Intro, dustboy and his 2015 eGolf SEL

[dustboy]

Hey all,
I just picked up a 2015 eGolf SEL. Bought it primarily because it's a hoot to drive, and secondarily because it makes a lot of sense for a salesman who drives a daily route within the range. We have 2 other cars that can go longer distances.

Looked at the Leaf, Focus Electric, Tesla Model 3, and Bolt. The Leaf looks dorky, the Focus has no cargo due to the battery, I'm not waiting 16 mos. to get a Model 3, and the Bolt is, well, a GM.

I have yet to purchase a 240v charger, I'm happy to hear any recommendations.

 

[miimura]

If you want to measure the energy that goes into the car, get a ChargePoint Home or a JuiceBox Pro. They're WiFi connected and have apps to display your usage and control when the car charges. That may be important soon when you no longer have control of the 2015 car's charge timers due to the exorbitant price of CarNet after the initial 3 year period.

Otherwise many of the Level 2 EVSEs are pretty much the same. Clipper Creek, Leviton, Siemens, Bosch, and AeroVironment are the other Tier 1 & 2 manufacturers. I would avoid other lesser known brands. Quick Charge Power also sells very good stuff, but mostly niche accessories like J1772 extension cables and converted Tesla EVSEs.

 

[dustboy]

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into those chargers once I get my PG&E rebate (assuming the PO didn't already take it). I was considering building an OpenEV kit to save a few bucks, is it worth the trouble?

 

[miimura]

Thanks for the reply, I'll look into those chargers once I get my PG&E rebate (assuming the PO didn't already take it). I was considering building an OpenEV kit to save a few bucks, is it worth the trouble?

If you have the maker aptitude, OpenEVSE is a good project. They are pretty well designed too. It also has features that you won't find on commercial EVSE like manual current control setting. That is useful if you plan to use it as a portable unit that will plug into different outlets that have different capacities. In those situations it's more convenient to manually set it than to use a unit like JuiceBox that can only be adjusted by WiFi.

 

[BarryMW]

Dustboy,
Assuming you are going to be on the EVA PG&E rate plan same as the rest of us.
You should consider an EVSE (charger) that will wake the egolf up at the correct time to make best use of “time of use” PG&E rates.

Only certain EVSEs are able to do this.

Example would be the Juicebox out of San Mateo.


Barry

 

[Kayakrn]

OpenEVSE is solid, simple build nice enclosure. WiFi was hardest portion to set up but working solid for 2 months. Love the versatility of level 1 or 2 with adapters. 28 amp charging is amazing.
Living in Pennsylvania where there is hardly any charging infrastructure it helps to have options.