EV (electric vehicle) News and Discussion

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#1777816 8-May-2017 14:37

New DC fast chargers since my last post April 28th.

1. Taupo in Kaimanawa St, beside the Fire Station. 1 x 50kw DC CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw DC CCS Type 2. Public loos right next door in the adjacent park. Two reserved EV charging parks. This charger means cars like the 30kWh Nissan LEAF or 33kWh BMW i3 or Hyundai Ioniq can do Auckland to Napier with just two 20 minute stops for charging. Previously, a stop of at least 3 hours was required at Central Motors' 32amp AC charger in Tuwharetoa St. Now down to a fraction. The charger is a joint effort between Unison and Taupo District Council. It's free to use for now. Open 24 hours.

2. Cambridge at 79 Queen St, Leamington on the north-east side of Victoria Square Park. 1 x 50kw DC CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw DC CCS Type 2. Public loos right next door in the adjacent park. Two reserved EV charging parks. Charge.net fob required to activate. This narrows the fast charger gap on SH1 on the way to / from Taupo to 124km. (You can also get to Taupo from Auckland with one charge stop via Te Awamutu, opened a month ago, and the back road via Mangakino - choices!). Can also be activated online or via txt. It costs 25c / kWh and 25c / minute to use. Open 24 hours.

3. Tairua on the east Coromandel at 6 Tokoroa Road (just off SH25). 1 x 50kw DC CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw DC CCS Type 2. About 50m from the main street and shops. It costs 25c / kWh and 25c / minute to use. Open 24 hours. Charge.Net account / RFID tag required. Can also be activated online or via txt. It's the second of four fast chargers that will ring the Coromandel peninsula. The other existing station is Thames, with Coromandel Town and Whitianga still to come.

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afe66

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#1777955 8-May-2017 17:24

Hampden, south of Oamaru. 50kW ccs2, CHAdeMO. Free to use

Very convenient for quick trip up from Dunedin for long lunch Fleur's restaurant in Moeraki.

Linuxluver

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#1781648 13-May-2017 14:25

afe66: Hampden, south of Oamaru. 50kW ccs2, CHAdeMO. Free to use

Very convenient for quick trip up from Dunedin for long lunch Fleur's restaurant in Moeraki.

Great!

These are going in very fast down south. Once the South island gets rolling, it's ROLLING! :-)

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Linuxluver

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#1782735 15-May-2017 19:37

Some new fast chargers have opened since my post of May 8th...and one existing fast charger is out of order.

1. Turangi: 1 Pihanga Rd by the Z station. Close to just about everything in the heart of Turangi. 1 x 50kw DC CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw DC CCS Type 2. Public loos nearby in several directions. Two reserved EV charging parks. This charger means cars like the 30kWh Nissan LEAF or 33kWh BMW i3 or Hyundai Ioniq can do Turangi to Mangaweka, across the desert road. Open 24 hours. Charge.Net operated. 25c / minute + 25c / kWh.

2. Masterton: 3 Dixon St. Close to many shops and amenities. Beware the sandflies in the adjacent park. I've been eaten alive there. 1 x 50kw DC CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw DC CCS Type 2. Public loos nearby. Two reserved EV charging parks. This charger means cars like the 33kWh BMW i3 or Hyundai Ioniq can do Masterton to Waipukurau without recharging in Palmerston North. (At 160km on the highway it might be a stretch for a 30kWh LEAF to try it. Doable, but only with great care as it's uphill and can be windy). Open 24 hours. Charge.Net operated. 25c / minute + 25c / kWh.

3. Warkworth: Next to the New World, on the north side, toward the rear. 1 x 50kw DC CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw DC CCS Type 2. Public loos nearby in several directions. Two reserved EV charging parks. Charge.Net operated. 25c / minute + 25c / kWh. Open 24 hours. (oops - mentioned this one on April 28th).

4. Hampden: 33 Lincoln St, Hampden, Otago. Operated by Network Waitaki. Free of charge. 1 x 50kw CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw CCS Type 2. Open 24 hours. Very close to SH1.

5. Dunedin: The only fast charger in Dunedin, in the downtown Filleul Car Park, seems to be suffering from a lack of commitment. It started having problems a few weeks ago when a herd of Teslas rolled through and stressed it. It's been flakey - at best - ever since and is now showing on Plugshare as needing maintenance. People who have tried to use it say there is a cover over it saying its out of order. It's a rare sight in NZ so far as most fast chargers that have broken are typically fixed either within hours or by the next day. Dunedin's civic power company seems to be breaking new ground in slow maintenance. To be fair, their fast charger is the only one of its kind in the country, so they may be having support issues. This charger matters as it is the only one between Oamaru and Balcutha. Maybe Charge.Net will step in and fill the gap......something they have been reluctant to do as the Dunedin charger has been free of charge...and that's hard to compete with.

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afe66

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#1782789 15-May-2017 20:59

Linuxluver:

4. Hampden: 33 Lincoln St, Hampden, Otago. Operated by Network Waitaki. Free of charge. 1 x 50kw CHAdeMO and 1 x 50kw CCS Type 2. Open 24 hours. Very close to SH1.

5. Dunedin: The only fast charger in Dunedin, in the downtown Filleul Car Park, seems to be suffering from a lack of commitment. It started having problems a few weeks ago when a herd of Teslas rolled through and stressed it. It's been flakey - at best - ever since and is now showing on Plugshare as needing maintenance. People who have tried to use it say there is a cover over it saying its out of order. It's a rare sight in NZ so far as most fast chargers that have broken are typically fixed either within hours or by the next day. Dunedin's civic power company seems to be breaking new ground in slow maintenance. To be fair, their fast charger is the only one of its kind in the country, so they may be having support issues. This charger matters as it is the only one between Oamaru and Balcutha. Maybe Charge.Net will step in and fill the gap......something they have been reluctant to do as the Dunedin charger has been free of charge...and that's hard to compete with.

Rumour mill has it that the Dunedin rapid charger was vandalized. (Dunedin ev facebook page)

There is also a proposal to build a 15 story hotel on the site of the rapid charger, with consent process wrapping up I think the end of May.

Maybe I'm being disingenuous to think maybe Delta are waiting to see what happens with the hotel...

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#1782919 16-May-2017 08:15

So the Dunedin charger is broken and no one is doing a damn thing about it...

Sounds like typical Dunedin .. forever stuck in the dark ages

(Lives in Dunedin, loves the place but nothing ever seems to happen here espy when it needs to involve the DCC)

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afe66

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#1783100 16-May-2017 13:25

Except it's not DCC it's Delta.

(I know owned by council but is supposed to be separate entity..

And they are expected to return dividends to their owner like all private companies.

IE not sure it would be different if purely private in that a private company would reasonably say rather than fix it then get new one in a couple of months when the hotel is built let's wait and see. It's not like they are getting any income from a free charger in the meantime....)

paulie

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#1783144 16-May-2017 14:16

So I've just bought my 2015 leaf...best decision I've made in a long time...my question is the dealer supplied a juicepoint 8A EVSE, can I change out some components and input lead to enable it to charge at 16A? I'm a registered electrician so can do the work myself...just not sure exactly what.

RunningMan

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#1783147 16-May-2017 14:19

You would need to get a higher rated EVSE - either up to 16 or 32A, depending on whether your car has the 3.3 or 6.6kW charger on board.

paulie

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#1783152 16-May-2017 14:24

Thanks Runningman...I'm sure it must be just a matter of a relay change and maybe a resistor or two? Might ring juicepoint and see.

Linuxluver

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#1785329 20-May-2017 21:08

paulie: Thanks Runningman...I'm sure it must be just a matter of a relay change and maybe a resistor or two? Might ring juicepoint and see.

If you have a LEAF from Japan, it almost certainly has a 3.3kw AC internal charger......so 16amp.

The "legal" issue (as it has been explained to me) is that for sale in NZ the EVSE device needs to have an "SDoc" from the manufacturer stating it is compliant in NZ (or that meets a standard elsewhere that's accepted in NZ as compliant). Changing the plug or hacking the internals - even by an electrician - isn't deemed to be adequate from the regulatory point of view. They want a device that is pristine and compliant from the maker....and that avoids the risk of 'cowboy' mods that will vary from one sparkie to another.

I've spoken to WorkSafe about this as it effectively means the vast majority of imported EVs aren't compliant unless they buy an NZ-sourced EVSE like the ones from Juicepoint or (I think) the Charge-Amps 'Spark' or 'Ray' EVSE devices. Of course any EV bought locally from a car maker is (deemed to be) compliant. I told WorkSafe they risk being hugely ignored (as they already have been) if they don't offer any reasonable path to compliance.

The mods you're talking about might be perfectly safe.....but not 'compliant' as they won't have the SDoc from the device maker.....they will be hacks....and even if certified by an electrician, not 'legal' for sale. Though it may be perfectly legal for you to use them privately.

I think I have this right.

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afe66

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#1785409 21-May-2017 10:22

I wonder what house insurancer thing about non compliant cables..

If a fire resulted what would be implications?

If cable supplied by car yard and owner not aware, who is liable for costs from fire?

What if owner knew cable modified but used it any way and fire resulted?

RunningMan

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#1785416 21-May-2017 10:55

I hardly think Juicepoint would tell you how to modify their product, they may offer to sell you one that is better suited to your requirements though.

Linuxluver

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#1785606 21-May-2017 20:11

afe66: I wonder what house insurancer thing about non compliant cables..

If a fire resulted what would be implications?

If cable supplied by car yard and owner not aware, who is liable for costs from fire?

What if owner knew cable modified but used it any way and fire resulted?

There may some risk from incompetent people making poor alterations. But I suspect a competent person doing a good job of it would reduce to near nil the chance of a fire from the use of the EVSE. It may not be strictly "compliant", but nor will it result in a fire.

I guess it depends on the skills and competence of the person making the changes as to how 'real' the risk actually is.

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#1785671 21-May-2017 21:50

I have no idea how insurance investigations work but say you have a non compliant plug, and your EV catches fire (who knows, Samsung might make cars in the future). Investigation finds non compliant plug but not the cause of fire, how will that look?

Ok so you say unlikely for EV to catch fire (I beg to differ but that's me), say there is a toaster in there and it catches fire, and there's that plug again - how would that look?

Anyone in a similar situation before?

I for one have heard of 2 people's homes burn down for the first time and insurance did not pay! Lots everything! [Did not get the full story though, so not sure what happened there]

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