Charging cable

[Kai120]

Hi, Everyone,

I am new on here and only had my ID4 pro performance for 6 months so, still trying to understand the “magic” of electric cars.

Hopefully a straightforward question for you guys.

I would like to buy a 7.5Mtr long cable to give me more flexibility when charging at home on my Easee 7.4Kwh charger. Various companies on the web seem to suggest going for a 22Kwh 32amp cable rather than the standard 7Kwh cable. (Came with car).

I have booked a hotel for a weekend soon, that has offered a 22Kwh charger but, I must bring a cable. So you see the attraction for me to get it.

Is there any problem with buying the 22Kwh cable even though I would use it 90% of the time at home ? What difference would it make, if any ?

Thanks

[Vander]

Hi and welcome, hope the EV journey's going well for you.

Charging, cables and plugs can be a bit confusing - hopefully I can shed a bit of light.

To avoid TLDR, the summary of what foillows is - CHECK THE CABLE YOU ALREADY HAVE (CAME WITH CAR) AS VW SUPPLIES A 22kW CABLE. YOU CAN USE THIS AT HOME. IF YOU NEED A LONGER ONE, GO FOR 22KW BUT MAKE SURE YOU GET TYPE 2 AND NOT TYPE 1.




It might be helpful to refer to these pages...

https://wallbox.com/en_ca/faqs-plug-types

https://www.zap-map.com/ev-guides/connector-types


Keep in mind the 2 types of plug you can insert into your car -

- "Type 2" - The flattened circle plug with 7 pins, not all may be in use. Don't confuse Type 2 with Mode 2.
- "CCS" - This plug combines in one plug the flattened circle above and an extra bit to use the 2 DC pins. This is for higher power chargers. These chargers may also offer CHAdeMO, which your ID can't use.


A few basics you probably already know...

Your ID can take a wide range of power supplies to charge its batteries, for example

- Mode 2, Very Slow - 2kW - Uses a "Granny" cable with Type 2 plug. Plugs into any 230VAC outlet such as when you're visiting your Granny. The cable includes a controller box somewhere along its length.

- Mode 3, Slow - 3kW to 22kW - Uses a heavier Mode 3 Type 2 cable that is supplied with every new ID. Your question refers to this and I'll expand later... Even the fastest of these will take 7 hours to charge your ID fully from empty

- Fast, Rapid and Ultra-Rapid - 50kW - 175kW - The cables for these are always tethered to the charger. DC charging which takes from about 90 mins to as little as half an hour.


Focussing on Mode 3, you'll notice the range is from 3kW to 22kW. *** First thing to note is that the ID can only use up to 11kW using this mode. Even a 22kW charger, such as at your hotel, will only charge your car at 11kW***.

Mode 3 achieves powers up to 7kW by using a single phase AC supply such as in most homes. Higher than 7kW is achieved by using a 3-phase supply, and the cable needs 2 extra cores to deliver this.
If you plug a 7kW cable into a 22kW charger it will work perfectly well, but only at 7kW.
If you plug a 22kW cable into your 7kW Easeee at home, it will work equally well (at 7kW), but at your hotel you'll be able to take the full 11kW.

Since the cost difference between a 1-phase cable and 3-phase is quite small, you'll have more flexibility with the 22kW cable.

As standard, VW supplies a big fat 22kW 3-phase cable with new cars, which you should already have. Mine is about 6m long. If you check the silver sticker on the cable's plug you should see something like "32A 480V 3ph IP44". The 3ph bit refers to it being a 3phase cable, and hence a 22kW one.

If you don't already have one, it's worth considering buying a Granny cable - mine has got me out of trouble a time or two such as at a holiday cottage. It'll add a few useful miles in a couple of hours.

One last thing, there's a difference between kW and kWh. kW is a measure of power and kWh is energy stored. As an example, if you use your 7kW Easee for two hours you'd expect to add 14kWh of energy to your ID's battery.

Hope this helps.

V

[Kai120]

Hi Vander,
Thank you for your welcome and in depth explanation which is very much appreciated and we love the car.

The car is doing more than I expected from an Electric car, even through the winter !. I was charging to approximately 80% every 2 to 3 weeks. Appreciate we do low mileage but even so with petrol every 2 weeks cost £30, with the electric £3 to £4 excellent.

I will order a cable from Ev cables.com tomorrow, Wottz 3 phase Type 2 to Type 2 32A / 22 KW, 7.5 metres long, from your advice. Like you said it’s about £20 difference in price so will be worth it.

My car is 8 months old and came with a yellow Type 2 Mennekes cable. Looking on the plug the label says =

Max 20A/480 V~/IP 4
PN: 36297 / 3P+N+O, the O has a symbol inside it
SN: LUI03 H0005

Do I have the right cable ?

Cheers
K

[Vander]

Hi Kai

I'm so glad you like the car. I've had my ID5 getting on 2 years now and absolutely love it. It's great that you can charge mainly from home, as public charger costs have sneaked up over the last 12 months or so. Even still, it's useful to have options when you're away from home.

If I've interpreted your post correctly, it sounds like you acquired the car nearly new, and it would seem to me as though the original cable may have been swapped for an aftermarket one of lower rating. Forgive me if I've got this wrong.

If you want to be super safe, and/or the cable length isn't right, then go ahead and order the one you've found at evcables.com

However, I think you'll be okay with what you have, as long as the cable length is sufficient for you. Here's my reasoning:-



Your cable is marked Max 20A/480 V~/IP 4 and includes the line 3P+N [+O]

Breaking this information down, and in reverse order:-

- No of phases "3P+N" = this is a 3-phase cable, with Neutral. TICK

- Ingress Protection - "IP4". TICK. Okay for outdoor use, Just don't use the cable underwater!

- Maximum cable voltage "480V" TICK (3-phase electricity is less than 440V and your house is 230 or so)

- Maximum current "20A". CAUTIOUS TICK. Here's why:-
- Power is calculated as volts x amps. [A 22kW cable can carry 32Ax230Vx3 phases].
- Your cable can handle 20A [per phase] which equates to nearly 14kW. This doesn't sound enough. Remember, though, that the ID will only take 11kW AC charging no matter how high the charger can put out.

Therefore, I think you'd be okay with the cable you've got, but the decision is yours, and I'd welcome anyone else's views on my reasoning.

BW

V

[Kai120]

Hi Vander,
Thanks again for your comprehensive reply.

I must admit that I do like the look of the id 5 better than the id 4 but, as I wanted an suv type car, plus it is a tad smaller in physical size, the id 4 suits me perfectly.

Not sure how you arrived at your reasoning, you must be a detective!. Yes you are spot on, as my Life Edition 204bhp was registered in June 2023 at my local VW main dealer as a demonstrator. I bought the car in early October with just over 500 miles and 8k plus VW 2K off the price, which I was very pleased with.
yes they probably swopped cables around while charging cars and that’s why I have the Mennekes cable.

I’ve ordered the 22KW cable as I would like to take it when we go to the hotel over Easter so I know I do have a decent cable.

Sorry last question but, I am having issues with my recently installed Easee charger which, according to their App it is only charging a total of 23.4 kwh over a 5 hour period. This works out at just over 4Kw per hour. I have reported an issue to Easee.

Do you think my cable would be causing this in anyway ?

Regards
K

[Vander]

You've inadvertently spotted the flaw in my plan.

I had forgotten about the 7kW single-phase charger which would need 32A to deliver 7kW (230x32).

Since you have a 20A cable the maximum this can safely carry is just over 4kW (230x20), and this is close to what you've calculated.

What puzzles me is how the Easee could know that the cable isn't up to carrying 7kW...?

I would wait until the fatter cable you've ordered arrives, and then try that.

This page https://support.easee.com/hc/en-gb/arti ... I-expected gives a better explanation than mine, and suggests that the Easee installer may have set a current limit, possibly because of your 20A cable, in which case all kudos to them for looking after your safety.

Let us know how this pans out....

V

[Kai120]

Hi Vander,

Just to say that after you asked for my cable info which didn’t mention 22Kw , in my none electrical brain I thought would that make a difference so asked the question.

The installer asked me for my cable which we plugged in, he said it’s working and that was that.

The new cable should be here this Tuesday, will try it that night and let you know Wednesday.
K

[Kai120]

Hi Vander,

Well what a difference a correct cable makes !

Plugged in the new cable last night where it charged my car to 95% 255 miles which was an increase of 44% & 122 miles. The Easee 7.4 kw charger was set on 100% so can only assume that as it was bit colder last night that made the small difference. Not sure whether I will ever get the claimed 330 miles but at least I’m getting the charge I should have had from the beginning.

The charge was 5 hours, my cheap rate. The App said that there was a total consumption of 38.1 KWh which works out at 7.62 KW per hour, which is brilliant.

I’ve also had an email response from Easee today saying that they can see I am using a 20A cable which will only charge at 4 KWh, exactly as you said.

Thank you so much again as I would have been struggling for ages !

Regards
Kai

[Vander]

Hi Kai

I'm so glad this has worked out well for you, hopefully in time for your Easter break.

In researching the cable issue I've learned that charging cables contain an in-built component which signals to the charger what their maximum current capacity is, and this is how your Easee knew to throttle the charge while you were using a lower-capacity cable.

Every day's a schoolday!

Hope you have a great Easter, and many happy EV miles.

V