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has anybody tried their factory charger on 240v? How many amps do you see in the car?
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Factory Charger
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I have a plug installed on a 40amp breaker. I set the max amps on the car to 32 as per the recommendation of my electrician. The first time I plugged it in I had a strange issue with the car. On the centre screen it showed that I selected a 32amp max and a charge to 90%, but when I plugged in the cable the driver's display indicated that it was charging at 39amps and would charge to 100%. I immediately stopped the charge, rebooted the infotainment screen, then attempted to charge again and again it started charging at 39amps set to charge to 100%. The driver's display was showing 39/0 while charging. This time I stopped the charge and then left the car alone for about half an hour. When I came back and plugged it in the driver's display showed it was going to charge to 90% as I had selected and it was charging at 31 amps. The display indicated 31/32, which I take to mean it was charging at 31amps with a max set to 32. That was a few days ago and I have not needed to charge again since.
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Strange. In any case it sounds like it outputs at 40amps if the car will accept it. And the Chargepoint outputs at 48a? I’ve been wondering why somebody would install that at home when the factory charge does 40amps. Just for the 8 extra amps?
Yes, that and perhaps to get a much longer cord. I believe the Chargepoints can also be set up to charge at specific times, but at some point I believe we should be able to do that via the On Call app, whenever that is working.
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It is 23% more power and faster charge time.
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Used it once to see how it worked - have 30 amp service at the house used a 240 outlet - left the car setting at 48 amps and 90% - breaker tripped - changed the car to 30 amps and it charged no problem - display in dash showed 29-30 amps while charging.
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23% is getting to be significant, but the factory charger is quite good on its own. Especially since Volvo offered me a $500 credit towards a ChargePoint charger.
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Although seems like the highest rated home charger is the juice box: Home & Residential EV Car Charging Stations | Enel X
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I think I'm going to take the $500 ChargePoint DC fast charging credit, and keep using the factory charger at home on 240v for now.
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As another data point…. I have a NEMA 14-50 at home (40A continuous on a 50A breaker) and I charged our new to us XC40 on the factory supplied hardware. It peaked at 40A, settled down to 39A. I had it set to the max (48A) but the cable only goes up to 40A as noted in your first photo to the OP of this thread. So yeah, that cable will never get you more than 40A, even though the car will take 48A.
Finding a J1772 outlet in the wild that is 48A is going to be rather rare. There are definitely some out there, but for a long time 30A was standard, than 32A was standard. It’s been only a short while that 40A has been common place, and that is the typical max for most cars. Tesla has been using 48A for a while (the model 3/Y both have 48A max 220v charging L2 AC). I think we’ll see more options there, soon.
But … let’s say you charge To 90% daily and on a heavy day you were down to 30%. Of the usable 75kW we get that would be 60% of that or 45kw of energy you’re trying to put into the car. Assuming 0% loss (not actual but for just estimates here) —
40A x 220v = 8.8 kW = 5.11 hours
48A x 220v = 10.56 kW = 4.26 hours
Most of us charge overnight when we’re asleep. So does it really matter to save 51 minutes? I’d argue that is not a big deal. Hence why the included EVSE with the car is 40A. Be happy, that is actually a REALLY nice cable (although the cable is short, 25ft would be nicer)— but the cable with the Tesla model 3/Y is a max 32A even though the car, like ours, takes 48A. So really, the cable include with the XC40 is BETTER than what Tesla gave us with our 3/Y!
Finding a J1772 outlet in the wild that is 48A is going to be rather rare. There are definitely some out there, but for a long time 30A was standard, than 32A was standard. It’s been only a short while that 40A has been common place, and that is the typical max for most cars. Tesla has been using 48A for a while (the model 3/Y both have 48A max 220v charging L2 AC). I think we’ll see more options there, soon.
But … let’s say you charge To 90% daily and on a heavy day you were down to 30%. Of the usable 75kW we get that would be 60% of that or 45kw of energy you’re trying to put into the car. Assuming 0% loss (not actual but for just estimates here) —
40A x 220v = 8.8 kW = 5.11 hours
48A x 220v = 10.56 kW = 4.26 hours
Most of us charge overnight when we’re asleep. So does it really matter to save 51 minutes? I’d argue that is not a big deal. Hence why the included EVSE with the car is 40A. Be happy, that is actually a REALLY nice cable (although the cable is short, 25ft would be nicer)— but the cable with the Tesla model 3/Y is a max 32A even though the car, like ours, takes 48A. So really, the cable include with the XC40 is BETTER than what Tesla gave us with our 3/Y!
Lower-amperage charging adapters do have one thing going for them when in daily use: a much lighter cable. My gen 2 Tesla "hpwc" adapter, capable of charging at 80A, has a 25' cable that is about the size and weight of a filled garden hose, quite heavy. Their newer hpwc has a reduced current limit and a much lighter cable.
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True. Less amperage is usually a smaller diameter cable and such. That said, if anyone reading this wants a longer cable alternative, we got this:
It actually matches the output of the factory cable, but ends up with a longer cable, and the whole unit is about the same weight, easier to manipulate cable, etc. This works great for my wife’s Volvo and my Mini, and also allows us to both leave our factory cables in our car should we ever need them “on the road”
Amazon.com: LEFANEV 40 Amp EV Charger Level 2,(NEMA 14-50, 40A/25ft,220V-240V,9.6KW) Portable EVSE Electric Vehicle Charging Station for SAE J1772 Electric Cars (40A): Automotive
Buy LEFANEV 40 Amp EV Charger Level 2, (NEMA 14-50, 40A/25ft, 220V-240V, 9.6KW) Portable EVSE Electric Vehicle Charging Station for SAE J1772 Electric Cars (40A): Charging Stations - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases
amzn.to
It actually matches the output of the factory cable, but ends up with a longer cable, and the whole unit is about the same weight, easier to manipulate cable, etc. This works great for my wife’s Volvo and my Mini, and also allows us to both leave our factory cables in our car should we ever need them “on the road”
Should be credit up to $750 according to service manager bulletin 447.
ChargePoint is offering its own promo for a level 2 EVSE or $500 charge credit. It's a separate 2 page document.
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