[Dawson060]

So I am going to be buying a 2017 Volt within the next month and I have a question about charging. I am getting the charge point home flex to charge my Volt with level 2 capability. My dad is going to be getting a Tesla Model Y within the next year so he needs 50A charging for his car while the volt needs 16A. We are looking at installing the charge point with a plug in connection via a NEMA 14-50 plug with 50A service for the Tesla when it arrives. Can I plug in my Volt with the same charger with no issues? AKA will the car regulate the 50A into 16A for the Volts charging capability?

 

[srmarti]

The Volt uses a J1772 charge connector. Telsa has a proprietary connector and offers an adaptor to use J1772 charge stations. The car negotiates with the charge station and will only charge at the rate the car or station can handle, whichever is less. I don't know if a Tesla home charger will accommodate J1772 connections. If it does, the Volt will only draw what it's onboard charger will handle. Does your Dad need 50amp charging of just want it because that's what the car is capable of accepting?

 

[Dawson060]

The Volt uses a J1772 charge connector. Telsa has a proprietary connector and offers an adaptor to use J1772 charge stations. The car negotiates with the charge station and will only charge at the rate the car or station can handle, whichever is less. I don't know if a Tesla home charger will accommodate J1772 connections. If it does, the Volt will only draw what it's onboard charger will handle. Does your Dad need 50amp charging of just want it because that's what the car is capable of accepting?

Great thanks so much! We are doing the plug in install so that when I move out I can take my charger with me and he can plug in the tesla wall connector. So excited next month to be an owner of a 2017 premier!! He wants 50A because we have an open spot in our panel that is 50A and the Tesla is capable of such speeds.

 

[leppard3]

The Tesla will come with an adapter so it can use YOUR J1772 plug. I don't know what the charge point home flex unit is capable of, he may only get 32 amps, not sure on that. I don't know that I answered your question.

 

[Dawson060]

The Tesla will come with an adapter so it can use YOUR J1772 plug. I don't know what the charge point home flex unit is capable of, he may only get 32 amps, not sure on that. I don't know that I answered your question.

Yeah we are just future proofing our garage with a NEMA 14-50 outlet with 50A service. My question was since the volt is only 16A would it be bad to plug it in using the 50A charger... I will take the home flex with me when I move out. He is buying the Tesla branded wall charger to plug in which can use the 50A

 

[TYmrLutz]

The 'charger' is in the car.(in Volts, this device lives behind the right front turn signal. It is actively cooled.) This unit communicates with the 'station' to determine safety, quantity etc..The car's software will only take what it can use, the station's software will only deliver what it can provide. The proper name of the charging station is Electric Vehicle Service Equipment (EVSE). Batteries require and produce Dircect Current only. The AC to DC conversion takes place in the vehicle charger (thats why it gets hot and requires cooling). As our homes and buildings are supplied with Alternating Current (AC), your wall unit is fed and delivers AC. With Direct Current Fast Charging (DCFC), which our Volts cannot use, all high voltage handling and cooling is in the station, the juice is fed directly to the batteries at a much quicker rate (some say it shortens battery life). Generally, you'll get 3-4 miles of range per hour using a Level I unit, and 12-14 using Level II. The newest Tesla supercharger stations can pump up to 1000 miles of range per hour.

 

[Fred_B]

I have a Clipper Creek level 2 charger for my Volt that was originally hardwired. When we moved, I took it with me and put a NEMA 14-50 plug on it. The builder for the new house put a 50A matching outlet in the garage. The Clipper Creek supplies the Volt with 16A, but there is 50A available at the outlet should I need it in the future. You shouldn't have any problem with what you want to do. The EVSE on the wall will only supply 16A to the Volt, even though the outlet is capable of 50A.

 

[DaleDe]

So I am going to be buying a 2017 Volt within the next month and I have a question about charging. I am getting the charge point home flex to charge my Volt with level 2 capability. My dad is going to be getting a Tesla Model Y within the next year so he needs 50A charging for his car while the volt needs 16A. We are looking at installing the charge point with a plug in connection via a NEMA 14-50 plug with 50A service for the Tesla when it arrives. Can I plug in my Volt with the same charger with no issues? AKA will the car regulate the 50A into 16A for the Volts charging capability?

Yes, the car will only take what it needs. The charger is built into the car. What you get is a cable that negotiates the current requirement and safety. Having a 50A will do no harm. You may need an adapter for the charge point. Personally I use the cable it came with which only uses 12A and I have a 30 AMP 240 line with a connector adapter I made to use the 115 V connector that is on the cable I have. I have a warning sign on the wall connection.

 

[Dawson060]

Yes, the car will only take what it needs. The charger is built into the car. What you get is a cable that negotiates the current requirement and safety. Having a 50A will do no harm. You may need an adapter for the charge point. Personally I use the cable it came with which only uses 12A and I have a 30 AMP 240 line with a connector adapter I made to use the 115 V connector that is on the cable I have. I have a warning sign on the wall connection.

The Charge Point EVSE has a NEMA 14-50 connection and it goes into the unit then on the other side it has the standard J1772 plug on the cord to plug into the car.

 

[stevon]

Dawson060,

An EVSE is needed to safely charge an electric vehicle. For safety EVSE negotiates the amount of current available to the amount requested. After the negotiation is complete EVSE sends power. In any case any electrical outlet can only be used at 80% of it's rated max current or a normal code breaker will trip. So a 50 amp circuit can only draw 40 amps full time (more than a couple of minutes) the plug, outlet and breaker are only rated for the 80% rule or they can and will overheat. Level 2 chargers seem to reflect this rule. 80% of a 40 amp circuit is 32 amps for example. So target the output of a chosen EVSE and follow the required supply circuit requested by that EVSE. Example 32 Amp output level 2 would require a 40 amp minimum (or more) breaker, plug, wire gauge, and outlet. The cars charger will "ask" EVSE what it needs and EVSE will supply it.

Stephen

The Charge Point EVSE has a NEMA 14-50 connection and it goes into the unit then on the other side it has the standard J1772 plug on the cord to plug into the car.

 

[DaleDe]

The Charge Point EVSE has a NEMA 14-50 connection and it goes into the unit then on the other side it has the standard J1772 plug on the cord to plug into the car.

I understand that. The cable that comes with the car is also an EVSE that can use either a 120V or a 240V source. It is limited to 12A max A (actually it is about 12.5A). In 120V mode the car can limit it to 8A for old 120 plugs.

 

[Mrclean92124]

Dale is correct... same Clipper Creek charger on the Gen 2 Volt as the Canadian model... Canadian unit comes with 220v plug and US unit comes with the 120v plug... :'( It's the same clipper creek 220v charger in both cases, only the US only uses 1/2 of the 220V charger for 1/2 charging capacity....

I made my own adapter so as not to cut off the end of the Volt Charger and labeled it clearly saying 220v ONLY !!! (just like that). Make NEMA 14-50 Male, a short pigtail of appropriate guage, and a femail 20A 120 plug....

Alternatively you can just electrical tape the pigtail onto the charger male 120 plug to make it semi-permanent...

Here's a good picture, even Home Depot sells these now...About double of the cost of the individual parts, but, easy to get. 8)

One of our Volts uses a GE DuraStation (7.7Kwh per hour @ 40A circuit -32A capacity) with an approximate charging time of 4.5 hours from full discharge.
And the other Volt uses the stock charger with the 220V pigtail adapter which takes 5.5 hours from full discharge....

The on board charger is a 3.6kwh.

We went with two NEMA 14-50 drops in the garage when we only had one volt and I'm SO glad we did. The cost for the second drop is only a small additional cost and I had planned on using for a welder, etc. but with the two vehicles it's a blessing...

No matter what you do, eventually, it's possible that you will outgrow the capacity of the outlet....But for the foreseeable future, a 40A capacity will be MORE than enough... at least for a 9.6kW charger.

To be safe, you 'could' have your electrician run 60A capable wire with a 50A circuit breaker and a NEMA 14-50 plug...Then if you do need to put in a tesla charger you could remove the NEMA outlet and swap 50A circuit breaker for 60A breaker, keep the same wire, and you are good for the full charge capacity.... =) If I could do it over again this is what I would do....

Now, I have to look and see if my electrician did this for me 8)

Here is the Tesla Wall Charger published capacities:

Circuit breaker (amps)	Maximum output (amps)	Power at 240 volts (kilowatt)
60	48	11.5 kW
50	40	9.6 kW

PS: Here is the original thread where someone dismantled the Gen2 charger and examined it carefully... Some good discussion, etc... A good read...Includes part numbers for the charger.