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Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
No three phase. All level 2 chargers are two phase, 240V, usually 30-50amps. In the US the price to install three phase is the main reason you don't see very many DC quick chargers. It's the main cost. If I remember correctly, it can cost upwards of $50,000. For that price I could buy up to 10 used Nissan Leaves and leave them strategically placed in storage sheds or willing friend's homes with a solar panel placed on the top of the shed and "exchange" my car along the way.
The best all-electric way of charging here would be to upgrade the EVSE so that it can handle 240V and up to 24amps. (Or possibly up to a maximum of 30amps.)
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That's quite interesting to read, I didn't realise that the US grid was that outdated... Better count my blessings with the Mennekes plug over here.
By the way the main price part of a DC fast charging station is the >50kW rectifier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
Solar panels would be hard to transport. Doing the math, I get one kilowatt every 10 feet on an 8 foot wide trailer. So level 1 (1.5kW) charging would require an 8' x 15' trailer. Or a 5' x 8' that's stacked in three that can fold out into a 15' x 8' surface. Or have 6 solar panels that are 4' x 5' stacked inside the car on the rear seats or with the rear seats removed. Or 12 2.5" x 4" solar panels might fit just fine in the trunk.
A 3kW trailer would need to be twice that size. Imagine an 8' x 10' trailer that has three solar panels stacked on top of each other. Or for 6kW, I'd need an 8' x 20' trailer with three sliding solar panels.
A 6.6kW solar panel would be possible to tow along behind the Leaf. Obviously it would have to fold up/stack several times in order to be small enough to transport. It would be impractical to tow an 8' x 65' trailer behind the Leaf.
It would be nice if I could design the solar panel to be 400V and then directly charge the battery through the CHAdeMO charge port whenever I stopped and pulled over. But if not, there are others of accessing the battery directly.
However, although a 6.6kW (or larger) portable solar charging system would be awesome the price would be extreme. There are 1kW solar kits on eBay for as little as $250. So 6kW would be around $1,500. But by the time you add in the frames and glass I'm sure it's not going to be worth it.
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Your average solar panel is about 150W/㎡ so to generate 6,6kW you need about 44㎡. Now let's say you can minimise the space between the cells you're still looking at about 40㎡. Even if you'd manage to cram that amount of PV in a car or on a trailer to charge at full power you need to lay it all out in full sunshine. Your produced voltage depends on the rays you're catching so you'd probably also need lower/boost the voltage depending on SoC and how sunny it is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
If I were going to go all-electric I'd try to simply get from charging station to station. Another 6.6kW charger would make it quicker to charge at each station, provided I'm the only car at the station (they all seem to have only two charging cords.) All I'd need would be some sort of emergency backup. A 1.5kW solar panel stacked up in the trunk would be feasible. Of course when the weather is bad and hurting the range would also be when the solar charger wouldn't be of much help. But a small portable generator could work as well. Obviously the generator would've be "all-electric." But it would only be for those emergencies when I didn't make it to the next charging station. I would only use it to get enough charge to get to the charging station.
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A 1,5kW is still about 10㎡-ish.
If you only want to use it as backup for the few last miles you might not make it to the next station it would make more sense to carry a 2kW tailgating generator in the trunk. Much smaller and lighter, also if you run out in any other time than a non-cloudy noon you can still use it's full potential. Depending on the trips you make it would only run a few hours a year anyway.