Charging Opinions from a long time EV user

daveo4EV

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mistake - read below - copy paste error
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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I've posted this on other sites - it's been well received - warning long read - and some details will have to be left out due to lack of specific knowledge about the Taycan (namely it's maximum L2 charge rate)

Hello all,

I've been driving EV's for about 7 years (Ford Focus EV, Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, Bolt and Leaf). Over that time I've developed my opinions about charging and I'm going to share them here for all to see and learn - LOL

1st off kudos to Porsche on this car - but after coming from Tesla I found the charging information/situation with Porsche to be lacking.

The Best mobile charger in my opinion is a Gen-2 Tesla Universal Mobile Charger (UMC - $320). Carry one of these babies in your EV and you can charge _ANYWHERE_ - it’s a very reasonable 32 amp charger for it’s price in that you can use virtually any AC plug you run into. (It’s unclear what mobile EVSE/charger Porsche will include if any with the car - this advice will be subject to actual what’s included with the car - if Porsche includes a flexible mobile charger with the car with 32 or 40 amp charge rate then this advice can be safely ignored)

https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...or-bundle.html

for those of you not familiar with the Tesla Gen-2 UMC it supports the following charge rates via various adapters you can buy from Tesla…

The Gen-2 Tesla UMC comes with two included plug adapters - NEMA 5-15 (normal house hold plug) and NEMA 14-50 (RV Park 50 amp 240 volts - charge rate of up to 32 amps)

You can purchase additional adapters ($35 each) allowing to potentially charge at home or on the road with the following plug types

NEMA 10-30 (30 amps - 24 amp charge rate), NEMA 14-30 (30 amps - 24 amp charge rate), NEMA 5-20 (20 AMP/120 volt, 16 amp charge rate), NEMA 6-15, NEMA 6-20, NEMA 6-50

Of these adapters I recommend the following:
  • NEMA 10-30 - old style electric Dryer/Waterheater plugs - charge at family’s house while visiting if they have an electric dryer or water heater
  • NEMA 14-30 - new style electric Dryver/Waterheater - see above
  • NEMA 6-50 - these are often found in Mechanic’s shops for arc-welders - 240 volts 50 AMP’s
  • NEMA 5-20 adapter - it’s actually 50% more overnight charge if you say have a hotel with one of these
NOTE: if you have a Gen-2 Tesla UMC with you both the NEMA 14-30 and 14-50 adapters will allow you to charge your EV @ 24amps/32amps at virtually _ANY_ RV park - and once you start looking there are more of these than you can imagine (KOA anyone, 99% have NEMA 14-50s you can rent a space for like $10) - so you can go virtually anywhere you can find a camp ground and use an RV-hookup (normally for a very reasonable rate) and charge your EV anywhere you can find electricity. I have used many many RV/camp grounds to charge my Tesla's and that allows me to drive EV's pretty much anywhere with no "charging" infrastructure- because all I need is a "plug".

If you chose to go with the Tesla UMC you MUST purchase a JDapter ($239) or TeslaTap ($239)

https://shop.quickchargepower.com/JD...r-JDPTRSTB.htm

http://www.umc-j1772.com/index.php?r...&product_id=50

This adapter converts the Tesla UMC connector to a standard J-1772 EV charging connector - it allows _ANY_ J-1772 EV to charge from a Tesla L2 charger (NOT superchargers). For those of you that don’t know Tesla supports what they call a Tesla Destination charging network (chargers installed with Tesla’s assistance at various locations all over North America - these chargers vary in Amperage from 20-80 AMP’s and are typically free if you are a customer of the associated business). The link below is an interactive map of all the Tesla L2 Destination chargers - if you have the $239 adapter you can use these charging locations (with permission) in addition to normal J-1772 chargers - so you great expand your potential charging solutions if you have this adapter.

https://www.tesla.com/findus#/bounds...arger&name=usa

You do not need a “membership/account” with Tesla for use of these chargers, usage is at the discretion of the associated business owners - NOT Tesla. Many of these business have both J-1772 and Tesla chargers on site, and carrying this adapter simply offers you the choice of using a Tesla charger if all the J-1772 chargers are occupied - most business owners won’t care. In some rare cases some businesses have ONLY Tesla chargers and this adapter would let you charge your EV should you encounter this situation. Other forums have had extensive discussion on this topic and I believe it is well established that this adapter is a MUST have for any serous EV road warrior, even _IF_ you do not plan to use a Gen-2 Tesla UMC for your home charging solution.

Home charging this topic has been discussed ad nausea on the Tesla/EV forums it comes down to these basic choices.
  1. some people don't feel they need one and opt for public/work based chargers - I applaud these people's sprit and they honestly believe this works for them. I'm too much of a control freak to go this route and want to know I can charge my car at a reasonable rate on my own terms.
  2. Install a NEMA 14-50 plug in their garage - and this gives you many options as you can buy many many chargers and install them by simply plugging them in.
  3. some people have two (2) Tesla UMC's with them - one in car , and one that lives in the garage plugged into the NEMA 14-50 plug or what ever plug they decide to install.
  4. some people have one (1) UMC - and their's lives in their garage and they only take it out of the garage when "traveling"
  5. Many people opt for the Tesla Wall connector - see link below- the reason for this is safety (hard wired) and configurability - it can be configured to provide 16-80 amps with appropriate circuitry - making it one of the most flexible EV chargers on the market for a fair price ($500) - of course you'll need a JDapter/TeslaTap to use it.
  6. My personal recommendation for home charging is to go with either: Tesla Wall connector + Adatper, Clipper creek, JuiceBox, or ChargePoint. The clipper creek chargers are bullet proof and have a wide wide range of charging options (12 amp to 100 amp J-1772 chargers)
Tesla Wall Connector - https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...connector.html
Gen-2 Tesla UMC - https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...or-bundle.html
ClipperCreek - https://store.clippercreek.com/hcs-5...category_id=69
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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Advice on the install:
  1. Install the biggest charger you can handle - this EV will not be your last EV, so plan for the future and only buy one of these suckers once. The J-1772 standard covers up 80 amps, and when the charger can provide more power than the car can pull, the car only pulls what it needs.
  2. the real cost is the labor, wiring, and main panel modifications - not the actual charger. Cost vary based on how full your panel is, the distance to the charging location, and if you need to upgrade your main panel to have a larger service breaker
  3. even with a small breaker - pull the biggest AMP wire you can to the charging location - that way if you can upgrade in the future, you only have to swap the breaker in the panel, and the charger at the other end - and not pull wire again (normally costly) - long runs of high-AMP copper wire are expensive - so be prepared.
The Tesla Wall Charger ($500) has two advantages that push it over the top IMHO…

https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...connector.html
  • it's configurable - you can set the feed breaker's AMP setting, and the charger will tell the car the max AMP's it can feed, that means you can buy one wall charger, and over time adjust it to what ever AMP's you are feeding it making it the most cost effective chargers out there for the widest range of possible charging rates…
  • it can load-share a single circuit breaker - splitting the load to charge up to 4 EV's at once (1 master and up to 3 slaves configured by dip-switches in the charger) - and 2-4 chargers will SHARE a single circuit breaker and adjust the AMP load based on demand from the car's being charged (this is part of the J-1772 standard). So you can install one circuit, one wall charger, and in the future "add" another Wall charger and charge 2, 3, or 4 electric cars off one (1) electrical circuit - for the future multi-EV household I consider this a killer feature and is why I give the nod to the Tesla Wall Connector for $500.
I personally have been running a 3 charger 100 amp circuit setup with Tesla/Bolt/Leaf for the past year (and JDapter's)- it works great - I plug 3 cars in - and they all share the single 100 amp circuit during off peak charging window (80 amp charge rate).

So for me the ideal charging scenario for an EV Owner is:
  1. Gen-2 Tesla UMC in the trunk with many adapters for all plugs - https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...-adapters.html
  2. Tesla Wall connector in the garage configured to match the maximum AMP's my home electrical panel can handle (plus Adapter)
  3. JDapter/TeslaTap in the car for charging using Tesla destination chargers while out and about on trips
  4. Some extension cords to help reach plugs while traveling if necessary
I also recommend the following items from amazon for the road warrior charging master:
  1. high quality 20 amp extension cord - https://smile.amazon.com/AC-Connecto...nsion+cordnema
  2. short adapter that let you plug the 20 amp extension cord into a normal 15 amp plug - https://smile.amazon.com/AC-Connecto...o+5-20+adapter
  3. NEMA 14-50 extension cord - heavy and expensive, but a life saver sometimes when you just can't reach that juicy, ever so fast, 40 amp 240 volt plug that is just out of reach… https://smile.amazon.com/Camco-Exten...extension+cord
congrats everyone on your EV! I love mine and I know you'll love yours - these recommendation are investments in my opinion and modified Tesla's chargers will serve you well for _ANY_ EV you currently own or likely will own in the future.

Terminology

J-1772 - http://www.letmegooglethat.com/?q=J-1772
NEMA 14-50 - http://www.letmegooglethat.com/?q=NEMA+14-50
Electric AMPS http://www.letmegooglethat.com/?q=Electrical+AMPS
Volts - http://www.letmegooglethat.com/?q=Electrical+Volts

I'm happy to answer questions.
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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I wish to restate since we do not yet know what charger if any Porsche will include with the Taycan some of the above advice may be ignored - but at the moment Tesla offers the best, most cost effective _MOBILE_ EV (J-1772) EVSE charger - it's small, compact, rugged/weather-proof, flexible affordable, and really top notch in the MOBILE EVSE portable charger market - it's maximum charge rate of 32 amps is really top flight and a wonderful accessory for the EV road warrior…

_IF_ Porsche includes a 32/40 amp EVSE with the car and plug adapters for L1 plugs (house hold outlets) and NEMA 14-50 (RV hook ups) the Tesla Charger advise can be safely ignored…

but I'll stand by my advice to have a J-Adapter since it effectively mulitplies the number of L2 chargers you have access to while traveling (hotels, shopping centers, and what not have a lot of Tesla L2 chargers installed nationwide, many high amp 30 amps or more for really quite nice charger rates). With the J-Adapter you can charge at both normal Public chargers (J-1772) and Tesla L2 chargers (J-1772 but a different plug shape)

the J-Adapter DOES NOT allow you to use the Tesla Supercharger Network! But Porsche will have 800 volt 350,000 watt fast chargers so those are better anyways, but hte L2 chargers are great for overnight charging at hotels, malls, businesses.
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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here is a link to the Tesla Gen2 Universal Mobile Charger (UMC) that comes with each Tesla Model 3 sold - it's hard to beat for $300 - and comes with a house hold plug adapter, and NEMA 14-50 plug adapter (50 amps for a 40/32 amp maximum charge rate)

https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product/vehicle-accessories/gen-2-mobile-connector-bundle.html

the link below here is a list of the Tesla UMC Gen2 adapters ($35) each - you can buy plug adapter for virtually any plug type you are likely to encounter in North America - and when the Adatper is plugged into the EVSE the correct amp rate is automatically selected based on plug type so the EV (Taycan) won't overload the circuit breaker that is typically associated with that type of plug - no muss no fuss.

https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product/vehicle-accessories/gen-2-nema-adapters.html

with a portable charger, and a set of adapter you don't need an "EV charger" - you can charge anywhere you can find/access an electrical plug - it makes road tripping with an EV much easier if you know there is power where you are going.
 


Mike V

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Dave,

Fabulous write up. Thanks so much.

Please expand on having three EVs that somehow sequentially share the 100A capacity of your garage panel. I'm too thick to figure it out on my own.
 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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The Tesla High Powered Wall Connect (HPWC) comes with a feature where you can "daisy chain" up to 4 chargers. There are settings inside the charger and you can set one charger to be the master and up to 3 other chargers are set to "slave" - When the 1st car plugs in it gets the "maximum" charger rate from the settings on the master (in my case 80 amps) - if you plug in a 2nd car the 2nd slave charger will announce itself to to the "network" and the master charger will reset it's charge rate to 40 amps, and the 2nd car will also get 40 amps. If you plug in a 3rd card (on my setup) you get (80 amps / 3) for each car…or about 24 amps...

if all 3 cars are actively charging at one each car charger only uses 24 amps (to avoid overloading the shared 100 amp breaker) - if one car finishes before the other two - the charger will "sense" the lack of Current draw and the other two remaining chargers will slowly ramp back up to charging at the 40 amp rate - if the 2nd car finishes charging the remaining car left charging will have access to the full 80 amp circuit capacity.

so I come home at night and we simply plug in all 3 EV's - and walk away - when it comes time to charge in our off-peak billing rate period all 3 cars start charging - and the "charger network" keeps each car from overloading the shared circuit breaker by adjusting it's charge rate.

it's the ideal charging setup for a mulit-ev household and saves money on installing expensive/cumbersome separate circuits for each 240 volt charger.
 


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I have a level 2 charger at home already. The (you have to pay for) included Mobile Charger Connect is way overkill for a mobile charger. Any ol' random 15A 115V portable charger is good enough for emergency use.

We'll have 2 EV's at home when I get the Taycan, but I'm likely to almost exclusively charge at work, since it's free. :p

Kudos to Porsche for having AC charge ports on the front both sides of the car, because it means whatever EV my wife gets next, we can still both park so that the charge port faces the middle of the garage.
 

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Just to add a plug for the Share2® Solution from ClipperCreek.
To match the Taycan's top rate the HCS50 is what you would want. But you could install higher like the 60 or 80 to make you more future proof if you have the panel power.

Shared Chargers (useful when you want 2 chargers on a single breaker and will cut power to half when both in use)

I assisted in configuring a three dozen HCS40R's at a few sites at our workplace. They work pretty well, always a challenge with folks treatment of equipment that they do not "own". ;)
 

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I've posted this on other sites - it's been well received - warning long read - and some details will have to be left out due to lack of specific knowledge about the Taycan (namely it's maximum L2 charge rate)

Hello all,

I've been driving EV's for about 7 years (Ford Focus EV, Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X, Bolt and Leaf). Over that time I've developed my opinions about charging and I'm going to share them here for all to see and learn - LOL

1st off kudos to Porsche on this car - but after coming from Tesla I found the charging information/situation with Porsche to be lacking.

The Best mobile charger in my opinion is a Gen-2 Tesla Universal Mobile Charger (UMC - $320). Carry one of these babies in your EV and you can charge _ANYWHERE_ - it’s a very reasonable 32 amp charger for it’s price in that you can use virtually any AC plug you run into. (It’s unclear what mobile EVSE/charger Porsche will include if any with the car - this advice will be subject to actual what’s included with the car - if Porsche includes a flexible mobile charger with the car with 32 or 40 amp charge rate then this advice can be safely ignored)

https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...or-bundle.html

for those of you not familiar with the Tesla Gen-2 UMC it supports the following charge rates via various adapters you can buy from Tesla…

The Gen-2 Tesla UMC comes with two included plug adapters - NEMA 5-15 (normal house hold plug) and NEMA 14-50 (RV Park 50 amp 240 volts - charge rate of up to 32 amps)

You can purchase additional adapters ($35 each) allowing to potentially charge at home or on the road with the following plug types

NEMA 10-30 (30 amps - 24 amp charge rate), NEMA 14-30 (30 amps - 24 amp charge rate), NEMA 5-20 (20 AMP/120 volt, 16 amp charge rate), NEMA 6-15, NEMA 6-20, NEMA 6-50

Of these adapters I recommend the following:
  • NEMA 10-30 - old style electric Dryer/Waterheater plugs - charge at family’s house while visiting if they have an electric dryer or water heater
  • NEMA 14-30 - new style electric Dryver/Waterheater - see above
  • NEMA 6-50 - these are often found in Mechanic’s shops for arc-welders - 240 volts 50 AMP’s
  • NEMA 5-20 adapter - it’s actually 50% more overnight charge if you say have a hotel with one of these
NOTE: if you have a Gen-2 Tesla UMC with you both the NEMA 14-30 and 14-50 adapters will allow you to charge your EV @ 24amps/32amps at virtually _ANY_ RV park - and once you start looking there are more of these than you can imagine (KOA anyone, 99% have NEMA 14-50s you can rent a space for like $10) - so you can go virtually anywhere you can find a camp ground and use an RV-hookup (normally for a very reasonable rate) and charge your EV anywhere you can find electricity. I have used many many RV/camp grounds to charge my Tesla's and that allows me to drive EV's pretty much anywhere with no "charging" infrastructure- because all I need is a "plug".

If you chose to go with the Tesla UMC you MUST purchase a JDapter ($239) or TeslaTap ($239)

https://shop.quickchargepower.com/JD...r-JDPTRSTB.htm

http://www.umc-j1772.com/index.php?r...&product_id=50

This adapter converts the Tesla UMC connector to a standard J-1772 EV charging connector - it allows _ANY_ J-1772 EV to charge from a Tesla L2 charger (NOT superchargers). For those of you that don’t know Tesla supports what they call a Tesla Destination charging network (chargers installed with Tesla’s assistance at various locations all over North America - these chargers vary in Amperage from 20-80 AMP’s and are typically free if you are a customer of the associated business). The link below is an interactive map of all the Tesla L2 Destination chargers - if you have the $239 adapter you can use these charging locations (with permission) in addition to normal J-1772 chargers - so you great expand your potential charging solutions if you have this adapter.

https://www.tesla.com/findus#/bounds...arger&name=usa

You do not need a “membership/account” with Tesla for use of these chargers, usage is at the discretion of the associated business owners - NOT Tesla. Many of these business have both J-1772 and Tesla chargers on site, and carrying this adapter simply offers you the choice of using a Tesla charger if all the J-1772 chargers are occupied - most business owners won’t care. In some rare cases some businesses have ONLY Tesla chargers and this adapter would let you charge your EV should you encounter this situation. Other forums have had extensive discussion on this topic and I believe it is well established that this adapter is a MUST have for any serous EV road warrior, even _IF_ you do not plan to use a Gen-2 Tesla UMC for your home charging solution.

Home charging this topic has been discussed ad nausea on the Tesla/EV forums it comes down to these basic choices.
  1. some people don't feel they need one and opt for public/work based chargers - I applaud these people's sprit and they honestly believe this works for them. I'm too much of a control freak to go this route and want to know I can charge my car at a reasonable rate on my own terms.
  2. Install a NEMA 14-50 plug in their garage - and this gives you many options as you can buy many many chargers and install them by simply plugging them in.
  3. some people have two (2) Tesla UMC's with them - one in car , and one that lives in the garage plugged into the NEMA 14-50 plug or what ever plug they decide to install.
  4. some people have one (1) UMC - and their's lives in their garage and they only take it out of the garage when "traveling"
  5. Many people opt for the Tesla Wall connector - see link below- the reason for this is safety (hard wired) and configurability - it can be configured to provide 16-80 amps with appropriate circuitry - making it one of the most flexible EV chargers on the market for a fair price ($500) - of course you'll need a JDapter/TeslaTap to use it.
  6. My personal recommendation for home charging is to go with either: Tesla Wall connector + Adatper, Clipper creek, JuiceBox, or ChargePoint. The clipper creek chargers are bullet proof and have a wide wide range of charging options (12 amp to 100 amp J-1772 chargers)
Tesla Wall Connector - https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...connector.html
Gen-2 Tesla UMC - https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product...or-bundle.html
ClipperCreek - https://store.clippercreek.com/hcs-5...category_id=69
Thanks for taking the time to write this up @daveo4EV ! I’m coming across from a 2018 Model 3 Performance to a Taycan Turbo (long story about Model S Plaid Delays and the Yoke).

Your post really needs to be stickied somewhere and required reading.. That and the Inside EVs discussion about Recup. My context was Tesla regen and it was way off - https://insideevs.com/reviews/397503/porsche-taycan-regenerative-braking-deep-dive/

Oh for others who want to read the Mobile Charger Connect manual that was posted above, it’s now at https://files.porsche.com/filestore...e-Mobile-Charger-Connect-Operating-Manual.pdf
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