"EVSE Upgrade" upgrade charges in 2 hours on 120v.

The EVSE advertises it's max amperage to the vehicle when you plug it in. I always assumed that the EVSE that came with the PiP was matched to the PiP but maybe it is not and only provides 11 amps. The EVSE upgraded by pEEf may advertise 12 or 13 amps and result in faster charging.

Another possibility is that your home's circuit is a 20 amp circuit and the new EVSE is advertising as much as 16 amps.

The EVSE that came with 2012 Volts has a setting on it. 6 amps, 8 amps, and 12 amps, in case you have to plug into an old electrical system or a shared circuit.

 

mitch672 might know what is going on.

 

Did someone summon me?

The onboard charger built into the PiP appears to be limited to roughly 2.2KW (based on what's displayed on the ChargePoint network display, 2.236 of course that was likely at 208VAC), which divided by 240V comes out to about 9AMPs at 240Volts. Therefore, anything greater than the 12A evseupgrade is not going to charge the PiP any faster, as the internal charger can't take advtange of the additonal power, even if availble.

 

I'm a little confused here. Is the issue that the upgraded OEM EVSE is taking 2 hours at 120V, which would be a nice improvement? Or that it's taking 2 hours at 240V, which is a problem, since it should cut the time in half to 1.5 hours. It's not clear.

The OEM EVSE has no way of knowing whether it's plugged into a 120V 20A or 15A capable circuit.

 

I'm also a bit confused. I did the EVSE upgrade. My home plug is a 240 outside. Takes roughly 1.8 hours.
If I'm in a hurry, I rarely wait for that last 20 or 30 minutes of trickle charge. It does a great job at filling up the battery fast.

At work we have old paddle chargers, but they added 120v plugs to the side of them so we can use our personal EVSE's to plug in. That takes 3 hours.. or so I assumed.

 

i thought the upgrade was supposed to reduce charging time to 1.5 hours on 240v? as far as reducing it to 2 hours on 120v as op suggests, i would like to know how that is possible?

 

I will time it one day and see. As I have a base model I will have to go outside and look at the light on the charge inlet to time how long it is illuminated. The car says 1.8 hours when the battery is at about 23% soc (HV mode). It also says it's pulling down 1.9kw

 

Another possibility, pure speculation, is that your 3 hour charge times on the roadtrip were at a lower voltage than you have at your home. Your observations during your roadtrip may have been at 105V while you home charging at night might be getting a full 120V or more.

 

I don't completely understand what this thread is about but my charging situation at my apartment is my voltage at my outlet is 104 volts and with .1 miles left in EV my charge time is 2 hours and 34 minutes.

 

104 volts? are you in a third world country?

 

Be Nice!

 

parking lot lights on same circuit

 

amazing it only takes you that long to charge, mine takes around the same time @ 120v.

 

what triggers the PiP to finish charging at the lower amperage toward the end of a charging session? Is it triggered by battery temperature, a timer, state of charge, ???

That could be the reason for different charge time experiences.

The Volt kicks in a thermal management system, if needed, to keep the battery within temperature range rather than ramping down the amperage and slowing down the charge rate.

 

The optimal charging pattern for Lithium Ion batteries is complicated. Do it wrong, and you can get an explosion. Even the charger in your cell phone has to modulate the charging rate in a non-trivial way. I would think that all of the mentioned factors come into play.

 

it's not unusual for the voltage to vary a lot. From 100 V to 130 V, especially older buildings. The casino, near us only reads 107 V.

 

'Just received my EVSE upgrade. I see no change in charging time on 120v, and about 1.5 hours charging on 240v. I've charged at several different locations with slightly varying voltages and the charging times are quite similar. 'Nice upgrade, and the optional 110v plug converter is a worthwhile add-on.