Home Charging Station help for a new owner

[hjstech50]

I live in Minnesota. Considering a 2015 e-Golf. Please excuse any stupid questions on my part...totally new to all this.

Confused on a charging station for my home. Dealer told me some can be programmed to come at night during off-peak rates. I have 220v in the garage already. He also recommended Bosch, but didn't go into specifics.

Any recommendations out there for:

1. Brand/model charging station
2. Amperage (30A seems to be the recommendation)
3. Hard-wired or plug-in
4. Is the VW car app helpful? Is it only a paid subscription? He wasn't totally clear on that but I'm not excited for another subscription/payment each month.
5. Other things to consider?

Thanks!

 

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi & welcome to the forum,

You should have 32A at least, as the e-Golf has a 7.2kWh charger. If you add new wiring, then I'd go to 50A capacity.

The app is only free for a couple of months, and you pay after that. I never used it, so I don't know how useful it is.

Do you have lower rates off peak? We pay the same (high) rate all the time, so I have not done anything with the timer. From what I hear, it is problematic, anyway.

If you have a plugin unit, you can take it with you, to charge at say a campground, or into a dryer outlet at someone's house.

Get the longest cord you can - we have a 25' cord, so we can share one station with two cars (an e-Golf and a Leaf) in two side-by-side driveways. You definitely need a good way to hang the cord - some units design this in, and some need a hook and a "dummy" plug to store it.

 

[RonDawg]

As far as brand, note that with the 2015's (not sure about the 2016 or later) the eGolf's charge timer is notorious for not playing well with certain EVSE brands, in particular the Clipper Creek units which are otherwise well regarded in the EV community. That's despite the OEM 120 volt unit being a Clipper Creek design (albeit assembled by Delphi) and works perfectly fine with the eGolf.

AFAIK the only fix is to replace the charging module, and getting a dealer to do that can be tricky. My local dealer said my car "charged fine with the recommended Bosch unit" they had and thus refused to do anything about it. I don't generally use off-peak charging due to my work schedule, but like with the Leaf I had before, the only way to limit charging to less than 100% is to use the charge timer. Besides preserving my battery by not leaving it at 100% for hours at a time (particularly like now when it's hot outside) leaving with a less-than-full battery means I will have regen braking for my drive anywhere from my hilly neighborhood.

If you don't pay for CarNet, the app and web portal will allow limited access: monitoring battery charge level, starting/stopping charging, charge timer functions and setting (using their web portal is the only way to edit timer settings on the 2015's), and remote control of the climate control system. Boundary and speed alerts, car health monitoring, and sending destination info to the car's nav system require a subscription.

As stated earlier, if your home's electrical system can handle it, a 32 amp EVSE (requiring a 40 amp circuit) will charge your eGolf as fast as it will allow on L2 and give you a bit of future-proofing. However if you can only install a 16 amp EVSE, that's OK as well, as it will still charge a fully depleted 24 kWH eGolf in 8 hours. If you range needs are very modest, say 30 miles per day or less, you can even get away with using the OEM 120 volt EVSE that comes with the car, but keep in mind that using L1 (120 volt) will only yield you about 3-5 miles of range for every hour of charging depending on your local conditions and driving style.

Being in Minnesota, make sure the 2015 you get is the top-level SEL model, with the leatherette seats. The LE model, quite literally limited as VW imported far fewer of these than the SEL's, uses a more power hungry resistive heater which will significantly reduce your range whenever the heater is on. The SEL has a heat pump system which is good down to about 10 degrees F or so and will help preserve your range. The SEL also has seat heaters, not sure about the LE.

 

[GlennD]

I use an OpenEVSE home brew unit. Its timer basically opens o normal charging window. You can set the start and stop times but the defaults of 5 min after midnight and 5 min before 7AM work for most. Basically it starts charging around midnight and finishes well before the 7AM stop time.

I really like the eGolf's timer. I charge to 80% and then disconnect the car. Left connected it will charge to 100% just prior to departure. That does not leave the car at 100% for long. I have used the OpenEVSE timer in the past but since Anaheim has no tiers I just charge in the daytime when the car is at 50% and I disconnect when it halts at 80%.

 

[TwoCarsAWeek]

Welcome to the EV world!

I lived in Minnesota for a few years and know how cold it can get.

For my charging at home, I installed a NEMA-14-50 240v outlet. Then I purchased a ClipperCreek HCS-40P (NEMA 14-50) EVSE. Their customer service is great but is a bit pricy.

I have an early 2016 e-Golf SE (which probably had the same problematic charging module as the 2015). After spending a few months going back and forth with the dealer and VW Customer Care, they finally replaced my charging module with a 2017 part, and delay/scheduled charging works great with the HCS-40P afterwards.

You don't need the subscription to Carnet, and can still use the most interesting features of the Carnet App. You can either program using the e-Manager screen within the car or use the Carnet App to program when you want to car to be charged by, and, best for Minnesota, when you want to car to be heated so that it is nice and warm when you get in!

Enjoy your e-Golf!

 

[miimura]

The MY 2015 e-Golf cars in the US don't have any e-Manager controls (timer charging and pre-conditioning) on the infotainment screen. It must be done through the CarNet system. The EV portion of the CarNet service is free for the first 3 years. If you are buying used, it may be hassle to set up, but it should not cost you anything. Of course, the people on the phone will try to get you to subscribe to the full service anyway. IMHO, it's not worth it.

 

[PacBlue]

The MY 2015 e-Golf cars in the US don't have any e-Manager controls (timer charging and pre-conditioning) on the infotainment screen. It must be done through the CarNet system. The EV portion of the CarNet service is free for the first 3 years. If you are buying used, it may be hassle to set up, but it should not cost you anything. Of course, the people on the phone will try to get you to subscribe to the full service anyway. IMHO, it's not worth it.

+1 on the above comments; bought mine used and it took a number of attempts (I did initially 'sign up' for a 90-day trial and switched to the free version afterwards) but CarNet is working well; charge timer, percent charge, HVAC preconditioning -- which is quite good in the cold weather all work fine. As far as the '15 LE version, it does have (excellent) heated cloth seats. My EVSE of choice is a first-gen Schneider EVlink which I used with a '12 LEAF; its on a 40A breaker and the LE charges at the 7.2kW rate (more than twice as fast as the first-gen LEAF could) -- can't speak enough about the excellent support that Schneider gives its customers (they shipped me an updated circuit board to handle the higher charging rate of the e-Golf no charge). Regardless of what version of e-Golf you get, the Midwest winters can be quite tough on overall range --- combine that with higher speeds on expressways, etc. and expect much lower range; pre-heat whenever it makes sense to maximize decent driving comfort and max range on the coldest days, if you have access to a public L2 charger at work/school so you can pre-heat your ride home that also works quite well.

 

[Spektre]

The MY 2015 e-Golf cars in the US don't have any e-Manager controls (timer charging and pre-conditioning) on the infotainment screen. It must be done through the CarNet system. The EV portion of the CarNet service is free for the first 3 years. If you are buying used, it may be hassle to set up, but it should not cost you anything. Of course, the people on the phone will try to get you to subscribe to the full service anyway. IMHO, it's not worth it.

+1 on the above comments; bought mine used and it took a number of attempts (I did initially 'sign up' for a 90-day trial and switched to the free version afterwards) but CarNet is working well; charge timer, percent charge, HVAC preconditioning -- which is quite good in the cold weather all work fine. As far as the '15 LE version, it does have (excellent) heated cloth seats. My EVSE of choice is a first-gen Schneider EVlink which I used with a '12 LEAF; its on a 40A breaker and the LE charges at the 7.2kW rate (more than twice as fast as the first-gen LEAF could) -- can't speak enough about the excellent support that Schneider gives its customers (they shipped me an updated circuit board to handle the higher charging rate of the e-Golf no charge). Regardless of what version of e-Golf you get, the Midwest winters can be quite tough on overall range --- combine that with higher speeds on expressways, etc. and expect much lower range; pre-heat whenever it makes sense to maximize decent driving comfort and max range on the coldest days, if you have access to a public L2 charger at work/school so you can pre-heat your ride home that also works quite well.

+2 on the above comments! I bought mine used too, and was outright lied to by the folks at CarNet (ignorance or malice, I don't know.) They told me I ONLY got the 3-month trial and there were no services after that without subscribing. After many phone calls, emails, and chats, I finally got it straightened out and am using the eGolf services.

I bought the OpenEvse 40A kit and think it's a great unit. It was an easy assembly, and I'm confident that should any of the internal components fail I could easily replace them barring a fire or other catastrophe. Now I just have to solve the problem of the high temps in my garage here in Scottsdale - EVSEs don't like putting out high currents when they're too hot, and this one has throttled down several times already this year.

 

[GlennD]

The kit includes a weather resistant case. Unless you are using it outdoors ventilation holes really help. I have noted the Power LCD edges turming black at 115 degrees F but my unit has never shut down.

I use conservatively rated parts. I currently charge at 30A and the contactor is rated for 64A. I charged my B at 40A with no problems. I recently changed out the 20 foot Quick Charge Power cable for a 30A Bosch 24 foot cable for the extra length. Both cables worked for me. The Quick Charge cable is smaller in diameter but in a non-portable unit it does not matter. The eGolf's port is on the opposite side from my EVSE so the extra length helps. I paid $115 shipped on eBay for an unused cable.

 

[Unbeliever]

AFAIK the only fix is to replace the charging module, and getting a dealer to do that can be tricky. My local dealer said my car "charged fine with the recommended Bosch unit" they had and thus refused to do anything about it.

Pasadena, or the one you bought it from?

Pasadena worked with me to get it fixed. If that fails, call up VWUSA and initiate there using the info in my reports.

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Be careful with EVSE based timers. VW isn't following the J1772 spec closely, and even the 2016/2017 models don't play nice with the EVSE pilot signal goes away (or never starts) and then comes back later. They need a plug-out-plug-in cycle to reset from their "oh, this EVSE is dead" mode.

 

[RonDawg]

AFAIK the only fix is to replace the charging module, and getting a dealer to do that can be tricky. My local dealer said my car "charged fine with the recommended Bosch unit" they had and thus refused to do anything about it.

Pasadena, or the one you bought it from?

Pasadena worked with me to get it fixed. If that fails, call up VWUSA and initiate there using the info in my reports.

New Century. I'll have to PM you later and ask for more details.

 

[GlennD]

Worst case you can install an OpenEVSE unit. They are pretty universal.

https://store.openevse.com/

 

[johnnylingo]

You should have 32A at least, as the e-Golf has a 7.2kWh charger. If you add new wiring, then I'd go to 50A capacity.

This confuses me. With 208 or 220 V circuit, 32 amps make sense. But with a 240 Volt circuit, there would be no reason to go beyond 30 amp because the car's charger is limited to 7.2 kW, right?

240 V x 30A = 7200 W
220 V x 32A = 7040 W
208 V x 32A = 6656 W

Or is resistance factoring in to the equation?

 

[RonDawg]

With the current eGolf it doesn't make any sense. But in the future, charging speeds are likely to increase along with battery sizes, so going with 50 amp capacity gives you a bit of breathing room.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

You should have 32A at least, as the e-Golf has a 7.2kWh charger. If you add new wiring, then I'd go to 50A capacity.

This confuses me. With 208 or 220 V circuit, 32 amps make sense. But with a 240 Volt circuit, there would be no reason to go beyond 30 amp because the car's charger is limited to 7.2 kW, right?

240 V x 30A = 7200 W
220 V x 32A = 7040 W
208 V x 32A = 6656 W

Or is resistance factoring in to the equation?

The voltage is nominal 220V but the range is 208-240. Just like house voltage is 110-120V. So, 7.2kW is 32A, as I understand it. Going higher on the wiring / breaker is for allowing for higher charging rates in the future.

 

[miimura]

My understanding is that the e-Golf chargers are limited to either 15 amps or 30 amps. I can check ours with the JuicePlug I'm testing.

 

[johnnylingo]

Going higher on the wiring / breaker is for allowing for higher charging rates in the future.

Right, but it won't matter unless the car's onboard charger is upgraded too. Chevy put a 7.2 kW charger in the Bolt, so I take that as an indication that despite having larger batteries, chargers will be stuck at that amount for a while. Or perhaps there's regulatory or safety reasons to not go higher than that in home and residential environments.

 

[RonDawg]

As the Tesla Mobile Connector comes with a NEMA 14-50 plug, I don't think there's a safety or regulatory reason for an EV's on-board charger to stop at 30 amps. For most non-Tesla vehicles, 7.2 kW is sufficient to fill the battery overnight. But as battery sizes get bigger, it will become impossible to do so without increasing charging speed as well.

 

[JoulesThief]

My understanding is that the e-Golf chargers are limited to either 15 amps or 30 amps. I can check ours with the JuicePlug I'm testing.

This is, to my understanding, correct. It limits current. I have often wondered if you could provide 360V at 30 amps current, if the car would charge 1.5x faster, in 2 hours instead of 3, since the battery is 360V rated. Question is if the charge controller could handle 360V instead of 240V AC 2 phase. 180 degrees apart.

 

[miimura]

Most on-board chargers limit both current and power. Usually, you will reach the current limit first. For example, the Tesla on-board charger can accept up to 277VAC nominal. The actual absolute limit is probably somewhat higher. However, it will also limit to 10kW by lowering the current to 36.1A when it sees 277VAC. An on-board charger will also throw a fault and decline to charge if the voltage is too high. I don't know what the maximum voltage for the e-Golf on-board charger might be. If I had to guess, I would think it would accept 90-265VAC. That is 100-240 +/-10%