I'm pissed off I have to spend £160 on a 32A three phase cable ... as I don't really want 3 cables. I also want to use destination chargers a lot, which in the UK tend to be untethered 7kW.

I agree it's really dumb ... they should have just given us a 32A Three Phase to avoid all this. It's probably because a 11kw only needs 16A 3P cable ... but what about the US? They need up to a 48A for home charging.

In addition this could have been avoided if the ordering screen showed 7kW charging rather than just EU Code 3 Type 2 BS927827 .... which no one knows what they area.

But then if I'm ok spending £49k on a car, does £160 make that much difference?

 

I'm pissed off I have to spend £160 on a 32A three phase cable ... as I don't really want 3 cables. I also want to use destination chargers a lot, which in the UK tend to be untethered 7kW.

I agree it's really dumb ... they should have just given us a 32A Three Phase to avoid all this. It's probably because a 11kw only needs 16A 3P cable ... but what about the US? They need up to a 48A for home charging.

In addition this could have been avoided if the ordering screen showed 7kW charging rather than just EU Code 3 Type 2 BS927827 .... which no one knows what they area.

But then if I'm ok spending £49k on a car, does £160 make that much difference?

Yes, I think it is definitely below par. Could it be that three-phase is more common on the continent, and somehow they did not make allowance for the UK?

 

Yeah its a bit like when you buy a new apple laptop and have to spend hundreds of pounds on USB-C adapters.

But then if I'm ok spending £49k on a car, does £160 make that much difference?

I agree its a bit annoying, but yeah this is my attitude: whats another £150-odd! ^^ 🤷‍♂️

 

I'm new to EVs so still trying to get my head around charging. Can you guys link to the cable that you are thinking of purchasing. Will the new cable be used at home on an untethered charger as well as when you are out and about? Cheers

 

Charging rate - will 7kW be possible?

A couple of things makes me wonder if 7kW charging will not be possible. The Polestar website quotes on 3.7 or 11 kW charging. The latter is three phase charging at 16 A. The charging cable provided by Polestar is rated for 16A. To charge at 7kW, you need a 32A supply and a 32A cable! Most...

www.polestar-forum.com

See Link Above for Cables.

I'll try and explain like this:-

Supplied Cables:-

13A UK Plug to Car Cable : Around 3kW.

16A 3 Phase Type 2 to Car Cable : Either at 3.6kW or 11Kw
^^ This is what is used from an non-tethered charger to your car. So at a hotel or train station etc.. or at home if you have non-tethered box.

^^ Non-Tethered charger (ie no cable already attached)

Each "phase" can carry 16A, so you either get just 3.6kW Single Phase or 11kW at Three Phase - most homes and "7kW" chargers are single phase. So you are only getting 1/2 the charge possible if you use the supplied Type 2 cable.

Buying a 3 Phase Type 2 to Car cable at 32A means you can use this for both Single Phase non-tethered boxes and Three Phase. It's overkill for the 3 Phase, but does allow a single phase to reach 32A (7kW).

See my link above .... but either pay £130 and carry 3 cables ... or pay £156 and only carry two.

Yes, I think it is definitely below par. Could it be that three-phase is more common on the continent, and somehow they did not make allowance for the UK?

Yes the rest of the EU mostly uses three phase chargers.

 

@GDank posted a list here:

Charging rate - will 7kW be possible?

A couple of things makes me wonder if 7kW charging will not be possible. The Polestar website quotes on 3.7 or 11 kW charging. The latter is three phase charging at 16 A. The charging cable provided by Polestar is rated for 16A. To charge at 7kW, you need a 32A supply and a 32A cable! Most...

www.polestar-forum.com

 

Thanks, for the info

Still have to take a couple of cables around. Would expect at campsites, or staying overnight at relatives to charge on the 13A cable.

That is what I will be doing from Monday when I take delivery of my car. Only just getting finding an electrician, I am in hurry at present as my milage is rather limited at present.

 

Cable supplied with my car:

 

That doesn't mean anything unfortunately - that's the maximum rating of the plug. Doesn't tell you what the cable is.

 

If so, that would be very misleading labelling. The cable has a sticker that states 32A MAX. There is no amperage printed on the cable, but '5x6', and 6mm should be enough for 32A. I cannot test this myself, since I use 400V TN/ 3 x 16A charging.

 

That certainly is a 32A cable. Did that come as standard with the car or did you pay extra for it?

In the UK they are supplying a 3 x 16A cable (2.5mm)

 

Intriguing. This was the standard 4.5m cable supplied with the car, at no extra cost. Perhaps they were using whatever they had in stock for the first cars, or they have different default options, depending on the market/country. I do not know if the cable was packed in the car at the end point (i.e. Oslo), or came with the car from China.

 

Certainly looks like the UK cars come with the wrong cable.

 

Well correct as per the spec sheet.

Wrong as not a 7kW which we use more.

 

Looks like VW are doing the same as Polestar. 16A 3 Phase cable.

 

I wonder what proportion of 7kW home chargers are tethered?...

 

In the UK even if you said 25% that's still a lot and it's more to do with destination chargers. .. I think they look at the EU as a whole and go "hmm 16a 3 Phase" .... maybe Brexit will be good fir us! (that's joke ... not a political statement - lets not go there!)

 

Not very scientific or anything ... but guess below what is the 7kW chargers only and the 11kW chargers only.

 

Exactly. Well done, VW (sarcastic clap).

 

As much as I agree it is annoying, the UK has about 14% of the European Union's population (just ignore brexit for a moment). If California had 2% more of the US population it would be equivalent...and car manufacturers wouldn't base their inclusion of a charging Cable on a standard that only Californian's cared about any more than they are likely to change things for the UK. At some point we might want to start worrying about how many car manufacturers are going to keep making left hand drive cars, I guess we have Japan, Australia and India to think for sticking with it.

 

And south/eastern Africa

 

And the whole of South Korea. They make quite a few RHD cars for themselves too .

 

And Cyprus.. but that’s only about five cars. 🤣

 

Hi used the supplied cable for a pod point charge today. I first tried a 22kw charge point. All seemed to be charging according to pod point but it did not register as charging in the car. I then tried a 7kw pod point close by and this fired up and started charging at 10 miles per hour straightaway. Does any one know a reason for this? Unless one was not working.

 

You should have been able to get 11kw from the 22kW charger, but only 3.6kW from the 7kW charger. 3.6kW will be around 10mph ish so it seems about right

 

Yes I thought that was the case. I was surprised that the pod point showed it was charging but the car did not receive it. 11kw a bit more useful than 3.6kw.

 

I happen to have a mennekes 20a cable that came with my e350e. I can’t work out though what that would give me.... 3.7kw, 5kw or 7kw?

my home uses a different tethered cable so have never used it.

so confused by the cables... I thought a type 2 was all I needed....started looking and now I see not only different amp ratings but that the mennekes 32a cables say ‘3 phase’. Do they also work on single phase at 32a to get 7kw?

 

the mennekes 32a cables say ‘3 phase’. Do they also work on single phase at 32a to get 7kw?

It could be the cable is 16A, although the plug has 32A printed on it. The whole cable would be then be coded as 16 or 20A and you would only get 3.7kW on a single phase.

You can check by measuring the resistance between the PP and PE pins. 680 Ohm is 16A, 220 is 32A.

 

Single phase 16A = 3.6kW
Single phase 32A = 7.2kW

Three phase 16A = 3.6kW on a single phase charger / 11kW on three phase
Three phase 32A = 7.2kW on a single phase charger / 22kW on three phase*

* but not on the Polestar because it only has an 11kW charger

As krheinwald says, the connector may well say 32A on it but it doesn't mean it's a 32A cable. You could look at the cable markings - on a standard length cable, the 16A version will usually have 2.5mm conductors and the 32A one will have 4mm conductors. The only way of being absolutely certain is to measure the resistance between PP and PE.

Your 20A cable may only deliver 3.6kW rather than 5kW - it depends what resistor has been fitted to it, and whether the charger supports this slightly obscure setting.

 

Ok ..... really useful than you ..... so please for the complete noob.... I have a voltmeter..... which pins am I testing exactly??

 

Ohms range, cable disconnected, measure between PP and PE (should be labelled on the plug) but PE is the middle one on the row of three and PP is one of the small pins at the top (depends which end of the plug you’re looking at)

 

Super. PP was labelled, PE not. Magic answer = 684. also cable is stamped as 2.5mm; so despite saying 20a it looks like it will achieve only 3.7 ... same as the cable coming with my Polestar on (hopefully) Monday.
Ok so I am looking at eBay and they have 32a Type 2 cables for about £100 to £125. I assume these would be ok?

GENERATION 2 CHARGING CABLE TYPE 1 TO TYPE 2 - 10 metres - 32A | eBay

<p dir="ltr">GENERATION 2 CHARGING CABLE TYPE 1 TO TYPE 2 - 10 metres - 32A - Green plus bag. Condition is "Used but in good condition". Originally from ev cables.co.uk. Dispatched with Royal Mail 1st Class.</p>

www.ebay.co.uk

Pardon our interruption...

 

Magic answer = 684. also cable is stamped as 2.5mm; so despite saying 20a it looks like it will achieve only 3.7.

Works as designed. 16A on single phase (i.e. only one of the wires is used) is 230V*16A=3.7kW, 16A on three phases (i.e. all three wires are used) is 3*230V*16A=11kW.

With a 32A cable, you could get 230V*32A=7.4kW on single phase, if the charger supports it.

Edit: The two links you posted show thicker cables, they should be good for 32A.

These are the 16a (top) and 32A (bottom) CEE adapters for the Juice Booster with the PS key for reference. Note the thickness of the cable and the specification on the cable (2.5mm^2 vs. 6.0mm^2)

 

Same date as me....excited. That's two of us who won't be sleeping like its xmas then!

 

Same date as me....excited. That's two of us who won't be sleeping like its xmas then!

It’s also my wife’s birthday.... I’m not sure waiting in for my car to arrive was meant to be part of the plan!