I'm pretty certain that those in the know can configure electric cars so they are tow. I read it somewhere, but of course if its the electronics that control the freeing of the connections to the motors that goes wrong, then you are up the junction I suppose. They must have thought of this surely? Brian
Actually, a lot of people seem to know an awful lot about teslas so maybe they are either going wrong a lot or Tesla are more good natured about others fixing their cars. They are one of the simplest designs I think, mechanically.
Brian
An awful lot of electric cars are now leased, s so when it busts you just ring the loan company up. Brian
Hmm, 9kW AC charging? Closer to 0.5 miles per minute (assuming the car can charge that fast from AC, many can?t).
Tim
I paid extra so that mine could - but I haven't tried it.
Just read a reliability survey. Tesla did very badly. Although mainly due to onboard electronics rather than the drive train.
I thought 1ph AC charging was limited to 7kW and 3ph to 22kW, beyond that they use DC rapid charging?
I believe it is. Consequently the charger is presumably 3 phase.
Tim
Limits that may only apply to chargers run from the mains, rather than a self-contained unit carried on the back of a commercial vehicle.
I thought three phase generation was more efficient anyway, so why not use it?
Most (cheape?) EVs can only take 1ph?
I didn't realise that? Does this mean the idea of 80% charge in 20 minutes while you drink your coffee is pie in the sky?
I think they'll take DC charging
I don't know anything about motor vehicles other than watching Trucking Hell and Vintage Voltage, but on the former they frequently remove the "half shafts" to disengage the wheels from the engine to allow towing.
Can't this be done with cars, and couldn't electric cars be made with such things?
Owain
It?s the chargers built into the cars that imposes the limits I believe. If your on-board charger is single phase and rated at 7kW, that?s the most you can push through it.
Tim
Because all really high speed charging is done using DC. Why install a 3 phase AC charger in a vehicle that already also has DC charging capability? Most homes only have single phase power supplies and for most people, single phase 7kW charging is quite adequate for home charging.
Tim
It?s not just price. With the advent of high speed DC charging having
3phase AC chargers built into cars *as well* doesn?t make a huge amount of economic sense.Some (not very many) have only AC charging (like the Renault Zoe) and they do have 3 phase charging.
Tim
No, because most have DC charging.
Tim
Probably when plugged into the mains for charging and when in use, from the traction battery, but the recharging when dropping too low is an separate feature ... especially as the main contactor for the traction battery will be open circuit, so the charging must be via a separate, extra circuit.
There is a control loop.
When you depress the braking actuator, that tells the charge controller to redirect the output of the motor, back to the battery. The lower the resistance path from motor to battery charger, the more energy it extracts and the faster the car "electronically" brakes.
If nothing depressed the brake, then the car doesn't know you want to reuse the regenerated energy. It then depends on motor type, as to what output voltage rise occurs on the motor output. Unloaded "generators", are dangerous. The voltage can be pretty high.
On a bottle generator on a bicycle, the normally 6V @ 0.5A output, if you disconnect the load, the voltage shoots up to 50-100 VAC. Which is definitely enough for you to feel, if your hands touch the output terminal on it.
Paul
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