Forty amps, and what that is actually worth
Lectron publishes 240 volts, 40 amps and 9.6 kW through a NEMA 14-50 plug. At our standard reference of roughly 3.5 miles per kWh that is about 34 miles of range per hour.
That number is worth sitting with, because it is the point at which charging stops being something you plan around. The average American drives well under forty miles a day. This charger replaces that in a little over an hour, which means any overnight window — or, frankly, an evening — is more than enough. Going faster than this is possible, but it requires hardwiring to a 60-amp circuit, and our 40A versus 48A comparisonworks through how rarely that actually changes anyone’s morning.
Forty amps is also the ceiling for anything that plugs in. A NEMA 14-50 is a 50-amp receptacle, and the NEC’s 125% continuous-load rule caps a continuous draw on it at 40 amps. So this is not Lectron being conservative — it is the maximum a plug-in charger of any brand can legitimately deliver. Our outlet types guide sets out what each receptacle is good for.
The native plug is the whole product
The connector is NACS — the Tesla-style plug, standardized as SAE J3400 and now being adopted across the industry. On a Tesla or a newer NACS-native EV it goes straight into the car: no adapter to seat properly, none to leave at a campsite, and one fewer connection point in a circuit carrying 40 amps for hours at a time.
Be honest about the size of that benefit, though. A J1772 charger with a good NACS adapter charges at exactly the same rate, and a UL 2252 adapter is not a safety compromise. What the native plug buys is the removal of a small, recurring annoyance and one more thing to lose — which is worth something, but it is convenience rather than performance. Our J1772 vs NACS explainer covers which way the adapters run and which certifications matter on them.
The corollary is firm: if your car is J1772, this is the wrong purchase. The Lectron 40A is the same charger with a J1772 cable already fitted. Buy that instead and skip the adapter entirely.
No dial, and why that matters more than the missing app
Lectron does not publish an adjustable current range for this model. It charges at 40 amps, and that is the only setting there is.
For a charger that lives on one known circuit in your own garage, this costs you nothing. For a charger that travels — which is the whole reason to buy a portable unit — it moves a judgment onto you. A 14-50 plug tells you the shape of the receptacle. It does not tell you what is behind the wall, and plenty of 14-50 outlets were installed for an occasional dryer or welder cycle on wiring that has never been asked to carry 40 amps for six straight hours.
A charger with a selectable 16 or 24 amp setting lets you answer that by charging conservatively. This one does not, so the honest rule is binary: plug it in only where you can be reasonably confident of the circuit— breaker size known, receptacle sound, no heat or discoloration around it. If you want the dial, the ELEGRP 40A publishes five current levels and the Grizzl-E Classic Connectpublishes 40 down to 16 — both are J1772, so a NACS car would need an adapter to use either. Our RV park guide covers the pedestal case specifically, including the common trap of a 30-amp pedestal that will not take a 14-50 plug at all.
The missing app is the smaller loss.There is no Wi-Fi and no account — you get status indication on the unit and your car’s own scheduling. On a Tesla that genuinely does not matter much: the car handles scheduled charging, charge limits and off-peak timing better than most charger apps do, and it travels with the vehicle rather than with the parking spot. Lectron does sell a Wi-Fi version of this charger as a separate, dearer listing if you want the charger itself to do the scheduling.
Build, certification and the one blank spec
Lectron publishes an IP65-rated control box and an IP55-rated charging handle, tested to more than 10,000 insertions, with protection against overvoltage, overcurrent and short circuits. It is ETL and FCC certified against the UL 2594 and UL 2231 standards, with a UL 2251 handle. That certification bar is the one that genuinely matters and is unrelated to price — see our guide on whether cheap EV chargers are safe.
The cable is 16 feet. That is shorter than the 25-foot runs on several chargers we cover, and it is the spec most likely to catch you out: measure from the outlet to your car’s charge port, on the side the port is actually on, before you buy.
The blank on the spec sheet is the warranty. Lectron does not publish a term for this model, so our table records “Not published” rather than guessing at one. That is a finding rather than a gap in our research — a brand that does not state a warranty length is telling you something — and it is worth weighing against units that publish two or three years.
Who should buy it — and who should skip it
Buy itif you drive a Tesla or NACS car, you have or can get a NEMA 14-50 outlet, and you want real Level 2 charging without hardwiring anything into a building. It is a particularly good answer for a renter, because there is nothing to install and it moves out with you — see our renter picks. It is equally sensible as a travel charger for a household that already has something on the wall.
Skip it if your car is J1772 — buy the Lectron 40A and skip the adapter. Skip it if you need to charge at less than 40 amps on circuits you cannot verify, because there is no setting below the maximum. Skip it if you want the charger itself to schedule and meter your charging, because this SKU has no app. And skip it if the charger will never leave your garage and you have a 60-amp circuit available: the Lectron Nexus NACS gives you 48 amps hardwired, and you are not paying for portability you will not use.