EVSE Upgrade?

[dbkiasoulev]

Hi,

I was looking into upgrading the standard 120v charger the Kia EV Soul comes with by using EVSE Upgrade.

Has anyone on here used them before? Have you noticed a big increase in charging speed when plugging it into a 240v outlet?

Thanks!

I just got my Titanium EV Soul in Los Angeles.

 

[mtndrew1]

The Soul's 120V EVSE can be upgraded to 240V @ 12A through EVSEupgrade, providing ~2.9 kW of charging power compared to 1.44 kW stock.

Because there is a fixed overhead in the car of about 300W when charging, the 240V upgrade would slightly more than double the actual charging rate to the battery pack.

Expect about 3-4 miles of charge per hour at 1.44 kW and a solid 8 miles of charge per hour at 2.9 kW, generally plenty fast to recharge the car overnight.

 

[irfca]

I'd be interested in hearing how that goes for you - I noticed that the 120v outlets at work are actually 20A capable (plug is "|- |" vs the 16A "| |" style) , so getting that extra 25% and charging at 1.92kw vs 1.44kw (or with the 300w overhead, 1.62kw vs 1.14kw or 40% more charging!), would be helpful ... if I ever manage to convince them that allowing employees to charge at work is a good thing.

 

[Brickvipe]

Hi, Has anyone tried this? I need to decide to buy a charger or upgrade the one I received with the car. How long did it take if you tried this option?
Thanks.

 

[drmanny3]

Years ago when I had a Leaf I sent my 120 volt charger to EVSEUPGRADE to have them modify it for 240 volts. It worked perfectly. When I returned my lease I went ahead and purchased a 110 volt unit and sold my 240 volt unit. So happy I did that. Now that I have the Rav4ev with a 10 kw charger and the Soul EV I use a Leviton 40 amp charger for the Rav4ev and a Tesla converted charger for the Soul EV. If I did not have these options I would pursue sending in my unit for conversion. The conversion is a low cost option.
Manny

 

[Skellington]

Last I checked, the Siemans was down to under $450 on Amazon.

If you need a portable 240V for use at campgrounds, etc. it is a good idea.

And having 2 chargers; one always in the car; is not a bad idea. Buying a second 120V and converting it might be more expensive.

(Now some people are turning in LEAFs and keeping the charger. You might get one cheap!)

 

[Brickvipe]

Thanks for your input!

 

[Johny55]

I have charging cables from R-EVC, mennekes (300 USD) and type1 - J1772(380 USD), both of them I can set 6-32A according to circuit breaker.. and I have bought them with 10% sales when I wrote "Kia Soul" in a note look at http://r-evc.com/cs/content/35-type-1-32-amp

 

[user 285]

Johny55, could you post more details and pictures - I would like to see how the current is set. The EVSE is built into the type 1 connector, I guess?

It would be good if I can fit a 32 amp commando socket at a relative's house (maybe £20 in materials and a couple of hours work) and use this cable to charge at 32 amps while I'm there.

(I am ignoring the fact this is probably spam... a small company has got to start somewhere, right?)

 

[Johny55]

Hi,
yes, EVSE is inside. If you have at home 3pin 32A blue socket, you can charging 32A.
For more information send me your email I send you more photos (coz I dont know what do you want) and informations or write to the owner on mail [email protected] and he tells you everything that you are interested in.

 

[GizmoEV]

I purchased one of the Panasonic (Nissan) converted EVSE's from evseupgrade.com since they will do 20A. I checked into getting one modified to do 16A on 120VAC but they didn't think the Kia would do more than 12A on 120VAC. After not getting anywhere with Kia on an answer I almost had my EVSE updated and spend the money on the matching adapter. Fortunately, while talking to an AeroVironment Engineer on a Level 3 charging issue I asked about the Kia Soul EV 120V max charging rate and he said that Kia fixed it at 12A.

 

[GizmoEV]

Fortunately, while talking to an AeroVironment Engineer on a Level 3 charging issue I asked about the Kia Soul EV 120V max charging rate and he said that Kia fixed it at 12A.

An update! While attempting to charge from my generator the EVSE showed a 20blink code as if it was plugged into a 240V outlet even though it was only on 120V. When the KIA tried to charge it overloaded the generator and backed off while the generator recovered. This cycle continued until I unplugged the car. I have since had my EVSEUpgrade EVSE updated to allow for 16A on 120V and I can confirm that the car will in fact charge at over 12A on 120V.