[Kamil]

Wall chargers… Do you get one, and if you do what kind.

Also, if you already have it for XC40 or P car please post your experience and thoughts.

I seen that the cable will be the restriction on total Amp delivery however, what about efficiency or other benefits of wall charging?

Thank you in advance for all the good information and advice!

 

[arijaycomet]

Have a NEMA 14-50 outlet installed in your garage. Use the included cable, which will work just fine. That is all you need. No reason to waste extra money on anything else. When charging in the wild, you'll never actually likely use/need your cable, so you can just leave the included cable at home, plugged in, ready to go when you arrive home. For most EV owners 99% of their charging happens at home.

Even though the cable in a 14-50 will provide only 40A max and the car can support 48A -- that is overkill and not anything to be concerned with. And definitely not a necessity for most people. Let's say you charge to 90% daily (many only charge to 80%) and let's say you arrive home at 10% -- so you'd need to add 80% of your 75 kWh (net) back into the car. 40Ax240v = 9.6 kW ... so 75/9.6 = 7.8 hours to fully charge your car. For most people they aren't driving anywhere after 10pm or before 6am -- plenty of time to fully charge the car.

(And most people don't need to add in 80% battery nightly -- for most folks you'll only be using 20-30% of your battery on the average day, so it will literally take ~2-3 hours max to recharge your car nightly, even at 32A technically)

 

[A2_]

There's a lot of discussion about this in the XC40 Recharge forum, search around some.

I put a ChargePoint flex hardwired to a dedicated 60A circuit in my garage. Check your state/power company for incentives. Arijaycomet's advice makes sense if your power company isn't incentivizing your EVSE.

For example where I am (Ann Arbor, MI with DTE) I get a $500 rebate on an eligible charger (they have a list) when I 1) buy an EV 2) install an eligible charger ✅ and 3) sign up for a time-of-day rate ✅.

There's a federal tax credit that will cover 30% of the total cost of equipment + installation.

When I consider the rebate + tax credit + lower power rates it's wasting money to go the 14-50 plug/included cable route. The EVSE comes out ahead over time. YMMV. Check with your power company and figure out what's right for you.

 

[Mitsuba]

I got a free Wallbox installed with my XC40 purchase. 220v and 40A. Installation was not easy due to the distance from the car spot to circuit.

Charge every night up to 90%, and leave the portable charger in the frunk.

I used the portable in my XC60 and it was a pain to install then put back in the trunk everyday.

Wallbox is a must have.

 

[Kamil]

Thanks for the input guys.

I have two dedicated NEMA 14-50 plugs with a separate circuit one in the front and one in the rear of the three car garage.

Will look into more into incentives on the wall charger however, I’m not concerned with cost just want to get the best, most convenient, solution possible.

Also, I’m producing solar energy so power usage and cost is also a different topic.

I guess just for the convenience aspect of plugging it in versus taking the cable out of the trunk and putting it back just in case you ever are in the situation where you need to charge on the road from a neighbor or a friendly person lol.

 

[arijaycomet]

https://amzn.to/3qoIzLA

See link above. That is the cable we've been using for a while now to charge various cars. I've tested it on Porsche Taycan, Mini EV, XC40, Polestar 2, and many others. It works great! Affordable, and it can handle the max 40A that your NEMA 14-50 should be setup for (50A circuit, 40A draw with 20% overhead). The nice thing about this cable (and what makes it slightly more pricey than others) is both 40A vs 32A and also 25FT length. My big issue was 2-car garage but the charge point location on some cars, the 25FT cable was a must-have!

We just leave that cable plugged in, and then as you said @Kamil this is nice because then you can just leave the OE cable in the car, for those "odd use cases" that you may need/want it with you. For < $400 this was a great deal, since most wall box type units are $500-800 these days. If you need to get two of them, even better. Cheers!

 

[XCMac.40]

Thanks for the input guys.

I have two dedicated NEMA 14-50 plugs with a separate circuit one in the front and one in the rear of the three car garage.

Will look into more into incentives on the wall charger however, I’m not concerned with cost just want to get the best, most convenient, solution possible.

Also, I’m producing solar energy so power usage and cost is also a different topic.

I guess just for the convenience aspect of plugging it in versus taking the cable out of the trunk and putting it back just in case you ever are in the situation where you need to charge on the road from a neighbor or a friendly person lol.

ChargePoint seems to be lapping the field in this regard. There are many wall-mount options.
Hardwire or plug-in. All depends on your personal needs/ situation.

Not affiliated/ advocate etc.

 

[He Keith]

There are several more threads on the XC40 Recharge threads. I had a Wallbox when we got the first Recharge becasue I knew eventually we would have 2 EVs and the Wallbox does power sharing. Last month we got the second Recharge and I put a 60 amp sub panel in line with the first Wallbox, and then rana second wallbox. Today I hooked up the power sharing. Wallbox is bigger in Europe and kind of a sleeper brand in the US. Their support is very good and responsive.

If you hardware the EVSE you can get an EVSE that can do 48 amps, otherwise on a NEMA 14-50 outlet you are max 40amps, still very respecciale. Changed from litk 40% to 90% last night in about 4.5 hours.

One of the big benefits of a smart EVSE (charger) is scheduled charging. Check with your power company to see if they have variable rate plans where overnight charging may be cheaper. For me I get 400kWh free every month between 12am to 6am. Then any power used above that during that time is $0.045 per kWh. For example in the 7 months I have had my 21 and the 3 weeks we have had the second I have spent about $12 in electricity and I have 3100 miles and the new car only has 300 miles.

So if I do quick math it works out to $0.004 per mile. If we had her T5 and s second T5 the same miles driven would have cost about $520 assuming 23MPG and 3.50/gallon son my 21 has already saved me $460 with the little bit of driving I have done.