Questions on DC charging at home

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LeonardP
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Joined: Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:05 pm

Post by LeonardP »

Hi,
I'd be interested to hear what others here on the forum have to say about home DC charging. Until now, I was under the impression that DC chargers are generally only used in public or commercial stations because they are expensive and time-consuming to operate.

But it seems that there are in fact DC chargers designed for home use like this one, for example

What are your thoughts on home DC charging?

Wouldn't it put quite a strain on the public power grid if thousands of homeowners have their cars hooked up to the DC charger?

Also, I heard that you have to upgrade your home power supply to three-phase for anything beyond 11kW. Can someone confirm this?

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Utumno
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Location: Oxfordshire

Post by Utumno »

LeonardP wrote: ↑Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:09 pm Hi,
I'd be interested to hear what others here on the forum have to say about home DC charging. Until now, I was under the impression that DC chargers are generally only used in public or commercial stations because they are expensive and time-consuming to operate.
Also pointless to operate in a home environment, because the only difference is that a DC charger can provide more power than the onboard AC inverter of the vehicle, thereby reducing charge times at the expense of higher grid load. In a home environment, speed of recharge is generally not an issue and can (should!) be done at off-peak times.

There are other really good reasons for having a DC charger at home in the V2H/V2G space, but that's more about getting energy out of the vehicle than putting energy in.
LeonardP wrote: ↑Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:09 pm But it seems that there are in fact DC chargers designed for home use like this one, for example

Yes. Again the only real benefit is reduced charging time, and for most home charging scenarios, this is an irrelevance. DC charging at fast rates will hurt your battery more than slow rates, so unless you really need the speed to charge (and I would question whether you actually do) you should choose the slowest rate possible.
LeonardP wrote: ↑Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:09 pm What are your thoughts on home DC charging?

In the paraphrased words of the mighty Blackadder, DC home charging is a like a broken pencil .... pointless.

A DC wallbox has a vital place in a V2H future, but that doesn't mean you need to charge using DC specifically as far as I'm aware.
LeonardP wrote: ↑Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:09 pm Wouldn't it put quite a strain on the public power grid if thousands of homeowners have their cars hooked up to the DC charger?

Obviously πŸ˜‚
LeonardP wrote: ↑Mon Feb 07, 2022 1:09 pm Also, I heard that you have to upgrade your home power supply to three-phase for anything beyond 11kW. Can someone confirm this?

Actually you have to upgrade your 1ph residential supply to 3ph for anything beyond 7kW in the UK (11kW is the maximum the ID.3 will charge at over 3ph AC due to the onboard inverter running at 3.6kW/phase for a 3 phase AC connection rather than 7.2kW/phase for a single phase AC connection. However "upgrading" your residential supply is phenomenally expensive in the UK, and domestic 3 phase feeds are extremely rare. Other countries differ, of course.
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