New owner- in need of Delphi help and EVSE advice

[catfoxpony]

Just got a 2016 SE (with the upgraded 7.2kwh charger) and have an electrician coming this afternoon. From what I can find I have two options:

1. Have my electrician put in a 110V outdoor outlet in my driveway and I can use the Delphi portable charger VW gave me
or
2. Buy an EVSE and have the electrician run 220V and hard wire it

Does anyone know about how long it takes to fully charge the battery using the Delphi portable charger and a dedicated 110V outlet? Again I have the upgraded onboard battery. Will that be around 10 hours to fully recharge?

Trying to figure out the most economical way, and wondering if I can make it by with just doing option 1, or if I should just bite the bullet and have him hardwire a 220V into whatever EVSE charger I select to buy. Sounds like people like the Clipper Creek, but it seems pricy. More open to the Bosch or GE.

Thanks all. Sorry for being such a NOOB.

 

[f1geek]

Glad to hear you got the 7.2 kW on board charger (charging speed is measured in kW and battery capacity is measured in kWh). Your battery has an energy capacity of 24.2 kWh and of that probably about 90% is usable (you can't use all the capacity because that would kill the battery very quickly) : that's about 22 kWh of available energy. If you can afford it, go for the 240 V service and purchase a 30 A EVSE - if you are getting an electrician probably the major cost is the electrician's time, not the materials.

The on board charger can charge at up to 7.2 kW IF you supply the car with a 7.2 kW power supply (240 V x 30 amps= 7200 Watts or 7.2 kW) If you only supply 120 V at 12 amps (max amperage the Delphi charger can supply), then you are getting 120x12=1440 Watts or 1.44 kW. You are looking at 7.2 vs 1.44 kW, a 5 times difference in speed. The on board charger will happly charge the battery even as low as 8 amps, 120V, I believe, but that would be really painful. In short, the charging speed is determined by the power you supply, up to the maximum rate supported by the on board charger.

How long does it take to charge? The answer depends on how much battery capacity to plan to refill. If you use half the battery capacity (12 kWh), then it would take you about 1.5 hours to fill up (the last 1 kWh to get the battery to 100% state of charge takes about 25 minutes, to protect the battery) at 7.2 kW. At 1.44 kW it's going to take 9 hours to get back 12 kWh. If you take the battery down to a 20% state of charge, you are looking at 19.4 kWh needed: 3 hours to recharge at 7.2 kW vs 14 hours at 1.44 kW. Can you afford to wait that long?

I think the juicebox units from emotorwerks are reasonably priced and yes, the GE basic EVSE is pretty cheap, too.

Good luck!

 

[blusdavid]

Joke: Christmas Turkey


A lady was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store, but couldn't find one big enough for her family. She asked a stock boy, "Do these turkeys get any bigger?" The stock boy replied, "No ma'am, they're dead."

http://artpaintingprints.blogspot.com/2016/07/satisfaction-koreas-first-theme-park.html

http://shoeshoeyoulike.myblog.it/2016/07/29/rotating-christmas-tree-appeared-one-central-macau/

 

[RonDawg]

If you can afford it, go for the 240 V service and purchase a 30 A EVSE - if you are getting an electrician probably the major cost is the electrician's time, not the materials.

This. Unless it's a very short run, labor tends to be costliest part. Running a 240 volt/30 amp line (assuming your panel has the capacity) only costs slightly more than a 120 volt/12 amp line.

As far as cost, this is probably the least expensive off-the-shelf 240 volt EVSE solution right now, and it's portable (but not dual-voltage): http://shop.quickchargepower.com/Go-Cable-is-THE-240V-20-Amp-J1772-portable-charging-solution-GC20.htm;jsessionid=534490F0FF601DE49A72D3CEE5AC34A3.p3plqscsfapp002 Downside is that it only charges at 16 amps, but if you're willing to put up with L1 charging, even 16 amps L2 will be a lot faster and increase the usability of the car. It will recharge a fully-drained battery in 8 hours. BTW the guy behind the company is well known over at MyNissanLeaf (Tony Williams, same username on that forum).

Clipper Creek is a good brand and highly respected in the EV world (I have one) but if you need to use the timer function, for some reason the eGolf's timer system doesn't play well with Clipper Creek L2's, even though the Delphi-branded OEM EVSE is actually a Clipper Creek unit assembled under license.

 

[johnnylingo]

if you are getting an electrician probably the major cost is the electrician's time, not the materials.

Exactly. If you don't already have a driveway outlet in a convenient location, I'd recommend installing both: use the 120V for now and if it's not getting the job done, you've already got the 240V outlet for a Level 2 charger and will go from 20 hours to 3 hours for fill-ups. Honestly even if you never use the 240V outlet, you'll add that to your home's value as EVs become more popular.

Little anecdote: my commute is 55 miles round trip, which drains about 5/8ths of the battery. So I need to recover 14 kWh each night. There's an external outlet in the back of my driveway attached to the laundry room circuit, so unless the washing machine is in use, it's essentially dedicated to the car and pulls 1.44 kWh. I plug in a 9 PM when rates go down and will be at 100% around 9 am...usually. But last night, for whatever reason, it didn't pull full amps. The timing is bad because I have a meeting after work and will have to decide if I hunt down a charger during the meeting or "live dangerously" and see if I can get over the hill with lower charge than normal. Not real fun to be in this spot, and something I would not have to worry about with a Level 2 charger at home.

It doesn't help matters that the app only shows "estimated range", rather than battery state or charging rate.

 

[JoulesThief]

You bought the quickcharger feature as well as the 7.2 kwh charger pack. Have your electrician install a NEMA 14-50 electrical outlet, and then get a 30 or 40 Amp EVSE that just plugs in to the outlet, no need to hard wire it in.

Your home will give you about 238 to 244V to recharge with. 2 to 3 hours should pretty much fill or completely top off a low battery wit 240V and at 30 amps. The last 20 minutes of charging time are very slow to top off charge the battery, and don't add much driving range on a charge, FYI.

To asnwer your last question... up to 20 hours on the Supplied Delphi unit, up to 3 to 3.25 hours on something like this, which is probably the best selling unit out there, with good reason. https://store.clippercreek.com/level2/level2-20-to-32?product_id=67

With sales tax and shipping, here in So Cal, they are about $675 to your door.

This unit is plug in, it's portable or mobile, you can use it to recharge at RV parks and such, anywhere there's a NEMA 14-50 outlet, which is all RV and travel trailer camp grounds, and if you move, you can take it with you to your next home, it's not a fixture, like a hardwired unit is.

 

[2doors]

Just got a 2016 SE (with the upgraded 7.2kwh charger) and have an electrician coming this afternoon. From what I can find I have two options:

1. Have my electrician put in a 110V outdoor outlet in my driveway and I can use the Delphi portable charger VW gave me
or
2. Buy an EVSE and have the electrician run 220V and hard wire it

Just to add some additional information - Clipper Creek does sell some 240V EVSE's with plugs. That is what I went with. I already had a 120V outlet on the side of my house near my driveway, so at the beginning I charged with the supplied charger. I had an unused 240V 30A circuit in my box (used to be for a dryer), so I just installed an outlet outside myself. I have the most inexpensive Clipper Creek 240V EVSE, but since my car only has the 3.6kW on board charger, having a larger one wouldn't do me any good. Now I have a 240V outlet outside plus an EVSE that is portable.