[Shaerna]

Just got our Recharge 3 days ago. Waiting on a home charger, but we were told the car will do a full charge in 16 hours with a standard plug in to the wall using the provided cable and the 110 adapter that was provided. Turns out we have gotten nowhere near that speed of charging. After 3 trials and many hours we are averaging 1-1.5%/hr at home, using various outlets and even changing buildings on our property to get a completely different electrical circuit. On the 6kW public chargers we are getting about 5%/hr and paying as much as we would for gas for an equal range.
This is irritating since we had planned to plug in nightly. The charging units to install in our home are on back order. But it is especially problematic since we live on an island and don’t have easy access to the fast chargers. We can’t drive the car because it is charged in literally all day.
Has anyone else had this problem? Is 110 just not reasonable to expect to work? Are the 6kW chargers all this useless?
Feeling frustrated that I can’t drive the car I just bought….

 

[VTBUCKEYE]

120V times 12 amps = 1.44kW per hour. A full 0 to 100 percent (75kWh) charge should take 52 hours at 100 percent efficiency. There will be charging losses, so probably 55 to 60 hours. A 30 amp 240V charger will charge at 7kW, so probably 11 to 12 hours, but for battery health your are only charging to 90 percent and probably not arriving home at less than 10 percent, so 60 kWh total charge needed which would be a 10 hour charge. 16 hours empty to full would require 240V x 20 amps. With the proper charger an EV is great. The charger that came with the car can plug into a 240V circuit with a Nema 14-50 plug. Many of the chargers also have this plug. Get an electrician to install a Nema 14-50 outlet where you plan to park, then charge the car at 240V x 40 amps and you are full in 8 hours or less.

 

[SeattleCat]

Out of curiosity (as VTs excellent reply covers it all) how many miles do you expect to drive on your island daily? What would be a sane max?

Grats on your car and grats on home charging. Margo (my car) has lived since May by foraging in public charger land.

 

[azemon]

@Shaerna Congrats on getting an EV. You will love it!

@VTBUCKEYE did the math and gave you the detailed answer. I have been driving an EV for eight years so I can confirm that what he told you is correct. I do want to add, though, that you can safely drive your car even if the battery is not fully charged. For instance, if the battery reaches 50% SOC overnight and you only plan to drive 50 miles to/from work the next day, go ahead and drive it. You will be able to make the trip with plenty of battery charge in reserve.

I think that you will be happier if you get a Level 2 (240 volt) charger installed at home. The cable that came with the car will certainly work admirably or you can get a wall-mounted "charger." Technically, these things are called an EVSE. The charger is actually in the car. The EVSE merely supplies voltage at the amps that the car requests.

 

[Shaerna]

120V times 12 amps = 1.44kW per hour. A full 0 to 100 percent (75kWh) charge should take 52 hours at 100 percent efficiency. There will be charging losses, so probably 55 to 60 hours. A 30 amp 240V charger will charge at 7kW, so probably 11 to 12 hours, but for battery health your are only charging to 90 percent and probably not arriving home at less than 10 percent, so 60 kWh total charge needed which would be a 10 hour charge. 16 hours empty to full would require 240V x 20 amps. With the proper charger an EV is great. The charger that came with the car can plug into a 240V circuit with a Nema 14-50 plug. Many of the chargers also have this plug. Get an electrician to install a Nema 14-50 outlet where you plan to park, then charge the car at 240V x 40 amps and you are full in 8 hours or less.

Thank you very much for this reply. Exactly what we needed to know. We were led to believe that the 110 would give us 16 hours to full charge, the 240 would give us an 8 hour to full charge. Obviously not true and your math makes sense.

 

[Shaerna]

Out of curiosity (as VTs excellent reply covers it all) how many miles do you expect to drive on your island daily? What would be a sane max?

Grats on your car and grats on home charging. Margo (my car) has lived since May by foraging in public charger land.

In general just back and forth to kids school, local work etc so maybe 50miles/day. But then we also wanted to use it for longer jaunts that happen regularly that are anywhere from 90-160 round trip. I see you are connected to Seattle…. We live on one of the islands outside Seattle and my husband commutes into the city occasionally. We were also going to have him use it for that. Basically we wanted to lean on the Volvo as our workhorse and use the gas vehicle as a backup. But right now, without the 240 installed, it takes 1 hour on the charger for every 2 miles we drive. This isn’t sustainable.

 

[Shaerna]

@Shaerna Congrats on getting an EV. You will love it!

@VTBUCKEYE did the math and gave you the detailed answer. I have been driving an EV for eight years so I can confirm that what he told you is correct. I do want to add, though, that you can safely drive your car even if the battery is not fully charged. For instance, if the battery reaches 50% SOC overnight and you only plan to drive 50 miles to/from work the next day, go ahead and drive it. You will be able to make the trip with plenty of battery charge in reserve.

I think that you will be happier if you get a Level 2 (240 volt) charger installed at home. The cable that came with the car will certainly work admirably or you can get a wall-mounted "charger." Technically, these things are called an EVSE. The charger is actually in the car. The EVSE merely supplies voltage at the amps that the car requests.

Yes, I know we don’t need a full battery to drive. But when I’m driving 50 miles a day I don’t have 50 hours to recharge it. It only takes a couple days to get to 0%.
I agree we need a 240 plug in immediately. Waiting on an electrician and the charging unit, although we may just forego that if we can expedite the electrician.
Since you’ve been driving an EV for so long….Can you explain the benefit to the charging unit rather than simply plugging in to a 240 outlet? If the charger is actually in the car regulating the electrical loading, what reasons are there to spend the extra $$ and so on for the specialized wall mounted units?

 

[SeattleCat]

There are lots of places to rapid charge in Seattle. Sad the islands do not have one each maybe one day.

One advantage of chargers is they can schedule to use cheaper off peak power to charge. Of course if your car is charging all night just to get it charged …

Are chargers safer than the free cable?

 

[azemon]

The charging cord that came with the car is an EVSE; it has electronics inside it. It is more than just a cord.

There is pretty neat negotiation between the vehicle and the EVSE. They confirm that the connection is good (grounded, etc). The car asks for the current that it wants and the EVSE supplies it. The car reduces the requested current as the battery charge approaches 100% or the battery gets hot.

I bought a Clipper Creek EVSE many years ago, when I had a Mitsubishi iMIEV. That car only came with a 110V EVSE so I had to buy my own 240V EVSE. I have not switched to the Volvo EVSE for a couple of reasons. First, my existing one is hardwired; I don't have a NEMA plug. Second, my wiring and circuit breaker only support 30 amps so I would still have to limit the charging rate. It would take me several hundred feet of wire to upgrade so I probably won't bother.

 

[David]

DEFINITELY expedite the electrician. Once you've got that wonderful 14-50 plug, life will be good and charging won't be a problem any more. The wall charger/box is just icing on the cake, but much lower priority because basically it just gives you a longer cord and some other features you may not even use.

 

[Vatorney3]

Yes, I know we don’t need a full battery to drive. But when I’m driving 50 miles a day I don’t have 50 hours to recharge it. It only takes a couple days to get to 0%.
I agree we need a 240 plug in immediately. Waiting on an electrician and the charging unit, although we may just forego that if we can expedite the electrician.
Since you’ve been driving an EV for so long….Can you explain the benefit to the charging unit rather than simply plugging in to a 240 outlet? If the charger is actually in the car regulating the electrical loading, what reasons are there to spend the extra $$ and so on for the specialized wall mounted units?

You CAN use the charging cord that came with your P8, and I've seen on this forum those that have been satisfied enough with it using 220V. It just won't give you quite the speed and the functions (like programming for off-peak charging) that an EVSE would. EVSEs are either "dumb" or "smart" with the latter having the programmability and other functions via Wi-Fi. Personally, I don't need the smart features so I went with a very good, high-quality "dumb" EVSE -- and have been extremely happy with it.

 

[BainbridgeIsland]

Can you explain the benefit to the charging unit rather than simply plugging in to a 240 outlet? If the charger is actually in the car regulating the electrical loading, what reasons are there to spend the extra $$ and so on for the specialized wall mounted units?

Here in western WA we always pay the same electric rate 24/7. So for us, one of the big advantages to a wall charger - fancy time-of-day best-electric-rate programming schedule - doesn't matter.

But a hard-wired wall charger may give you a bit more power & faster charging: 48-Amp max for hard-wired, vs 40-Amp max for the Volvo plug-in cable. (Both of course depending on how many Amps your circuit breaker & wiring is rated for). My garage has a hard-wired Tesla HPWC (wall charger) from the previous owner, and I'm able to use that just fine with a 3rd-party adapter cable. It gives me the maximum 48-Amp max charge rate.

We live on one of the islands outside Seattle and my husband commutes into the city occasionally.

Was that you in the Red XC40 I saw on Bainbridge yesterday? I waved from the Green Xc40

 

[BikerBill]

As others have said get the 50 amp, 14-50 outlet installed ASAP. Volvo was providing a free ChargePoint wall adapter. Its ordered with 1 or 2 short cords. If you get the 14-50 outlet, get it ordered with the same matching cord, like on the end of the car-cord that came with the car. I installed a 60amp circuit to my ChargePoint which allows a higher max amperage, 48. We just removed the short cord that came with the ChargePoint. The ChargePoint, as do some other brands, offer additional features. Out ChargePoint is available to interconnect with our home WiFi and if we had a time-of-day electric rate available (not available currently in PA) we could use the ChargePoint to time when it would charge the car. Its also located so I can use it to change my Tesla also.

Or you can get the ChargePoint and sell it on Ebay. The new price from the factory is like $700.

 

[brew]

Great info in his thread. I would just emphasize for consideration that a hardwired home EVSE running at 48A is adding 11.5 kWh every hour, so going from 10% to 90% on a 75 kWh battery takes a little over 5 hours.

 

[azemon]

How do I get the free ChargePoint EVSE? My MY21, which I picked up on Monday, didn't come with a coupon or anything.

 

[Vatorney3]

How do I get the free ChargePoint EVSE? My MY21, which I picked up on Monday, didn't come with a coupon or anything.

Ask your dealer. My dealer ordered the Checkpoint EVSE when I picked up my P8 in July (received the EVSE in August). I also got a $500 BonusDrive check from my insurance company in association w/Volvo. The checkpoint deal may have expired by now.

 

[Rhughes]

How do I get the free ChargePoint EVSE? My MY21, which I picked up on Monday, didn't come with a coupon or anything.

They stopped that. Now you get "250Wkh free with Electrify America and discounted membership after that". I add quotes as I have not heard anything yet and VC say 3-4 weeks in email....

 

[SeattleCat]

I have read that non fast chargers charge consistently vs fast chargers where rate is partially a function of battery fullness.

Just wanted to verify this is the case as I do not have access to a home charger so cannot test it

Is there any noticeable change due temperature?

 

[Shaerna]

Here in western WA we always pay the same electric rate 24/7. So for us, one of the big advantages to a wall charger - fancy time-of-day best-electric-rate programming schedule - doesn't matter.

But a hard-wired wall charger may give you a bit more power & faster charging: 48-Amp max for hard-wired, vs 40-Amp max for the Volvo plug-in cable. (Both of course depending on how many Amps your circuit breaker & wiring is rated for). My garage has a hard-wired Tesla HPWC (wall charger) from the previous owner, and I'm able to use that just fine with a 3rd-party adapter cable. It gives me the maximum 48-Amp max charge rate.


Was that you in the Red XC40 I saw on Bainbridge yesterday? I waved from the Green Xc40

No, we’re on Whidbey Island, and my car is thunder grey 😍. I was going for the red at first, but the seafoamy look of the thunder grey caught my eye.

 

[Shaerna]

Thank you everyone for the excellent information. As a newbie to the EV world I am still working on full understanding of the nuances of charging etc. Keep it coming, is anyone has more to add! We’re working on getting an electrician in ASAP!