I’m looking at EVs or PHEVs and was wondering what I need at home. I know I can charge with a standard 110 outlet, but what about a 220? Would I be able to charge directly from it or do I have to get a charger installed?

Thank you

  • brandontaylor1@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    It depends on how much you drive, and the car’s efficiency. I only have access to 120v for my car. I can charge 29 kWh per day if plugged in for the full 24 hours. Which on my Lightning is about 58 miles/day.

    I work from home, and so my avg daily mileage is pretty low. There is also a public L2 charger about 4 blocks from my house that I can use if I’m low from a trip.

    It’s workable in my situation, but wouldn’t be ideal or even feasible for a lot of people.

    You will need a charge cord (EVSE). Most car will come with a portable one, that usually supports 120/240. If you don’t get one with the car, they can be found for under $200 new.

    • knuthf@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Use the regular socket, first. A small EV gets 4 miles per KW, so you will need 15KWh, and can charge during the night. Then you can top it up on the L2 charger or every time you drive outside of the city.

    • wildtrance@alien.topOPBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      I basically have 220V outlet already setup in my garage, so you are saying all I need is a cable? No need for the wall mounted charger?

    • sylvaing@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      And keep in mind that when the battery is cold, some of that energy has to go towards heating the battery. Your charge time will therefore take longer. At 240V/40A, that won’t affect much, but at 120V/15A, you’ll see the difference.

      • nclpl@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Tesla is notoriously conservative about charging at L1 speed on a cold pack. Most other manufacturers will divert a lot less power to heating the pack. I’ve never had any issue charging at L1 on the 3 EVs I’ve owned in Chicago (all non-Teslas, and non-Fords either). I know some Tesla drivers in Canada report that their cars will use the full 1.2kW for battery heating and zero energy actually goes into the pack. This seems overly conservative to me. But Tesla knows best, I assume.

        • Professional_Buy_615@alien.topBEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          Lithium batteries can only charge very slowly if below freezing. Anything over a trickle can damage them. That’s damage that can cause a fire. Is that overly conservative for you?

          Different battery chemistries have differing tolerances to cold charging. You cannot just transfer charge parameters between chemistries.