Tue Oct 15, 2019 6:22 pm
As Dave noted, there have been several reports, not just the ones he noted, of Niros and maybe Konas too (I forget) being billed at the 125kW rate throughout their charge. Owners have been complaining to EA. The rationale that you need to cover demand charges is gone if the car or the charger allows you to select a lower max. charge rate. Anyone who does so knows that they're going to be at the charger long enough for it not to be an issue.
I did suggest to Kia that, as EA has zero incentive to do this themselves absent being forced to by governments, they should reduce the car's max. charge rate to 75kW. The problem with that approach is that EA could then simply change the max. for the lowest tier to 73 or 70 kW or what have you, much as Nissan can change the definition of a 'bar' whenever they wish, which is why I suggested the probably more expensive but more flexible approach of allowing the customer to set a variable max. charge rate on the car.
Increasing the max. charge rate is another approach, but you'd want to go to 1.5C or more, which is presumably not good for the battery, and unless the rate stays high for a long time you'd be getting little benefit. VW says their MEB cars will have max. rates of 125kW, which seems problematic given the biggest battery pack sizes they've announced (77 kWh usable out of 82 kWh total), but if they want to warranty the packs and the average charge rate is high throughout, great.
Last edited by
GRA on Tue Oct 15, 2019 7:00 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Guy [I have lots of experience designing/selling off-grid AE systems, some using EVs but don't own one. Local trips are by foot, bike and/or rapid transit].
The 'best' is the enemy of 'good enough'. Copper shot, not Silver bullets.