Another mindset to the AC charging.
It's a convenience, and advertising thing.
Oh hey look, come HERE to MY bar and eat lunch, I have charging for your electric Autonomatron thingie.
They'll give you enough of a charge to cover what it cost you to get to them, and go to the next place on your destination.
THey'll be able to add this value added thing to their business for only 1k or so price tag, instead of probably a 10k price tag for a DC charger.
You won't have the parasites sitting there all day like you see in Starbucks, ordering the cheapest thing on the menu or a glass of water so they can hog the free WiFi or charger all day. THIS is important to the business' mindset of the entire interaction.
prince - I don't think you'll have to worry too much on that, even if it's only 7k you should still be able to charge on it. It may take a little longer but you won't get stranded.
22kw 3 phase, in the USA, the common is the 240 VAC Split Phase, typically about 7.2kw on the higher side as this can be run on the existing power w/o special conversion equipment or 3 dollar a foot 4 or 6 ga wire to power it. I think 9.6 is about the most you will see on AC, as that is about the upper end of a Nema 15-50 plug which is probably what they'd put on the charger end of it, and within its 50 amp capacity.
Overall, as was stated, a LOT of AC chargers are going in, the business' putting them in though, just are not putting them into the databases for your app, my app etc. They don't know to do so. I have found a few AC chargers around me that were not on any apps, were word of mouth or stumble upon really. When you find them, ask the owner if they can put it 'On The Map' or if you can do it for them, that way it's not more work they have to do.
One thing I have done, the CCS1 controller is a very small piece of equipment, even with the contactor if you get the proper one / build the proper one. I don't NEED a bunch of fancy lights and bells and whistles to shine up and flash and glitzy when i am charging, just a simple interface to make it go. I can control charge rate etc all that from my bike, no need to replicate it on the charger too.
Make yourself a charging cord you can carry with you. I did mine out of 12 ga wire just for robust-ness, real simple CCS-1 plug on one end, plugs into a small box for the charger board, and the other end a (pick what is standard for your area) and have 3 or 4 pigtail conversions to whatever else might be there. This way you can plug into any plug there is out there. Most places, even if they don't have a charger, Do have a plug around, ask if you can plug in real fast and charge while you eat there or whatever.
For the cable, I use, well, not sure what the right name is, Lamp cord is probably inaccurate, but the flat wire. You can get used appliances anywhere, goto the junk yard, the cables are all over the place and you can probably talk them into selling you the cord off an old washer / dryer / microwave, .. whatever it came off of for a buck or two, and voila, you have your plug AND wire, all pre done for you, now all you need to do is just splice it onto a male adapter to plop into your pigtail end. The flat cable is a bit easier to store, and if you have to run it thru a doorway, lets the door still close, a box cover, lets the cover still close etc etc. I'll try to remember to take a picture of how I ran mine out the door of my truck to bring power to my inverter / battery bank in the back seat area.
This may help relieve some of the worries of range anxiety as with a small setup, you KNOW you can charge anywhere there is AC power, and not have to worry about adapters, networks, internet connection etc etc. you will NOT get stranded.
Aaron
Author
Topic: New chargers in UK without AC becoming common (Read 562 times)