Posted on 12/26/2023 1:23:09 PM PST by ChicagoConservative27
My BIL in Florida has solar panels and has bragged about his $10 electric bills in the summer. The fact that the power company is forced to buy power from him AT RETAIL concerns him not.
They are on their second electric car ( first BMW, now Volvo) subsidized by those of us who can’t afford $65K+ cars.
He told my wife that his electric bill is now $300 because of charging the car. That’s a bunch of juice going through one outlet. How much heat does that generate?
They are retired and live in an upscale gated community and don’t log many miles. I calculated at current prices, that $300 in gas would get us 2,400 miles with my wife’s Sonata, based on its average MPG. No way they are driving anything close to that.
Luckily the batteries will discharge just sitting still.
Now we will just have another massive spending bill to run 480 3 phase power for every EV owner.
Any electrical branch circuit and devices connected through it should be able to withstand the rated current indefinitely if they are code compliant. Like I said, there are some shadetree mechanic DIY lashups that are clearly not up to code, by a lot.
It’s always possible to use a appliances in an unsafe manner, e.g., drape a blanket over an incandescent light bulb, but those are corner cases, and not necessarily relevant.
That’s the issue, there are no compliance standards taking into account all the variations of household wiring.
Nobody’s home has a 60 amp draw so there is no knowlege base. This is happening everywhere.
Home chargers do not draw 60 AMPS and if they did, the breaker would trip. We had a RAV4 Prime, a hybrid that can be charged from house current. The charger drew roughly 13 AMPS from a 120 VAC outlet. The charger did not heat noticeably.
Thats hot!
Oh yes they can. I guess you don’t understand how it works. Bridge 3 or 4 breaker slots and you have a 60 amp circuit. The average home can only handle 100 amps though so you have to increase service capacity.
There is a massive difference between surge draw and constant draw. The cars determine the draw, not the circuitry. Once the circuitry is damaged it may acually increase the draw.
Go see Munro on youtube and look at all the burned up stuff they have in their video. No doubt the cause of many fires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDp9PhPJhUI&t=984s&ab_channel=MunroLive
That sure doesn’t sound like it was up to code. If you put a carpet over an extension cord, you can start a fire. Anything can be abused.
There is no code specifically for home charging EV’s.
It’s not uncommon: Conclusions first, evidence later. There was a young male German “researcher” about 20 years ago who was using matlab plots to uncover many interesting results in many different fields and was being touted as the next Einstein. Unfortunately, all he had was matlab plots and no data or analysis. He was fired when his fraud was uncovered, not being a PoC or female of LGBTQ+ or other protected class. Good riddance.
I worked with a guy at Raytheon who would submit reports to the government with impressive charts and supposed deep analysis, but when I tried to understand the underlying material it as all just B.S., and he would never answer my questions. He demanded a raise and his boss bid him farewell. His boss told me that when that guy quit on his own accord, it was the happiest day of his life.
Which means that EV charging must comply with existing codes, which it most definitely does. If you bothered to read the article you would see that the problem occurred when non-compliant home charging circuits damaged the chargers, without causing any damage that was apparent in the home charging station. When the damaged chargers where then connected to dedicated charging stations, fires would occur.
There is a protocol between the car and the charger. The charging station tells the car what its properties are, and car then sets itself to accommodate the charging station and vice-versa. If that protocol is damaged, I suspect that may be were the charging station problems occur. The article did not go into that level of detail.
Don't you mean that it damaged the CABLES ? Otherwise your argument contradicts itself.
It's not the voltage that gives any concerns. It's the AMPERAGE.
I don't think it means that at all. Nowhere close because there is nothing close to how they work in a home environment. Commercial maybe not at home. They just won't enact new codes because it would scare the hell out of EV owners and slow adoption.
I give up.
If you bother to read the article, the assertion is that it damaged internal wiring in the charger.
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