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XC40 P8 Charging cables and converters

12K views 42 replies 16 participants last post by  SeattleCat 
#1 ·
Hello there.
Trying to get ready for my delivery of my P8 week after next? As I cannot charge at home I want to make sure I can connect to as many world chargers as possible.

To that end:

1. What charging cables did yours (USA) come with.

2. What converters have your purchased or wish you had purchased.

Thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
Mine came with a cable with 240v and 110v adapters. Charged via 110v last night to top off before a drive today. 10 hours boosted me from 52% to 64%. Yikes, that's slow!

I've been able to charge at Chargepoint J1772 6.6kW and EV Connect SAE 7.2kW with no issues.
 
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#34 ·
Mine came with a cable with 240v and 110v adapters. Charged via 110v last night to top off before a drive today. 10 hours boosted me from 52% to 64%. Yikes, that's slow!

I've been able to charge at Chargepoint J1772 6.6kW and EV Connect SAE 7.2kW with no issues.
I'm a little confused - I understand the P8 comes with a charge cable that has both a 240/120 adapters. So, with the 240 plug, can I just plug into a 240 outlet and it will charge at 11KWH, or do I need to have an actual charge station? Maybe the cable w/240 adapter is for charging at a lower rate than a charge station?
 
#3 ·
I am sure our new friend from Volvo will likely have words about this but someone on plugshare told me they successfully used a Telsatap with their Recharge. I bought one as well, mostly as an emergency option, as the current state of Tesla vs CCS is pretty similar in my area, ie not great.
 
#5 ·
I've been using the TeslaTap Mini 40A adapter connected to my orphaned Tesla Gen 2 wall charger (as I no longer have the Tesla). It's working perfectly since taking delivery of the P8 a week ago. All I need is for Volvo to get its act together and prioritize sending down the "coming soon" software update that programs the off-peak charging times on the center screen of the car immediately instead of waiting for it to come months away on some nebulous future VOC app update.
 
#4 ·
Which brand ?
40 50 60 or 80amps?

So many choices. The default seems to be 40 and yet this seems to mean that you can only use the slower Tesla level 2s ( all theory here so I am happy to be corrected ).
 
#7 ·
I am hoping it is just software. Companies that are lacking chips have had to radically change their vehicles. I think Ford had to loose 1 mpg of efficiency due to a chip shortage and it cannot be fixed later.
 
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#9 ·
Found this about teslatap


I know the limit for rapid charging is 150 but does Anyone know what xc40s internal charging cap is for level 2? This Defines whether I get a 40,50,60 or 80.
 
#11 ·
I know the limit for rapid charging is 150 but does Anyone know what xc40s internal charging cap is for level 2? This Defines whether I get a 40,50,60 or 80.
11 kW is the Level 2 (AC charging) capacity of the onboard charger. You can give it any of 40, 50, 60 or 80 amps and none will harm the car as it will only accept 11 kW. The higher the amps the faster the charge - but the car will not accept any more than 48 amps.
 
#13 ·
I plugged my Volvo into my Blink home L2 EVSE unit today (purchased in 2011 for my Leaf) and was surprised at how long the Volvo display said it would take to charge from 33% to 100%. Per Volvo's recommendation in the manual I changed the setting to allow charging only to 90% to preserve the battery. I noticed that the charging rate shown in the display is only 23A even though the car can accept 48A. I contacted Blink to see if I could get the rate upped, but their tech people aren't there on Sunday. The blink unit is plugged into a 240W 40A circuit, so it will never go to 48A, but getting at or near 40A would be nice. So I unplugged the Blink unit and tried to plug in the cable that came with the car, but the wall socket was a different format than the cable. The manual for the cable has a diagram of the three formats of 240V sockets for the U.S. but doesn't explain why the difference (amperage rating?) and whether it's safe/legal to use some sort of adapter. The socket on the wall is the bottom one shown (three prongs) but the cable comes with the four prongs as shown in the top picture. Can anyone tell me the best way to up the charging speed? I'd prefer not to call an electrician if it's as simple as buying an adapter. For now I'll keep using the Blink. Maybe their techs will be able to help me tomorrow but I expect someone here might already have solved this problem.
 
#14 ·
Not got my car yet but I remember reading somewhere that you have to set the car to allow the full 48 ( or in your case 40 ).

I might be wrong but I remember reading that it is set lower so you do not trip the houses circuit.

another option would be to try chargers in the world to see what they give you.

also what rate did the lead get?

let us know how it goes.
 
#15 ·
Not got my car yet but I remember reading somewhere that you have to set the car to allow the full 48 ( or in your case 40 ).
I might be wrong but I remember reading that it is set lower so you do not trip the houses circuit.
another option would be to try chargers in the world to see what they give you.
also what rate did the lead get?
let us know how it goes.
The car is set to the full 48A. The 23A is due to the limit set by the Blink unit. The default for that unit is supposed to be 30, but for some reason it is only allowing 23. I've read that it is possible to set it for higher amps, but that the handles on the early models can't take the higher current without overheating, so I'm not going to do that, at least not until a Blink tech does it or tells me in writing it is safe.
I've looked online and the plug for the Volvo cable is for a 50A circuit, whereas mine is for a 40A circuit. I don't dare plug that into a 40A circuit and have it start to draw 48 amps and blow the circuit, but it may be possible that the wiring is capable of handling 50A and only the breaker is 40A. If so, an electrician might be able to test that and switch the socket so I can use the Volvo cable.
I don't understand the question "what rate did the lead get?" If you mean Volvo's cable, I never got it plugged in because it has an incompatible plug. It's supposed to be able to handle 48A and it's a lot thicker than the cable from the Blink.
At the rate it's charging, it should finish around 3:30PM today (PDT) for a total of around eight hours to charge from 33% to 90%.
 
#17 ·
Ah, got it. I don't actually know about the Leaf. The Leaf had a built in timer and I just set it to charge overnight when EV rates are low. Its battery is a lot smaller than the Volvo's and it always finished completely, so it never really became an issue to think about at home. I avoided charging at public spots as much as possible, but there were times when I wish could have charged faster. Fortunately I'm retired and don't drive much so I rarely needed to use those.
 
#18 ·
Charged at a free DC charger at a local BMW dealership (Chargepoint). Wow, what a difference. Was charging at "55 miles per hour" adding 12.2 kWh in 33 minutes, adding 34 miles.
 
#19 ·
Nice!!

So far I have joined.
GreenLots
SemmaConnect
EVgo

Ordered teslatap40. Not joined Tesla yet will work that out next

Have not joined charge point as I am not sure what the deal Is with Volvo and charge point. Perhaps I get something when I receive the car.

Wish I could charge at home.
also wish the car was actually here in my hands so this theoretical adventure could become a real one :)
 
#20 ·
I went back to my old Leaf forum where problems like these have long been discussed. People there point out that Blink's early home units developed overheating problems when run at their nominal 40A rate, so they were all turned down to 24A by Blink through the network. However, the plug incompatibility problem should be solvable. There are adapters for sale and they're not expensive. I just need to set the max charge rate in the Volvo below the breaker limit. One knowledgeable poster there said a 40A breaker will not hold a continuous 40A current, only a short one. For a continuous charge, it's limit is 32A. That's still a lot better than 23A. I'll try it.
 
#24 ·
My gen 1 Blink unit charges OK, but it's capped at 24amps. So I unplugged it to free the 240V socket, but I couldn't plug in the Volvo cable since it has a four-prong 14-50R plug but my 240V socket has a three-slot 6-50P format. I bought an adapter and it works great. I had to set the Volvo max amp rate below 40 amps since the circuit breaker is 40A, but I tested it and it charges at 39A just fine. That's 60% faster than with the old Blink. So if anyone else has that type of socket at home, here's the adapter I used:
4-prong to 3-prong adapter
If you buy one, be advised that it's really hard to plug in the 4-prong side to the cable. It's just set really tight and stiff. Use silicone spray and brute force if you have to. It plugs into the wall socket with normal force. I think Volvo should supply one like this with the car, although it's not expensive. One thing I don't like is that the Volvo cable lights up brightly as long as it's plugged into the socket and uses power. I'd rather not have to unplug it from the wall every time.
 
#28 ·
Probably not a lot, and it is a heavy weight to carry around, but it can be used with the adaptor if you're somewhere (e.g. relative's house, vacation spot) and want to charge overnight using house current. It also can be used to charge directly from the 240V socket if your ChargePoint isn't working. I'm assuming that's plugged into a socket and not hard-wired.
 
#31 ·
Debating sending my teslatap converter head back . . . How often do you find a need for it in the world where there are no other options. . . I am trying to fight against my pac rat mentality with this car. . . I have a feeling the Tesla tap converter is primarily for home use if you had an existing Tesla charger but I could be wrong.
 
#32 ·
Our first EV was in 2012 (Nissan Leaf). Our first Tesla came to us in 2014. Since then we’ve had just about every EV you can think of in our garage (yes, EVERY!). And at times (right now!) we’ve had a Tesla HPWC on the wall. So yes, I’ve used the TeslaTap (in my case the “J-Dapter”) to allow my non-Tesla vehicles to charge at home. That said, I have take it on road trips, but can truly say I’ve really only used it once or twice. Most of the Tesla destination charger sites going up these days have J1772, as well. And there are more J1772 chargers than there are Tesla Destinations you‘d use the adapter. It is nice to have as a security blanket, but it prob provides a false sense of security that truly is not needed. For the current prices (< $200) it isnt a bad investment, but it’ll prob collect more dust than anything.
 
#33 ·
One tip I’ll offer. If you plan on using the Volvo charging cable (evse) with a 14-50 outlet, have the outlet installed with the ground on top. Then the “pill” will hang down. If the ground is on the bottom then the “pill“ winds up above the plug with the cable making a U-turn down. Besides wasting a couple of feet on an extremely short 18’ cable, over time it will place a strain on the cable.

Conversely, if you install a level 2 EVSE unit then have the 15-50 outlet installed with the ground down (most units). The cable that plugs into the outlet is usually no more than 12” long and will not make the U-turn without excessive strain on the cable.
 
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