the UL 2594 and UL 2231 standards, which is the third-party safety bar that genuinely matters and is unrelated to price — see our guide on whether cheap EV chargers are safe.
Who should buy it — and who should skip it
Buy itif you drive a Tesla or NACS car and you want one charger to cover every situation you will meet: a 14-50 at home or in a rental, a wall socket at a relative’s, a pedestal at a campground. It is a particularly strong answer for a renter, because there is nothing to install and it moves out with you — see our renter picks. And it is a sensible thing to keep in the frunk of a household that already has a wall charger, purely as universal insurance.
Skip itif your car is J1772 — buy a J1772 charger and skip the adapter. Skip it if you need to charge at less than 40 amps on a 240V circuit, because this model does not offer a setting between 12 and 40. And skip it if the charger is never leaving your garage: a fixed unit like the Lectron Nexus NACS gives you 48 amps hardwired, and you are not paying for portability you will not use.
What to buy instead
That verdict was written while the charger was on sale. It no longer is, so here is the honest translation of it into what you can buy today.
For the Level 2 half— the reason most people bought this — the Lectron Level 2 Tesla 40A is the closest thing Lectron still lists on Amazon: the same 40 amps, the same 9.6 kW, the same native NACS plug and the same 16 ft cable, in a plug-in portable body. What it does not do is Level 1, and its control box is rated IP65 rather than IP67.
For the Level 1 half, the Lectron Level 1 Teslacovers a household socket at 15 amps — three more than this charger managed on its 120V head. Buying both costs more than one dual-level box did, which is a genuine loss and worth saying plainly rather than glossing over.
We have not found a replacement dual-level NACS portable at 40 amps that we are willing to recommend. If that changes, this page and our portable Tesla roundup will say so.