Time to charge at 220V vs 120V

The 120v EVSE seems OK until you live with a 240v EVSE and then it's hard to go back to 120v. 1.5 hours' difference in charging times seems like not much until you combine running errands and charging in-between errands on weekends and on days off. A 90-minute break between short trips is sensible. A 3-hour break is more disruptive. I never use the 120v car EVSE anymore unless I am at a friend's house or on long trips etc. Then there is the likelihood of future EV cars with larger batteries than the 2012 PiP. So, IMHO, if you own the property and can arrange for a 240v EVSe, it's a smart long-term choice - even if you sell the place, you usually can take the EVSE with you, or use it as a seller's point to differentiate the house from comparable ones to get the sale. EV cars are here to stay.

 

I lucked into a deal on an EVSE and had my local electrician put it in. If you are handy, you can build your own...

 

I have a 220V EVSE (Leviton) and the quick charge is nice when I want to add charge in a hurry. This is not common, however. Most of the time I set the car's timer to charge in the early morning hours when it is cool and when it would make no difference if it was a 110v charge.

 

i think the prices will start to drop in a year or so. When laptop computers first came out, a replacement charger was $129, now you can get a generic replacement for $17.99 on ebay with free shipping.

 

My Company finally gave me a charge capable parking spot. Yes it is 110V but from complete discahrge it only takes 2 hours 20 minutes almost every time. I have been charging in a high truck traffic and vulnerable area next to the Air Conditioning and Air Compressor pad but it was a bit inconvenient and I would usually have to wait for 3pm afternoon after the majority of production left town and the truck traffic was mostly done for the day.
Now I can plug in 1st thing in the morning and be able to use electric going to lunch, Costco etc... and then plug in again to be charged up for the trip home. I gave them all the information about the financial incentives from SDGE Utility and state of California for the 240V Unit but they decided to drop 4 110V plugs in weatherproof boxes. I am fine with this. I don't know if I could justify spending the money for 240V at home (unless I build it myself (which I may yet) because 90 minutes vs. 140 minutes for full charge just doesn't make the argument for me. My Prius has never taken more than 2 Hours 20 minutes and my range is now up to almost 16 miles EV.
My major complaint is with the charging unit having such a short length of cord leading to the control box. THis was really dumb bercause how many outlets in a typical garage ar so near to the ground? I usually use a heavy duty 12 Gauge 15 foot extension at home and previously at work to get into the Air compressor pad, but in this picture with my new Parking spot I can set most of the weight on the orange pylon while charging.

 

Chris_SoCal, looking at your orange pylon setup to support the EVSE brick while you charge: I found the li'l corner hole on the EVSE brick cab be used to loop a permanent Zip-tie of a decent length through, and the Zip-tie loop is handy to hang the EVSE brick off of a lot of the external 110-volt receptacle boxes while you charge. IMHO, Toyota should have just put a good loop through that corner hole to give EVSE users a handy option.

 

a 240V evse is like going from marijuana to crack. hard to justify in advance but addicting once you do.

Chris_SoCal, did the company install your 110V outlets on seperate circuit legs? If so, you might be able to get 240V using a Quick240. You can build your own for very little, and combined with an openEVSE, you could have a portable 240V cordset for less than $500. Welcome to the EV addiction.

 

Yes they did two 110/20A drops so yes If I build the EVSE I could make a hybrid connection to plug into the separate 110/20A drops. (As long as no other EV Vehicles show up... LOL) I told them San Diego Gas & Electric and California would reimburse them for parts if installing the 240V Pod, but they just spent their own money to to drop the 110V/20A for me which I can't complain about at all. I usually arrive later and before I had to park under the Sap Dripping pine trees and bird doo doo bombing range, now I have a personal spot next to the entrance for my cubicle rat maze... I also got an S hanger from Home Depot and now the charging box hangs from the conduit.

 

You guys must have some nice pull with your companies to convince them to offer this to you. I cant see that happening to me.

 

My company is very large and they are totally into the Green stuff. We may get a write up in the company newsletter for carrying the green flag of sustainability, rah rah blah blah blah...

 

So is mine. Green paper with pictures of dead statesman on it, that is.

 

I've been wanting quicker charge turn-around times during the day, and Ive been getting tired of having to pack up and take with me the L1 cord most every time I leave home. Then set it up again in the garage when I get home. Too much trouble.

So, I just finished the install of a Schneider EVlink 240v EVSE in my garage.
I got the unit from BestBuy for $67o.oo and installed it for a meager $21.00. No money out of pocket.

It came about like this....HomeDepot just lowered their price on the unit to $749. Lowest price I've seen all year.
Lowes sells it also, and 10% coupons are easy to print from the internet for Lowes.
BestBuys sells them too, although their regular price is not that good. But I have an account with BestBuy that allows 18 month free financing.
So, I went BestBuy and asked the manager if he'd match the HomeDepot price and honor the Lowes coupon.
Much to my surprise, he did it. Nothing like double-dipping.
$670 for the unit.

The install simply required a new 2-pole 40amp curcuit breaker ($18.00) and 24" of 8ga. NM-b indoor wiring ($3.00) for a grand install total of $21.00. !! (a HomeDepot birthday giftcard covered that!)
I simply mounted it to the left of the breaker panel, the wiring was a straight horizonal shot from the panel side to the unit. One of the easiest installs I've done. Less than an hour total time.

Its a nice 30Amp 7.2 kwH unit suitable for full electric-car, high charge rate applications.
Looks great, works great. But the unit's internal relay is startling loud when it closes and opens with each plug in.
Also, I had to correct an internal assembly flaw. Inspecting the inside of the unit prior to install, I noticed that one main wire on the power input block had been inserted too far into the fusable block screw-clamp, and the screw-clamp was actually on the connector insulation, instead of the metal connector. I simply loosened the screw-clamp, pulled the wire out a little and re-tightened the screw-clamp on the metal wire end. Had I not corrected this the unit probably would not have worked at all. I was surprised to see such a flaw, otherwise the internals seemed ok. Probably one in a million.
Pics to follow....

 

Ok, heres some feedback since my install. Time to charge is reduced greatly. Although some say it takes about 1.5 hours to charge, In reality I get about 95% charge in less than an hour. That final 5% takes another 30 min.
So in less than an hour I'm good to go again, with a (basically) fully charged battery.

It's interesting to put the car on a Level 2 charge and power up the PiP, then look at the Energy screen on the MID and the Energy screen on the MFD at the same time. On the MFD you can see how much driving range you are gaining during the charge, and how quickly. It's impressive.
Once again, ready to go in less than hour. Not bad

I've already had an increase in my tank averge today, an I didn't do anything diffferent except reap the benifits of a more quickly restored EV range, as I ran around today. When I return home, the battery is fully charged and ready to go again, in no time.
I like this.