Andersen A2 (3 Phase) charging a Nissan Leaf
Discussion
To (try and) clear some of this up, there are a number of different charging standards but they broadly fall under one of two categories; DC and AC.
With AC charging, the charger is pretty dumb. All it contains are some relays, and perhaps a small computer. The costs are pretty low, the charger doesn't 'do' much, and it's physically quite small. These are the chargers which you'll see people installing on their homes, or the cheap 'post' chargers that can quickly go up in car parks, or sometimes a socket fitted to a lamppost etc.
The actual job of charging is delegated to the charger in the car.
The AC charger might make available 1 phase, or 3 phase power, and might have a limit of up to 7kW per phase (for a total of circa 22kW) made available, but it's up to the cable you use & the charger in your car to be able to make use of this.
Some early leaf cars (leaves?) were only equipped with 3.3kW chargers; yours is 6.6. The typical limit for a 1-phase on board charger is 7kW.
Some cars can use 3-phase, and (paired with a 3-phase cable) this offers typically 11kW, but sometimes 22 (in the case of the Renault Zoe, and the Porsche Taycan with the optional extra charger). Connect one of these cars to a 3-phase charger with a 1-phase cable, for example, and you'll be constrained only to the 7kW that the cable can carry. Similarly, connect a 22kW renault zoe to a 1-phase socket that's got a supply limit of 5.5kW and, no way around it 5.5kW charging is all you'll manage. A leaf with a 3.3kW charger connected to a 22kW-capable socket will only charge at 3.3kW.
All cars you can buy today will have a Type 2 AC connector on them, it's just some very early Japanese cars which have Type 1 connectors. So if you are going to be installing a charger, makes sense for it to be a Type 2 socket, and then if you possess a Type-1 equipped car, buy a suitable adapter for that.
DC charging takes the car's on-board charger out of the loop. Put simply, it exposes the battery terminals to the connector on the front of the car, allowing for a bigger, meaner, more powerful charger to supply much more power. This is why the rapid chargers you see will be typically bigger; think filing cabinet rather than bollard. They'll often sport cooling fans - the hardware required to charge quicker being bigger, heavier, and will produce more heat when in operation.
They're quite costly to buy (£10k or more, usually), and they need a fairly serious 3-phase supply, which is why you'll typically find fewer of them & why the prices to use them are often higher. But, in exchange, they can supply typically at least 50kW to the battery, if not more.
In some cases - namely the Tesla Superchargers and charging stations made by Kempower, the charger designs are quite sleek, with all the power conversion hardware neatly hidden behind a neat fence a few metres away.
Basically for home domestic use, though, you'll be using the onboard car charger. There is an "adapter" to use the chademo or CCS connector on a car, but it's called a DC charger and, well, you got £10k stashed down the back of the couch?
With AC charging, the charger is pretty dumb. All it contains are some relays, and perhaps a small computer. The costs are pretty low, the charger doesn't 'do' much, and it's physically quite small. These are the chargers which you'll see people installing on their homes, or the cheap 'post' chargers that can quickly go up in car parks, or sometimes a socket fitted to a lamppost etc.
The actual job of charging is delegated to the charger in the car.
The AC charger might make available 1 phase, or 3 phase power, and might have a limit of up to 7kW per phase (for a total of circa 22kW) made available, but it's up to the cable you use & the charger in your car to be able to make use of this.
Some early leaf cars (leaves?) were only equipped with 3.3kW chargers; yours is 6.6. The typical limit for a 1-phase on board charger is 7kW.
Some cars can use 3-phase, and (paired with a 3-phase cable) this offers typically 11kW, but sometimes 22 (in the case of the Renault Zoe, and the Porsche Taycan with the optional extra charger). Connect one of these cars to a 3-phase charger with a 1-phase cable, for example, and you'll be constrained only to the 7kW that the cable can carry. Similarly, connect a 22kW renault zoe to a 1-phase socket that's got a supply limit of 5.5kW and, no way around it 5.5kW charging is all you'll manage. A leaf with a 3.3kW charger connected to a 22kW-capable socket will only charge at 3.3kW.
All cars you can buy today will have a Type 2 AC connector on them, it's just some very early Japanese cars which have Type 1 connectors. So if you are going to be installing a charger, makes sense for it to be a Type 2 socket, and then if you possess a Type-1 equipped car, buy a suitable adapter for that.
DC charging takes the car's on-board charger out of the loop. Put simply, it exposes the battery terminals to the connector on the front of the car, allowing for a bigger, meaner, more powerful charger to supply much more power. This is why the rapid chargers you see will be typically bigger; think filing cabinet rather than bollard. They'll often sport cooling fans - the hardware required to charge quicker being bigger, heavier, and will produce more heat when in operation.
They're quite costly to buy (£10k or more, usually), and they need a fairly serious 3-phase supply, which is why you'll typically find fewer of them & why the prices to use them are often higher. But, in exchange, they can supply typically at least 50kW to the battery, if not more.
In some cases - namely the Tesla Superchargers and charging stations made by Kempower, the charger designs are quite sleek, with all the power conversion hardware neatly hidden behind a neat fence a few metres away.
Basically for home domestic use, though, you'll be using the onboard car charger. There is an "adapter" to use the chademo or CCS connector on a car, but it's called a DC charger and, well, you got £10k stashed down the back of the couch?
blueacid said:
To (try and) clear some of this up, there are a number of different charging standards but they broadly fall under one of two categories; DC and AC.
With AC charging, the charger is pretty dumb. All it contains are some relays, and perhaps a small computer. The costs are pretty low, the charger doesn't 'do' much, and it's physically quite small. These are the chargers which you'll see people installing on their homes, or the cheap 'post' chargers that can quickly go up in car parks, or sometimes a socket fitted to a lamppost etc.
The actual job of charging is delegated to the charger in the car.
The AC charger might make available 1 phase, or 3 phase power, and might have a limit of up to 7kW per phase (for a total of circa 22kW) made available, but it's up to the cable you use & the charger in your car to be able to make use of this.
Some early leaf cars (leaves?) were only equipped with 3.3kW chargers; yours is 6.6. The typical limit for a 1-phase on board charger is 7kW.
Some cars can use 3-phase, and (paired with a 3-phase cable) this offers typically 11kW, but sometimes 22 (in the case of the Renault Zoe, and the Porsche Taycan with the optional extra charger). Connect one of these cars to a 3-phase charger with a 1-phase cable, for example, and you'll be constrained only to the 7kW that the cable can carry. Similarly, connect a 22kW renault zoe to a 1-phase socket that's got a supply limit of 5.5kW and, no way around it 5.5kW charging is all you'll manage. A leaf with a 3.3kW charger connected to a 22kW-capable socket will only charge at 3.3kW.
All cars you can buy today will have a Type 2 AC connector on them, it's just some very early Japanese cars which have Type 1 connectors. So if you are going to be installing a charger, makes sense for it to be a Type 2 socket, and then if you possess a Type-1 equipped car, buy a suitable adapter for that.
DC charging takes the car's on-board charger out of the loop. Put simply, it exposes the battery terminals to the connector on the front of the car, allowing for a bigger, meaner, more powerful charger to supply much more power. This is why the rapid chargers you see will be typically bigger; think filing cabinet rather than bollard. They'll often sport cooling fans - the hardware required to charge quicker being bigger, heavier, and will produce more heat when in operation.
They're quite costly to buy (£10k or more, usually), and they need a fairly serious 3-phase supply, which is why you'll typically find fewer of them & why the prices to use them are often higher. But, in exchange, they can supply typically at least 50kW to the battery, if not more.
In some cases - namely the Tesla Superchargers and charging stations made by Kempower, the charger designs are quite sleek, with all the power conversion hardware neatly hidden behind a neat fence a few metres away.
Basically for home domestic use, though, you'll be using the onboard car charger. There is an "adapter" to use the chademo or CCS connector on a car, but it's called a DC charger and, well, you got £10k stashed down the back of the couch?
Thanks for the super helpful post. I've learned a lot from this thread.. and saved a lot of money from being wasted.With AC charging, the charger is pretty dumb. All it contains are some relays, and perhaps a small computer. The costs are pretty low, the charger doesn't 'do' much, and it's physically quite small. These are the chargers which you'll see people installing on their homes, or the cheap 'post' chargers that can quickly go up in car parks, or sometimes a socket fitted to a lamppost etc.
The actual job of charging is delegated to the charger in the car.
The AC charger might make available 1 phase, or 3 phase power, and might have a limit of up to 7kW per phase (for a total of circa 22kW) made available, but it's up to the cable you use & the charger in your car to be able to make use of this.
Some early leaf cars (leaves?) were only equipped with 3.3kW chargers; yours is 6.6. The typical limit for a 1-phase on board charger is 7kW.
Some cars can use 3-phase, and (paired with a 3-phase cable) this offers typically 11kW, but sometimes 22 (in the case of the Renault Zoe, and the Porsche Taycan with the optional extra charger). Connect one of these cars to a 3-phase charger with a 1-phase cable, for example, and you'll be constrained only to the 7kW that the cable can carry. Similarly, connect a 22kW renault zoe to a 1-phase socket that's got a supply limit of 5.5kW and, no way around it 5.5kW charging is all you'll manage. A leaf with a 3.3kW charger connected to a 22kW-capable socket will only charge at 3.3kW.
All cars you can buy today will have a Type 2 AC connector on them, it's just some very early Japanese cars which have Type 1 connectors. So if you are going to be installing a charger, makes sense for it to be a Type 2 socket, and then if you possess a Type-1 equipped car, buy a suitable adapter for that.
DC charging takes the car's on-board charger out of the loop. Put simply, it exposes the battery terminals to the connector on the front of the car, allowing for a bigger, meaner, more powerful charger to supply much more power. This is why the rapid chargers you see will be typically bigger; think filing cabinet rather than bollard. They'll often sport cooling fans - the hardware required to charge quicker being bigger, heavier, and will produce more heat when in operation.
They're quite costly to buy (£10k or more, usually), and they need a fairly serious 3-phase supply, which is why you'll typically find fewer of them & why the prices to use them are often higher. But, in exchange, they can supply typically at least 50kW to the battery, if not more.
In some cases - namely the Tesla Superchargers and charging stations made by Kempower, the charger designs are quite sleek, with all the power conversion hardware neatly hidden behind a neat fence a few metres away.
Basically for home domestic use, though, you'll be using the onboard car charger. There is an "adapter" to use the chademo or CCS connector on a car, but it's called a DC charger and, well, you got £10k stashed down the back of the couch?
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