New Zealand charging

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Forum

Help Support Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
My car is on a 3 year lease so I'm not that concerned about battery longevity. My primary requirement is getting the car charged as fast as humanly possible.
 
Well, don't forget that the dealer and Mitsubishi are able to read out the charging history and that a battery condition check is part of the resale procedure.
The car takes about 3 1/2 hours to charge overnight. How long do you sleep?
 
nzphev said:
Something else I've found out is after about 30 mins of charging it drops down to only 1 or 2 amps for a few mins, almost 10 gone so far. So I unplugged it and plugged in again and boom, straight back up to 14.5 amps. So what is the car software doing during the charging phase? I will track exactly what it does for a whole charge and perhaps stick a timer on there to avoid the trickle charge sections. Just can't figure out why they won't let the car charge up faster.

Its a cooling period - not wise to override it.
 
I have seen the gaps in the recharging, but not every time my PHEV was recharged. I have no way of checking a correlation with a cooling event. Am certain the pause is not related to any balancing action alone. I have not seen a schematic of the battery internal electrics, but the only time I see any cell imbalance, up to 5mV is towards the top of the recharge cycle. The cells in my PHEV still register as Excellent condition, with typical 1-2mV difference. Battery recharging is still suspended, so may only be a cooling system operation.

Fast recharging results in a lower amount of energy stored in the battery, and 10 mins in around 180-250mins, depending on current available is surely not a problem. Sure 10mins in a rapid recharge that might be 20mins could be considered a problem.
 
gwatpe said:
I have seen the gaps in the recharging, but not every time my PHEV was recharged. I have no way of checking a correlation with a cooling event. Am certain the pause is not related to any balancing action alone. I have not seen a schematic of the battery internal electrics, but the only time I see any cell imbalance, up to 5mV is towards the top of the recharge cycle. The cells in my PHEV still register as Excellent condition, with typical 1-2mV difference. Battery recharging is still suspended, so may only be a cooling system operation.

Fast recharging results in a lower amount of energy stored in the battery, and 10 mins in around 180-250mins, depending on current available is surely not a problem. Sure 10mins in a rapid recharge that might be 20mins could be considered a problem.

The cells do not need to try and balance with an 80% recharge from a fast charger so the cooling period to confirm the cell voltage is not required. On a 100% grid charge, the Cell Monitoring Units need to accurately measure the voltage of each cell to start switching them on and off as they approach fully charged.
 
I have used from a Mighty River Power charge station and it was fast, probably about 3 hours for a full charge. At home a full charge is about 6 hours from a standard 10 amp plug.
 
jaapv said:
Well, don't forget that the dealer and Mitsubishi are able to read out the charging history and that a battery condition check is part of the resale procedure.
The car takes about 3 1/2 hours to charge overnight. How long do you sleep?

I charge it during daylight hours when the sun is shining and we are generating peak power form out solar panels.
 
nzphev said:
jaapv said:
Well, don't forget that the dealer and Mitsubishi are able to read out the charging history and that a battery condition check is part of the resale procedure.
The car takes about 3 1/2 hours to charge overnight. How long do you sleep?

I charge it during daylight hours when the sun is shining and we are generating peak power from our solar panels.

My PHEV is recharged from solar as well. No grid in the mix though. I only recharge at 2.2kW, the max that my AUS shipped PHEV control box allows. about 4.5 to 5h. Clouds do not affect the recharge rate, as the house battery supplies the deficit. I don't usually fully recharge when it is raining.
 
nzphev said:
Something else I've found out is after about 30 mins of charging it drops down to only 1 or 2 amps for a few mins, almost 10 gone so far. So I unplugged it and plugged in again and boom, straight back up to 14.5 amps. So what is the car software doing during the charging phase? I will track exactly what it does for a whole charge and perhaps stick a timer on there to avoid the trickle charge sections. Just can't figure out why they won't let the car charge up faster.
This gap has been discussed many times. Last time very recent: http://www.myoutlanderphev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=22611#p22611.

Like Jaapv, I am convinced there was a very good reason for Mitsu to program this behaviour and I think it would be irresponsible to try to bypass it.

When it comes to the max charge rate: that is related to the capacity of the onboard charger. I don't think doubling the charge rate would be an issue for the battery: compare the 3.3 kW used for normal GRID charging with the up to 24 kW during hybrid mode and up to 60 kW during regenning and I think there will be room for a bit more. It will just require replacement of hardware. And perhaps a more robust outlet, indeed. There Nissan Leaf was originally equipped with a 3.7 kW charger. Later models had a 7.2 kW charger (I think it was optional).
 
jaapv said:
Actually I uprated the circuit of my home 16A charging box to 25A to keep that ring open for other appliances.
Jaapv, I would think both are violations of local regulations?
- Using fuses > 16 amps
- Having an appliance that is rated > 2000 watts share a group / fuse with other appliances
 
Not if one has the main circuits rated to provide three-phase 400V power as I have. I had to do so to provide power to my Sauna.
 
jaapv said:
Not if one has the main circuits rated to provide three-phase 400V power as I have. I had to do so to provide power to my Sauna.
I assume your sauna is hooked up to a double (kookgroep) or even triple (krachtgroep) fuse, and not a single one?
 
jaapv said:
Krachtgroep. The Sauna takes 12 kW. The Electricity company uprated the main fuses too. No DIY install ;)
I assume your 'krachtgroep' is 3x16 ampere (allowing for 11.1 kW)? And not 3x20 or even more? To my knowledge, according to NEN1010, a single group in a normal house is not supposed to be more than 16 ampere. You can have more, but than you need a substation where the one group is split into several groups of each 16 amps max. But then you can hardly call it a single group (or kring) anymore.

Sorry, way to OT :oops:
 
3x20. I do get a business rate, áll runs through my business, with private use split off for the taxes. Not too OT, I think. The way we charge our cars is relevant. ;)
 
Still OT, but I get a buzz from plugging in at home knowing I am not contributing to increased utility loading by ownership of a plug in hybrid.
 
That is surely a good thing, but for now the effects of electric vehicles plugging in are limited and manageable, even in high-Tesla density areas.

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/518066/could-electric-cars-threaten-the-grid/

The use of V2G technology looks promising as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle-to-grid
 
I contacted MMNZ about fast charging and the network that Vector is deploying to allow fast charging at various locations around the place and the fact that EU models already have fast charge. Response was:

Sorry, we didn't know Vector had developed a fast charging network. We have no plans to change production of the Oceania/NZ PHEV Outlander at this time.

Great help as this is the single biggest thing that is holding me back from buying what would be my 3rd Outlander.
 
Back
Top