What's more efficient charging? 110V or 220?

[forbin404]

Sorta curious about this.

Is charging at 110V more efficient than 220V?

I realize that I'm talking pennies here but which is better to charge at price wise?

 

[Norm01]

Same price, 220 will be quicker.

 

[JoulesThief]

Trolling again? Look up parasitic losses on both units, then you'll have your answer.

 

[forbin404]

I have JT on ignore when he posts nasty things, does anyone else have an idea?

 

[JoulesThief]

What's more efficient, an EVSE with parasitic EVSE circuitry losses for 3 hours, or for 20 hours, both of the EVSE's are Clipper Creek brands.

 

[forbin404]

Looks like the Tesla forum says 240 (220) is more efficient.

https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/charging-inefficiency-110v-vs-220v

 

[miimura]

Looks like the Tesla forum says 240 (220) is more efficient.

https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/charging-inefficiency-110v-vs-220v

Tesla charging systems and batteries have liquid cooling systems that run during charging. The e-Golf only cools the charger, so there is less overhead than a Tesla powered car, including the RAV4 EV and M-B B-Class EV.

 

[PacBlue]

Looks like the Tesla forum says 240 (220) is more efficient.

https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/charging-inefficiency-110v-vs-220v

This link also mentions that it will cost MORE using 120V vs 240V based on how utilities bill you for usage; I thought that Tesla's online charging cost estimator would also show you 120V charging but doesn't as its not all that practical for a long-range EV -- if you happen to be close to a Tesla showroom they have an interactive 'time to charge' touch screen that will include both time and cost (if you happen to know your local cents/kWh rate) at different charging rates. Seem to recall a charge that would take a bit over 8 hours at 240V would be over 93 hours at 120V (for 300 miles); so besides the efficiency, there is also the increased costs --- in the long run getting 240V set up in the garage would pay for itself over the long run (if of course where you live you can have the connection installed)

 

[2016golfse]

https://forums.tesla.com/forum/forums/charging-inefficiency-110v-vs-220v
This link also mentions that it will cost MORE using 120V vs 240V based on how utilities bill you for usage... so besides the efficiency, there is also the increased costs --- in the long run getting 240V set up in the garage would pay for itself over the long run (if of course where you live you can have the connection installed)

That's not entirely true. It depends. Utilities charge you based on the kWh used.

If you're not on a time-of-day plan, the efficiency difference between 120v vs. 240v is approximately 5% (that's a guess), and won't make much of a difference in terms of electricity costs - certainly not enough to offset the cost of a charging station, having a connection installed, etc. I basically estimated that the 5% difference in efficiency amounts to ~$220 in electricity costs after driving 100,000 miles assuming $.20 per kWh.

Now if you're on a time-of-day plan, the faster charging rate of 240v can be worthwhile because, in addition to the convenience, you can potentially take full advantage of the late night electricity rates to fully charge your car that you may not necessarily be able to do on 120v. It is in this scenario that 240v can pay for itself.

All of the above depends on your own usage. For me, 120v has served me well for the last 3.5 years (Prius Plug In and now E-Golf) even though I'm on a time-of-day plan.

 

[3laine]

According to the study below, 240V charging is generally 2-3% more efficient than 120V.

https://www.veic.org/docs/Transportation/20130320-EVT-NRA-Final-Report.pdf

 

[johnnylingo]

Maybe my math is bad or testing flawed, but this has been my findings:

When charging at L1/120V/12A the charger pulls 1.44 kW (data via PG&E website). However, it's taken about 20 hours to go from completely empty to full, which means the real amount put in to the battery is 1.1 kW. That's around a 22% loss.

When using the Chargepoint, I'm at L2/240V/15A which is the max for the 2016 SE's 3.6 kW charger. Last night I got home nearly at zero and still went to full in well under 7 hours. So that means I had around 3.15 kW or only a 12.5% loss.

 

[RonDawg]

When charging at L1/120V/12A the charger pulls 1.44 kW (data via PG&E website). However, it's taken about 20 hours to go from completely empty to full, which means the real amount put in to the battery is 1.1 kW. That's around a 22% loss.

That's on par with charging a 24 kWH Nissan Leaf using 120 volts. Nissan says the car can take "up to 20 hours" to charge on household current.