240v versus charging station at home?

[harleykesselman]

Hi I am about to get one Aviator Grand Touring and one Corsair Grand Touring… what is the difference between putting a 240 electrical outlet in versus a whole charging station in your garage ? Does the charging station work better than just an outlet? Any charging stations that do two cars at once? Thanks!

 

[harleykesselman]

Hi I am about to get one Aviator Grand Touring and one Corsair Grand Touring… what is the difference between putting a 240 electrical outlet in versus a whole charging station in your garage ? Does the charging station work better than just an outlet? Any charging stations that do two cars at once? Thanks!

 

[Scott1911]

Technically, the "charger" is in the car. The "charging station" is simply a safety device that takes the 240V from the outlet or the breaker and sends it to the car when it is safe to do so. You must have some form of "charging station" to take care of the safety handshaking.

 

[Scott1911]

To your second question (there is another thread on this)

You can put 2 JuiceBox's on the same circuit and they will share the load.

https://support-emobility.enelx.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002651411-What-is-Load-Sharing-

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[harleykesselman]

Technically, the "charger" is in the car. The "charging station" is simply a safety device that takes the 240V from the outlet or the breaker and sends it to the car when it is safe to do so. You must have some form of "charging station" to take care of the safety handshaking.

My neighbors plug in their Chevy Volt into a 240v outlet they got an electrician to put beside their breaker panel. They don’t have a dedicated charging station. However, My father has purchased “pulsar plus level 2 charging station for his Mach E. So I am confused which is better to put in my garage, especially for two Grand Tourings.

 

[Scott1911]

My neighbors plug in their Chevy Volt into a 240v outlet they got an electrician to put beside their breaker panel. They don’t have a dedicated charging station. However, My father has purchased “pulsar plus level 2 charging station for his Mach E. So I am confused which is better to put in my garage, especially for two Grand Tourings.

Go check your neighbors more closely. It may "look" like they are plugging the car into a 240V outlet, but there is a Level 2 charger in the mix.

Each car must be plugged into its own charging station, the circuitry is based on resistors, so no intelligence.

 

[HotrodLinkin]

Interesting, might try Google. I installed 240v in my garage years ago. The connection requires a special socket designed only for that voltage. The big question is what does the vehicle cable connector look like? Next step up would be 480v for a rapid charge, but your utility will need to expand your infrastructure!

 

[Vicrey]

Level 2 or level 1 charging will depend on how you use your PHEV. If you expect to charge overnight and the 19-25 mi of range will be enough for your daily use, a level 1 charger will be sufficient. However, if you will rely on pure electric driving for most of your day and want to be able to “top-off” for another trip out (given the small size of the batteries), then a level 2 will make sense. My Avi GT fully charges in 10-11 hrs on level 1 and ~4 hrs on level 2. I’m still partial to having a dedicated level 2 charger in my garage and keep the charging cord that came with my vehicle in my trunk for travel. Do checkout the post re the Juicebox split charger. Also, check with your electric company for rebates on car chargers. In my state of Michigan, DTE is providing up to $500 in rebates on the installation of an EV charger until the end of the year. I think there is also a federal program but not entirely sure. Good luck on finding the right charging solution for your GTs.

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[RedHoncho]

I have a Corsair Grand Touring. I used a 120V outlet at first. It is slower to charge taking around 11 hours to fully charge a depleted battery. I had a licensed electrician come out and install at 240V 20A circuit in my garage. It takes around 3.5 hours to fully charge a depleted battery. Both the Aviator and the Corsair Grand Touring models come with a Webasto charging cable that can convert from 120V to 240V via an adapter. Neither vehicle requires a Level 2 charging station beyond the outlet like I had installed. They only draw 16A of power and don't have the capability of rapid charging so a high priced Level 2 charger didn't make sense for me.

As it was, the wiring for my 240V 20A circuit was relatively simple. I had ample room in my breaker box for the breaker and the wiring from the breaker box in my basement to the garage wall on the first floor was a short distance. It cost me a total of $250.

You would save a lot of money just having two 240V 20A circuits installed in your garage as opposed to buying a separate Level 2 charging station that isn't going to decrease your charging time.

When you're traveling, you would be better off seeking hotels with charging stations. They will still take 3 - 4 hours to charge your vehicle just like your Webasto cable. If you use the Webasto cable in public you run the risk of having it stolen since there is nothing to secure it. It costs $649 to replace it.

 

[RedHoncho]

Go check your neighbors more closely. It may "look" like they are plugging the car into a 240V outlet, but there is a Level 2 charger in the mix.

Each car must be plugged into its own charging station, the circuitry is based on resistors, so no intelligence.

Actually, they probably are just plugging into a 240V outlet. There is no requirement to have a Level 2 charger. The included charging cable will plug into a 120V outlet or a 240V outlet via an adapter. These vehicles are not equipped for rapid charging. You CAN plug into a Level 2 charger but it is still going to take 3 - 4 hours to fully charge the vehicle.

I had a licensed electrician install a 240V 20A outlet in my garage and that is what I plug my Corsair Grand Touring into. The Aviator Grand Touring has similar technology and charging characteristics.

 

[RedHoncho]

My neighbors plug in their Chevy Volt into a 240v outlet they got an electrician to put beside their breaker panel. They don’t have a dedicated charging station. However, My father has purchased “pulsar plus level 2 charging station for his Mach E. So I am confused which is better to put in my garage, especially for two Grand Tourings.

The Mach E is a BEV and has different charging capability than the Grand Tourings. The Mach E is total electric and installing a Level 2 charger makes sense for that application.

PHEVs like the Volt and the Corsair/Aviator Grand Touring don't require rapid charging like a BEV does.

I had a 240V 20A circuit installed in my garage for my Corsair Grand Touring. It takes 3 - 4 hours to fully charge a depleted battery. I recently took a 40 mile trip and depleted the battery. When I got to my destination I plugged into a public Level 2 charger. It still took 3 - 4 hours to fully charge the battery.

 

[RedHoncho]

Hi I am about to get one Aviator Grand Touring and one Corsair Grand Touring… what is the difference between putting a 240 electrical outlet in versus a whole charging station in your garage ? Does the charging station work better than just an outlet? Any charging stations that do two cars at once? Thanks!

The Grand Touring models of the Aviator and Corsair come with a Webasto charging cable that converts easily from a 120V outlet connection to a 240V outlet connection via an included adapter. The 120V connection is a standard grounded outlet with at least a 20A circuit. Neither model will accept rapid charging and only draw 16A during the charging process.

The question to ask it how much time do you have to charge? The 120V will take approximately 11 hours to charge a fully depleted battery. The 240V takes 3 - 4 hours to charge a fully depleted battery.

I had a licensed electrician install a 240V 20A circuit in my garage. The 240V connection requires a NEMA 6-20R outlet. You will need a double pole breaker in your breaker box for the 240V 20A circuit.

As a side note, I took a trip this past weekend to hear our local symphony perform. The trip was around 40 miles to the venue. My battery was down to 2 miles left. I plugged into a Level 2 charging station in the parking garage. Watching the Lincoln Way app, I could tell it would take 3 - 4 hours to charge my battery to 100%. You can certainly have a Level 2 charging station installed in your garage but there is no benefit unless you're planning on getting a BEV soon. You'd be better off having two 240V 20A circuits to accomodate both your vehicles charging requirements.

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[Scott1911]

I see the confusion now. The Webasto charging cord that comes with the Grand Touring is actually a Level 1/2 charging station. Again, the actual battery charger is in the car, all the plug or charging station does is negotiate a charge rate and supply 240V to the car when it is safe to do so.

The Aviator can only charge at 3.6KW (15 or so amps), so the difference between the plug vs a wall mount charger is minimal.

 

[bill0754]

Hi I am about to get one Aviator Grand Touring and one Corsair Grand Touring… what is the difference between putting a 240 electrical outlet in versus a whole charging station in your garage ? Does the charging station work better than just an outlet? Any charging stations that do two cars at once? Thanks!

I just added a 240 outlet, and I don't see any difference from a full charging station. Now compared to the 110, it is 3 times, sometimes even 4 times faster to charge.

 

[harleykesselman]

Thank you all for this great info. I am having an electrician come this week to install two 240 outlets for my Corsair and aviator GTs. What exactly should I tell him that I need to get installed to charge the cars? Thank you!

 

[Scott1911]

Thank you all for this great info. I am having an electrician come this week to install two 240 outlets for my Corsair and aviator GTs. What exactly should I tell him that I need to get installed to charge the cars? Thank you!

I would seriously prepare for the future. I would put in 2 JuiceBox Chargers on the same 60A circuit. I have a Chargepoint+ but they don't yet share the charging circuit.

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[harleykesselman]

I would seriously prepare for the future. I would put in 2 JuiceBox Chargers on the same 60A circuit. I have a Chargepoint+ but they don't yet share the charging circuit.

Thank you but I just don’t see the point in a charging station when the 240v do the same job?

 

[RedHoncho]

Thank you all for this great info. I am having an electrician come this week to install two 240 outlets for my Corsair and aviator GTs. What exactly should I tell him that I need to get installed to charge the cars? Thank you!

You need NEMA 6-20R outlets. Each one should be on a 20A dual pole circuit. Inside the bag with the charging cord is the 240V adapter and a cover that goes on the outlet to keep the charging cord securely plugged in.

 

[harleykesselman]

You need NEMA 6-20R outlets. Each one should be on a 20A dual pole circuit. Inside the bag with the charging cord is the 240V adapter and a cover that goes on the outlet to keep the charging cord securely plugged in.

Thank you!

 

[Scott1911]

Thank you but I just don’t see the point in a charging station when the 240v do the same job?

Lets be clear here. EVERY car must have a charging "station" to charge. The Aviator or Lincoln GT comes with a "charging station". The charger is in the car but there are safety standards in place to make certain that the car body does not become energized. The charging station may look like a plug OR it may hang on the wall.