What is the level 2 charger really doing?

That's input power to the charger, if the demanded power factor is 1.

It's not battery charging power which is why this is only a rough estimate, not necessarily accurate:

 

The good news is 16-20A, multi-voltage, EVSEs appear to be coming on the market for reasonable prices.

Bob Wilson

 

Past Prius Owner and EE 'ingineer' has been offering a service for a while that takes the OEM EVSE and modifies it to what you describe for about $250.

I think I will upgrade our LEAF's EVSE, so that it becomes a viable mobile emergency device to be used at RV campgrounds in conjunction with adapters for the common outlets.

 

As soon as you press the release button on the plug it will disconnect, until then power will be supplied to the car.

The charger in the car will reduce its consumption when the battery is charged.

I don't know how low the consumption with the Prius Prime is when charged but still supplied with power. On my Spark EV it reduced to a few watts.

kevin

 

OP -- yes, the EVSE is a cord with electronics coded to comply with safety regulations.
The more expensive, US built varieties may have higher quality parts, better QC, and thus a longer life and less fire risk in the event of malfunction.

I bought a Clipper Creek as a hedge against fire. I try not to be penny wise and pound of flesh foolish.

 

That upgrade only puts out 12 amps.

 

Yep, but that comes close to the Prime max rating.

 

Don't forget, some cities, like Anaheim California will subsidize nearly all the cost of an L2 station at your house. I got $1000 cash after installing my $1100 (total cost) L2 in Anaheim. This made a sensational difference to me with home-based business where I visit several local customers daily. I'm able to fully charge in just under 2 hours, a couple times a day.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

16 amps, I thought.


iPhone ? Pro

 

I have a Clipper Creek LCS-30P (actually 24A - again, 80%) ready and waiting for my P.Prime to eventually arrive... Based upon reviews, it seems to be a good unit, although I haven't actually used it yet.


iPad ? Pro

 

The EVSE outputs 12Amps*240V = 2.88 kW, so this should be close to the rate into the battery since the on-board ACtoDC converter is highly efficient.

The Prime is listed as 3.3 kW maximum but I don't know where in the circuit this value is taken from. If it is before the EVSE e.g., the converter might only be seeing less than 3 kW.

 

The prime charger is rated 16 amps not 12. The evse that comes with the car is only rated for 12 amps. If you hook the car to a 240v evse it will draw 16 amps.

 

Meaning 16A at the wall meter, and close to 16A into the EVSE ?
If so, then is it correct to derate the Amps going into the car's charger by the EVSE inefficiency ?

 

Half in Austin, TX, for whatever it's worth, and then $50/year to use the ChargePoint EVSEs around town.

iPhone ? Pro

 

The EVSE will only use a few watts so the great majority or the electrical power from the wall will go to the charger. (>99%), its consumption can be neglected for most purposes.

The EVSE is just a safety switch to ensure that the connector is not live unless it is really plugged into a car and also that the car charges at no more than the EVSE allows. The EVSE does not do any conversion of power.

The car will also have its limits so the actual charging current will be the smaller of what the EVSE and the car allows.

A public charger, will commonly have a rating of 32A - but since the Prius charger only allows 16A that will be the limit.

The EVSE supplied with the car is only for 120V operation and doesn't allow more than 12A charging because the normal 120V sockets are not safe above that amount.

 

did they come to your house with all twenties?

 

No, the amps will be exactly the same, any loss will be in voltage, and that loss will be very tiny.

The big charging losses are in the battery charger which is in the car, not the EVSE, and the in-and-out losses of the battery itself.

 

No, they brought hundreds, and a big kiss! You rascal.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

EVSE ratings are based on what the EVSE tells the car to draw.

So, a 16 A EVSE is one that tells the car to pull 16 A at the charger's input. The resistance of the wiring to the J1772 connector, the connector itself, any losses in the EVSE, and any losses in the EVSE's interface to the breaker box are not accounted for in that 16 A rating, so they'll be built for higher currents, to handle those losses.

 

Sort of but the losses are so small so they can be pretty much ignored - the current consumed by the EVSE electronics will be very small - I measured my EVSE for the SparkEV at about 4W - that's only about 40-50mA. That is within the various tolerances so I'm sure didn't affect the sizing of the input cable. If the EVSE dissipated any significant power in such a small package it would get hot.

The EVSE advertises to the car the MAXIMUM current the it is allowed to draw - the car can draw less if wishes.

kevin