Level Two Club

Grizzl-E vs Autel MaxiCharger

Buy the Grizzl-E if you want a charger with nothing to log into, on a plug you can pull out when you move. Buy the Autel if the charger lives outdoors in weather, or you want the output set from a phone. These two brands disagree about what a home charger is for, and the disagreement is the useful part.

By Stephen V.Last updated How we pick

How this is funded: we earn a commission if you buy through our links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes which product we recommend, and we’ll tell you when we’d skip one. Full disclosure.

Buy the Grizzl-E if you want a charger with nothing to log into, on a plug you can pull out of the wall when you move. Buy the Autel MaxiCharger if the charger lives outdoors in real weather, or you want its output set from a phone. These are not two versions of the same product with different badges. Grizzl-E and Autel disagree about what a home charger is— and reading the disagreement is more useful than reading either brand’s marketing.

Grizzl-E’s position is that a charger is a piece of electrical hardware. Cast aluminum, IP67 sealing, amperage set with a physical switch, a cable built for cold, an LED instead of a dashboard. Autel’s position is that a charger is a connected appliance: WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet, output adjustable from 16 to 50 amps in software, load management, and the widest published temperature range of anything we track. Both are defensible. Only one of them is right for your wall.

The two brands, in one table

We review three Grizzl-E units and three Autel units, so a flat brand-versus-brand table would be misleading. Below are the three Grizzl-E models against the Autel MaxiCharger 50A — the unit that sits in the same part of the market. Autel’s 40-amp and 80-amp models come up later, because each changes the answer.

Specifications as published by each manufacturer on the documents cited in our sources. No figure here is ours except the charging-speed arithmetic in the prose, which prints its assumption. A spec a maker does not publish reads “Not published”.
SpecGrizzl-E Classic 40AClassic Connect 40AGrizzl-E Ultimate 48AAutel MaxiCharger 50A
Max output40 A40 A48 A50 A
Power9.6 kW9.6 kW11.5 kW12 kW
InstallNEMA 14-50 plugNEMA 14-50 plugHardwiredHardwired
Charging cable25 ft25 ft25 ft25 ft
EnclosureNEMA 4 (IP67)NEMA 4 (IP67)NEMA 4 (IP67)IP65 / NEMA 4X
WiFi / appNoYesNot publishedYes
ENERGY STARYesNot publishedNot publishedYes
ListingsUL listed (file E510712), ENERGY STARUL/cUL listed (file E510712)UL tested and certifiedCSA certified, ENERGY STAR
Warranty3 years3 years3 years3 years

Four rows in that table are doing most of the work.

Install. Two Grizzl-E units plug in; the Autel 50A does not. This is the row that decides the comparison for more people than any spec. A NEMA 14-50 plug means no hardwiring labor if the outlet exists, and a charger that comes off the wall in ten minutes when you move house. Hardwiring means an electrician and a permanent fixture. Our hardwired versus plug-in comparison weighs the whole trade.

Enclosure. Grizzl-E publishes NEMA 4 with IP67 sealing. Autel publishes IP65 / NEMA 4X. Those are not ranked, they are different. IP67 means dust-tight and protected against temporary immersion; NEMA 4X means dust- and water-tight plus corrosion resistant, which is the one that matters on a coastal wall or near a road that gets salted. NEMA itself states its NEMA-to-IP table cannot be read backwards, so neither rating converts into the other — our ratings guide explains why, and can a charger get wet covers what both ratings actually promise.

WiFi.The Classic and the Ultimate have no radio. The Classic Connect has one. All three Autels have one. If you have already decided the app is worthless to you, the comparison is nearly over — read our smart versus dumb comparison and buy a Grizzl-E.

Listings. Both brands publish real safety paperwork on these units, but read the wording. Grizzl-E publishes a UL/cUL file number(E510712) for the Classic and the Classic Connect, and “UL tested and certified” for the Ultimate. Autel publishes CSA certification plus ENERGY STAR for the 50A. Where it gets interesting is the units not in this table: Autel’s own page for its 40-amp AC Elitepublishes no safety listing at all, which we record as a gap rather than letting it inherit its siblings’ certifications. And neither Grizzl-E page states an ENERGY STAR certification for the Classic Connect, despite marketplace badges claiming one.

Speed: a smaller difference than the numbers suggest

On paper this is 40 or 48 amps against 50. In practice it is almost nothing, and the reason is in your car rather than on your wall.

Our arithmetic, with the assumption printed. At 40 amps a charger delivers 9.6 kW, which on a reference EV doing 3.5 miles per kWh is about 34 miles of range per hour. At 48 amps, 11.5 kW and about 40 miles per hour. At 50 amps, 12 kW and about 42. Over an eight-hour night that is a spread of roughly 60 miles between the slowest and fastest unit here — against a car that needs to replace 30 or 40.

And most cars cannot use the top of it anyway. The onboard charger inside the vehicle is the real ceiling: 11.5 kW is the common figure, and plenty of EVs stop at 7.7 or 11. A 50-amp charger feeding an 11 kW car delivers 11. So unless you have one of the handful of vehicles that accepts more — our fastest-chargers roundupnames them — treat the amperage difference here as a tiebreaker rather than a reason.

The number that does change the install is the circuit. Autel states a 70-amp circuit is required for the 50A unit’s full output, which is more than the NEC’s 125% continuous-load rule would imply and more than most panels spare. The Grizzl-E Ultimate’s 48 amps needs 60; the plug-in Grizzl-E units’ 40 amps needs 50. If your panel is tight, that row decides more than the charging speed ever will.

Where each brand is clearly the right answer

Buy a Grizzl-E if you rent, or might move. The Classic and Classic Connect are plug-in units in a body built to survive being handled. Nothing else in this comparison comes off the wall without an electrician.

Buy a Grizzl-E if cold is your problem.Not for the temperature rating — Autel’s is wider — but for the cable. Grizzl-E states its 25-foot output cable is engineered to stay flexible and easy to wrap in freezing weather, and a cable you can coil at 10°F is worth more in practice than 20 extra degrees on a spec sheet you will never test. See the cold-weather roundup.

Buy a Grizzl-E if you want nothing to maintain.No account, no firmware, no app that can be discontinued. The Classic sets amperage on a DIP switch and that is the entire user interface. Grizzl-E’s manual does carry one warning worth obeying: mounting the unit upside down voids its water rating.

Buy the Autel if the charger faces weather and corrosion.NEMA 4X plus a published -40°F to 131°F envelope is the strongest outdoor credential in our registry, and it is the reason this unit appears on our outdoor roundup.

Buy the Autel if you want software control of the output. Adjustable 16 to 50 amps in the app means one charger fits a 30-amp circuittoday and a 60-amp one later, with no screwdriver involved. Read Autel’s load-management wording carefully though: it states Adaptive Load Management “requires compatible additional hardware” while charger-to-charger Dynamic Load Balancing does not.

Buy the Autel if your garage has no WiFi.The Ethernet port is a genuine differentiator — very few home chargers at any price offer a wired connection, and it is the right answer in a detached garage where the signal does not reach. Our connectivity guide covers the alternatives.

The two models that change the answer

If the comparison still feels close, two units outside the main table break the tie in opposite directions.

The Autel MaxiCharger AC Elite Home 40Ais the brand’s answer to the Grizzl-E’s biggest advantage: it is a plug-inAutel, on a NEMA 14-50, with the app and the NEMA 4 body intact. If you wanted an Autel but needed the plug, it is the unit — with the paperwork caveat above, and the reminder on its own card that it needs a genuine EV-grade receptacle, which an old dryer outlet is not.

The Grizzl-E Duo Connect 40Ais the brand’s answer for two cars: two cables from one unit, available in NACS. The critical detail is that 40 amps is the total for the unit, not per connector, so two cars charging simultaneously each get roughly half. For two cars that sit overnight that is usually fine, and our two-car roundup compares it against running two circuits.

One last honesty note on availability, because it has bitten this site before. We recorded the Grizzl-E Classic and the Ultimate as discontinued in 2026 when their Amazon listings went dark; both were listed again at our 2026-09-28 check, and Grizzl-E never stopped selling either directly. The brand’s marketplace presence is patchier than Autel’s. That is not a judgment on the hardware, but it is a real consideration if you want next-day delivery.

The four units, with live prices

Quick picks

Ranked on published specs, charging speed, electrical fit and value. Select a row to jump to the full write-up. We have not bench-tested these chargers — here is exactly what we do instead.

#ProductBest forPrice
1
Grizzl-E Classic Connect 40A

Grizzl-E Classic Connect 40A

Grizzl-E's cast-aluminum build with a WiFi radio in it. You get the IP67 body and the cold-flexible 25 ft cable that made the brand's name, plus scheduling, usage history and utility demand-response programs in the Grizzl-E Connect app — in a plug-in unit that comes off the wall when you move. The amperage is still set with a DIP switch, which is either charmingly honest or annoyingly analog depending on your taste.

Plug-in, with an app
$349.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

2
Autel MaxiCharger Home

Autel MaxiCharger Home

Built for the harshest driveway. The NEMA 4X enclosure is rated to keep charging in extreme cold and heat, it pushes a full 50 amps, and the app is capable. If your charger lives fully exposed to the weather, this is the one.

NEMA 4X, -40F to 131F
$499.00 · View on Amazon

$568.0012% off

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

3
Grizzl-E Ultimate 48A

Grizzl-E Ultimate 48A

The tank of the 48-amp class: cast-aluminum body, IP67 sealing, a full 11.5 kW, a 25 ft cable built to stay flexible in the cold and a DIP switch instead of a setup wizard. We recorded it as discontinued in August 2026 after its Amazon listing went dark; Grizzl-E sells it and Amazon lists it again as of our 2026-09-28 check, so that record is corrected here.

48 amps, no radio
$479.99 · View on Amazon

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

4
Autel MaxiCharger AC Elite Home 40A

Autel MaxiCharger AC Elite Home 40A

Autel's weather-hardened hardware in the install almost everyone can actually have. It is the 50A MaxiCharger's smaller sibling: same 25 ft cable and app, same NEMA 4 body, but it ends in a NEMA 14-50 plug instead of a wire nut — so it goes on an existing outlet, comes off the wall when you move, and needs a 50-amp circuit rather than a 60. The in-body holster is a small thing that stops mattering only if you have never coiled a cold cable.

Plug-in Autel
$375.99 · View on Amazon

$470.0020% off

Price as of October 18, 2026. #ad How we’re funded

If neither brand quite fits, the two obvious alternatives sit either side of them: our cheap smart roundup for a connected charger at Grizzl-E money, and the ChargePoint Home Flex for the most capable app in the category if budget is not the constraint.

Frequently asked questions

Is Grizzl-E or Autel better?

They are built on opposite philosophies, so the honest answer depends on one question: do you want a connected charger? Grizzl-E's case is a cast-aluminum, IP67-sealed box with the amperage set by a physical DIP switch and a cable engineered to stay flexible in the cold — hardware you do not interact with. Autel's case is an app, WiFi, Bluetooth and an Ethernet port, output adjustable 16 to 50 amps from a phone, and the widest published temperature range we track, -40F to 131F. If the app is worth nothing to you, the Grizzl-E is better value; if the charger faces the weather or you want software control, the Autel is the better buy.

Can you plug in a Grizzl-E or an Autel MaxiCharger?

Grizzl-E yes, Autel's 50-amp unit no. The Grizzl-E Classic and Classic Connect are both NEMA 14-50 plug-in units, which means they drop onto an existing outlet with no electrician and come off the wall when you move. The Grizzl-E Ultimate 48A and the Autel MaxiCharger 50A are both hardwired only. If the plug-in route matters to you — and for renters it usually decides the purchase — that single row of the table settles this comparison on its own.

Does the Autel MaxiCharger really need a 70-amp circuit?

For its full 50 amps, yes, by Autel's own statement: its page reads "Hardwired - 70 A Circuit for Full Output". That is unusual — the NEC's 125% continuous-load rule would put a 50-amp charger on a 60-amp circuit — and it is a figure we publish rather than quietly round down, because a 70-amp circuit is a materially bigger electrical job. Dialed to 40 amps on a 50-amp circuit the unit installs normally, and at that setting you are buying the weatherproofing rather than the speed.

Which one is better in cold weather?

Each publishes a different kind of cold credential. Autel publishes the wider operating envelope: -40F to 131F against Grizzl-E's -22F to 122F. Grizzl-E publishes the thing you touch: a 25-foot cable it states is built to stay flexible and easy to wrap in freezing weather, which is the part of a charger that actually hurts in a Minnesota January. Our cold-weather roundup ranks the whole field on both counts rather than picking one spec.

Do either of these need WiFi to work?

No. The Grizzl-E Classic and Ultimate have no radio at all, so the question does not arise; the Classic Connect's amperage is set with a DIP switch rather than in the app, so it charges perfectly well with the app uninstalled. The Autel sets output in the app, which means losing the app is more consequential — though it also offers Ethernet and Bluetooth, so WiFi specifically is not the only path to it. Neither brand publishes a commitment on how long its cloud service will run, which is the standing risk of every connected charger.

Which has the better warranty?

Both publish three years on the units compared here, with one exception worth knowing: Grizzl-E's Duo Connect publishes no warranty term at all in the specs we can read, and Autel's 80-amp MaxiCharger publishes five years on the body with one year on the cable and connector on its US store listing. That 80-amp split is the most useful durability disclosure in the category, because it tells you which end of a charger the manufacturer expects to come back.

Sources

  • United Chargers — Grizzl-E Classic 40A product page — Grizzl-E's own current product data for the Classic, re-read September 28, 2026 and unchanged since the September 3 and August 20 readings: Type 1 (SAE J1772) AC Level 2, 40 A, plug types 'NEMA 14-50, NEMA 6-50', UL Type 4 indoor/outdoor rating, certifications 'UL E510712, Energy Star', smart function 'No Internet Connection', 25 ft (7.6 m) output cable, operating temperature -30C to +50C (-22F to 122F), 3-year default warranty, aluminum enclosure, and three finishes — 'Classic Black, Avalanche White, or Extreme Camo'. Grizzl-E sells it directly at $299.99 and it is listed on Amazon again as of the same date (accessed September 28, 2026)
  • United Chargers — Grizzl-E Classic product overview — Grizzl-E's own overview for the Classic: 'built with a sturdy, water-resistant cast aluminum enclosure and comes with a 25ft output cable that remains flexible in cold temperatures', an aluminum IP67 enclosure rated from -22F, an 18-inch input cable with either a NEMA 14-50 or a NEMA 6-50 plug, adjustable maximum output current of 40, 32, 24 or 16 amps, and 'multiple plug-in configurations of NEMA 14-50 or NEMA 6-50 and hardwire ready' (accessed September 3, 2026)
  • United Chargers — Grizzl-E Classic Connect 40A technical specifications — Grizzl-E's own spec table for the Classic Connect: Type 1 (J1772) or NACS Level 2, aluminum enclosure, operating temperature -30C to +50C (-22F to 122F), IP67 protection, 25 ft output cable on an 18 in input lead, 208-240 VAC, nominal input current 16/24/32/40 A set by a DIP-switch power selector, maximum output current 40 A, LED indicator, 21 lb unit weight (accessed September 3, 2026)
  • United Chargers — Grizzl-E Classic Connect 40A product overview — Grizzl-E's own overview for the Classic Connect: 'the Wi-Fi Connected Smart Level 2 EVSE for home use' at 40A / 9.6 kW, shipping with the Grizzl-E Connect app for charging statistics, schedules, Demand/Response utility programs, remote control, lockout to prevent unauthorized use, updates and diagnostics; a UL Type 4 water-resistant cast aluminum enclosure with IP67 sealing, a NEMA 14-50 input cable and a 25 ft output cable with a J1772 or NACS connector, 'UL Tested and Certified' with built-in GFCI, over-current, over-voltage, ground-fault and over-temperature protections, and adjustable maximum current set with DIP switches at 40A / 32A / 24A / 16A for a 50A / 40A / 30A / 20A breaker. No ENERGY STAR certification and no OCPP support are published for this model (accessed September 3, 2026)
  • United Chargers — Grizzl-E Ultimate 48A specifications — Grizzl-E's own spec page for the Ultimate 48A: 11.5 kW max output on J1772 or NACS, aluminum enclosure, 25 ft output cable, 208-240 VAC, selectable 48/40/32/24/16 A input current, operating temperature -30C to +50C (-22F to 122F), IP67 protection, LED indicator, DIP-switch power selector, hardwire-only install. RE-CHECKED September 28, 2026: every spec above is unchanged, and the page sells the Ultimate 48A at $383.99 with a J1772 or a NACS connector, listed alongside the 80A / 19.2 kW unit rather than replaced by it. This corrects our August 20, 2026 note, which recorded the 48A as no longer sold on the strength of a dead Amazon listing. RE-READ October 17, 2026 for the EVIQO head-to-head, and the page HAS CHANGED in two ways worth recording. (1) Connectivity is now published: the smart-function row reads 'Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz); Mobile Application' and the communication-protocol row reads 'OCPP', where our September reading of this same page published no app support for the unit. (2) The enclosure row now reads 'UL Type 4 Indoor/Outdoor Rating' with no IP figure alongside it, where the September reading carried IP67. Also published on this visit: an adjustable-current list of '40A, 32A, 24A, 16A' (the 48 A headline is not repeated in that list), 'Hardwire Only', a 25 ft output cable, -30C to +50C (-22F to 122F), 'UL E510712', enclosure dimensions of 10.25 x 6.25 x 3.75 in, a unit weight of 11.00 kg / 24.25 lbs, country of origin Canada, a price of $479.99, SKU GRS-HW-25NACS48-B, and a warranty selector offering '3 Year' or '5 Year' without stating what either covers. No ETL and no ENERGY STAR certification is published, and no Alexa, Google Home, HomeKit, Matter or Home Assistant integration is published (accessed October 17, 2026)
  • United Chargers — Grizzl-E Classic user manual (PDF) — Grizzl-E's own manual: NEMA 4 indoor/outdoor installation rating, operating temperature -22F to 122F, a caution that the enclosure's water rating cannot be guaranteed if the unit is mounted upside down, and a note to use a 20mA GFCI breaker where one is required because a 5mA breaker may cause disruptions (accessed July 20, 2026)
  • Autel Energy — MaxiCharger AC Elite Home 50A product page — Autel's own listing: compliant with NEMA 4X standards, operating temperature -40F to 131F, 25 ft cable, 3-year warranty. RE-READ October 10, 2026 for the Emporia head-to-head, and the page now publishes materially more: 'Maximum Output | 12 kW / 50 A' with output 'Adjustable 16-50 A'; installation given as 'Hardwired - 70 A Circuit for Full Output'; an 'SAE J1772' connector; an enclosure rating of 'IP65 / NEMA 4X'; an operating range of '-40 to 131 F (-40 to 55 C)'; a '3 Years' warranty quoted as a single term with no component split; 'CSA and ENERGY STAR compliance' (no UL listing is claimed on this page); connectivity listed as 'Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Ethernet, CAN, RS485'; app control to start, stop and schedule charging, monitor activity and adjust current; dimensions of 13.2 x 7.4 x 3.8 in (336 x 187 x 97 mm) and a weight of 15.4 lbs (7 kg); and the load-management sentence this comparison turns on - 'Supports both Adaptive Load Management (ALM) and charger-to-charger Dynamic Load Balancing (DLB). ALM requires compatible additional hardware, while DLB works between chargers without additional hardware.' The page publishes no solar-specific feature (accessed October 10, 2026)
  • Autel Energy — MaxiCharger 80A 19.2kW Residential EV Charger (US store listing) — Autel's own US listing: 19.2 kW (240V AC 80A), 208/240V AC 50/60 Hz, SAE J1772, hardwired, 25 ft (7.5 m) cable, output adjustable from 6A to 80A in the app and 16/24/32/40/48/50/64/72/80 A by DIP switch, UL 2594, UL 2231-1, UL 2231-2, UL 1998, CSA C22.2 No. 280, FCC Part 15 Class B, ENERGY STAR, OpenADR 2.0b, NEC Article 625, Wi-Fi / Ethernet / RS485 with the Autel Charge app and cloud, and a warranty of 5 years on the charger body, backplate and internal components with 1 year on the display screen, charging cable and connector (accessed August 12, 2026)
  • NEMA — Enclosure Types (definitions from NEMA 250) — NEMA's own definitions: Type 3R protects against falling dirt and rain, sleet and snow; Type 4 adds windblown dust, splashing and hose-directed water; Type 4X adds protection against corrosion. NEMA also states its NEMA-to-IP table cannot be used to convert IP designations back to NEMA types (accessed July 20, 2026)
  • IEC 60529 — Degrees of protection provided by enclosures (IP Code), full text — The IP code standard (verbatim national adoption, IS/IEC 60529:2001): first numeral 6 = dust-tight; second numeral 6 = protected against powerful water jets; second numeral 7 = protected against temporary immersion, and a 7 alone does not imply water-jet protection unless dual coded (accessed July 20, 2026)
  • NFPA — Using the Latest NEC for EV Charger Installations — NFPA on NEC (NFPA 70) Article 625: EV charging is a continuous load, so circuits are sized to 125% of load (the 80% rule) (accessed July 19, 2026)
  • ENERGY STAR — Electric Vehicle Chargers — ENERGY STAR on EVSE efficiency: certified chargers use about 40% less energy in standby than non-certified units (accessed July 19, 2026)

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