Only drawing 1.7kW from 11kW Gridserve Charger

[LukeTim]

I’ve had my car plugged in to an 11kW Gridserve unit at Ikea for about 40 minutes now and the whole time it’s only managed to draw 1.7kW. Has anybody seen this before? It’s currently 1°C outside, but I turned on battery heating just in case. I also wondered whether something might have happened to my charging cable. I don’t think I’ve used it in a while, since I got in home charging.

There is a 30kW CCS next to it but it was occupied when I arrived. Now free but currently can’t go to my car to switch. Would just be great to know what’s going on with the AC charger.

 

[bedsev]

Sometimes chargers are just faulty or having a bad day. Went to a 7kW at Aldi the other day and the first one was only giving 1kW, changed to another one and it was 6.6kW.

 

[siteguru]

Battery heating will be draining from the battery as you're trying to charge it.

The 11kW charge point may only give 3.7kW maximum charge rate to a vehicle with a single phase charger (like yours probably is, unless you have an early car with a 3-phase onboard charger, and you're using a 3-phase cable). The iSmart app should tell you what charge rate the car is seeing.

 

[Jomarkh]

I’ve had my car plugged in to an 11kW Gridserve unit at Ikea for about 40 minutes now and the whole time it’s only managed to draw 1.7kW. Has anybody seen this before? It’s currently 1°C outside, but I turned on battery heating just in case. I also wondered whether something might have happened to my charging cable. I don’t think I’ve used it in a while, since I got in home charging.

There is a 30kW CCS next to it but it was occupied when I arrived. Now free but currently can’t go to my car to switch. Would just be great to know what’s going on with the AC charger.

Did the charge rate go up when the CCS stopped delivering power?

 

[LukeTim]

Did the charge rate go up when the CCS stopped delivering power?

No it didn’t. It remained at 1.7kW.

Battery heating will be draining from the battery as you're trying to charge it.

The 11kW charge point may only give 3.7kW maximum charge rate to a vehicle with a single phase charger (like yours probably is, unless you have an early car with a 3-phase onboard charger, and you're using a 3-phase cable). The iSmart app should tell you what charge rate the car is seeing.

It was 1.7kW from the beginning. I turned on battery heating after a few minutes and it dropped to around 0.3kW but then it went back up to 1.7kW and stayed there.

In the end I had to drive across the road to a 75kW Osprey charger. A bit inconvenient but at least I was able to drive home straight away once we were done shopping.

Sometimes chargers are just faulty or having a bad day. Went to 7k at Aldi the other day and the first one was only giving 1kwph , changed to another one and it was 6.6.

I think this must have been it. My Ohme charger at home delivers the full 6.6 without issue so I know there’s nothing wrong with the car.

 

[Tight Git]

I think this must have been it. My Ohme charger at home delivers the full 6.6 without issue so I know there’s nothing wrong with the car.

That only proves that your car will charge at 7kW on a single phase charger.

The one you were trying sounds like an 11kW 3 phase charger and you will only get 3.7kW and if the charger shares the charge between 2 outlets it can then halve the charge!

It's a minefield of confusion

 

[LukeTim]

I think this must have been it. My Ohme charger at home delivers the full 6.6 without issue so I know there’s nothing wrong with the car.

That only proves that your car will charge at 7kW on a single phase charger.

The one you were trying sounds like an 11kW 3 phase charger and you will only get 3.7kW and if the charger shares the charge between 2 outlets it can then halve the charge!

It's a minefield of confusion

Oh I didn’t realise that. I’ll probably avoid 11kW in future in that case.

I guess 22kW must be 7.4kW per phase then? I’m sure I’ve used one of those and got the full power.

 

[Coulomb]

I guess 22kW must be 7.4kW per phase then? I’m sure I’ve used one of those and got the full power.

Yes.

11kW "chargers" are a bad choice, since there are so many EVs with single phase on-board chargers. Maybe one day all EVs will come as standard with 11kW OBCs or larger. Or perhaps three 2.4kW OBCs that automatically make the best use of available power, whether single or three phase.

You are right to avoid 11kW "chargers" where possible. They are fortunately rare, at least in my area (Queensland, Australia).

The 1.7kW that the car reports is direct into the battery; it is probably drawing around 2kW from the cable. The rest goes into losses and 12V loads. Usually you can expect about 3.6kW from such a "charger", resulting in a bit over 3kW into the HV battery.

 

[damo2929]

Usually you can expect about 3.6kW from such a "charger", resulting in a bit over 3kW into the HV battery.

On the 3.6 kW charger at work it only puts 2.7kW into the battery. It's free so I don't care