Renting an EV in NZ: what is a “T2” charging cable?

[ecarfan]

After some research and help from some friendly TMC members, I have decided to rent a VW e-Golf from Europcar for my three week trip to the North Island in June. I spoke to their office in Auckland about the e-Golf and was told that it can use the Chargenet network ChargeNet NZ – Electric Vehicle Charging Network and comes with a “T2” charging cable for charging from a standard residential outlet. Which means this type of outlet, correct?

I know those are 230/240V and 50Hz, but how many amps are they typically? Suitable for overnight charging? Of course the e-Golf has a relatively small battery, I think about 36kWh, so it should be easy to charge up overnight even on a low amperage outlet.

The Chargenet network appears to offer CCS and CHAdeMO charging outlets, and there is one in Hamilton. That’s the one I’m going to need because my longest drive of the trip is from Auckland to Lake Taupo.

Fingers crossed this EV is going to work for me. I’m not used to driving such a short range car! But renting a Tesla in NZ is just too expensive.

 

[Miggy]

Most modern residential circuits are 15 or 20 amps.

 

[PJF000]

I know those are 230/240V and 50Hz, but how many amps are they typically?

See link for a detailed explanation Socket outlets or GPOs (power points)

 

[Candleflame]

this just looks like a standard aussie/nz socket. you know... the usual 10 amp 240V outlet. I think in theory they go up to 15 amps but that will blow the fusebox sometimes. Some sockets do support 15 amps but they need a special cable with a slightly thicker ground. They are usually called "extension chords for camping outlets"

 

[meloccom]

After some research and help from some friendly TMC members, I have decided to rent a VW e-Golf from Europcar for my three week trip to the North Island in June. I spoke to their office in Auckland about the e-Golf and was told that it can use the Chargenet network ChargeNet NZ – Electric Vehicle Charging Network and comes with a “T2” charging cable for charging from a standard residential outlet. Which means this type of outlet, correct?

View attachment 403497

I know those are 230/240V and 50Hz, but how many amps are they typically? Suitable for overnight charging? Of course the e-Golf has a relatively small battery, I think about 36kWh, so it should be easy to charge up overnight even on a low amperage outlet.

The Chargenet network appears to offer CCS and CHAdeMO charging outlets, and there is one in Hamilton. That’s the one I’m going to need because my longest drive of the trip is from Auckland to Lake Taupo.

Fingers crossed this EV is going to work for me. I’m not used to driving such a short range car! But renting a Tesla in NZ is just too expensive.

Australia and New Zealand share electric standards. There are two types of this plug which is given the Australian and New Zealand Standards code 3112. See Wikipedia AS/NZS 3112 - Wikipedia
99.9% of these are the 10 Amp variety common throughout homes in these countries. The 15A version has a wider bottom Earth plug so is easily identifiable.
You can’t insert a 15A plug into a 10 A receptacle (called a GPO for General Purpose Outlet) and you will melt it if you try to draw more than 10 Amps from one. The Australian / NZ Tesla UMC comes with a 10A plug tail And will not let you draw more than 10 Amps.
Fortunately all domestic electrical outlets are 240V in NZ giving you 2.4Kw Charging which will fill your e-Golf in about 10 hours for the 24 KWh version and most Caravan parks with powered sites have a 15A GPO.
I’m guessing the T2 refers to the Type 2 or Mennekes IEC62196 plug standard.
Charge port that is becoming the standard in both countries. IEC 62196 - Wikipedia
Most likely you can take advantage of CCS2 DC charging available through Charge NZ but as no e-Golfs came to Australia where I live I will leave that up to a NZ local.
Edit
Found this page on the Leading the charge NZ website. The non profit started by Steve West who also started ChargeNet NZ. NZ Electric Car Guide
Scroll down and it lists the e-Golf, both 24 and 36 KWh version and indicates that they fast charge which I presume means CCS2.
Enjoy your trip.

 

[ecarfan]

Thanks everyone. The link provided by @meloccom NZ Electric Car Guide solved the mystery (at least to me) of what a “T2” connector is: “Type 2 CCS”, or CCS2 as he put it (screen capture shown below, look at the lower right corner of the image). And according to this page e-Golf - Volkswagen New Zealand about the e-Golf “The Type 2/CCS (rapid charging) will provide an 80% battery charge in approx. 45 mins.”

 

[Lozza12]

Thanks everyone. The link provided by @meloccom NZ Electric Car Guide solved the mystery (at least to me) of what a “T2” connector is: “Type 2 CCS”, or CCS2 as he put it (screen capture shown below, look at the lower right corner of the image). And according to this page e-Golf - Volkswagen New Zealand about the e-Golf “The Type 2/CCS (rapid charging) will provide an 80% battery charge in approx. 45 mins.”

View attachment 403582

Yup, you’ve got it right.

Basically NZ started with Type 1 AC slow charging plug to support the Nissan Leaf - the most common EV on the road. That also meant that Chademo DC fast chargers were dominant and these also supported Model S and X with the adapter.

More recently we “officially” switched to Type 2 Mennekes AC slow charger, which didn’t make a lot of sense at the time due to the reasons above. However, now more EVs such as Kona and eGolf use Type 2.

For the avoidance of doubt while on your trip - standard AC slow charging current is 10a at 240v, and the max you will ever see from a non-Tesla DC fast charger is 43kW. And of course use PlugShare.

 

[ecarfan]

For the avoidance of doubt while on your trip - standard AC slow charging current is 10a at 240v, and the max you will ever see from a non-Tesla DC fast charger is 43kW. And of course use PlugShare.

So the ChargeNet CCS chargers max at 43kW. Which seems slow to us Tesla owners, but the e-Golf can’t charge at more than 50kW anyway so not a problem. And even that DC charge capability is an option! Come on VW, time to up your game...

 

[meloccom]

So the ChargeNet CCS chargers max at 43kW. Which seems slow to us Tesla owners, but the e-Golf can’t charge at more than 50kW anyway so not a problem. And even that DC charge capability is an option! Come on VW, time to up your game...

How did you get Europcar to rent you an e-Golf? Just visited their website and there is no trace, just an ICE Golf.
I hope you don’t get an ‘Or Equivalent’.

 

[meloccom]

Yup, you’ve got it right.

Basically NZ started with Type 1 AC slow charging plug to support the Nissan Leaf - the most common EV on the road. That also meant that Chademo DC fast chargers were dominant and these also supported Model S and X with the adapter.

More recently we “officially” switched to Type 2 Mennekes AC slow charger, which didn’t make a lot of sense at the time due to the reasons above. However, now more EVs such as Kona and eGolf use Type 2.

For the avoidance of doubt while on your trip - standard AC slow charging current is 10a at 240v, and the max you will ever see from a non-Tesla DC fast charger is 43kW. And of course use PlugShare.

IIRC the standard changed in NZ because the Government changed the rules.
In Australia our government could currently not give a flying expletive about setting charging standards, despite lobbying by Tesla and the Electric Vehicle Council of Australia.
We were saved by a recommendation from the Motor Traders Association, that all manufacturers have followed or are transitioning to.
This regulatory inaction has caused great confusion and is the reason some early deployed Quick Chargers were fitted with CCS1 charge cables that only fit the BMW i3 with Quick Charging option up to about 2016. I note new i3’s in Australia are now being fitted with Type 2 CCS leaving early i3 owners as orphans. A lesson in why it’s important to get the regularity framework setup early.
Something similar happened in NZ and I understand the BMW NZ will retrofit CCS2 ports to their i3’s but BMW Australia will not, but I’m happy to be corrected on that.
The reason I believe adopting the Type 2 standard is a good thing is because the US/Japan standard plug fo AC charging, the J1772 does not support 3 phase, so is restricted to a max of 7.2Kw. The Type 2 Mennekes supports 3 phase charging up to 22Kw and allows the load to be balanced across all three phases. I’m told load balancing is important to grid operators in Australia and New Zealand.

 

[Miggy]

How did you get Europcar to rent you an e-Golf? Just visited their website and there is no trace, just an ICE Golf.
I hope you don’t get an ‘Or Equivalent’.

Did you check out the Europcar New Zealand web-site they have them here.

 

[meloccom]

Did you check out the Europcar New Zealand web-site they have them here.

Yes I did. Got a link?

 

[Miggy]

Yes I did. Got a link?

Fleet Guide

Europcar Electric Vehicles

 

[meloccom]

Fleet Guide

Europcar Electric Vehicles

Thanks for these.
The page is definitely there but how you find it from the home page or even the fleet guide, is beyond me.
It’s almost as if they’re not really wanting to rent electric vehicles.

 

[ecarfan]

The page is definitely there but how you find it from the home page or even the fleet guide, is beyond me.
It’s almost as if they’re not really wanting to rent electric vehicles.

Yes, the Europcar website is not well designed. I had to search awhile to find the e-Golg.

My reservation confirmation is shown below. I know that it states “...or similar” but I have been very clear with their Auckland pick up office on the phone that I only want their e-Golf. Given that I will be there in off-season I am confident that it will be available.

 

[NiallDarwin]

It looks like your initial question's been well-answered. Thanks for sharing the details of your rental.
Out of interest, what would you have been willing to pay for a Model S rental?

 

[ecarfan]

It looks like your initial question's been well-answered. Thanks for sharing the details of your rental.
Out of interest, what would you have been willing to pay for a Model S rental?

Considering that a Model S costs about triple what an e-Golf costs, I understand why they are so costly to rent, and in fact the Model S rental cost was not triple the e-Golf cost. I simply could not justify to myself spending that much for a car rental.

What I would have liked to pay for a Model S rental would be about 50% more than the e-Golf. But what I want and what the market charges is not related.

 

[Shock-On-T]

After some research and help from some friendly TMC members, I have decided to rent a VW e-Golf from Europcar for my three week trip to the North Island in June. I spoke to their office in Auckland about the e-Golf and was told that it can use the Chargenet network ChargeNet NZ – Electric Vehicle Charging Network and comes with a “T2” charging cable for charging from a standard residential outlet. Which means this type of outlet, correct?

View attachment 403497

I know those are 230/240V and 50Hz, but how many amps are they typically? Suitable for overnight charging? Of course the e-Golf has a relatively small battery, I think about 36kWh, so it should be easy to charge up overnight even on a low amperage outlet.

The Chargenet network appears to offer CCS and CHAdeMO charging outlets, and there is one in Hamilton. That’s the one I’m going to need because my longest drive of the trip is from Auckland to Lake Taupo.

Fingers crossed this EV is going to work for me. I’m not used to driving such a short range car! But renting a Tesla in NZ is just too expensive.

I would think it stood for "Type 2".

 

[NiallDarwin]

Considering that a Model S costs about triple what an e-Golf costs, I understand why they are so costly to rent, and in fact the Model S rental cost was not triple the e-Golf cost. I simply could not justify to myself spending that much for a car rental.

What I would have liked to pay for a Model S rental would be about 50% more than the e-Golf. But what I want and what the market charges is not related.

Of course, renting a Tesla saves you accomodation fees:

 

[ecarfan]

I would think it stood for "Type 2".

Yes, thanks, that was explained to me upthread.

We US Tesla owners aren’t used to that terminology.

Of course, renting a Tesla saves you accomodation fees

Okay, but I’m spoiled when it comes to mobile accommodations. And unfortunately I can’t take my caravan with me to New Zealand.