Anyone has a Level 2 charger?

It cuts charge time 50%, to about 90 minutes.

There are many Level 2 (240V) chargers (EVAE's) available. The cheapest, by far, is to mail your EVSE in and have it upgraded by EVSE Upgrade - Low-Cost EV Charging Solutions. That, and a 240V, 20A outlet, is all you need.

There are many EVSE's for higher amperage. They'll all work with your car, but you'll just spend hundreds more and you'll get no benefit, as your car will still charge at about the same rate, in about 90 minutes.

 

welcome to pip chat! mine is inside garage, cost $500. for parts, i installed it. cut charge time in half, have not seen one that will charge two cars at a time.

 

Not aware of any home/consumer grade dual level 2 chargers. There are commercial grade ones, but probably cost at least several thousand dollars. Here is one I came across:


Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - PEP Stations

 

ya, would be cheaper to buy two.

 

The limit is with the charger which is actually in the car itself. The PiP is and several other plug-ins are limited to 3.3 kW. A few others are limited to 6.6 kW. Tesla is higher. Some can do fast DC charging, yet higher.

 

Not aware of any home/consumer grade dual level 2 chargers. There are commercial grade ones, but probably cost at least several thousand dollars. Here is one I came across:

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations - PEP Stations

Our company has this type of charge stations, were expensive and required a dedicated circuit of 100Amps.
I build my own EVSE for under $400.00 with a 25' cord and 60Amps capability and resides outdoors in a proper
weather tight enclosure .

 

I didn't feel a level 2 charger was worthwhile for me at home since my vehicle is often home for the night after work and I can live with the level 1 charging times on the weekend

For work I did pick up a Home depot returned Legrand unit off EBay for $300 and installed it myself for $75 . I use the work level 2 charger an average of twice a day.

The Legrand unit works well but two things I dislike are: Its bulky size and the weak plastic handle latch hook

 

Actually, PiP is much less than other plug-ins. It only will pull 12A on 240V. Volt, Ford Energis, and 3.3KW Leafs will pull 16A. And despite 12A/240V offering 2.9KW, the PiP still pulls less than that, only like 2.4KW or so.

 

^ The Volt pulls 14 amps at 240V.
When I setup the L2 circuit for the PIP I ran 12 ga wire with 15 amp breakers being that the PIP draws a bit under 10 amps... When I got the Volt I figured I give the existing setup a try- luckily the Volt never popped the 15 amp breakers- so I never needed to upgrade to 20 amp breakers. When I measured it with an amp probe- the Volt drew 14 amps at 240 volts.

3,300 w/240v = 13.75 amps

The above figure is for residential and most business locations, but some commercial locations run at 208 volts so then at 3,300 watts the Volt will draw 15.9 amps.

At 240v the PIP draws a smidge under 10 amps.

 

Be aware that if you are drawing 14A continuously on a 15A breaker, that is violating the NEC. At least you have the proper wire gauge (assuming it's not a ridiculously long run), but you might as well change the breaker for the $5-10 it would cost!

Also, I believe the chargers are generally current-limited, not power-limited. As far as I know they won't draw more current on a 208V supply -- they will draw the same current and just take longer to charge. As it is, the EVSE communicates to the vehicle how much current is available, not how much power.

 

Yes, you're correct... I totally forgot about that. The charger inside the vehicle limits current- that's why it can take longer to charge at commercial 208v locations vs 240v home charging.

 

The commercial locations are taking two legs of a three-phase supply, yielding 208V, and the home charging is single phase, with 120V between either leg and neutral, and 240V between the two legs.