Splitvolt 40A NEMA 14-50

The Lightweight Travel Charger

Where the other chargers in this roundup lean toward dual home-and-travel duty, the Splitvolt 40A is built first and foremost to travel. At roughly 7.7 pounds it's the lightest unit here, and it ships with a dedicated travel bag, making it the easiest to throw in a trunk for a road trip. Industrial-Reviews summed up its character cleanly: "The SplitVolt Level 2 Portable EV Chargers provide very fast charging speeds but not much in the way of features." EV Adept gave it a more middling 5.9 out of 10 but still called it "the perfect choice for those who want a safe, easy to use and energy-efficient charging station."

It's the budget-and-portability play. You give up smart features and cord length, but you get full-speed charging in the smallest, cheapest package of the four.

Charging Performance

The Splitvolt delivers the full 40 amps at 240 volts for 9.6 kW, the same charging speed as every other unit here, and Splitvolt emphasizes that this is the maximum NEC-safe continuous rate for a standard 50-amp circuit. It requires no installation: you plug it directly into an existing NEMA 14-50 outlet and charge. For a driver who already has the right outlet, that plug-and-play simplicity is the entire appeal.

The trade-off is cord length. The base version's cable is about 16 feet, the shortest in this group, though Splitvolt offers a 26-foot version at a higher weight. If your outlet isn't close to your charge port, the longer MUSTART or Grizzl-E cords are a better match.

Build and Safety

The Splitvolt carries an IP55-rated, cETLus-certified enclosure that EVChargingStations described as "very robust and well sealed from dust and moisture ingress." It includes the expected suite of protections: over-current, over-voltage, overheating and current-leakage. Status is communicated through onboard LEDs (Power, Charge, Fault 1 and Fault 2), and some versions add a small LCD with a time-delay charging feature.

It's a well-sealed, safety-certified unit, though its IP55 rating is a step below the NEMA 4X cast-aluminum protection of the Grizzl-E Mini Connect. For occasional outdoor and travel use it's perfectly adequate; for permanent outdoor mounting in harsh conditions the Grizzl-E is the sturdier choice.

Where It Falls Short

The Splitvolt's defining limitation is its sparse feature set. As EVChargingStations noted, it has no connectivity of any kind, no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth and no app, and the base model offers no scheduled charging or timer. That puts it well behind the app-connected Grizzl-E and Lectron for anyone who wants to optimize around electricity rates. Reliability-wise, the most common owner complaint is that the charger can shut down after a power outage and require manual intervention to resume, which one reviewer called unacceptable while others said it happened rarely. The one-year warranty is also the shortest here.

EV Adept's relatively modest 5.9 out of 10 score reflects this feature gap more than any charging shortcoming: the unit charges quickly and safely, but it offers little beyond that. Industrial-Reviews reached the same conclusion, noting the Splitvolt provides "very fast charging speeds but not much in the way of features" and that the base cord is on the short side compared with competitors offering up to 25 feet.

How It Compares to Alternatives

Among these four, the Splitvolt is the specialist for travel and price. It's lighter than the MUSTART, Lectron and Grizzl-E, it ships with a travel bag, and it's typically the cheapest route to genuine 40-amp charging. But it gives up the most: no app like the Grizzl-E or Lectron, no onboard LCD like the Lectron, and a shorter base cord than the MUSTART and Grizzl-E. Its IP55 enclosure is also a step below the Grizzl-E's NEMA 4X cast aluminum for harsh outdoor use.

The decision usually comes down to how you'll use it. If the charger lives in your trunk for road trips and occasional charging, the Splitvolt's light weight and low price make it the logical pick. If it's your daily home charger, the small price gap to the Lectron or MUSTART buys meaningfully more cord, display and features.

Who It's Best For

The Splitvolt 40A is the right pick for the traveler or budget buyer who wants the lightest, simplest, full-speed plug-in charger and doesn't care about smart features. It's the one to toss in the trunk for road trips, and it's usually the cheapest way to get genuine 40-amp charging. If you want app scheduling, a rugged enclosure or a longer cord, step up to the Grizzl-E Mini Connect, MUSTART or Lectron instead; the Splitvolt earns its place by being the most portable and affordable, not the most capable.