Charging Cable Recommendation

B

Bob Pandamax

New Member
Hey All,

Putting a 14-50 outlet in my garage is expensive and it looks like I can use my dryer outlet (14-30) near the garage or I have a NEMA 6-20 in my garage.

There are so many options for cables out there - the standard seems to be 14-50 though. I was thinking of using a simple splitter for the dryer outlet and not running them at the same time.

Does anyone else do this? Do you have any suggestions?

If it helps, I'm buying a 2023 VW ID.4 Pro S RWD.
 
By cable are you referring to an EVES or and extension cord? How old is the wiring on the dryer outlet. How much charge do you need on a daily basis (kwh)? Charging on the 14-30 may work just fine if every thing is in good working order. I generally charge my Kona on 16 or 24 amps but I don't drive a lot. The key thing is that if your using a 14-30 outlet you never want to go over 24 amps. 24 amps is the max continuous amps allowed by the NEC on a 30 amp breaker. For continuous loads the code requires no more than 80% of the circuit breaker rating. (0.8*30=24 amps)
 
Fastnf said:
By cable are you referring to an EVES or and extension cord? How old is the wiring on the dryer outlet. How much charge do you need on a daily basis (kwh)? Charging on the 14-30 may work just fine if every thing is in good working order. I generally charge my Kona on 16 or 24 amps but I don't drive a lot. The key thing is that if your using a 14-30 outlet you never want to go over 24 amps. 24 amps is the max continuous amps allowed by the NEC on a 30 amp breaker. For continuous loads the code requires no more than 80% of the circuit breaker rating. (0.8*30=24 amps)
Click to expand...

The dryer outlet is as old as the house - 2005 so about 17 years.

Yes, I'm referring to the plug, extension cord and J1772 in a cable that plugs directly to the outlet, not a charging station like EvGo or Charepoint etc.

KwH of charge on a daily basis is tricky. Basically, my daily commute is 110 miles round trip so I'll probably want a nice buffer. I think a 24A charger from the 30A outlet would give me about 23 miles an hour. Charging 8 hours or so overnight would work for day to day drives. I think the battery is 83kwh total.
 
Bob Pandamax said:
The dryer outlet is as old as the house - 2005 so about 17 years.

Yes, I'm referring to the plug, extension cord and J1772 in a cable that plugs directly to the outlet, not a charging station like EvGo or Charepoint etc.

KwH of charge on a daily basis is tricky. Basically, my daily commute is 110 miles round trip so I'll probably want a nice buffer. I think a 24A charger from the 30A outlet would give me about 23 miles an hour. Charging 8 hours or so overnight would work for day to day drives. I think the battery is 83kwh total.
Click to expand...
That is of course at 240V.
 
Bob Pandamax said:
There are so many options for cables out there - the standard seems to be 14-50 though.
Click to expand...
NEMA 14-50 is common for EVSEs for vehicles that charge up to 50 A, which is more than enough for the SE. The plug itself doesn't matter, it's the amperage. You could either find 14-30 or 6-30 plugs, or just remove the receptacle and hardwire your EVSE. Just make sure the EVSE won't exceed 30 A. I would also be concerned about the breaker and wire gauge, EVSEs pull the max amperage whereas things like dryers don't. The wiring setup may not be durable enough for the higher draw of an EVSE.
 
Based on the age of your house the dry outlet should be wired with 10 gauge copper wire. This is good for 24 amps max. I would recommend verifying the wire size before using it for charging. You will need a 24 amp EVSE to charge the car, or one that can be set to 24 amps max.

You mention extension cord Plug and a J1772. These are all part of an EVSE. Sometime people thing that they just need a extension cord with a J1772 on one end but that is not the case. An EVSE is the devise that communicates with the car regarding charging level starts and shuts off the current when the correct percentage of battery charge is reached (among other things).
 
Ok - to clarify, an EVSE is a charging station? I'm still new to the acronyms and terminology.

I've heard the 80% rule. I've been looking at cables and such that are 24A max or can be set to 24A.

I have heard that some cables can "self regulate" with the car to stop charging after a point?

I have been looking at a charging cable and splitter so I can just run the charger when I'm not running the dryer. Has anyone done this?:

Splitvolt Level 2 Portable EV Charger (24 Amp, 220-240 Volt, 26ft Cable), Electric Vehicle Charger Plug-in EV Charging Station with NEMA 14-30, J1772 Plug, (Fastest 30 Amp Circuit NEC-Safe Charging) https://a.co/d/h0cfswA

RVMATE 4 Prong Dryer Splitter 30 Amp, NEMA 14-30P to (2)14-30R Y Receptacle 26.5 Inch, Waterproof PVC Jacket Built to Last https://a.co/d/0hiqEq2
 
EVSE stands for Electric Vehicle Service Equipment. It is commonly referred to as a charger or charge station though in actuality the charger is in the car and the EVSE is just a communication device controlling the flow of current to the car. There are two types of EVSE's. One is a dumb unit, no wifi, or app. Just plug it in and it charges to what ever state the car is communicating. The other type is a smart EVSE which usually is WiFi enabled and has an app with time setting capabilities and logging of information such as amps watts, kwh etc. I recommend that you look for a unit that's is UL listed as verification that it has been tested and certified by underwriter laboratories. Neither of the items you mentioned appear to be UL listed.

You might also check out Tom Moloughney's u-tube channel " State of Charge" where he reviews and rates EVSE's (charge stations) A great source of EVSE information.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdX0BJNon1c6GfOdeS3pyDw
 
A safety consideration, you might use an IR thermometer to measure the temperature rise. We've seen residential grade sockets get too hot and melt.

Bob Wilson
 
Bob Pandamax said:
KwH of charge on a daily basis is tricky. Basically, my daily commute is 110 miles round trip so I'll probably want a nice buffer. I think a 24A charger from the 30A outlet would give me about 23 miles an hour. Charging 8 hours or so overnight would work for day to day drives. I think the battery is 83kwh total.
Click to expand...

I don’t know if you’ll get 23miles/hr at 24A. It’s probably better to use a more conservative number.

Assuming a clean 240v (which I get but not all homes do - a friend of mine sees a measly 200V at his house!), 24A * 240V = 5.76kW or 5.76kWh in an hour. To get 23 miles, that’s 4 miles/kWh. Seems high for a car as large as an ID.4. My Bolt and Mini may get that in ideal conditions. In the winter, my Bolt can get as low as 1.5 with local trips (resistance heater runs full blast for every short trip). That’s less than 9 miles/hr at 240V/24A.

My Bolt example is a worst case kind of thing and you’ll probably do much better. But I’d hate you to get stranded because your assumptions weren’t conservative enough.



Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
Hmm. Those are very interesting points.

I am unsure how "clean" my voltage is. I could look at buying a tester. 1.5 miles / kwh is very low and is probably too conservative. If I split the difference and do 2.75 miles / kwh, assuming clean voltage that would give me 15.84 miles an hour.

I plan for an at least 8 hour charge. Google shows some DC fast chargers near my home and work. This is my first EV so I haven't tried them out as yet.

As for the cold, that's a mixed bag. I live in DFW, which gets cold during the winter but the number of days below freezing and the amount of snow we get is typically much less than the Northeast or Midwest. Weather can be fickle here - right now, it's 73 degrees in January. Also, I'll be charging my car in the garage, which while not heated, is usually warmer in the winter than outside due to having my air handler and hot water heater presenr.

How much range loss do you experience in the extreme cold or extreme heat?
 
Looks like EPA estimate is 3.125 kwh / mile based on 100 miles / 32 kwh. That would translate to appx 18 miles / hour at 24A 240V (5.76 Kwh).
 
DFW is definitely going to be different from here in upstate NY. This winter has been mild, but typically we see temperatures below zero F a few times a year. It is normally in the teens / twenties in January-February. Combine that with frequent short trips, with the car cooling down between each trip and you get numbers like 1.5 miles/kWh. My usage is driving to work (short commute), home, driving kids to activities, shopping, etc. each trip is short (less than 15 miles at a time) and each time I’m doing something for a while so the car cools off again. Heated seats are great but they don’t take the load off the heater because my youngest is still in a car seat.

If I am taking longer trips (heater hits steady state and doesn’t take as much juice), and temps in the 30s, 2.5 miles/kWh sounds about right.

Oh, I also run Michelin XIce snow tires. They are LRR, but not as efficient as the OEM tires.


Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
 
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