Editorial Policy
The rules we hold ourselves to — independence, sourcing, corrections, and the wall between what we recommend and what we earn.
Independence
Our recommendations are ours alone. No manufacturer, retailer, or affiliate network reviews our content before it publishes, pays for placement, or approves a verdict. We accept no free units and run no sponsored posts. When a charger that would pay us more is beaten by a cheaper one that pays us less, the cheaper one is still our pick — and we’ll say why.
How we pick and rank
Rankings follow the process on our methodology page: manufacturer specs read on a dated visit, charging-speed and cost-to-charge math with every assumption stated, and the National Electrical Code applied honestly to what your panel can carry. We argue rankings in plain language rather than assigning a fake numeric score, and every pick carries an honest “who should skip this.”
Sourcing standards
- Every spec traces to the manufacturer’s datasheet or listing, with a source link and the date it was read.
- Every code, cost, incentive, or efficiency claim cites a primary authority — US DOE, NFPA/NEC, IRS, ENERGY STAR, SAE or UL.
- Prices come only from a live retailer feed and are date-stamped; a stale number is never shown.
- We never present a retailer’s star rating or review count as our own, and we never fabricate one.
Corrections
If we get something wrong, we fix it promptly and, for anything material, note that we did. Spotted an error? Tell us— we check it against the manufacturer source and correct it in the open. That standing offer is part of how we keep ourselves honest.
Update cadence
Tier-1 buying guides are reviewed regularly for price, model-year and spec accuracy, and the “last updated” date only moves on a real change. Time-sensitive claims — the federal 30C charger credit and its deadline in particular — are reviewed whenever the deadline nears. See our incentives page for the current status.
Affiliate relationships
We earn affiliate commissions on some links and disclose them everywhere they apply. That relationship never decides a recommendation. The full detail is on our affiliate disclosure page.