Tesla Sedan to have 440 volt recharging

[PeakOilGarage]

Tesla: Model S to have fast-charging battery Peak Oil Garage

That is crazy voltage.

[Tideland Prius]

Originally Posted by PeakOilGarage

Tesla: Model S to have fast-charging battery Peak Oil Garage

That is crazy voltage.

Nice!

[MasterMech]

Not so crasy voltage. I work on equipment running on 480-1360VAC 3ph every day. It is standard in heavy industry.

[daniel]

While the first purchasers probably won't have access to 440 volts for charging, giving this car the ability addresses the chicken-egg problem: Put it in the cars so that anyone who does provide a station will have a potential customer base.

Bravo for Tesla!

[qbee42]

440 three phase is a common industrial voltage.

Tom

[PeakOilGarage]

Originally Posted by MasterMech

Not so crasy voltage. I work on equipment running on 480-1360VAC 3ph every day. It is standard in heavy industry.

Considering that a Tesla Roadster can charge at 220 volts and 90 amps, and that is the fastest available for home recharging on the market today, it is a big jump to be providing the capability of 440 volts to individuals vehicles.

It really makes the concept of fast charging realistic. Now all we need at the pipes to be made available for individuals to use them.

I know that most homes are limited to 220 volts and 50 amps, similar to a clothes dryer.

Most homes are capable of 200 amps, but that is only if nothing else is on in the house while it is charging your vehicle. So as a rule, they will advise only using 220 volts and 50 amps for any individual vehicle.

I am just excited that Tesla is building 440 volt capability into the Tesla Sedan. They have not yet announced the amps.

[rpatterman]

Will EVs be able to charge with a full range of voltage/amperage options?

For mass marketing it seems they would have to charge at 110V/30A because a lot of homes/apartments do not have 220 available. So if designed to charge 110V (over night) can the same EV also pull into a commercial recharge station and recharge quickly with 440V?

I believe overnight charging will be the norm, with charge at work for longer commutes and occasional quick charge needed for a longer trips or a long day of short trips.

My present home only has 110V/30A available in the garage, but I am designing my next house with 220V/60A in the garage. The plan is to program auto recharge for 23:00 to 5:00. I would not be doing laundry during those hours and could probable program refrig. and hot tub to not run then. Future EV recharging seems fairly low on the list of "Green Building" priorities.

New house will be all electric and will be half the size of my present house and have a 7kW PV system: Monthly "Budget"


-Hot Tub 220------150kwh (very small 2 person)
-EV----------------150kwh (4 miles/kwh = 600 m/month=7k/yr)
-Back up heat------200kwh ®600/month x 4 months-n-D-J-F-m)
-Normal load--------300kwh (12 month average)

-Total--------------800/m = 9600/yr = 6.6kw system (install 7+)

[daniel]

Originally Posted by rpatterman

Will EVs be able to charge with a full range of voltage/amperage options?

That's merely a design decision. Giving an EV the ability to charge on a wide variety of circuits is a trivial matter. It may add a small amount to the price.

I believe the Tesla Roadster can charge on its heavy-duty fast charger, or on a regulat 110-volt 20-amp (15 amp???) circuit. So the answer to your question is, yes.

[FL_Prius_Driver]

Tesla is thinking AHEAD of the competition (what little there is). By doing this, they are setting up for their next generation battery to be able to charge really fast.

Since Tesla is an engineering driven organization, think of what plans they have not announced. Things like:

1) Next generation battery.....next year. (They would be very quiet about this for obvious reasons.)
2) Fastest possible recharging. (Nothing like being first to market with a real cross country vehicle)
3) Automatic recharging. (Why let the big companies set a standard?)
4) ????

[daniel]

Tesla chose to use laptop Li-Ion batteries to keep cost down, because they are manufactured in very large numbers and available from many manufacturers. A switch to a battery type capable of fast charging would probably greatly increase the cost of the vehicle. It's a balancing act between technology and cost. Also, if you are too far ahead in fast-charging technology, there will be no charging stations available. So it's not just a matter of bringing fast charging on as soon as you can. It's a cost-benefit balance and also a question of bringing the new technology on as close as possible to the time when it will actually provide a real benefit.

By allowing faster charging at home, and still permitting 110-volt charging from normal outlets away from home, Tesla has found a good balance. On the other hand, Phoenix Motorcars has genuine fast charging, but as a result, their "SUT" costs $200,000 and owners have no place to make use of that capability.

Until fast-charging stations are available on the highways in my region, if I have, say, a 125 mile range, I don't care if it takes 15 hours to charge fully. (FWIW my Xebra with LiFePO4 batteries gets about 10 miles of range for an hour's charging, which is plenty for the way I use the car.)