Q: Will using a station with higher output current rating than my vehicle can accept damage my vehicle?
A: No, using a higher amperage EV charging station poses no harm to the electric vehicle. ClipperCreek EV charging stations are a pass through, electrical safety appliance. The EV is in complete control of the charge and will only take in what power it can accept and no more. The actual charging takes place on the vehicle. Our units will supply AC power to the vehicle and the vehicle’s onboard charger will convert the AC power to DC power and charge the vehicle’s batteries.
EX: Chevy Volt can take in 3.3kW for charging and the HCS-40 can deliver up to 7.7kW. When an HCS-40 is plugged into the Volt the station will “tell” the Volt how much power is available through the stations pilot communication signal. From that point the electric vehicle will take over, activate the stations and take whatever power it wants, up to the limit established by the station.
Some of our customers will purchase 240V charging stations that can offer a higher power level than their current vehicle can accept to future-proof their installation.
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Buy our products or locate detailed information about our products, including product brochures, installation manuals and pricing at www.ClipperCreek.com. Our customer service team is available to assist you with any questions you may have Monday – Friday from 8am – 5pm PT. You can reach them at (877) 694-4194
About ClipperCreek Products: ClipperCreek products are Made in America, compatible with every plug-in vehicle, and automotive supply chain certified. As a leading supplier of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for 20 years, millions of electric vehicle charge sessions have relied on ClipperCreek. Unparalleled quality, reliability, and superior customer service are core values at ClipperCreek. Visit the ClipperCreek Online Store where we offer the widest variety of charging stations in the market. ClipperCreek products are manufactured in Auburn, CA, USA.
11850 Kemper Rd., Auburn, CA 95603
(877) 694-4194
information@clippercreek.net
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I write a regular column that appears every two weeks in the San Jose Mercury News promoting fully electric vehicles. I am preparing to do a series of columns about home charging, and plan to recommend Clipper Creek to my readers. It has taken me some time to get my head around EV acceptance rates. Your home chargers list the voltage and the amperage along with the various plug types. EV onboard charger specifications simply give a kilowatt figure. My 2020 Ioniq user manual doesn’t even clarify that the 7.2 kilowatt figure has anything to do with the acceptance rate. I finally figured out that you can divide the kilowatts by the voltage to find out the amps a car will accept at 240V, which is quite relevant when picking a level 2 charger. I can see why there is little on the internet to explain the conversion, it involves some math that many would not understand. But people facing load limitations at their sub panel (like me) need to know exactly how many amps they can possibly use, and could really use more information to match their vehicle to the home charger. Having to oversize the circuit breaker for continuous load causes additional confusions that relate to the confusing plug types. Electricians typically ask, “What kind of charger do you have in mind?” Car dealers also provide minimal guidance. They simply say that you need a 240 dryer plug. Your website is by far the most detailed and has helped me unravel the volts/amps to kilowatts conversion, but I wanted to humbly suggest that you take more time to explain the conversion, or perhaps simply include an extra column in your wonderful charts showing the minimum amperage home charger a given EV would need to make full use of the kilowatt rating of its onboard charger. Getting a level 2 charger that is plenty big does “future proof”, but some consumers need more precision. Also, automakers are rapidly improving their onboard chargers. It would be great if your charts for individual vehicles included model years. My 2020 Ioniq has a 7.2 kilowatt onboard charger, but your chart lists it at 6.6, the figure for the 2019 model year. You’ll likely sell bigger, better chargers if you include model years and keep these helpful charts up to date. One last thing. I am considering a workaround for my wimpy 100 amp sub panel that will allow me to get a bigger level 2 charger. It’s a throw switch that will toggle the current available to my electric dryer to my charger. When I’m charging the vehicle, the dryer will not have power, but there is no additional load at the sub panel. The problem is, the unit that toggles the 240volts at 30 amps is rated for up to 200 amps and costs 800 bucks. If you guys were to market similar toggles rated at just 30 and 50 amps, you could possibly reduce the cost to consumers for this kind of setup and sell both the charger and the toggle. Hate to think a person might not buy an EV because they have a 100 amp sub panel with no spare capacity.
Keep up the great work. When it comes to charging electric vehicles and providing info, you guys are the best. When I settle on my own unit for my new Ioniq, it will be made in America by Clipper Creek.
Hi Peter,
Thank you for your feedback and we are glad to hear our resources were helpful to you! We do our best to keep everything up to date and clear for customers to understand. We currently have a blog called “How long does it take to charge an electric car?” which explains how to calculate the time to charge and the charts we provide in this blog gives a miles per hour of charge to keep it simple to read. On this chart, we list various models and it includes the amperage output as well as the output in kW. You can see this blog at https://www.clippercreek.com/charging-times-chart/. I will suggest to our web team that we create something to help customers understand the conversion from amps to kilowatts.
Thank you for also pointing out the missing vehicle. We updated our EVSE Selector Tool to include the new 2020 Ioniq and our charts are currently being updated as well. There are new electric vehicles released everyday so keeping up can be tough! It is great to see more and more options becoming available!
If you need assistance selecting the right unit for your new Ioniq feel free to give our Product Specialist Team at 530-887-1674, we are happy to help!
Again, thank you for your feedback!