Which home charger will you choose for your new Kona or Niro

[apu]

Oh, I see. I guess that depends on how the system is set up exactly. If the car says "hey evse, I'm only getting 6.95 kW, crank it up!". Or if the car tells the evse "I'll take 7 kW" and then the evse deliveres that and if only 6.95 kW ends up getting to the car, well, bummer.
(I realize that this is simplified but that's the point [emoji12] )

I agree I suspect its the latter point. I am not convinced a higher capacity rated EVSE will actually deliver anything more that the car asks for or try overcome any resistance losses encountered by excessive cable length or cold temperature. In fact the EVSE cable conductor resistance should decrease with cold temperatures. Yes there are cold temperature related losses related to AC to DC charging and heating a cold lithium battery but the EVSE/cable performance should be negligibly affected and perhaps even perform better in cold conditions.

In the end we have to remind ourselves an EVSE is just fancy safety interface between your car and your home's electrical service. Its job isn't to push electrons to you car, its just a gate that allows electrons to flow safely to your onboard charger up to a max amperage limited by software and relays in the EVSE. All the charging magic otherwise happens in the car itself.

 

[Paul DeLeon]

I had the Zencar from Amazon installed. Cost $160 for an electrician to wire and mount it. Works fine (2 months in). I have it set to 16 Amp. Goes from 10 to 30 in adjustable increments. No WiFi but the BlueLink works well to tell me how it is doing or turn it off, if need be. I chose 16 amps because 10 was too slow. Someone here posted a message saying charging slower raised your range. Mine is averaging 290-300 on full charge.

 

[davidtm]

During my first and (so far) only session on my new Juice Box 40, my Niro dash display reported 7.5 kW. I have yet to learn the data tracking, etc.

#nerdfun

Sent from my P027 using Tapatalk

 

[Kona Bill]

I just took delivery of my Kona yesterday. Previous to the purchase I had 240v 50A NEMA 14-50 installed and I’ve paired it with a Besenergy 32amp charger. Charged for the first time today and everything worked perfect. Plug cost $575 to install and the charger was $279 (minus $20 Amazon coupon for $259 total). The price on Amazon has since jumped to above $300.

 

[Esprit1st]

I just took delivery of my Kona yesterday. [...] a Besenergy 32amp charger.

Congrats again!!
Can you change the amperage on the EVSE? I currently don't need an EVSE. I'm good with my 110V and occasional free Lvl-2 charging around town. But I'm keeping an eye out for a simple EVSE with a 14-50 plug and adjustable Amperage. I currently have a 30 amp breaker on the my NEMA 14-50 in the garage but I'd like it to be future proof, if I have to get one at some point.

 

[Kona Bill]

Congrats again!!
Can you change the amperage on the EVSE? I currently don't need an EVSE. I'm good with my 110V and occasional free Lvl-2 charging around town. But I'm keeping an eye out for a simple EVSE with a 14-50 plug and adjustable Amperage. I currently have a 30 amp breaker on the my NEMA 14-50 in the garage but I'd like it to be future proof, if I have to get one at some point.

It seems to charge at 30 amps consistently. Only the first day I’m using it. I’ll keep you posted.
Update: charging at a constant 31 amps.

 

[electriceddy]

Congrats again!!
Can you change the amperage on the EVSE? I currently don't need an EVSE. I'm good with my 110V and occasional free Lvl-2 charging around town. But I'm keeping an eye out for a simple EVSE with a 14-50 plug and adjustable Amperage. I currently have a 30 amp breaker on the my NEMA 14-50 in the garage but I'd like it to be future proof, if I have to get one at some point.

I would assume Kona Bill is referring to this unit:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VCQ4XKL/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza
and does not include an integral adjustable amperage setting

 

[Cain]

Has anyone got any experience with the OpenEVSE Kit sold at https://store.openevse.com/collections/all-products ?

I'm looking for something with an API/Interface I can program to hook into the solar and divert unused extra electrons to the car. And through the Open EVSE gear I should be able to rig up a script that tells the car to draw anywhere from 6 to 30 amps (depending on sun and other usage).

Open EVSE looks like it fits the bill and it's well priced, probably due to the "some assembly required nature. I'd be interested to hear if anyone here's used them.

 

[ericy]

Has anyone got any experience with the OpenEVSE Kit sold at https://store.openevse.com/collections/all-products ?

I'm looking for something with an API/Interface I can program to hook into the solar and divert unused extra electrons to the car. And through the Open EVSE gear I should be able to rig up a script that tells the car to draw anywhere from 6 to 30 amps (depending on sun and other usage).

Not familiar with that one. We do have solar, but it is grid-tied, so in effect the EVSE has no knowledge (or need to know) about the solar. Our excess electrons go to the grid, and we get credited for them.

For the most part the system works well - there is only one edge case that I can think of, and that is where you have a power outage. In that case the solar shuts down. Some of this is really for safety of the linemen who might be trying to repair downed lines, but for the solar to work, it needs a low-impedance sink where it can put all of the power that it generates, and the grid provides this. But it leads to an interesting paradox where during a power outage you might have the panels which in theory could charge the car, but no way for that power to actually reach the car. Power outages are quite rare, so to me this is just an interesting theoretical problem and nothing that I would waste much time actually trying to resolve.

I do wonder if you could theoretically have an integrated inverter and EVSE that could directly deliver DC power to the car without the DC->AC->DC conversion losses. SolarEdge does make a combined inverter/EVSE:

https://www.solaredge.com/us/products/ev-charger#/

It wouldn't really have helped me - we already had the inverter, and the inverter location isn't where I wanted to install the EVSE. I haven't studied in detail, but on the surface, this thing looks like it delivers AC to the car, and still requires the grid to be up.

 

[Kona Bill]

I would assume Kona Bill is referring to this unit:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VCQ4XKL/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza
and does not include an integral adjustable amperage setting

You are correct sir. Thanks for posting the link.

 

[Cain]

Not familiar with that one. We do have solar, but it is grid-tied, so in effect the EVSE has no knowledge (or need to know) about the solar. Our excess electrons go to the grid, and we get credited for them.

...

It wouldn't really have helped me - we already had the inverter, and the inverter location isn't where I wanted to install the EVSE. I haven't studied in detail, but on the surface, this thing looks like it delivers AC to the car, and still requires the grid to be up.

My solar is a similar grid-tied setup. The thing is that there in Aus there is a big disparity between what we're paid for the energy we feed into the grid, and what we pull out of it. They're separately metered. So I get 9 cents/KWhr when I feed in, but pay 34 cents/KW/hr when I draw during the day. Hence my need to configure the EVSE to only draw the solar excess, and no more.

It obviously needs an override of some kind, so if it's been cloudy all day I can push some watts in overnight.

Direct DC is an interesting idea. Though DC switching is a ***** and a lot of the solar setups moving to micro-inverters for saftey (where 240V is run to the panels and the inverter is on the back). That way the whole system can be shut down, and anyone on the roof or firefighting doesn't need to worry about stray high voltage DC cables.

So I'd say AC is here to stay.

 

[ericy]

My solar is a similar grid-tied setup. The thing is that there in Aus there is a big disparity between what we're paid for the energy we feed into the grid, and what we pull out of it. They're separately metered. So I get 9 cents/KWhr when I feed in, but pay 34 cents/KW/hr when I draw during the day. Hence my need to configure the EVSE to only draw the solar excess, and no more.

It obviously needs an override of some kind, so if it's been cloudy all day I can push some watts in overnight.

Direct DC is an interesting idea. Though DC switching is a ***** and a lot of the solar setups moving to micro-inverters for saftey (where 240V is run to the panels and the inverter is on the back). That way the whole system can be shut down, and anyone on the roof or firefighting doesn't need to worry about stray high voltage DC cables.

So I'd say AC is here to stay.

Wow. Is that 34 cents just during the day, or also at night?


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[FloridaSun]

I mean while charging not while driving. If you've got a thirty or 40 ft cable at -35 you are going to get losses.

I'm lucky that my 14-50 outlet is less than 1 foot from my breaker panel.. Minimal loss.. With my 32 amp Mustart EVSE, I'm getting 7.5 kw charging speed (input side) which translates I believe to 7.2 kw after losses..

 

[Cain]

Wow. Is that 34 cents just during the day, or also at night?


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Yes, that's the day rate, the night time rate is 21 cents. We've had a decade of power industry regulatory uncertainty here in Aus, and the losers in all that political infighting has been us consumers unfortunately.

 

[FloridaSun]

Yes, that's the day rate, the night time rate is 21 cents. We've had a decade of power industry regulatory uncertainty here in Aus, and the losers in all that political infighting has been us consumers unfortunately.

I assume that this is in Australian Dollar.. 21 cents Australian should be about 14 US cents.. That's 3 times what I pay for my nightly rate.. I pay just below 5 cents per kwh at night and 17 cents during the day..

 

[electriceddy]

I assume that this is in Australian Dollar.. 21 cents Australian should be about 14 US cents.. That's 3 times what I pay for my nightly rate.. I pay just below 5 cents per kwh at night and 17 cents during the day..

Small note: I think Cain is located in Austria judging by this post:
https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/cold-weather-range.7264/#post-82138
and these temperatures
https://www.accuweather.com/en/at/vienna/31868/october-weather/31868
and
https://www.accuweather.com/en/au/melbourne/26216/october-weather/26216

 

[FloridaSun]

Small note: I think Cain is located in Austria judging by this post:
https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/cold-weather-range.7264/#post-82138
and these temperatures
https://www.accuweather.com/en/at/vienna/31868/october-weather/31868
and
https://www.accuweather.com/en/au/melbourne/26216/october-weather/26216

Wow, Austria... my native country... I have to check with my parents in Austria how much they pay for their electricity per kwh...

 

[electriceddy]

Wow, Austria... my native country... I have to check with my parents in Austria how much they pay for their electricity per kwh...

I might be wrong but would have to be confirmed by Cain

 

[Cain]

Small note: I think Cain is located in Austria judging by this post:
https://insideevsforum.com/community/index.php?threads/cold-weather-range.7264/#post-82138
and these temperatures
https://www.accuweather.com/en/at/vienna/31868/october-weather/31868
and
https://www.accuweather.com/en/au/melbourne/26216/october-weather/26216

Nice guess, but no, it's Australia. But I live in the alpine area down in the south east hence the atypical Aussie temps.

Damn, I wish we had your power prices.

 

[Grego]

Got my Kona 2020 on Saturday and now finally getting my charger delivered from amazon.ca

Opted for the MOREC 32amp 7.68KW due to the fact it has 28ft cord instead of usual 25. Along with a Leviton 14-50 plug and a 50amp Outdoor receptable. Came to just under 600$ CAD...I dont have a garage old style home BC Box with 100amp panel. So I'll be charging at night when everything is OFF.....

And I like the portability of the charger so I can hook it up when needed at my workplace 220 circuit.