Picking up 18/19 2.4L PHEV next week What should I look for?

[ThudnBlundr]

There's no point in getting a 32A lead. The only benefits are robustness (slightly thicker cables) and selling it on to someone else once you're done with it. As the PHEV is the only new car on sale in the UK with a type 1 connection, your only market would be PHEVs or first-gen Leafs (?Leaves)

There's also no point in downgrading a 32A charge point, as the car will do that automatically. You could plug it in to a 3-phase 43kW charge point and it would only ever take 3.5kW single phase

 

[Philgb4]

There's no point in getting a 32A lead. The only benefits are robustness (slightly thicker cables) and selling it on to someone else once you're done with it. As the PHEV is the only new car on sale in the UK with a type 1 connection, your only market would be PHEVs or first-gen Leafs (?Leaves)

There's also no point in downgrading a 32A charge point, as the car will do that automatically. You could plug it in to a 3-phase 43kW charge point and it would only ever take 3.5kW single phase

Thanks for the feedback. I did stop and look at a couple of public charge points yesterday and noticed they had tethered leads anyway. Is this the norm?
Or is it worth keeping a lead for public charge points elsewhere?

Any advice or tips would be handy.

 

[jaapv]

Public charge points, unless they are free, give little if any advantage in cost. Sometimes they are useful to secure a parking spot. Outside the UK most public chargers require a cable.

 

[ThudnBlundr]

You'll find at charge points that the DC chargers (CCS and Chademo) usually (?always) have a lead as they carry a serious amount of power - the highest power ones are even water-cooled. The AC charge sockets often will not have a cable and you're expected to provide your own. Most (?all) AC sockets here are type 2, so that's where you'd use a type 1 to type 2 cable. However the PHEV only charges at 3.5kW max on AC, whereas certain cars can charge at upto 43kW on the same sockets, so you won't make yourself popular charging for 3 hours for 25-odd miles when others could have added hundreds of miles in that time.

You can of course use the 50kW Chademo chargers; the PHEV will then charge at 18-20kW, and it will reach the 80% automatic cutoff in around 20 minutes. It's not worth rapid charging to more than 80% on any EV as the charge rate drops dramatically when the battery approaches 100%, so your 'miles added per hour' drops considerably. You'd have to compare the electricity cost per mile to the petrol cost per mile to see if it's worth it. In the UK, 30p/kWh is still significantly cheaper than petrol at £1.10

 

[Philgb4]

You'll find at charge points that the DC chargers (CCS and Chademo) usually (?always) have a lead as they carry a serious amount of power - the highest power ones are even water-cooled. The AC charge sockets often will not have a cable and you're expected to provide your own. Most (?all) AC sockets here are type 2, so that's where you'd use a type 1 to type 2 cable. However the PHEV only charges at 3.5kW max on AC, whereas certain cars can charge at upto 43kW on the same sockets, so you won't make yourself popular charging for 3 hours for 25-odd miles when others could have added hundreds of miles in that time.

You can of course use the 50kW Chademo chargers; the PHEV will then charge at 18-20kW, and it will reach the 80% automatic cutoff in around 20 minutes. It's not worth rapid charging to more than 80% on any EV as the charge rate drops dramatically when the battery approaches 100%, so your 'miles added per hour' drops considerably. You'd have to compare the electricity cost per mile to the petrol cost per mile to see if it's worth it. In the UK, 30p/kWh is still significantly cheaper than petrol at £1.10

Thanks for that. That pretty much answers all my questions to be honest.
I am glad I have not wasted my money on a car charger at home if the max charging of the Phev is 3.5kw(16A?).
I installed a socket outside by the garage on the weekend, so think that will be my charging point for the foreseeable future.

It is still a consideration of getting a type 1 - type 2 lead if I can maybe get a used one in good condition etc

 

[mellobob]

You'll find at charge points that the DC chargers (CCS and Chademo) usually (?always) have a lead as they carry a serious amount of power - the highest power ones are even water-cooled. The AC charge sockets often will not have a cable and you're expected to provide your own.

All chargers (220 volt and Chademo) in Canada (and, I'm assuming the USA) have a cable attached to them. So ... just drive across the pond and you can leave your cable at home.

But, as others have said, unless it's a free charge it's most likely not worthwhile.