evse recommendations?

I'm with bldxyz. Take multiple measurements at high, mid, and low state-of-charge and we will get a much better idea.

 

Initial experience with level 1 charging: so I got an OBD dongle and was finally able to see how much electricity is flowing into my SE from a 5-20 outlet. I am using the EVSE that comes with the car and have set it to max. Using the electrified, it says that only about 2 amps are coming in. My car was actually 96% charged at the time, so there might be more if if it's at a lower %. However, this is quite different from the 10 amps promised on the EVSE. Any idea? Is it just extremely inefficient? On average though, the car is charging ~2.7% per hour, so on par with what it says on the mini website.

 

That could be 2A into the battery. At 400V battery voltage that's about 800W, which would draw ~7A from a 120V outlet. Add in a couple hundred watts for battery temp control and you're at 10A

 

That would make sense! Thank you!

 

Several weeks in on my ChargePoint Home Flex unit. So far it has performed flawlessly. Although I do not utilize some of its available wifi features (schedule and reminders), I really like having the charging history data. I have spent about $19 to go 640 miles. The app knows which local power company I use and is able to estimate costs. It matches up closely to what I calculated on my own using the rate from my power bill.

The smart EVSE also allows me to apply for an EV charging program with Duke Power (as soon as I get my license plate from the DMV). The program provides $500 up front and another $500 spread out over 3 years (off my bill) for only charging during off peak hours. The off peak hours are very generous. There are only 6 hours per weekday (weekends and holidays excluded) where they ask you not to charge, with an allowance of three "oops, I charged during peak hours, sorry" per month.

 

Did the first visit to the in-laws yesterday for Mothers’ Day. 65 miles there so I would need to charge somehow. I did not (yet) spring for the portable L2 charger to use off their 30a dryer outlet.

I did experiment with the L1 charge cable that came with the car. At least it works, but 4 hours to add 10% was not going to be enough to get us home.

So I used PlugShare to identify the “best” spot: a shopping center with five total DC fast charging stations, 4 of them all in a row. The only downside was that it was about 5-10 minutes off the highway.

Once I backed the car into the space (the cable is not long), it was pretty easy to pay (credit card, like a normal thing) and get started.



We didn’t need to go above 75%, so to know we’d need less than 15 minutes was cool! We were adding about 30% really fast.

PlugShare wasn’t showing the availability of these stations, so before I left the in-laws, I downloaded the ElectrifyAmerica app. I have lots of criticism about the app, but it does let you see the live status so you can determine if a station is free.



The whole time off the freeway was about a half hour. Less than five bucks for the charge up. I have to say, that’s not too bad. I just wouldn’t want to do that more than once a day.

I’m sort of torn about the portable L2 charger. On the one hand, we totally would have saved us the time, since a four hour visit would more than provide the top off we would need to get home. On the other hand, my kids both complained about being stuck in that backseat for the three hours of row trip driving. We could just take our ICE wagon, which is more comfortable in the backseat.

 

Dummy up a bicycle with an exercise stand and a generator and stick it atop your SE. Then tell your restless kids they'll ride that stationary bike to recharge the car on the next trip--and they'll be riding for a lot longer than 15 minutes. They'll fall all over themselves to fork over part of a week's allowance to buy that portable EVSE.

 

I keep forgetting that in the US, you use 110V. In Oz, we use 240V, so it is as if our current is double yours. The car came with an 8A (2kW) charger, and I bought a 10A (2.4kW) charger for the garage. Four hours for 10% would be agonising. Upgrading from 2 to 2.4kW is actually a bit better than 20% you would expect - you lose around 400W in heating/cooling/inefficiency etc. This means the 2kW is actually only delivering 1.6kW, and the 2.4kW is giving 2kW. This represents a 25% increase in charging. I get about 5 miles/kWh, so my 2.4kW charger gives me around 10miles/hour which is about 7%.

The chargers are also using the "80%" rule - or only allowing 80% of the normal rated current. This is so that old houses/wiring don't go up in flames. In my garage, I have heavy duty wiring, so 10A (maximum rated for our domestic sockets) was easy. The 30A connection sounds the way to go, that would be around 3kWh into the battery per hour, or about 10 hours to go from 0-100%. 10% per hour is reasonable, and in my case would net me around 25km or 15 miles/hour of charge. Are you guys still in winter, or still using your heating a lot? 65miles each way is an easy trip for the MINI, well at least here. Even on the freeway you should get 130 miles. After a weekend of fun twisties in sports mode, I am currently sitting on 175.8km with 26% left, which equates to 237km (147 miles) total range. 130 miles is 209km, so you should have around 10% left after the journey. Probably a bit squeaky, but still easily doable.

 

On the way there, I drove in Green+ mode, and it took more than 50% of the battery (about 60%). So I wasn’t going to get 130 miles round trip. It could be because the car had all four of us in it!

 

That will do it. With the small battery, gaining 30% in 15 minutes is the easiest solution. No worries about range, and you can have fun on the way home

 

Honestly, if you already own a larger ICE car, that's the one for the road trips. Zero range anxiety. More room. Put the miles on the old car, rather than the new one.

I've got a Tesla with 310 miles of advertised range, as well as the SE, and when we took a national park roat trip tour a month ago, we rented a BMW X1 (little SUV), for exactly the same reasons you should take your ICE. 2300 miles later, we were very happy we never had to worry about where we stopped to fuel up.

IMO, until the EVSE infrastructure settles on a standard (hopefully J1772) and strengthens considerably, EVs are city cars that can, a little painfully, be taken cross country.

 

Totally agree. I will use the Mini for road trips once the infrastructure improves. Of course, gas stations where I live are currently out of gas. So now even ICErs are having range anxiety! And I'm sitting pretty with my car plugged in the garage.

 

I've wondered what that means for BEVs, and whether or not insurance companies are updating their actuary tables.

Aside from wear and tear on suspension, what does "putting miles on" a BEV really mean? The batteries will eventually degrade, but that's nothing compared to the stresses of the constant tiny explosions and unpredictable fluid conditions of ICE vehicles.

 

That was the idea.

I just like driving the MINI so much!

And this is just one repeat destination that is feasible for a one-stop top off. Or $200 one time for a L2 charge cable.

 

In your context and as a general statement, this is correct. But our homes actually do have 240v power, it's just our common outlets that are 120v. 240v is only used for high wattage appliances like clothes dryers, water heaters, ovens and HVAC equipment. That's why it is possible to have an EVSE installed if you pay for it to be done and you live in a house you own.


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I think "miles" and "model year" are the de facto lifespan-ometers of a car, used in the first, say, five years, to calculate depreciation, and after that to estimate reliability/cost-to-repair-vs-new and finally time-until-scrap.

I, too, have wondered about the million-mile-Teslas (and other BEVs) and their impact on the life cycle of cars.

 

Yeah, but those metrics are kind of inappropriate for BEVs. Especially now with all the high tech features going in, it's becoming more like comparing models of computers. Diesel engines, as a counterpoint, are usually measured in hours of runtime instead of miles. With an electric motor the degradation of the battery pack is going to be the only real issue. There are generally few rubbing bits in an electric motor.

 

I believe the million mile Tesla is Hyperbole. Every car I ever owned was retired because of cosmetic wear issues and not mileage (most had 200k on the clock and ran perfectly). But when the bumpers are faded, headlights are hazy, carpet is worn, trim is faded and the car just looks old, you don't put 5k of work into a 12year old car with a 5k book value.

Unless it's a Tesla used for business with some unusual mileage demands, they will all suffer the same result as my previous cars. But... we already have examples of Teslas used for business needing more than one batter replacement to make it to 400k


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Agreed. I like my cars under 100K, just because I like all the little things to work. At 12K a year or so, an 8 year old car begins to break them pretty regularly.