[jimwilluk]

Hi there,

I'm about to pull the trigger on a new ZE50 Iconic without CCS and wanted to check people's experiences with Pod Point 7kw charging issues. I've seen a few older posts highlighting problems here and would be great to know if this is still prevalent on ZE50?

TL;DR we're not blessed with off street parking, but a kind neighbour has agreed to give regular access to his Pod Point Solo 7kW charger that he uses to charge his leaf (I've also got a backup plan of granny lead which I think I can get to the car without crossing the pavement).

Ideally I'd try and get a test drive to make sure the charger works ok, but given current circumstances and time pressures our side (we have a baby due at the end of June and our current car is on its last legs), I don't think it's going to be possible so I'll be buying "blind".

I'm aware it may come down to the wiring of the house/RCD etc, but it would be great to know how reliable the ZE50s are generally when it comes to charging, so I can see if the risks are manageable here.

Thanks in advance!

 

[80698]

Zoe is picky and does some extra safety checks compared to some other EVs. But generally as long as the charging post or home charge unit has been correctly installed it won’t actually be a problem.

I’ve spent plenty of time with an original Zoe and no home charging. I traveled a lot and used many public charging points. In all my time there was only ever 2 places I couldn’t charge the Zoe where it would work for other cars. And only one of them was a constant issue. (One of them worked fine when it wasn’t terribly dry and there had been recent rain)

As far as I know, the new ZE50 has the same 22kW onboard charger so it should behave just the same as the past models. That shouldn’t put you off getting the car though. It really isn’t as big of an issue as you seem to think, and charges reliably in my experience. If you are especially worried though I’m sure you could as you mentioned bring a test drive vehicle, hire one or see if there’s someone local to you on here who could try plugging in quickly with your neighbours permission to confirm a Zoe will happily charge there.

 

[cDy]

I can see no reason for the ZE50 AC charging reliability being any different from the ZE40 - the coils in the engine are used as part of the charger and there's no need to change. It's this trick that means the ZOE is one of the few cars with a >11kW AC 3 phase charger.

We've had no problems with our ZE40 charging in general. Very occasionally we've come across a charger which the ZOE has refused to charge from. This is probably (in two cases definitely) because the ZOE checks the earth resistance is lower than (I think) 150 ohms and it can be higher than that for some installations. It's a safety check so I'm happy to live with it not charging where some other EVs might. If your neighbours earth impedance is not low enough (which it shouldn't be) you could always offer to pay for an electrician to look at it and see if it can be lowered.

It's also worth noting that it's been commented on SpeakEV that if a ZOE is connected to an incorrectly wired 3 phase charger (I think one of the phases not connected) then one of the relay contacts can get welded together due to the fault in the charger. Very rare occurrence and not a fault in car but worth knowing about in case it ever happens.

[I see I'm about to cross post with @80869, but my reply is similar and worth repeating.]

 

[EVDriverP]

I regularly used Pod-point 7kw chargers with the ZE40 but haven't had the chance or reason to charge since picking up my ZE50 just before Lockdown. Supermarkets are installing car charging points so you may have more options available to you. The Zap-Map or Plugshare apps are useful to find chargepoints and some offer 7kw charging for free.

It might be worth looking at CCS for longer journeys. You'll be surprised (post Lockdown) how far you will travel once you gain confidence in the car. Obviously if you you don't plan to keep the car then CCS may be a moot point.

If you do go ahead with the car, I hope you enjoy it and good luck with the new baby.🤞