The EVSE for an EV is a given. They don't have to look for it because it's assumed to come with it. It's not a special add-on that can be missed. It's an essential part of an EV and will be the first item to be noticed missing when somebody tries to charge it for the first time upon acquiring the car. I would not try to sneak it by and sell it separately and hope that they won't miss it, unless you put it in writing and have them sign to acknowledge that the car doesn't come with an EVSE upon the trade-in.
I had Nissan buy back my LEAF and my EVSE was a Rev2 upgrade from evseupgrade.com. I pondered about not turning it in, but decided to do the right thing and bought a stock one from an individual owner to put in the LEAF so I can keep my upgraded one for a Volt I was planning to buy.
When I turned in my LEAF back to Nissan on the buyback, they have a pretty detailed form specifying that I must include everything that came with the LEAF for the turn-in. I would imagine that a lease return has the same condition. I would imagine that a trade-in has the same assumption that everything that originally came with the car has to be included upon the trade-in.
I couldn't believe that some owner sell their portable EVSE when they install a permanent EVSE at home, because you should have the portable one around as a backup in case your L2 EVSE malfunctions and needs to be repaired or replaced. But oh well, they own the car so that's their prerogative. Apparently the owner who sold me his stock L1 Panasonic EVSE doesn't care to have a backup portable EVSE for emergency. That's a pretty short sighted view if you ask me.
One thing that may be acceptable to do is to buy a cheaper L1 EVSE replacement to include with the car, if you want to keep or sell your L1 Panasonic EVSE which commands a higher price because of its robustness.
