level 2 charging cables/charging rate

[zacmobile]

Finally picking up our new Soul in two weeks but haven't gotten around to setting up a charging station yet and was just going to wing it with level 1 charging for now and see how that goes as it should keep up with our daily consumption. However after watching one of Byorn Nyland's newer videos on the Metron charging cables I thought that would be an inexpensive/less involved option.
https://youtu.be/hSqP8wa2nT4

Of course they're only available in Europe though but on some googling I see there are similar ones available in Canada https://www.amazon.ca/Charger-110V-240V-Charging-Holder-Adapter/dp/B07CYQV2VL/ref=pd_sbs_263_t_0/136-2307825-9240220?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07CYQV2VL&pd_rd_r=f13e114d-d78d-4935-bc03-dde5c23731bc&pd_rd_w=k4BgI&pd_rd_wg=u9fGp&pf_rd_p=9926bb69-42b9-46e4-b788-f665992e326d&pf_rd_r=CFCCX3XWGAYJ8VS9ZF9Q&psc=1&refRID=CFCCX3XWGAYJ8VS9ZF9Q
HOWEVER, It's only 16A which is great as It's much easier and cheaper for me to install a 20A circuit and outlet instead of 40A and I think that would be plenty for our daily needs but reading the Soul's charging specs they only list one charging rate for level 2 (30A)

Sooo, basically my question is will the Soul play nicely if I give it a 240V 16A charge?

 

[BassCadet]

I use a 120V/240V TurboCord at work and the Soul EV is fine charging from it. It is actually a BMW branded EVSE but same as the Aerovironment/Webasto version. 240V charges twice as fast as 120V at the same current. I think the Kia supplied charger is 8A@120V so 16A@240V will be four times faster.

If you can, however, I would recommend installing a 40A circuit. It would be useful in the future if you ever get a longer range BEV.

 

[evsoulnow]

Want to echo what @basscadet said - run a circuit which supports 40A continuous as that covers most things up to a Tesla at a reasonable charge rate (here in CO that's a 50A circuit which will support 40A sustained). Of course if you are installing it, it's just a material cost - but usually you are paying an electrician to do it - in which case the extra material costs are not that significant.

 

[JejuSoul]

...Sooo, basically my question is will the Soul play nicely if I give it a 240V 16A charge?

The answer to this is yes. But I also agree with the others that you should get the 40A.

Here is the data from my car charging from a 16A stand.

 

[zacmobile]

Thanks all, some good info there. I still think 20A will be more than sufficient for our needs however, here's my rationale: Stated range for Soul Limited is 385km (lets say 400 as all the first hand reports i've seen say 490km summer range is perfectly doable) Level one charging time from 0-100% is listed at 60hrs, Our daily commute is roughly 80km round trip so lets say that uses 25% capacity so would take 15hrs to top up to 100% (barely manageable overnight) so if 240V 20A is 3X faster then we'd be looking at 5hrs (totally doable overnight) The only time we'd be using over 25% of the battery capacity we would be on a long trip and would have to charge at a station somewhere.

 

[techrider]

I've been delving into this for a few days now. Of course I want the 50A 240V circuit, but the 200A service upgrade and surgery necessary to my home (100A service is recessed into the home, not surface mounted) is beginning to look cost-prohibitive.

I'm going to see if I can squeeze out one more 20A 240V (or higher Amp) circuit from my 100A service (maybe if I switch to LED lights in every room and end the use of portable space heaters on sub-zero nights?) but otherwise I hope to at least re-work some existing circuits into one or two new 15A 240V outlets for my 2020 Soul and my other plug-in Hybrid.

I know my other car's factory trickle charger can do up to 20A 240V, but I'm not sure if the factory trickle charger that came with my Kia caps the Amps (e.g. to 12A or 16A) or even handles 240V. If not, an after-market charger will.

 

[zacmobile]

Update: So I finally got around to installing a new 20A circuit for the new cheapo 16A 240V in-line charge adapter (about $200 on Amazon) we’ve been using it for about a week now and I can’t imaging needing anything more. It can charge from 30% to 90% easily overnight (12hrs)
Definitely the way to go if you have a small loaded panel which we did as it doesn’t add much to the overall load, I initially thought I would have to double up a couple 120V 15A circuits with 1/2 space mini breakers to make space for the 2 pole 20A breaker but I found an unused circuit and just needed to shuffle a few breakers to make room. Total cost of materials was about $210. We’re planning a road trip to Oregon for spring break so will be bringing the charger with us and some adapters to plug in at RV outlets at the state parks we’ll be staying at. I also was wondering if the stock Kia charger could take 240V might open it and find out.

 

[techrider]

Update: So I finally got around to installing a new 20A circuit for the new cheapo 16A 240V in-line charge adapter (about $200 on Amazon) we’ve been using it for about a week now and I can’t imaging needing anything more. It can charge from 30% to 90% easily overnight (12hrs)
Definitely the way to go if you have a small loaded panel which we did as it doesn’t add much to the overall load, I initially thought I would have to double up a couple 120V 15A circuits with 1/2 space mini breakers to make space for the 2 pole 20A breaker but I found an unused circuit and just needed to shuffle a few breakers to make room. Total cost of materials was about $210. We’re planning a road trip to Oregon for spring break so will be bringing the charger with us and some adapters to plug in at RV outlets at the state parks we’ll be staying at. I also was wondering if the stock Kia charger could take 240V might open it and find out.

Appreciate the update. Is your 20A at 120V (single phase) or 240V (dual phase)?

 

[zacmobile]

Its 20A 240V single phase, even though it has two hot legs @120V combining to make 240V it is still considered single phase as the AC waves pulse in unison with each other. The charging cable I got will work on 120V though and came with a plug adapter for such.

 

[MassDeduction]

...Sooo, basically my question is will the Soul play nicely if I give it a 240V 16A charge?

The answer to this is yes. But I also agree with the others that you should get the 40A.[...]

All other things being equal, if you've got the time (such as when leaving it on charge overnight), aren't you best off charging at a slower rate for optimal battery health? For example, if it's a 64Ah battery, aren't you best off charging at a rate of 16A (AKA 0.25C)? Sure, if you're in a hurry, charge at the fastest safe rate. But if you've got the time, why not charge at an optimal rate?

 

[JejuSoul]

...All other things being equal, if you've got the time (such as when leaving it on charge overnight), aren't you best off charging at a slower rate for optimal battery health? For example, if it's a 64Ah battery, aren't you best off charging at a rate of 16A (AKA 0.25C)? Sure, if you're in a hurry, charge at the fastest safe rate. But if you've got the time, why not charge at an optimal rate?

There's a lot of factors involved. The best solution is to install a 32A EVSE which allows you to choose any current such as OpenEVSE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIvmYP57eOo

I have a 32A charger and two 27kWh Soul EVs. To charge one car fully at 32A takes 5 hours. The time of day with cheapest electricity rate is from 11pm to 7am.
This is possible to do because I normally charge from 20% to 80% not fully.
Normally however I alternate days, so I don't have to go out in the middle of the night to swap leads.
If I had the option to charge one car all night at 16A then I would prefer this.
But sometimes there will be a need to charge faster.

My next charger will be an OpenEVSE. I do think optimal battery health is best served by slower charging, and that this is more important than the lower efficiency and inconvenience of slower charging.