new to EV - what do I need to know about plug adapters?

S

SFC

New Member
We bought a new 2019 Kia Niro over the summer. Haven't put many miles on it, since there's really nowhere to go in lockdown. Previous car was a plug-in hybrid, so (1) we have a home charging station and therefore (2) I haven't really paid much attention to what kinds of charging stations are out there.

Now I'm planning the first road trip with the Kia. According to PlugShare, there's a charging station near our destination that has a NEMA 14-50 plug and it says a 3-phase to 1-phase adapter is needed. There are check-ins by a Kona owner and a couple of Leaf owners who mentioned that they brought adapters. TBH, I have no clue what all this means. There are also a few Tesla chargers in the area.

Usually I feel like I can keep up with technology, but the risk of seriously damaging the car is a little intimidating.

Questions:
  1. Where can I find a 3-phase to 1-phase NEMA 14-50 adapter? I can't even quite tell what it's supposed to look like. I have a vague idea that I need to use the car's charging cable and add the adapter to plug into a wall, kind of like using a plug adapter when traveling in Europe. Am I close?

  2. Is there an adapter to connect my Niro to a Tesla charger? And is that a good idea or a bad one? I've seen some comments about how the superfast chargers can damage the battery.

  3. Should I consider adding a set of adapters to basic safety equipment like a first-aid kit and jumper cables?
Thanks!
[=sfc=]
 
SFC said:
We bought a new 2019 Kia Niro over the summer. Haven't put many miles on it, since there's really nowhere to go in lockdown. Previous car was a plug-in hybrid, so (1) we have a home charging station and therefore (2) I haven't really paid much attention to what kinds of charging stations are out there.
Click to expand...

Where are you located?

Typically 3-phase charging is only available outside of North America.
 
This is in Washington state. Here's the info from PlugShare. Does this make sense to you?
upload_2021-1-19_19-30-17.webp upload_2021-1-19_19-31-44.webp

I can't tell if there's just an outlet on the wall and I'd just need an adapter so I can plug the charging cord that came with the car into the wall?

Any light you can shed will be greatly appreciated!
[=sfc=]
 
Well, the building is a church - honest to god 3-phase is theoretically possible (the plug shouldn't be 14-50 if that were the case), but it still seems unlikely to me, and my best guess at the moment is that they mistakenly assume that L14-50 is 3 phase.

The portable EVSE that one person used (which probably came with a 14-50 plug) would have worked just fine without the need for any adapters. The EVSE that comes with the car has a 5-15 plug (standard household outlet), and that's obviously not compatible.

In terms of an adapter, I am not sure what to suggest - I suppose you could look at the EVSE that came with the car and see what the specs are in terms of voltage and current.
 
I agree with Espirit1st. It is probably a typo. 240 volt is 2 phase. I am guessing an adapter is needed if you want 120 volt. This would be fairly common. and can be obtained at any RV store or amazon. The Nissan Leaf which mentioned the adapter was probably using a 120 volt granny charger and in that case an adapter would be needed. Other wise using 240 volt would not require an adapter. A Nema 14-50 is a 2 phase plug.

There is a Nema 15-50 three phase plug but from what I can see there is no adapter available to convert a Nema 15-50 to a Nema 14-50. Which lead back to the original conclusion that it is a type and is a normal 2phase Nema 14-50 outlet
 
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SFC said:
This is in Washington state. Here's the info from PlugShare. Does this make sense to you?
View attachment 10493 View attachment 10494

I can't tell if there's just an outlet on the wall and I'd just need an adapter so I can plug the charging cord that came with the car into the wall?

Any light you can shed will be greatly appreciated!
[=sfc=]
Click to expand...
One transformer on the pole, therefore single phase. Although the service could be 120/208.
 
Thanks, everybody - this is helpful. I did a little more looking around, and there are also Tesla chargers reasonably close by. Since it seems like those are more common than this weird plug, is there an adapter that I can use to safely hook my Niro up to a Tesla charger? Some of them are 150kW superchargers, but the closest one is a 16kW. I think I've seen on this forum that it's not great for the battery to regularly use high-speed chargers, but once in a while is OK. Also, from looking at the owners manual, it seems there's some way to throttle the charge from dashboard controls?

Again, I'd be very grateful for whatever light you can shed...
 
Fastnf said:
I agree with Espirit1st. It is probably a typo. 240 volt is 2 phase. I am guessing an adapter is needed if you want 120 volt. This would be fairly common. and can be obtained at any RV store or amazon. The Nissan Leaf which mentioned the adapter was probably using a 120 volt granny charger and in that case an adapter would be needed. Other wise using 240 volt would not require an adapter. A Nema 14-50 is a 2 phase plug.

There is a Nema 15-50 three phase plug but from what I can see there is no adapter available to convert a Nema 15-50 to a Nema 14-50. Which lead back to the original conclusion that it is a type and is a normal 2phase Nema 14-50 outlet
Click to expand...

240v power in this context is single phase.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Fastnf said:
You are correct. I was thinking two hot legs 180 degrees out of phase which is not two phase. I stand corrected. :)
Click to expand...
A technically correct term would be split phase as the power comes from a center tapped secondary ... the neutral. The two ends are 120 VAC relative to the neutral and 240 VAC between them.
step-down-transformer-with-center-tapped-secondary-winding.jpg

NOTE: the primary voltage can vary depending upon local grid distribution. But the secondary remains the same.

Bob Wilson
 
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