Instavolt 120kw 400v chargers

[captainlk]

Have done a lot of Googling on this but still a bit lost. Seeking the wisdom of the forum.

I charged up recently on a 120kw Instvolt and only got ~60kw. Some factors:

Charged from about 10%-75% over 45 mins or so
Battery was cold on arrival
For most of the time there was another car using the other charger of the pair - it did leave eventually but my speed did not get above 63kw

I've read that because a Taycan is 800v but the Instavolts are 400v, the Taycan can't draw the full 120kw. I would imagine though if the Taycan can pull 240kw at 800v it should be able to pull 120kw at 400v.

I also read that Instavolts split power between pairs of units, so getting half the power would make sense when another car was there, but not after it left, by which point I guess the battery would have warmed up and still been < 80% full.

Could a more experienced EVer help me out here? Is the higher speed possible on the 120kw Instavolts for us?

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[DerekS]

I believe IF you have the 150kW 400 volt charger option, you'd be able to get full rate on these chargers.

 

[captainlk]

I believe IF you have the 150kW 400 volt charger option, you'd be able to get full rate on these chargers.

I did spec that, so I should be good.

 

[daveo4EV]

Have done a lot of Googling on this but still a bit lost. Seeking the wisdom of the forum.

I charged up recently on a 120kw Instvolt and only got ~60kw. Some factors:

Charged from about 10%-75% over 45 mins or so
Battery was cold on arrival
For most of the time there was another car using the other charger of the pair - it did leave eventually but my speed did not get above 63kw

I've read that because a Taycan is 800v but the Instavolts are 400v, the Taycan can't draw the full 120kw. I would imagine though if the Taycan can pull 240kw at 800v it should be able to pull 120kw at 400v.

I also read that Instavolts split power between pairs of units, so getting half the power would make sense when another car was there, but not after it left, by which point I guess the battery would have warmed up and still been < 80% full.

Could a more experienced EVer help me out here? Is the higher speed possible on the 120kw Instavolts for us?

I'm going to suggest Battery temp was the issue here or limites on the Instavolt side…

you got 60 kW (which is greater than 50 kW) so you were doing the best you could in those circumstances.

further testing will be required in warmer temperatures.

 

[jetbox]

Are you sure they are 400v? I thought all the U.K. chargers are 800v except the old Tesla ones

 

[captainlk]

Are you sure they are 400v? I thought all the U.K. chargers are 800v except the old Tesla ones

I'm not sure honestly. I've read that in various places but I'm not sure how to check what the voltage of different chargers is.

 

[simcity]

Are you sure they are 400v? I thought all the U.K. chargers are 800v except the old Tesla ones

Not sure about Instavolt but there are other DC chargers (e.g. Polar / BP Chargemaster) that are limited to 200-500V DC - admittedly they are ‘only’ 50kW units.

Others such as the ABB units are 200-950V.

So it depends on the charger unit that Instavolt use.

 

[f1eng]

Battery was cold on arrival

This is the most likely culprit is my guess.

I arrived at the same charger with a cold battery that gave well over 100kW with a warmer one (I had done 70 miles at 40mph average in 0C temperatures) and got around 60kW.
Battery temperature is one of the biggest influences on charge rate.

 

[W1NGE]

Are you sure they are 400v? I thought all the U.K. chargers are 800v except the old Tesla ones

The opposite is true.

DC 50kW - 175kW are 400v, anything higher is 800v

 

[W1NGE]

I'm not sure honestly. I've read that in various places but I'm not sure how to check what the voltage of different chargers is.

The kW rating is typically a good measure.

All 50kW EVSEs are 400v, 150kW is also likely to be 400v, anything above is most likely to be 800v. 350kW EVSEs are 800v.

Not something you should ever need to worry about particularly if you followed the advice on this forum to option the 400v to 800v DC Booster (sometimes referred to as a charger but it is actually a DC booster).

 

[W1NGE]

Have done a lot of Googling on this but still a bit lost. Seeking the wisdom of the forum.

I charged up recently on a 120kw Instvolt and only got ~60kw. Some factors:

Charged from about 10%-75% over 45 mins or so
Battery was cold on arrival
For most of the time there was another car using the other charger of the pair - it did leave eventually but my speed did not get above 63kw

I've read that because a Taycan is 800v but the Instavolts are 400v, the Taycan can't draw the full 120kw. I would imagine though if the Taycan can pull 240kw at 800v it should be able to pull 120kw at 400v.

I also read that Instavolts split power between pairs of units, so getting half the power would make sense when another car was there, but not after it left, by which point I guess the battery would have warmed up and still been < 80% full.

Could a more experienced EVer help me out here? Is the higher speed possible on the 120kw Instavolts for us?

As mentioned by others you must have the 400v - 800v DC booster option to max out any 400v EVSE otherwise you will be limited to 50kW (max) on any 400v EVSE. If you get access to 800v 350kW EVSEs (Ionity, Porsche) then you don’t need to worry and you could tap into a theoretical 270kW max.

Standard onboard DC charger is 400v @ 50kW and 800v @ 270kW.

On the basis that you got 63kW then you obviously have the DC voltage booster.

The issue will be local infrastructure as despite having a cold battery the early part of the charging session will have heated the battery to 32C - 33C (optimal) and would have been able to draw the max available from the EVSE. Operators can and do throttle back EVSEs, share power with other EVSEs and so on. As a general rule of thumb don’t expect the superstar headline numbers from most EVSEs rated >= 50kW - if you manage to get close to the max then you’ll have done well!

No two InstaVolt EVSEs may give you the same output (same as per other providers).

 

[CrossTComingSoon]

I used Instavolt in U.K. few times. Have gotten up to 115kW from them. Don’t recall specifying any extra chargers on board.

 

[W1NGE]

I used Instavolt in U.K. few times. Have gotten up to 115kW from them. Don’t recall specifying any extra chargers on board.

Go to My Porsche App and then look at the technical details of your car where it will list the options you have. It would be impossible to get more than 50kW from a 400v EVSE (that’s why it is an option) so either you have the DC booster OR the particular EVSE you used was 800v.

 

[simcity]

Go to My Porsche App and then look at the technical details of your car where it will list the options you have. It would be impossible to get more than 50kW from a 400v EVSE (that’s why it is an option) so either you have the DC booster OR the particular EVSE you used was 800v.

This is intriguing. A data plate on the rear of an Instavolt charger will confirm whether it's 200-500V or higher. I suspect they might actually be HV units

Personally with EV's - Porsche or whatever - tick all the charging related options folks - its the fudging Wild West out there still in public charger land and you may as well not close yourself off for a few hundred squid - especially with a 100K car.

 

[CrossTComingSoon]

This is what's listed in "standard" spec of my car config.

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