3kW vs 6kW intel on plugshare, et al.

[Anderlan]

I am considering buying a LEAF, now that there are some used 2013s coming online with the 6kW charger. And I'm even considering doing some fairly longish trips in it and having it as my only car. When I absolutely need to be somewhere in a jiffy, I'll simply fly (a packed flight is less carbon intense than a 30mpg rental, after all).

Getting on with my question, I am very concerned that I can't tell if any particular L2 charger in the wild is 3kW or 6kW. QCs are great, but in the L2 wilds twixt the QC utopias, the difference between a 3kW L2 and a 6kW L2 is the difference between getting some work done in the car or at a cafe while waiting and springing for a hotel room.

It looks like plugshare is the best charging map site (with good status updates from members), but the users still don't let us know what kind of kW/charging speed they get when they check in. To me, it seems like kW is the most important stat to be kept up with.

Tell me I'm wrong to worry and that most every L2 is 6kw. Pleeease? Alternatively, give me a site to go to where they keep track of such things, or some clues to determine which L2s are 6kW when they don't explicitly say.

Hopefully road trippin,
Anderlan

 

[cwerdna]

You should ask the question on the Plugshare entries in question.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

There are no L2 chargers in the wild. Only L2 EVSE. The charger is in the car. A '13 S could have a 3.3 or a 6 inside it, if it has a QC port, it will have the 6. Before 2013, they're all 3.3.

Any L2 station in the wild should be able to go to 30 A. That said, I have seen some posts indicating some EVSE are faster than others, but not on the same scale as a 3 kW difference. Read the check-in notes on PlugShare for any particular station.

 

[adric22]

It is a safe bet than any public station will be able to handle the 6.6Kw charging.

 

[Pipcecil]

unless you are fiddling with RV parks and random plug access, all Level 2 public chargers by companies are 30A or greater. These will all support the full 6.6kW charging for the leaf. Some do have greater amps connected, but that difference only is for Tesla owners, which can utilize the greater amps.

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

Must have read posts about DCQCs that vary. Maybe due to how they're wired, or set up?

The few we have here start about 206 A at 387 V or 41 kW, then drop off as the pack charges.

 

[Anderlan]

Thanks, everyone, that's a load off on trip planning. DNAinaGoodWay, I guess I'll call start calling them L2 stations. ('EVSE' without also saying 'station' in this context might be confusing because they also exist as a brick on a portable wire and at your house and in the wild. And I don't like even saying EVSE because I'll forever be miffed that EVSEs are forced to not be part of the car. Just a forever peeve of mine. Nothing in the EVSE that the car can't and shouldn't and doesn't actually do on board as part of the charger. But I don't want to have that discussion here.) Thanks for the good news, guys!

 

[Anderlan]

Since I have some attention, what is the actual peak rate you guys have experienced with the 6.6kW charger? I mean, what's the efficiency loss of the charger? There could be a lot of time difference between 6.0 and 6.5, say.

 

[Berlino]

In the rare cases a public charging station is less than 6kW, someone will usually mention it on plugshare.

The 3.3kW stations you might see in the wild will often be at places like Chevy or Mitsubishi dealers, since the Volt and i-MiEV don't take more than 3.3kW.

Also, if you opt to use a home charging station that someone has shared on plugshare, you'll want to recognize model types. For instance, the Clipper Creek LCS-25 only operates up to 4.8kW.

Also, try to get the full 6.6kW, Level Two stations at shopping centers are often limited to 30a/200v for 6.0kW.

 

[Berlino]

Since I have some attention, what is the actual peak rate you guys have experienced with the 6.6kW charger? I mean, what's the efficiency loss of the charger?

I haven't tracked it closely, but in the Summer I definitely saw over 6.2kW at times. Of course, the rate drops the closer and closer you get to 100%.
This seems too efficient for 6.6kW from the wall, but is what I saw.

 

[walterbays]

Blink stations may be limited to 16-17 amps to avoid overheating some faulty cord sets. If a station delivers the full 30 amps then either Blink already repaired it, or it never had a faulty cord in the first place, or they never noticed the problem because you're the "lucky" first person to try it at 30 amps. I haven't seen any information warning you which stations are which.

http://www.plugincars.com/honda-fit-ev-overheats-blink-charger-126246.html
http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/does-latest-software-update-limit-model-s-17a-blink-chargers

 

[cwerdna]

Since I have some attention, what is the actual peak rate you guys have experienced with the 6.6kW charger?

At my work, we have Chargepoint EVSEs that run at 208 volts and they're rated to supply 30 amps max. From their displays and graphs, I see my '13 Leaf usually pulling 5.8 to 6.0 kW (from the "wall"). There are some @ work but outside the building that only seem to show ~5.7 kW w/my car. Not sure if there's some voltage drop or something.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=15009&&p=338038#p338038" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; might help.

I've seen people throw around various efficiency values but I've definitely not measured how much makes it from the wall into the battery.

 

[Pipcecil]

Blink stations may be limited to 16-17 amps to avoid overheating some faulty cord sets. If a station delivers the full 30 amps then either Blink already repaired it, or it never had a faulty cord in the first place, or they never noticed the problem because you're the "lucky" first person to try it at 30 amps. I haven't seen any information warning you which stations are which.

http://www.plugincars.com/honda-fit-ev-overheats-blink-charger-126246.html
http://www.teslamotors.com/forum/forums/does-latest-software-update-limit-model-s-17a-blink-chargers

Hmm I knew that some blink stations were overheating and melting, but I thought it was regulated to only 30 amps (vs 32-40 amps for a 7.2 kW charger). I didn't know they lowered it to only 16 amps. I thought the fix was software related to limited the output, which should affect all that has the latest software.

The stations, I know for sure, were originally wired @ 40 amps and those with 7.2 kW chargers or greater would pull the max output, causing the problems, but a 6.6 kW output didn't cause any issues (since its lower amps)...

But I could be totally wrong.