[RIVolvoP8]

Can’t seem to get the maximum stated DC charging speed the highest I’ve seen is 84kW. Even plugging into a 350kW max chager now and the highest I got was 74kW. Does anyone know if that is a software update that needs to be done or just poor charger performance?

 

[BainbridgeIsland]

Maybe run your battery charge level down to 20% or less - and then try it? The higher the charge level, the slower the re-charging speed.

 

[jay_man2]

https://www.zap-map.com/charge-points/volvo-xc40-recharge/

You would think you'd see something closer to 150kW for DC fast charging.

 

[BainbridgeIsland]

You would think you'd see something closer to 150kW for DC fast charging.

Yes, and you will - but only if your battery is starting from around 10%-20% charge state. As it "fills up" the charge rate gets slower. That last 10% charge from 80% to 90% is the slowest, not much faster than AC Level 2 charging.

This isn't just a Volvo thing - it's the current state of chemistry for pretty much all EV batteries.

 

[JT Rock]

Google the XC40 charging curve. It's will depend on many conditions as well as SoC. Here's a curve where it gets 150kW for a short period when battery SoC is around 7-17%:

Charging with a Volvo XC40/C40 Recharge

 

[Rugbychix]

Between 0-20 i see a bunch of 150, from 20-40 bursts. Also which software update changed the charging info to something useful 🤔

 

[SeattleCat]

Here’s a question.
At 80-90% charge what is faster a level 3 150 or 50 or are they the same.

From recent trip (small sample size) the speed of a 50 seems to be the same / similar to a 150 from 80 up. Anyone else noticed this?

 

[SeattleCat]

And a picture to show how modules do not talk …

alas it keeps asking … oddly I have been lower in charge and it did not ask me that time …

 

[Rugbychix]

QUOTE="SeattleCat, post: 20529, member: 3667"]
At 80-90% charge what is faster a level 3 150 or 50 or are they the same.
[/QUOTE]

80-90 there's no difference, 90-10 there's no difference between a L3 and am L2.

Also here's a picture from insane charging session yesterday. I was at 152-153 pretty much from 5-30, which took around 7 minutes. The sweet spot continues to be 60, which took 20ish minutes.

[

 

[Linkerbox]

This guy on youtube has some great stuff on the charging curves and comparisons to different cars.

Volvo XC40 Playlist:
Volvo XC40 Recharge - YouTube

There's a Volvo XC40 tab on this sheet:
Charging Curve - Google Sheets
I think this is one data point, so not like averages of different temperatures and such, but still good-ish to show how things work in real life in at least once case.

 

[arijaycomet]

Here’s a question.
At 80-90% charge what is faster a level 3 150 or 50 or are they the same.
From recent trip (small sample size) the speed of a 50 seems to be the same / similar to a 150 from 80 up. Anyone else noticed this?

That is 100% correct—- since the charging at 80% drops to at or below 50kW you would not benefit. So if you were at around 75% SOC (state of charge) and wanted to “top off” at a 50kW charger, it would be nearly identical in overall speed (area under the curve) as a 150 kW charger. But.. since 60% to 80% will yield around 75 kW charging speed (plus or minus)- you’d be better off at a 75kW (or higher) rated charger at those levels. Hope this makes sense.

 

[Rugbychix]

This guy on youtube has some great stuff on the charging curves and comparisons to different cars.

Volvo XC40 Playlist:
Volvo XC40 Recharge - YouTube

There's a Volvo XC40 tab on this sheet:
Charging Curve - Google Sheets
I think this is one data point, so not like averages of different temperatures and such, but still good-ish to show how things work in real life in at least once case.

These are curves are no longer accurate, they were done prior to the Feb software update. The most up to date curve done post the February update was done by Kris Rifa:

This is definitely not accurate anymore still. I did two sub 10% to 80% charges this weekend, under pretty ideal conditions, 50-70 degrees. The majority of the improvement was/is unfortunately between 20-40, and to a lesser extent 40-60. The curve from 60-80 was identical to Kris'.

But at the end of the day it doesn't change the basic situation: for long distance driving you need to plan your trips around 150/350 chargers, and if you never get 10% state to charge you are essentially cheating yourself out of fast charging.

 

[Linkerbox]

This is why I don't like per minute pricing either. It's very much car dependent so 2 cars could take the same energy and get charged differently. I get time based for when charging stops to get people off the charger but I wish national standard was kwh.

 

[arijaycomet]

But at the end of the day it doesn't change the basic situation: for long distance driving you need to plan your trips around 150/350 chargers, and if you never get 10% state to charge you are essentially cheating yourself out of fast charging.

^^ THIS!!! If you live in the USA, just bounce from one EA charger to the next and you'll be fine. We did Ohio to Tennessee and it worked great at 150kW chargers. We had a blast and it was the same experience as the 12 Tesla vehicles we've owned. So yeah.... ideally hit those chargers --

PS: One thing the chart above fails to show is battery pack temp, which also impacts charging speed. But the only chart I've seen that includes pack temp is for the J1 platform (Porsche Taycan/Audi eTron GT)

 

[SeattleCat]

Another tip. Charge when you get to a place vs sleeping or eating then charging. Take advantage of the nice and warm battery from driving.

Had one interesting charge.
Arrived at an EA station. As usual this was after a drive. Car was in the teens but station could only pull 89cmph. Reason I reckon was that the car was hot from driving there in the 117 degree weather and or the charging station was struggling because it was 117. Considering all the fans the charging stations need they too must be adversely effected by heat.

Anyone else notice a difference in charging at extreme heat?

 

[Rugbychix]

Anyone else notice a difference in charging at extreme heat?

No, though I have seen "odd" charging curves. I was in the 30s and charged until the 50s and never got over 70 KwH. The same 350 KwH charger had rocket charged me two days earlier, staying well over 100KwH from 5 %to 60%

My other pro tip is for road trips is don't underestimate the utility of L2 destination chargers. I've used them twice in public lots overnight (which was allowed of course) and they were ready to go the next morning as if I was home. Plus they were free because overnight parking was free!

 

[SeattleCat]

Alas none of the motels /hotels offered level 2s or in would of taken advantage of them. My other gym has level 2 charging which is nice for topping off.

One of my ea charges was free as it just started without my using my card!! To balance it out the next ea we went to (at midnight and tired) was completely dead the inky ea failure of the trip. And the online did not say it was dead

 

[Rugbychix]

One of my ea charges was free as it just started without my using my card!! To balance it out the next ea we went to (at midnight and tired) was completely dead the inky ea failure of the trip. And the online did not say it was dead

Ha! The EV life for sure. As my name suggests i've been doing some rugby carpooling and thankfully my team is very onboard with the "bumps." In no small part because they aren't paying much for gas and because the interior of the xc40 is a step up from the toyotas and subarus we tend to drive.