No Garage, no PHV?

hmmm my dryer plug is only 40 amp. there has actually been a few people at mynissanleaf.com who have tried to get one of those. none have succeeded yet.

i get my Leaf in less than a week. will be moving sometime this year. probably wait till the rain stops. then i be looking around. hopefully these guys will be delivering product by then i can get some feedback on its performance first

 

Well that sucks

 

Mighty long laundry list of what their plug has and does . . . . tons of stuff . . . everything but U.L. approval.

 

I plug my PHEV in all the time with an extension cord. There is no problem so long as you use a cord rated for the current/distance you are expecting.

For Leaf owners: I have determined it's possible to modify the included portable 120V 12A EVSE to be 240V capable. Then it will still work on 120V, but can be plugged into a 240V as well. No extra expensive charging station needed!

At some point soon we will offer a modification service to upgrade the Leaf portable EVSE to universal operation for a nominal fee.

 

For me, living in a block of flats and parking on the street, until the city of Munich does not install charging stations in my street, PHV makes no sense...

 

Our company where I work has charging stations available for EV's. Presently, only one Mini Cooper uses the 4 available 120V locations. Maybe you can get your employer to install something at work. I know with my 19 mile drive ... even at 120v I can avoid even having to use our 240V charger at home. FREE is good!

That'd be great, pEEf . . . how do you reconcile several folks posting the uniform electrical code's issue with portable 240V. Supposedly the J1772 can handle up to 80 amps of 240V but the present offering is less than 1/3 of that. Will your offering be the 32 amp version, or the presend day limited-16 amp version. I know the charge plug capacity ultimately turns on the capacity of the present day on-board Leaf chargers.

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Here's my post on the 240V mod. The electrical code doesn't allow for outdoor use of 240V outlets, which is the problem. As long you plug the EVSE into a 240V outlet inside, even if you run the cord out to your car, you should be fine. The EVSE includes fault detection to make all parts past the EVSE box "safe", even in wet weather.

Unfortunately we are limited by the design of the Leaf EVSE to 12A whether it's on 120V or 240V. But still, that's 2.88kW! It will charge twice as fast when on 240V.

The advantage is not having to buy a $700+ 240V capable EVSE.

As far as I know the J1772 level-2 standard only allows for a maximum of 48 amps @ 240v, but this would be limited by the capabilities of your vehicles on-board charger in any event. If you want to charge beyond this, you must go to Level-3 (off-board) charging. There is not yet an official SAE standard for this yet. The Leaf uses the proposed JIS standard if you get the Level 3 option. It's a totally different connector.

 

As I read their site, they have applied but not received Listing or Approval.

It was only an example, chargers will become better as cars need charging, and owners say "Why doesn't it do _____?"

 

i sent you email. very excited about this option. i knew that waiting for the Leaf to start being delivered that better (and CHEAPER) options would surface soon enough

thanks for your efforts!!

 

My plan is to install the charger on a pole in my driveway. I think these $700 products are a complete rip-off. A reasonable price is about $100 plus basic labor to install. I expect to run standard, outdoor rated Romex through underground conduit to the pole, and into the charging cord/box.

 

RV parks have 15 AMP, 30 AMP and usually 50 AMP circuits available in their boxes. And you can get 50 AMP extension cords at places such as Camping World. Those RV Boxes sit outside next to each RV spot in all kinds of weather. So an electrician should have no problem hooking up anything like that. Its standard off the shelf stuff.

 

I charge my Volt outside in a normal 110v exterior outlet all the time (and for the past couple weeks usually raining). Here is a photo of a wet Volt plugged into a normal exterior outlet:

 

You can use 110v or (faster) 220v, right? It's no big deal at all to hire an electrician to run a dedicated 220v, ground fault protected line. That's what electricians do. It's not very expensive, either.

 

I don't think u want to ground fault 240.
Hooking up a circuit should be an easy job as long as u have a meter to insure all circuits and the panel u r working knob de enervized

 

I too would recommend you not install a GFCI. They tend to nuisance trip with the EVSE. (The EVSE already has GFCI protection built-in)

I would install an L6-20 outlet inside, or at least protected from weather (they sell plastic covers for this purpose), then run a 12awg L6-20 extension cord to the EVSE (if needed). If there is an L6-20 connection that will be exposed to weather, you can use one of these to keep it dry, it has rubber seals around the cord: (though they usually must be trimmed)

 

What is the EVSE?

 

A big power brick. It sits between the 120V plug that gos into the wall and the J1772 connecter that goes into the car. It does things such as detect ground faults, and waits until the car is ready before allowing power to flow.

 

Yeah, i've been charging mine each night on the driveway since december with no problems.