Rivian Wall Charger vs a 32A portable EVSE — what actually works if you're renting and can't hardwire?
moved from tampa to columbus in april for a new job and i'm renting for the first time since i've owned this car. back in florida i had a house with a garage, so home charging was never something i had to think through, i just had it. now i'm in a two bedroom apartment with one assigned spot behind the building, no outlet anywhere near it that i can find, and i honestly don't know what my lease says about wiring anything permanent into the parking lot.
i emailed the property manager two weeks ago about a rivian wall charger install and got a pretty noncommittal reply, something like they'd "have to check with the owner." no timeline, no real yes or no. the wall charger itself is close to $800 before you even get to paying an electrician to hardwire it and run whatever conduit they'd need out to the spot, so i don't want to sink that kind of money into asking a landlord who might just say no in three more weeks.
so i've been looking at 32a portable evses instead, the kind that just plug into an outlet instead of getting hardwired in. problem is i don't actually have a 14-50 out there either, it's just a regular outlet as far as i can tell, i haven't gone and checked what it actually is yet.
has anyone actually done this as a renter, gone portable instead of pushing for the wall charger? trying to figure out if that's a real workable setup or if i'm about to buy something that just sits in the trunk.
Filed under: Portable & No-Install Charging
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13 answers
13 ANSWERS
@ridgeleafAugust 26, 2026
Worth knowing before you shop for a portable: your Rivian still charges at home over J1772, not NACS, no matter what adapter came in the glovebox. That NACS port is for Superchargers on DC fast, not the AC side. So whatever portable you buy needs to be J1772-native, not something built around a NACS vehicle plug. Tripped me up the first time I looked into this too.
@copperleaf_wAugust 26, 2026
Wall Charger install is rarely just the $700 for the unit. You're paying a licensed electrician to run a new circuit out to that spot, which on an apartment lot usually means trenching or conduit along an exterior wall, plus whatever the property owner requires before they'll let anyone touch their electrical system. That's a real negotiation with the property owner, and it can take weeks even when they're generally willing. If the landlord answer is still pending, a plug-in unit is the only option that doesn't depend on anyone else saying yes.
@palecomet_dAugust 23, 2026
Had this same worry before figuring it out. The NACS adapter Rivian includes should cover you either way, so even if the portable you find is set up for the newer plug style you can adapt it down to your car's port. One less thing to stress about while you're waiting on the landlord.
That adapter is DC fast charging only, Supercharger stalls, nothing about it touches the AC side. Home portable still needs to terminate in a J1772 plug for a current R1T. The onboard charger doesn't read a NACS AC connection at all.
@quietspindleAugust 28, 2026
Tested a handful of 32A portables built specifically around a NEMA 14-50 plug rather than the OEM-style unit that used to ship with the car. A few different brands make a J1772-native 32A unit in that category now, plug-and-go, no wiring change. The catch is they assume a 14-50 is already sitting there. If your outlet turns out to be a lower-amperage standard receptacle, none of those units run anywhere near 32A off it, the EVSE will just negotiate down to whatever the plug and breaker actually support.
@twigcoralAugust 23, 2026
Managed rentals for three years and landlords are usually a lot more relaxed about a plug-in unit than a hardwired one, since nothing gets permanently altered and it comes out with the tenant. I'd bring that framing back to the property manager instead of leading with the Wall Charger ask, a portable is a much easier yes.
Bit of a gap there though. Even a plug-in setup still needs the outlet itself rated for the load, and a lot of apartment lots only have a standard 15 or 20 amp outlet out there, not a 14-50. Pulled the cover off one last month that had been running an EVSE off a builder-grade receptacle for months, contacts were already discolored. Landlord being okay with a portable doesn't mean that outlet can handle one, and an extension cord isn't the fix, same overheating risk in the cord.
Consistent with what I've seen running these on cheap builder-grade duplex outlets over several months, the receptacle face warms up noticeably faster than the EVSE's own enclosure does, especially past a few hours of continuous draw. On a properly torqued 14-50 the same unit barely gets warm at the plug at all. That points to the outlet as the usual limiting factor there.
@wrenlee_kAugust 26, 2026
Ran similar numbers for my own no-hardwire situation. $800 for the Wall Charger plus install quotes usually starting around $500-600 on top is real money to put into a rental you might not be in past this lease. A 32A portable travels with you if you move again, that's the bigger factor for me than the sticker price.
@nimbus_rookSeptember 01, 2026
Only thing I'd add from four years outdoors: whatever portable you land on, budget for a way to keep the connector and cord off the ground between charges. Mine lived in a cheap holster on the garage wall, in an open apartment lot you're looking at a hook or a bag instead, otherwise it just sits in puddles.
@hutchridesAugust 24, 2026
What's the move if there's genuinely no 14-50 out there, just a regular outlet? Push the hardwired negotiation harder or is there a lower amp portable actually built for a standard plug instead of just derating a 14-50 unit down to one?
There's a real tier below the 32A units for exactly that, portables rated for a standard NEMA 5-15 or 5-20 outlet instead of derating a 14-50 unit down. You're looking at something closer to 10-12 amps continuous instead of 32, so charging is slow, but it's built for that outlet instead of just tolerating it. Worth asking whoever's out there to confirm what the receptacle actually is before buying either kind.
@rustpetalAugust 27, 2026
this is my situation exactly
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