Home Charging Appliance

[vfx]

http://evsolutions.avinc.com/product...ging_appliance

[hide][top]Home Charging Appliance

HCA L-2*

[hide][top]FEATURES

Featuring Level 2 charging convenience
Integrated energy storage
Designed to charge any standard EV or PHEV with standardized connector
Fast setup
No electrical permit needed
No professional installation needed
Anticipated full charge in 3-8 hours depending on conditions
Charge any time without “peak demand” charges*
Moveable unit follows you to your next residence
Promotes less wear on power distribution grid
Promotes a more balanced grid
Various financing options available

[hide][top]HOME CHARGING APPLIANCE SPECIFICATIONS

Charging System: Level 2
Connector: SAE J1772
Input Voltage: 120VAC
Output Power: Up to 6.6kW (at 240VAC) from battery | 1.4kW to 1.9kW (at 120VAC) when battery depleted
Frequency: 50Hz / 60Hz
Output Current: 30A max

[Yggdrasill]

I wonder how big the battery is in that thing. Maybe 5 kWh? In which case, a 85 kWh battery would take roughly 43 hours to fully charge from the lowest level. If we assume it's 20 kWh, a 85 kWh battery would take around 37 hours.

I can't see much market for it, in any case. Any significant battery would make it a lot more expensive than simply wiring up a beefy 240 V line.

[doug]

propane or coal?

[markwj]

Why?

Surely, if the battery was big enough to make it useful, it would cost too much to make it saleable.
And, if the battery was small enough to make it saleable, it would be too small to make a difference to a 110volt/10amp charge.

[dhrivnak]

This could work for Volts and Leafs with their smaller batteries but not a Tesla. I agree it has limited utility but could be helpful for those in a condo. I assume you would have the higher rate for the first hour and then it drops down to a normal 110 outlet.

[Yggdrasill]

If it has the higher rate for an hour, that would be a battery of around 5 kWh. If we assume really cheap lead-acid batteries, how much would 5 kWh cost? I'm guessing at least $1000. Add in the electronics, development, marketing, profit, etc, and we're probably not looking at less than $3000. This is for a device that fully charges a Volt in about 6 hours instead of around 8.5 hours.

What market could there be for this? How many people have a place to park their car where they can safely use this charger without worrying about it getting stolen or anything, and yet don't have the opportunity to spend those $3000 on an electrician?

[dhrivnak]

5 kwh could be as simple as 2 good sized car batteries (12 v 200 amps) which can be had for $200. So it is not that much money. I also believe that the Volt and Leaf only have 3.3 kwh charger.

[richkae]

5 kwh could be as simple as 2 good sized car batteries (12 v 200 amps) which can be had for $200. So it is not that much money. I also believe that the Volt and Leaf only have 3.3 kwh charger.

Don't confuse cranking amps of a car battery with amp hours capacity. A typical car battery probably has no more than 50 amp hours, which is only 600 watt hours. I'm sure anyone with a home built EV can provide more detail.

[vfx]

From Tesla owner at AV:

This device is intended to allow a new EV buyer to quickly get Level 2
charging at home immediately, without than waiting until a 240v charging
station gets installed.
Because of the cost of batteries, it is not realistically expected to
serve as a long-term solution.
It really isn't needed too badly yet because it is hard to "Impulse Buy"
an EV. Once EVs are on lots, however, it is intended as a loaner so a
customer has no barriers to "just buying and driving it off the lot",
just as they could with an ICE.

That is a forward thinking company!

[dhrivnak]

Don't confuse cranking amps of a car battery with amp hours capacity. A typical car battery probably has no more than 50 amp hours, which is only 600 watt hours. I'm sure anyone with a home built EV can provide more detail.

Yes I built two EV's and there are large capacity lead acid batteries. No problem there