Charge Point Home Flex

[jay bartner]

I just bought a 2019 Kona and installed a Charge Point Home Flex Charger in my garage. I was told by customer service at Charge Point that it would charge 50 amps if hardwired and put on 37 miles per hour on the battery. When I used it, it charges well under 50 amps and put on the battery around 30 miles per hour. When I called they told me that the Kona limits the flow of electricity to somewhere around 38 amps. Does anyone know if this is true? If so, I would have bought a much cheaper level 2 charger. Also, when I tried calling Hyundai to discuss this, I was told by customer service they have no technical people to answer questions like this. My dealer had no idea how to answer my question. Are we on our own with electric cars?

 

[EVDog]

I have the Chargepoint HomeFlex too. I also had it set up for 50 amps, hardwired.
The Kona charging maxes out at 7.2 kilowatts, which would be 30 amps. I set up the home flex for 50 amps to “future-proof” my setup. My NEXT EV (or if my wife buys one) will certainly charge faster (suck up more amps). To switch from 30 to 50 would require heavier duty wiring, a new EVSE, and another expensive visit by my electrician. I’d rather pay only once.
Very happy with the Home Flex and the Chargepoint app, by the way


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs

 

[Fastnf]

Technical You bought a EVSE (Electrical Vehicle Supply Equipment) it is a not a charger but an amp and voltage supply unit. The actual charger resides in the car. As stated the max kilowatts the on board charger can handle is 7.2 kilowatts. (240 volts times 30 amps) Your EVSE is capable of supplying 40 amps continuous. Electrical codes limit the max continuous amperage to 80 % of the circuit rating. 0.8 *50=40 amps. I am assuming you have a 50 amp circuit breaker not a 70 amp. So your EVSE is capable of supplying up to 9.6 KW (or with a 70 amp breaker you can get 11 kw). When you plug in your Kona the car and the EVSE communicate. The Kona lets the EVSE know it can only use 30 amps and that is what the EVSE supplies. If you had a Tesla which is capable of 80 amps then the EVSE would let the Tesla Know that the max it could supply would 50 amps and that all that it would supply.

So as EVDog say you are future proof for up to 9.6 or 11 kw (depending on circuit breaker and wire size) should you in the future get a car with a larger on board charger.

 

[KiwiME]

... The Kona lets the EVSE know it can only use 30 amps and that is what the EVSE supplies...

Just to add the note that it's the other way around with AC charging ... the EVSE advertises the maximum current it can supply to the EV. A properly-behaving EV will take what it wants up to that.
With DC charging it's as you say, the EV tells the EVSE what it wants.