Jerry's finally going level 2.

Not anymore. But I don't like the idea of a blowout without one. We threw my wife's spare in the back for the trip to Ohio.

 

Yeah, I'm fine around town. I could always call her and have her bring it. Or, if we're both in the car, I have plenty of friends who'd be happy to give us a lift, especially if we bought them a sandwich.

 

The deed is done! Well, it's operational. I still have to get the outlet cover and install it. I'm leaving it open for now so I can make sure nothing gets too warm.

Charging screen on the Toyota EVSE just before switching back to the new EVSE after a quick test.


Charging rate on the new EVSE. I forgot to get a picture of the "before" rate, hence the reversal of times on the display. The battery was nearly full by this point, so I'll want to look at it again tonight when it's depleted.


The new sub panel, powering the water heater and the car charger. Charger was drawing less than 10 amps. Water heater was drawing 18. Panel is fed by a 40 amp breaker and #6 wire, so I think it worked out about right.


The new EVSE at work.


That little meter is pretty cool! especially for only $20. Plus it retains the data in a power outage. Only one control button on the meter, though, so it's pretty arcane if you want to change any setting on it. I'll put a cover on the outlet box in a few days. The charger is ramping down now because I have the car on a timer and the battery is getting full sooner than it expected, I guess. The cover plate on the mounting box is kind of ragged. Plastic was easier to cut than steel, but also easier to damage with the Dremel tool.

The meter reads 0.11A with the EVSE connected to the wall, but not the car. When I unplug the EVSE, it drops to 0.09A. So the meter itself at idle pulls more current than the EVSE at idle. A little disappointing.

So, far, I'm a happy camper. Now to find out if it makes much difference. Either way, it was fun!

 

And batteries not included. But that's OK; I already have a couple in the car.

 

50A Breaker! Wow! That's heavy duty. Hope he used heavy duty wire. I think that calls for #6 (4.11 mm).

I started an L2 charge this morning and have some comparison numbers with the L1. Not quite what I expected, but still great.
1. L2 is only pulling 19% more power from the wall (2,333W vs 1880W)

2. Current is actually less. 9.83A on L2 and 13.72 on L1. I need to look up if it's the car limiting it or the EVSE. I just noticed the difference.

3. But it is putting 47% more power into the car according to the car's display (1.9kW vs 1.0kW).

4. And the battery fan was running noticeably louder, which is no surprise at all.

5. Charging just finished. Not sure exactly when, but it took less than an hour and 20 minutes from a battery that had 1.0 miles of EV showing at the start. WAY faster!!

Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked about it, even though it will take a long time to pay for itself at current prices. (Pun not intended, but welcomed. )

 

Your car might not be the same as my US car, but what I do is, with the car off and the EVSE plugged in & charging, keep my foot off the brake and hit the power button twice.

I just plugged mine in again with a depleted EV range, but not really dipping into the HV range, and it estimates 1.8 hours to full charge. I don't recall ever checking that on the L1 EVSE. I would think it was about 47% longer, though.

 

Maybe I should have figured that differently. L1 is 47% of L2. It's actually 90% more kW going into the battery on L2 than L1. (additional kw/original kw = 0.9/1.0) DUH!

OK, I get it. The EVSE is rated at 16A, but the car is limiting the charge rate. Even so, this is nearly twice the L1 charge rate.