[Lee Dalton]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I couldn't quite find anything that answered this directly.

I have an Ampera on order, due to arrive in the next couple of weeks.
As well as the standard 10A charger, I am looking at 16A charging options.
I often travel to places, stay for 4-5 hours, then move on, or come back. A lot of these places will have 16A commando sockets, so I was originally looking at the EVSE from ZCW, but that doesnt seem to be an option anymore.
So I got to thinking about buying a 16A charging station and fitting a commando plug to it. It there any reason this wouldn't work ?

Really looking forward to getting the Ampera, just trying to figure out the best ways to keep it charged wherever I am

Cheers

Lee

 

[Matt Beard]

So I got to thinking about buying a 16A charging station and fitting a commando plug to it. It there any reason this wouldn't work ?

I think you might get a nastygram from UK EVSE!

 

[Ajl0ckwood]

ZCW have now got a list of resellers on thier website. So it still could be an option.
Adding a commando on to a 16 amp charging station could be classed as a DIY charger and therefor need the proper checks carried out before you should use it

 

[Lee Dalton]

Hmmm, UK EVSE Nastygram doesn't sound like much fun. Anyone would think that wanting to charge an electric car was a bad thing.....

The ability to fully charge at 16A using a portable device doesn't sounds like I am asking for the world to be flat. Otherwise why would the manufacturers allow the cars to charge that quick.....

I wouldn't just stick the commando on myself, I would get it done professionally and have it regularly PAT tested, as it would also double up as my charger at work.

I did look at the ZCW resellers list, but couldn't find a 16A version (presumably 32A is largely useless for the ampera).

I would happily buy a 16A portable EVSE from a retailer with the connections already made, but I certainly haven't found one of those yet !

 

[Ajl0ckwood]

I don't know why Mainpine/ZCW don't offer a 16 amp charger. Apart for that it would cost about the same as the 32 so maybe not many takers.

That being said you can limit the ZCW charging station to anything from 6 amps to the max ( this case 32a)

 

[Lee Dalton]

A variable one would be awesome, can be turned down if I am on a campsite, to avoid tripping the circuit.

Will keep looking. I have a couple of weeks to figure something out.

Cheers

Lee

 

[Ajl0ckwood]

If you speak to kevin he will be able to tell you how to vary the Mainpine charger
Details can be found here
http://zerocarbonworld.org/zcw-evse

 

[Dean Hamer]

Lee, i'm not sure your aware... but you can purchase 230v 16A commando to 3 pin plug adapters.

Just check they are rated upto 10A before you purchase.

If your gonna be stopped for 4-5 hours wouldn't that give you enough time to charge your ampera back up @ 10A using your ampera EVSE.

 

[hopbackguy]

If your gonna be stopped for 4-5 hours wouldn't that give you enough time to charge your ampera back up @ 10A using your ampera EVSE.

Not quite. At 10A the Ampera will take about 6 hours for a full recharge.

 

[Lee Dalton]

Thanks guys. I think the ampera is about 6 hours at 10A and 4 hours at 16A. Hence I am thinking if I can find a way to do 16A charging I can charge overnight at 10A, drive 50 miles to a site, charge for upto 4 hours whilst working, drive to next site, repeat, then drive home. Hopefully using minimal petrol.
It won't always work, eg I am driving 500 miles on Wednesday, then returning Thursday, so days like that would be mainly petrol. So I figure every little helps

@Dean, I did spot one of those and that's my backup plan initially as they are pretty cheap
Better to get some charge rather than none

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

A variable one would be awesome, can be turned down if I am on a campsite, to avoid tripping the circuit.

@RickMGoldie modified his EVSE to support variable charging on his Ampera... maybe @dpeilow and @Grant Thomas did the same

 

[Lee Dalton]

Thanks Kevin, it's definitely something I need to look at. I can see 10A being frustrating during the day, but 6A or 10A would be fine overnight.

It's a shame that you can't hook an induction ring around a street light to 'trickle' charge overnight! Would massively improve the infrastructure in an instant ;D

 

[h8ten]

It's a shame that you can't hook an induction ring around a street light to 'trickle' charge overnight! Would massively improve the infrastructure in an instant ;D

Got me thinking. I wonder if I could park my car under the Beauly to Denny pylons and get it to charge?