[Ampera PT]

Hi there.
I'm Paul (Paulo in Portuguese) 36, married and father of 10 years old son, and Airmen in the PAF.

In 2016 i start searching for a replacement for one of my cars, and the new Alfa Romeo Giulia was on the table (I'm a Alfa enthusiast) but the price in new came so high that i just keep waiting for a service/used one.

Meanwhile in the way of surfing on-line for used cars, i came across some used Opel Amperas, a car that when i first heard of in 2011, also called my attention and interest. In that time, i remember showing it to my wife and how great and revolutionary the Voltec system was.
But the Ampera when new also was a +40.000€'s car (like the new Alfa Romeo Giulia ) and a little to expensive for me, but nowadays when i saw the price of used ones, i started searching feedback on used (Volt/Ampera) ones, to see how they pass the test of time.
That's when i came across this site, and after some research i decided that would import one from Holland, one of the few European countries were the Volt/Ampera sold in some good numbers.
After some analyses of the online-market for some months, one appear in a dealer with good feedback here in PT, were some guys already had purchased their Amperas.
So last April i finally take a flight to ''The Netherlands'' and bought my Ampera, and i'm enjoying it since them
Please excuse my English, i try hard but i know that sometimes will not be the most correct way to say what i mean.
P.S. As soon as i can, i will post some pics,

 

[hellsop]

Bem vindo, Paulo!

Second Dutch Ampera to appear this week. Did someone put them on special offer?

Seu inglês é melhor do que o meu português, que é terrível e corrompido pelos brasileiros.

 

[BAZINGA]

Paulo, welcome to the family. It's amazing what some folks will do to buy a Volt/Ampera. Can you tell us how you are charge it? Any special challenges to get the OEM EVSE to work in Portugal?

I wish you many happy and trouble free miles. And a big USAF salute to a fellow airman.

 

[Ampera PT]

Obrigado, Thanks for the welcoming words.

Bem vindo, Paulo!

Second Dutch Ampera to appear this week. Did someone put them on special offer?

Seu inglês é melhor do que o meu português, que é terrível e corrompido pelos brasileiros.

Here in southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and even in France) the Volt and Ampera sold in very few numbers. Import one from Holland or Germany is the best way to get one over here.
In the last 2 years in Holland, the 4 year leasing ones start to pop-up at good prices because many people have afraid of buying an used electric car (because of batteries degradation in other EV's).

 

[Ampera PT]

Paulo, welcome to the family. It's amazing what some folks will do to buy a Volt/Ampera. Can you tell us how you are charge it? Any special challenges to get the OEM EVSE to work in Portugal?

I wish you many happy and trouble free miles. And a big USAF salute to a fellow airman.

Hi Tom. Thanks for the words.
Did you ever been on 65 Air Base Wing? I was there for 2 years and meet many USAF staff, good times...
My EVSE still is the OEM orange one, but they are known to have some problems and are replaced free of charge under warranty.
It came with 4 different connector adapters for some countries that use different grid connectors (like in the UK) but the standard one is the one that almost every mainland central/southern Europe use.
It uses the 240V house grid and we can choose between 10A or 6A. I use a grid connection with an 16A fuse that is present in almost every garage in houses over here, so it was plug and play when i get home =).
I can choose between 10A(+/-5hours) or 6 Amp(+/-8hours) and use 6Amp because in 10A, the cooling system turn on a few times during the charging process, and at 6A i never heard it running, so i presume it is friendlier to the battery system.
Also you must have ground, but that is standard in every house grid connection. Only smaller apparatus that use less energy use a connector that don't have ground, like 5v chargers for phones. (you can see here what i mean Type C and F worldstandards.eu/electricity/plugs-and-sockets/ )

 

[hellsop]

My EVSE still is the OEM orange one, but they are known to have some problems and are replaced free of charge under warranty.

The ones with both cords orange are the ones that may have problems. The ones with a short black cord and a long orange one are the replacements, and they're okay. The ones with two black cords came in when the changing for the charge rate moved from being on the EVSE to being in the car, with the 2013 model. If you end up with one of those, you'll be only charging at one rate forever.

It came with 4 different connector adapters for some countries that use different grid connectors (like in the UK) but the standard one is the one that almost every mainland central/southern Europe use.
It uses the 220V house grid and we can choose between 10A or 6A. I use a grid connection with an 16A fuse that is present in almost every garage in houses over here, so it was plug and play when i get home =).
I can choose between 10A(+/-5hours) or 6 Amp(+/-8hours) and use 6Amp because in 10A, the cooling system turn on a few times during the charging process, and at 6A i never heard it running, so i presume it is friendlier to the battery system.

It's not enough friendlier to worry about. The car was designed to use the higher charge rate at any time, and the cooling system is how it does that. Even the slow rate will run the cooling system when things get warm enough, just as both rates will warm the battery if the weather is cool enough, and then the slower rate will suffer more because as much as 20% of the power will be heating the battery instead of charging it.

 

[Ampera PT]

Bem vindo, Paulo!

Second Dutch Ampera to appear this week. Did someone put them on special offer?

Seu inglês é melhor do que o meu português, que é terrível e corrompido pelos brasileiros.

(I had made a reply this morning, before reply to Tom, don't know what happened, don't appear up here...maybe i mess up)
Obrigado pelas Boas-vindas, your PT is perfect =).
So in Portugal (and also Spain, Italy, and even France) the Volt/Ampera didn´t sell very well, because it was at the price of premium D segment, and Leasing also didn't was a thing with this models or even on others EV.
In Northern Europe, more Ambient concerned Governments, gave very large tax reductions and incentives, specially in Holland, were many were sold as leasing to business companies. So, in the last 2 years, the 4 years Leasing ones star to pop up like mushrooms in the used market (you can see them on mobile.de or autoscout.com) at good prices and catch the attention of people around Europe.
And that's it, some guys here in Portugal start import them, some for particular use, others to make money, and don't forget that the gas price here is 1.4€ L = 6,13 usd per gallon...thats a great incentive.

 

[Ampera PT]

I only got the car a few months ago, and I'm still new in the subject, and learning every day. I live in a very temperate climate, and certainly you are right, but i almost never need to fast charging, and at 10A some times it needs to cool down the temperature, so i use the 6A.
In the winter, maybe i will charge at 10A, if i see that the cooling system wont start.

 

[Ampera PT]

Some Pics.
In the dealer;




In France for launch and in the end of first day of road-trip (France is big as hell to cross-over):


In Spain in the second day;

Arrived in the end of second day at 10pm, where my family was waiting to celebrate my 36 anniversary that was in that same day.
In the next day after 1st charge, with road-trip stats;

What a better gift than an adventure like this one, trouble free and with a new ''toy'' =).

 

[Ampera PT]

Made in USA, =)