Volkswagen investing $10-mil into US charging infrastructure

EVchemist said:

DasCC said:

JoulesThief said:

Bueller! Bueller? Anybody there?

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none in N. California

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I regularly use the DC fast charger at the ChargePoint HQ (250 E Hacienda Ave, Campbell, CA) and use their 44kW charger. Charges $0.25/kWh, half the price of nrg EVgo systems. plus there are always cool people around there to chat with.

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JoulesThief said:

That's a lot of high speed charging, and VW specifies in the owners manual to alternate high speed charging with level 2 charging, every other charge. Yet their installations without level 2 seem to indicate otherwise? What were they thinking?

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miimura said:

JoulesThief said:

That's a lot of high speed charging, and VW specifies in the owners manual to alternate high speed charging with level 2 charging, every other charge. Yet their installations without level 2 seem to indicate otherwise? What were they thinking?

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Actually, I wouldn't call those 24kW chargers "high speed" or Fast Charge. More like DC Medium Charge. I can see how a 50kW charger would heat up the battery faster than driving the car would. These, not so much.

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JoulesThief said:

So you are saying that VW is OK with using these chargers on recharges, back to back, and that it won't cause problems with battery life being shortened, that they condone the use of them, continuously, on longer trips in e-Golfs.

I can understand VW installing them, because these units are so much cheaper, per unit, than the 50 kwh versions. These go for about $6000 from BMW, $12,000 from Charge Point, and Robert Bosch is probably making them in China and relabeling them.

From what I've read on line, these units have been somewhat unreliable, right from the get go. Probably worse than the original Nissan CHAdeMo units. I've also seen and used one of these units in Thousand Oaks, CA at the BMW Design Center, and they had it wound way down on the kwh rate it would charge at, it was putting out maybe 12 kwh in DC voltage. It's my belief that this charger unit runs on the much more common 208V Wye transformers, found in Commercial electric and commercial zoned property areas.

The big 50 kwh quick chargers require 480V 3 phase input from the transformer. They are also quite expensive units, currently.

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miimura said:

JoulesThief said:

So you are saying that VW is OK with using these chargers on recharges, back to back, and that it won't cause problems with battery life being shortened, that they condone the use of them, continuously, on longer trips in e-Golfs.

I can understand VW installing them, because these units are so much cheaper, per unit, than the 50 kwh versions. These go for about $6000 from BMW, $12,000 from Charge Point, and Robert Bosch is probably making them in China and relabeling them.

From what I've read on line, these units have been somewhat unreliable, right from the get go. Probably worse than the original Nissan CHAdeMo units. I've also seen and used one of these units in Thousand Oaks, CA at the BMW Design Center, and they had it wound way down on the kwh rate it would charge at, it was putting out maybe 12 kwh in DC voltage. It's my belief that this charger unit runs on the much more common 208V Wye transformers, found in Commercial electric and commercial zoned property areas.

The big 50 kwh quick chargers require 480V 3 phase input from the transformer. They are also quite expensive units, currently.

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VW has handled communication regarding fast charging the e-Golf in a terrible way. Documentation in different countries even differs. I have said before that the car should monitor itself and protect itself from any damaging charging conditions. Period. I stand by that 100%.

Yes, of course, these 24kW units are cheaper than any of the 50kW chargers. However, they are not made by Bosch and they are not made in China. They are made by a French company in France. They take 400-480VAC 3 phase just like the vast majority of other fast chargers used in the USA. Yes, they can also be adjusted to draw less than the maximum allowable power in order to save on demand charges, etc. They are also not very reliable. I think there are two charger sub-units inside and it is relatively common to find it operating at only half power, likely because one charger sub-unit is not working properly. I suppose that's better than failing altogether.

The only fast chargers that I've seen in the USA that run on 208V 3phase are the BTC dual-standard units and the 25kW CHAdeMO made by Fuji Electric. There is almost always a label visible somewhere on the outside of the fast charger that specifies the voltage and amperage of the utility connection and the DC output.

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