8A, 12A, 16A, ?

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Pawl

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 7, 2014
Messages
131
Okay, someone edify me, please.
For 120V charging the Spark EV two options: 8A and 12A. Could Chevy have configured two options for L2 as well? Say, 16A and 24A.
 
Pawl said:
Okay, someone edify me, please.
For 120V charging the Spark EV two options: 8A and 12A. Could Chevy have configured two options for L2 as well? Say, 16A and 24A.
Yeah, but then the OBC would need to be a 5.760 kW to support 24 amps @ 240 volts.
 
All OBCs will be limited by the current their rectifier can handle. At 3.3 kW that's only 13.75 A. The Volt is getting a bump to 3.6 kW so the Spark EV may as well. That means it will have able to handle a maximum of 15 A of current from 120-240V.
 
FutureFolly said:
All OBCs will be limited by the current their rectifier can handle. At 3.3 kW that's only 13.75 A. The Volt is getting a bump to 3.6 kW so the Spark EV may as well. That means it will have able to handle a maximum of 15 A of current from 120-240V.

So...comparing 13.75A/240V to 12A/120V...the voltage has more influence on speed of charging than the amperage, yes? Must, since the charging time is halved from the one to the other.
 
Pawl said:
So...comparing 13.75A/240V to 12A/120V...the voltage has more influence on speed of charging than the amperage, yes? Must, since the charging time is halved from the one to the other.

Neither has "more influence". The power is more than doubled when using 240V/13.75A vs. 120V/12A, that's all. 240V X 13.75A = 3300 Watts vs. 120V X 12A = 1440 Watts. It's possible to have 240V/6A, which would be exactly the same as 120V/12A, 1440 Watts.

Most 240V EVSE's can supply at least 16A, so the Spark's 13.75A is kinda wimpy, IMO.
 
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