It's reality? Installing an L2 charger requires a permit. You don't technically have to get one, there's no county police that goes door to door checking for improper/horrible EV charging installations. However, if your house burns down, and they see you decided to jury rig your own charger from piece parts, I can guarantee you with 100% confidence they're going to tell you to pound sand when you make an insurance claim.
On the off chance your home-made charger didn't start the fire, you can spend a decade fighting them in court. But you'll probably lose.
How's that? Does plugging in a fridge require a permit? As long as the EVSE is plugged into an outlet like any other appliance, it's just an appliance. Your jurisdiction may require a permit for installing the outlet in the first place, but I've never heard of one where plugging an appliance into the outlet does.
Anyway, how many DIY EVSEs start fires? It's a glorified extension cord, not exactly rocket science, and as long as the builder applies a modicum of sense to choosing the components and wire gauges inside, and torques the connectors and stuff, there's really not much going on in there that should produce heat in the first place.
Also, this isn't a charger. It's an EVSE, there's no power electronics inside. There's a contactor, that's it, no silicon in the power path. It's really hard to screw it up.
Perhaps I'm just accustomed to the Hackaday comment section, but HN commenters are weirdly terrified of anything involving AC. It's just electricity. Not even very much of it, like, normal household levels of 240v AC. My clothes dryer uses more power, and it pulls it over wiring installed in the 1970's. Heck, when I moved, I even replaced the cord on my own dryer with one that matches the outlet in this house, an action explicitly allowed and encouraged by the access plate on the back of the appliance. The bare cords are sold at Home Depot and they come with a little slip of paper explaining how any homeowner can install them.
It's fine. It's just wire. Pick one that's thick enough, torque the screws, it's fine.
It's reality? Installing an L2 charger requires a permit. You don't technically have to get one, there's no county police that goes door to door checking for improper/horrible EV charging installations. However, if your house burns down, and they see you decided to jury rig your own charger from piece parts, I can guarantee you with 100% confidence they're going to tell you to pound sand when you make an insurance claim.
On the off chance your home-made charger didn't start the fire, you can spend a decade fighting them in court. But you'll probably lose.