Hi,
I'm lost in cable selection as an accessory cable for my new PS2 I'm just ordering...
Can someone guide me if I need a Public Charge Cable 2C / 6m / IEC 3P 400V 32A 11kW / Type 2 / Mode 3 (states industrial plug)?
And EV is budging, so I'm at a loss - would you invest in this cable? Is it enough to have the classic home charging cable and go to chargers offering 50kW which have attached cable?
What is your reasoning?
Many kudos.
I am in Australia and have just come out of an MG ZS EV, which has a 44.5kW/h battery, a 260km range and a CCS2 combo. The charging is very similar to the Polestar 2, but with only a 7kW single phase onboard charger, rather than the 11kW three-phase charger the Polestar 2 has.
My observations follow as someone who used the car for 15-25km a day on average with an occasional 100km round trip in the metro region and a couple of longer road trips into regional Victoria.
I had a tethered Level 2 charger installed which could only supply about 20 amps (~4.8kW) due to switchboard limitations, so the car would comfortably charge to high SOC from 20-30% overnight. I hardly ever needed to plug it in, maybe once a fortnight, so I figured I could have gotten away with the normal 10amp "granny" charger, but I understand that can cause thermal issues on 10amp household circuits if used regularly.
I had a type2 to type 2 cable which came with the car, which I used at a local solar suppliers premises to get a free charge over a sunday afternoon at 7kW a couple of times, but when I travelled longer distances outside of metro areas I relied solely on the DC fast charging networks supplied by Chargefox and Evie, which have tethered CCS2 Combo connectors, so I did not need to use the type2-type2 cable.
There are places in regional Australia that use untethered chargers and I feel that is a compelling enough reason to have and carry a type-2 to type 2 cable. Many of them are three-phase and can supply 11kW at 16amps, which is what the Polestar 2 cable supports and can get a decent amount of charge into the car over a longer lunch or dinner etc.
Beware the public/industrial plug charging (type2-to-type2) cable that Polestar Australia sells actually has technical information listed that states it will only supply 16amps, which means on a single-phase untethered connection will only end up getting 3.6kW instead of 7kW you'd get with a 32amp cable, which is only going to get you 20km in range per hour of charging, so not very useful unless you're in a real bind.
Charging assistant
So, with that clanger of a limitation in mind (and being made $1,200 lighter for the privilege), instead of buying the Polestar one, have a look at three-phase 32amp type2-to-type2 cables from evse.com.au, Jetcharge.com.au, evchargers.com.au or similar. Make sure it's Australian standards (to avoid warranty or insurance issues). Expect to pay $250-$300 for a 5m cable, more for longer.
I think I paid about $270 from Jetcharge and mine came with a carry bag, Aus standards and tested and tagged. I think at that price, given it can provide AC charging up to 11kW at some regional locations and 7kW if only single phase, it's a worthwhile tool in the toolbox when travelling regionally. Also good to get free charges in a reasonable amount of time from some metro locations.
p.s for our American friends, all amperage and kW outputs listed above are predicated on a 240v standard used on domestic supply here