How To Charge At A Charging Station

[Ruckman65]

I will take delivery of a 2015 model in the next few days. When opening the recharge flap, I see there is only the single plug, not two that are installed on more recent models. Of course, the single plug will allow me to charge at home but will it allow me to use that connection at a public charging station? I am in Australia.

 

[MiPHEV]

You can use an app like PlugShare to find all the nearby Type 2 connections in Australia, these are different than the DC fast chargers like CHAdeMo, but often they are lower cost or even free in some locations like car parks, rest areas, roadhouse, motels and hotels. You can even take your portable EVSE with you and charge on trips using normal power outlets, like at a caravan park or resort.

 

[Ruckman65]

You can use an app like PlugShare to find all the nearby Type 2 connections in Australia, these are different than the DC fast chargers like CHAdeMo, but often they are lower cost or even free in some locations like car parks, rest areas, roadhouse, motels and hotels. You can even take your portable EVSE with you and charge on trips using normal power outlets, like at a caravan park or resort.

Thank you for the advice, MiPHEV.

 

[evman77]

I will take delivery of a 2015 model in the next few days. When opening the recharge flap, I see there is only the single plug, not two that are installed on more recent models. Of course, the single plug will allow me to charge at home but will it allow me to use that connection at a public charging station? I am in Australia.

That single plug will let you charge on Level 1 or 2 at public stations. I use a 16 amp 220v charging station at home.

 

[LowOnCash]

Hello - for the most part, Outlander owners should avoid charging at charging stations since for the same price (or less) you can just run the great Outlander's engine and for a gallon of fuel, cover the same distance with no waiting or dealing with charging. In addition "Fast Charging" uses extreme high amperage which can be dangerous to the Outlander's charging system.

The only safe place to charge an EV or Phev is at home!

If you would like to learn more about your Outlander I invite you to read my In-Depth article which covers charging.

Outlander Review Link:

https://www.myoutlanderphev.com/threads/outlander-phev-in-depth-observations-mike-mas.6174/

Best Regards - Mike

 

[littlescrote]

Sweeping generalisation based on what data?

For which country?

 

[michael8554]

Rough UK figures for my 11kWh model:

11kWh @ 70p/kWh = £7.70 at a charging station.

Which takes you 20 to 25 miles - agreed ?

Petrol is about £7 per gall.

Which takes you about 30 to 40 miles - agreed ?

You have to charge at home, typically at 7p to 15p with the right tariff.

 

[MiPHEV]

The OP does not have CHAdeMo Fast Charging on their car:

will take delivery of a 2015 model in the next few days. When opening the recharge flap, I see there is only the single plug, not two that are installed on more recent models. Of course, the single plug will allow me to charge at home but will it allow me to use that connection at a public charging station? I am in Australia.

I could not find any CHAdeMo stations in the US nearby that were anywhere close to economical to use relative to just buying fuel, probably similar in other countries; these DCFC stations seem to often be priced by the minute, with the pricing tailored to cars that can charge at much higher amperage than the "fast" charging that the Outlander can do. The Mitsubishi barely allow more than a 1C charging rate on CHAdeMo anyway (15-16kW), barely 10% of what many of these newer stations can push, hardly fast, and obviously not particularly dangerous for the battery rated for >=2.5C charging, other than more rapid degradation - but neither is it particularly worth paying for, either.

The standard public AC charging options like J1772, or in this AU use case, Type 2 chargers, are much more attractively priced or even free in public or overnight parking areas sometimes, so if you are staying overnight or on a downtown trip where you park for a few hours, these are nice options to easily boost your total EV drive %.

 

[RobertGrover]

2020 PHEV. 35km range on battery. For me not worth the time, or money, or hassle to use a charging station…..

 

[littlescrote]

Rough UK figures for my 11kWh model:

11kWh @ 70p/kWh = £7.70 at a charging station.

Which takes you 20 to 25 miles - agreed ?

Petrol is about £7 per gall.

Which takes you about 30 to 40 miles - agreed ?

You have to charge at home, typically at 7p to 15p with the right tariff.

I disagree that a gallon of petrol will take you more than 30 miles, particularly at any speed which is what you're likely to be doing if you're beyond PHEV range.

I agree that it's not worth doing at 70p/kWh in the UK - UNLESS your goal is CO2 minimisation rather than economy, time etc

 

[mellobob]

I disagree that a gallon of petrol will take you more than 30 miles, particularly at any speed which is what you're likely to be doing if you're beyond PHEV range.

I agree that it's not worth doing at 70p/kWh in the UK - UNLESS your goal is CO2 minimisation rather than economy, time etc

Well, CO2 minimization is a whole different story/calculation. If you really want to compare (and I don't know how one would) you also have to include the carbon cost of producing the gasoline AND the electricity. If you live in an area where the power is created with hydro or via natural gas ... the numbers would be quite different.

 

[OutlanderMatt]

In addition "Fast Charging" uses extreme high amperage which can be dangerous to the Outlander's charging system.

The only safe place to charge an EV or Phev is at home!

Can you please explain this?

The outlanders up to about 2019/20 (I Think) actually only draw 50A from the Fast Chargers when running at full and this is only for a short time as they have small battery packs the voltage rises fairly quickly and then the car starts reducing the charging current after that. For the smaller packs that have 40Ah, 46Ah and 50Ah batteries, their standard charging rate is 1C which is which is 40A, 46A and 50A so charging at 50 amps is only just over their Standard Charging Rate. I am unsure of the newer models however I have read that charging is limited to 38kW or 22kW. Again I am unsure of the actually battery specs in the newer vehicles however I believe they are around 60-65Ah batteries so even on full at 38kW you are only talking 130A and again for a short time before it starts ramping down to around the 22kW mark due to the battery voltage rising and at 300V this would be around 75A so for a 65Ah battery this is again only a bit over its standard charge rate of 1C. Also the 40Ah batteries used in an 2015 Outlander for example have a max continuous charge and discharge rate of 200A. No you wouldn't drive them that hard continuously however I would hardly say that charging with Chademo is Dangerous to the system.

I'm all for safety, looking after peoples vehicles and getting the most out of them etc however making statements like this isn't helpful and only scares people and is actually factually incorrect. They do not use "Extreme high amperage" at all and is not unsafe to use a "Fast Charger" - Not that they are fast. My vehicle takes more amps than that driving up a hill in my 2015 than the 2023 takes in charging so I would hardly call it dangerous. Yes charging is for a longer periods however I think these sorts of statements do not serve the community any good at all.