L2 Chargers that Allow Easy Change to Charge Rate

S

Steven B

Active Member
The Chargepoint Home Flex has the ability to adjust its charge rate. The question I have for those who have one of these: Can this be adjusted on the fly or is a difficult-to-change option through the Chargepoint website? Maybe for battery health, but definitely for peace of mind, what I'd like to be able to do is set the charge rate to s-l-o-w if I am charging overnight, but full speed at all other times, so the option to set it in the app is preferable. I understand that the MAX charge rate should be fixed based on the circuit rating, but charge rates below that, in theory, could be easily adjusted in the EVSE app.

Whenever Time-of-Use rates are employed in the TVA service area, I'd like to be able to fully utilize the cheap rate window while charging as slowly as possible.

Any other EVSE models from reputable manufacturers (no home-brew kits) offer such a feature?

Still mulling putting in an L2, but generally waiting on a plugin SUV, and obviously would like it to be a Pilot (not one of those low-slung CUVs that are claiming to be SUVs) with no third row and a 25kWh battery instead. My understanding is that the upcoming RAV4 Prime will have the painfully slow max charge rate of 3.3kW. The original RAV4 EV rate appears to have been 9.6kW. Toyota has extended their battery warranty on the newer Prius plugin and my suspicion is that this is partially because they limit the charge rate to 3.3kW.
 
What do you mean by charge rate? To change the AMP?
Because the car will take what ever she needs and not more.
I use a LV2 240V 40 AMP charger but i always charge at 16 AMP.
Been a year and didn't notice any EV range drop for now. Also used the car a full Canadian winter at -30C and worst.
You should just let the car do her thing. I charge at 16 AMP because i saw that my EV range goes down slower for 4 hours of 0-100 charge instead of 2 and half hours.
 
Max EVSE charge rate is based on lesser of EVSE capability or circuit rating. Max effective charge rate is based on lesser of those two and car acceptance rate.

On the one hand you say let the car do it's thing but then say you dropped your charge rate to 16A because you anecdotally think it is better.

My question is simply: What commonly available EVSE models offer changing the charge rate (such as down to 16A) in the app (preferable) or on the EVSE case (without disassembly)?
 
All L2 charging is considered slow and battery health will not be affected by charging at the maximum the Clarity will take.

One of our local Electric Auto Association members had a passively cooled 2014 LEAF that he used for Uber/Lift as his job. He quick charged multiple times a day and traded it at 175K+ miles with "normal" battery degradation for that vintage. A quick charge on that LEAF was at a rate of about 2C. Charging your Clarity on L2 will never exceed a rate of .4C. Anything under 1C is considered completely safe.

A few portable EVSE let you set a lower rate by shaking them. Most EVSEs require that the case be opened to manually adjust to prevent an accidental (or misinformed) later change to a higher rate if installed on a circuit that will not support it.

Open EVSE will allow to change charge rate thru a menu system, and also limit charge by time or kWh. They are available in Kit form if you want to save a few $$ and have the confidence/skills to build one.
https://store.openevse.com/collections/all-products
 
I believe that the Zencar EVSE will charge 240V at 16, 24, and 32A. It can change settings with an RFID card (usually 2 are included) or by lightly shaking the unit to toggle settings. I think it may also charge 120V at 10A if you have an adapter, but you would have to double check me on that one. I think the Level 2 ChargePoint and Siemens Versicharge EVSEs also are switchable, but someone here can verify that one. The original Chevrolet Volt (2011 and 2012 models) had 120V EVSEs that were switchable from 8A to 12A made by Voltec (they are the ones that are orange wire and orange accents on the front of the EVSE). I have one of these and it can come in handy when wanting to charge overnight (probably like 15 hrs to fully charge at 8A) when traveling and not having a dedicated circuit (or just not wanting to trip someone's breaker).
 
Juice Box 40 has the ability to regulate the amperage. I only use slower charge rate when its really hot here in Michigan.

Set amps to what you want. Amps x 240=charging watts20200525_131736.webp Screenshot_20200525-132000_EV JuiceNet.webp
 
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