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Home Charging

138K views 363 replies 85 participants last post by  dcuish 
#1 ·
I've seen many different threads which end up in discussions about home charging and many discussing different solutions for those with a 3 phase wiring system in their home.

As I normally garage my car overnight, I'm seriously considering the radical option of doing nothing i.e. not installing a home charging wall box and just plugging into a normal mains socket. My commute is around 30km per day and with the odd trip here and there, I might go up to 60km. However, I figure that if I can plug in my car for around 10 hours per night (which will be the case most nights), I'll get about 100km charge so will be in credit most days. Even if I'm almost empty after a long journey, as long as I can plug it in overnight, my credit will soon build up where I'll be back to 80% charge again. If I need the charge again more quickly, I could always take it to a DCFC for an hour and I'll be fine.

It'll also save me almost €2,000 to install the wall box. When more info and more options come out to make use of the 3 phases available, I might then think to install one.

I know everyone's case is different and my commute is less than the average persons. but I was wondering if others will consider the same.
 
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#2 ·
First I thought that I won't use home charging at all or just before long trip to top the battery. Plan was that when visiting a city to plug it in Type 2 charger in a mall etc with 22 kw. But then the news came out that I-Pace has only 1-phase charge of 7 kw, the plan change. So I'm planning to get a home charger, probably 3-phase to be ready in future hoping next car after I-Pace has 3-phase charging. It's only 2-300€ more than 1-phase so better do it straight away than pay another 1000+ € if/when need arise for 3-phase charging.
 
#3 ·
Seems like a good and fair approach - maybe investigate possibilities to charge at work. Myself I am now also in wait & see mode - I have a short commute (15km round trip) and can charge at work so for daily commute so no real need for charger at home.

Tricky part comes with weekend trips going places, airport trips and/or visiting family whereby if there are multiple trips it would be good to charge quickly at home between days instead of having to find and wait at a DC charge station.

For cross Europe trips you anyway are depended on DC charging but still would be good to leave home with a full battery.
 
#4 ·
It's all about safety and comfort. Wallbox is one level higher in safety since it communicates with the car charger and can change charging current according to the available capacity, restart charging or even stop in dangerous situation.
The comfort of fast charging is in no worries about charging. The battery is always full in the morning no matter how empty you plug it in. No need to go charging for one hour.
One friend of mine after one year of everyday using BMW i3 told me: Car and driving are excellent but I started to hate everyday charging management. He has 3,3kW (220V/16A) charger ...
 
#5 ·
The problem for me is that even with a fast charger, as my home is 3 phase, I would only be able to get a bit over 3kW with a fast charger. Not sure it's really worth the expense until things get sorted out. However, I've spotted what I believe is a 32A socket near my parking spot at work, so may ask the landlord if they'd mind me using it. I could then get a mobile charger (like the Juice Booster 2) to charge while I'm at work. Not sure if the landlord would be keen to do this though - they've already refused to install proper charging points.
 
#9 ·
Thanks Kymo, Thanks ACB1,

The Magnum Smart Charger Type 2 looks very interesting and the price point is quite reasonable. Would be interesting to hear from anyone who has installed this and has experience with it. I guess that I would just need to have a CEE 16-5 socket installed in my garage to be able to use it. I also wonder if, once you have this socket installed, if you need an electrician to install the charger, or is it just plug and play.

I had a look at the juice booster, but I believe this doesn't convert multiple phases to 1 phase, so I don't believe it would be any different from a normal wall charger.

ACB1, I saw already that you already ordered the setec solution on another thread you posted. Do you have any experience with it? It also looks a great option, but a bit more pricey. Have you received it already and been able to try it out? From what I heard, it makes a bit of noise due to the cooling.
 
#11 ·
I've seen multiple topics where the 1 phase loading is discussed combined with the Dutch network infrastructure. My thoughts where to combine this in 1 post (this one) or own "Home Charging in the NL" but thought to start here first before starting another thread.

The home charging solutions I found in the forums result in:
* New Motion Dynamic Load Balancing
* Magnum Smart Charging combining a standard Dutch 3 x 25 phase to 1 x 6 KW phase for the i-Pace
* Mobile 10kW DC CHAdeMO
* Eneco / Alfen Eve Mini Load Balancing

With the i-pace slowly arriving in the NL I was wondering if anyone has a home charging installed yet, did it their-self and especially experience with company's placing them, etc. Reason for asking is that I'm interested in the Magnum Smart Charging solution but absolutely no idea how to install this stuff.

Besides that now I got an email from Eneco due to their apparently partnership with Jaguar (in the NL) and they offer the Alfen Eve Mini
"De Alfen Eve Mini is een zeer compact laadpunt van kleurecht hoogwaardig kunststof en draagt het DEKRA (voorheen KEMA) keurmerk. De voorkant is wit en de achterkant is donkergrijs. Het laadpunt is verkrijgbaar in wand- of paalmodel en met contactdoos en display of vaste kabel zonder display. De afmeting van het laadpunt is 37x24x13 cm (HxBxD)."
https://elektrischvervoer.eneco.nl/media/product_group_pdf/Productleaflet_ICU_Eve_Mini_NL.pdf

FAQ

Help, what is my current Dutch network connection ?
https://elektrischvervoer.eneco.nl/laadpunt/thuisladen-faq/#welke-aansluitwaarde

Max. amperage the iPace will draw at full charge:
Here in Europe its 32A and 7.2 kw.
7200w / 240v = 30A
Cable section = 6 square mm
 
#12 ·
Just accepted the eneco offer. Hardly any difference with new motion but for me the "partnership " with jlr is an (irrational) upside. My home connection is 1x35 so load balancing is a must. unfortunately my smart energy meter (slimme meter) is not smart enough for eneco and and so it must be replaced. Stedin will do this within now and three months... Forutnately eneco promised me that i can charge the car until that time only with a ' lower amperelevel'. ETA of the car is mid August.
No way I am going to install this myself, so I cannot help you out there.
 
#13 ·
Good to see more solutions/providers get involved in home charging solutions but I am a bit puzzled by Eneco eve mini.

Most Dutch homes have a 1x 35A or 3x 25A at 220v connection anything higher and you easily pay €500-€1000 extra per year. Standardly the max fuse is 16A so without special work/solution the max you can charge single phase is 16x220=3.52kw.

Load balacing itself is not going to change that (unless I miss something) all it will do is try to load as fast as possible but never exceeding the upper limit of 3.52kw. The only way to go above the 3.52kw charging is through clever solutions or stations that either can merge 2 16A fuses into a single phase charge (very likely will need load balancing) or that can convert a 3 phase AC charge into a DC charge.

Also want to add new variable into the discussion and that is Solarpanels. I have 18 195w solarpanels on my roofs producing DC current which gets converted to AC power - my converter has max capacity of 3600w. Annually I produce approx 3100 kwh of which 25% is directly consumed by myself and 75% is delivered to the central grid.

So 2 questions - would it be possible to DC charge the I-Pace directly from the solarpanels without any converter in between? Can I charge the I-pace during the sunny day and withdraw energy from I-pace batteries during evening/night? My avg daily usage is approx 8kwh per day so no real impact on driving range.
 
#16 ·
Chutche said:
Check out Zappi chargers.For use with solar panels.
Thanks for the info - looks really interesting just not sure it works in NL together with my Lease company getting billed for the used electricity coming from my solarpanels.
 
#17 ·
Good to see more discussion coming on this topic as people get prepared for their delivery :)

I believe Luxembourg and many other continental countries are in the same position as NL. I believe if you want more than 3.7kW, the options are the Magnum Smart Charge or the 10kW DC CHadeMO (also CCS compatible). One question I'm asking myself is, do I want to pay the premium for these solutions, knowing they will be defunct when I buy my next electric car after the iPace. Maybe, I'm better going with a 3 phase 22kW charger for now and accepting the slow 3.7kW, but being future proofed for my next BEV which surely will allow 3 phase charging..... 3.7kW will provide me an overnight charge which will far exceed my commute. Even the standard wall plug should cover my commute.

Any thoughts?
 
#18 ·
Jelle v/d Meer said:
Also want to add new variable into the discussion and that is Solarpanels. I have 18 195w solarpanels on my roofs producing DC current which gets converted to AC power - my converter has max capacity of 3600w. Annually I produce approx 3100 kwh of which 25% is directly consumed by myself and 75% is delivered to the central grid.
Hi Jelle,
It seems from your figures that your solar panels are producing much more electricity than you use yourself. If I understand correctly you are only using approx 775 kwh per year of the 3100 you produce, which is an incredibly low figure, an average of around only 2.1kwh per day . . . but, of course, your electricity consumption will rise when you have an EV. Presumably you are also drawing power daily from the main grid supply, in addition to the 2.1kwh of solar you produce, to meet your daily 8kwh usage average? It would be great if you could use more of your own solar generated power yourself.

I am also very interested in this aspect. Using solar panels to charge the car and possibly using the car's batteries as storage to feed back to the house if and when spare capacity is available. I have looked at the Zappi home charger/controller and it seems it may be possible with such a device. Interested in your thoughts...
 
G
#19 ·
My average mileage is only around 60 miles per day, and I could regularly charge during the day at my workplace, so I am wondering if I need to do any more than have a simple weatherproofed domestic mains socket for home charging (and pre-conditioning). Anybody else thinking along those lines rather than installing a home charger?
 
#20 ·
mclarenpaul said:
Maybe, I'm better going with a 3 phase 22kW charger for now and accepting the slow 3.7kW, but being future proofed for my next BEV which surely will allow 3 phase charging..... 3.7kW will provide me an overnight charge which will far exceed my commute. Even the standard wall plug should cover my commute.
Any thoughts?
Mclarenpaul if you can install a 22kw charger it will charge your I-pace at 7.4kW not 3.7kW as 22kw charger is 3x 32A meaning the I-pace will charge 1x 32A which is also its max AC charging capacity.
 
#21 ·
catwoman said:
It seems from your figures that your solar panels are producing much more electricity than you use yourself. If I understand correctly you are only using approx 775 kwh per year of the 3100 you produce, which is an incredibly low figure, an average of around only 2.1kwh per day . . . but, of course, your electricity consumption will rise when you have an EV. Presumably you are also drawing power daily from the main grid supply, in addition to the 2.1kwh of solar you produce, to meet your daily 8kwh usage average? It would be great if you could use more of your own solar generated power yourself.
Not sure if you have solar panels yourself but there is HUGE seasonality when it comes to production as you can see below the production history of my solarpanels - as you can see in winter months barely anything is produced and in summer months a whole lot,
Rectangle Slope Plot Font Parallel


Looking per month the % of produced kwh being used by my own household ranges between 15.7% and 59.7%. My kwh usage of 2600-2700kwh per year (net & solarpanels together) is low compared to avg family of 4 but as you said I expect this to increase with home charging although planning to do most charging at work as cheaper for my employer.

So on good days I produce over 20kwh so most of that is delivered back to the net, also most energy is consumed in evenings with lights in house, TV, cooking (electric), washing etc. Luckily in NL the central net is 1 big free battery till 2020 as consumption from net is netted with delivery back to the net, only excess production I get a lower rate of 0.1331 per kwh. Later this summer we should get more details on how this will work in 2020 and beyond.
 

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#22 ·
mjc said:
My average mileage is only around 60 miles per day, and I could regularly charge during the day at my workplace, so I am wondering if I need to do any more than have a simple weatherproofed domestic mains socket for home charging (and pre-conditioning). Anybody else thinking along those lines rather than installing a home charger?
The idea is good but I need a smart home charger to ensure that kwh charged to the car gets billed to the lease company. Charging via the home socket doesn't allow for that. My company has already confirmed a home charger can be installed at their expense, just need to find the right home charger.

I will mainly charge the I-pace at work because it is much cheaper for my employer - as the facility already uses of 1 million kwh per year the cost per kwh charging is just €0.08.
 
#23 ·
Jelle v/d Meer said:
mclarenpaul said:
Maybe, I'm better going with a 3 phase 22kW charger for now and accepting the slow 3.7kW, but being future proofed for my next BEV which surely will allow 3 phase charging..... 3.7kW will provide me an overnight charge which will far exceed my commute. Even the standard wall plug should cover my commute.
Any thoughts?
Mclarenpaul if you can install a 22kw charger it will charge your I-pace at 7.4kW not 3.7kW as 22kw charger is 3x 32A meaning the I-pace will charge 1x 32A which is also its max AC charging capacity.
Jelle,

Unfortunately, I don't have 3x32A. I have 3 phases split over 40A which means I can only get 3.7kW maximum.
 
#24 ·
mjc said:
My average mileage is only around 60 miles per day, and I could regularly charge during the day at my workplace, so I am wondering if I need to do any more than have a simple weatherproofed domestic mains socket for home charging (and pre-conditioning). Anybody else thinking along those lines rather than installing a home charger?
I also have around 60 miles average mileage per day and have a socket in my garage, so may go with this to begin with before deciding on which wall box to go with. I guess more and more solutions will come in the future around this.
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the info Jelle, seeing the specifics of your solar generation graph is fascinating, thank you. Here in UK things are a bit different; the so called 'feed-in tariff' has reduced quite dramatically as the cost of panels etc has fallen, so there's not as much of an incentive to supply any excess solar production back to the grid anymore. I would like to be able to use as much of my own solar as possible, so battery storage systems like Powerwall 2 or LG's Chem Resu might be an answer, but they are still a relatively expensive add-on. That's why I was thinking of maybe utilising the car battery as storage I can draw back on when the car is parked at the house and might not be in use during the daytime, say over weekends/holidays.
 
#26 ·
Jelle v/d Meer said:
Good to see more solutions/providers get involved in home charging solutions but I am a bit puzzled by Eneco eve mini.
Not so much puzzled with the Eve Mini or Eneco, but by the "partnership" with JLR. It means that, in spite of some serious feedback, JLR has chosen to ignore the charging issues that many owners in mainland Europe (or soon: Europe) will face due to the fact that the majority of existing charging infrastructure is three fase 11kW, which results in 3.7kW charging for the I-Pace. There is little that can be done about public infrastructure (other than a portable DC charger with all the drawbacks that go with it), but at least for home charging, I would have hoped they would have partnered with a supplier that would offer an affordable DC charger that can be supplied with a standard 3x16A, 230V connection to offer 10-11kW charging. The "Eve Mini" is really a generic "run off the mill" AC charging solution, with dozens of alternatives, meant for cars that have sufficient internal chargers which the I-Pace doesn't have.

Jelle v/d Meer said:
Most Dutch homes have a 1x 35A or 3x 25A at 220v connection anything higher and you easily pay €500-€1000 extra per year. Standardly the max fuse is 16A so without special work/solution the max you can charge single phase is 16x220=3.52kw.
We have 230v in the Netherlands, so 3.7kW, but other than that you are correct! Ironically, homes with a 75A "power" connection are limited to 3.7kW when it comes to charging the I-Pace, while "low power" 35A connections can charge with 7kW (if they turn nearly every appliance off in their homes).

Jelle v/d Meer said:
Load balacing itself is not going to change that (unless I miss something) all it will do is try to load as fast as possible but never exceeding the upper limit of 3.52kw. The only way to go above the 3.52kw charging is through clever solutions or stations that either can merge 2 16A fuses into a single phase charge (very likely will need load balancing) or that can convert a 3 phase AC charge into a DC charge.
Load balancing is useful, for 35A single phase homes. They can install a 32A fuse on the charger socket and charge at 7kW, but if they turn on a hairdryer while the car is charging, it will blow out their main fuse. Smart load balancing detects the hairdryer going on and prevents the main fuse from blowing out by quickly reducing the charge current to whatever you have left. The good thing is: the main fuse never blows, the drawback is that you don't have a guaranteed charge speed/time.

For homes with a 75A three phase connection, though, you are right: it does nothing, because the I-Pace will only use 16A on one phase, leave 9A on that phase, and then another 2 phases of 25A each, to power your home - no load balancing needed.
 
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