Wiring a 6-50 socket to a 20amp breaker is fine. The breaker should be the weakest link. The wire and socket should be able to handle more then the breaker. You want to breaker to trip before one of the other components have an issue.

 

True, but when you see a socket with a given power rating, you rather expect that both wiring and breaker are set up to handle that power. You never see household outlets connected to wiring/breaker combinations of less than 15 amps, and some regular circuits are set up for 20.

While I'll always know the limitations of the garage outlet, I can imagine someone else moving in, many years from now, and seeing an outlet they think can handle an electric car with a 6kw or 7.2kw charger. The Nissan Leaf has a 6.6 kW charger, and we've discussed how the Cayenne e-Hybrid has a planned optional 7.2 kW charger. That corresponds to 30 or 40 amps on a 220 volt line, and you can get J1772 EVSE cables that will handle that, no specialized CHAdeMO cable required.

 

What did they pull for wire?

 

AWG 12. Which is 20 amps.

 

So under $100 in materials.


The first guy who gives a quote is always way too high or way too low.


You could always put a label on your 6-50 indicating breaker amerpage and location on panel.

 

I just learned that my Cayenne SEH is going to have the 7.2kw optional on-board charger. At least my sales rep said he thinks he was able to lock that in on Friday (my freeze date) since it was not showing on the option list prior. Will know for sure on Monday.

I ran 8 gauge wire to my socket to be safe either way. I do have the 20amp breaker, that will now need to be changed to 40amp to handle the 7.2kw. Of course that assumes the 7.2kw is indeed on the car and that the external charger is also upgraded to a 7.2kw (not the current one which I assume is 3.6 only).

I was lucky and only had to run it about a foot, so an easy do it yourself job

 

I did some errands that I didn't really need to do immediately, and depleted the battery to 40%. The Car Connect app says the remaining charge time is 1.25 hours. That's a huge, huge improvement. About a factor of 4, I'd say. On 220 it not only has more voltage, it draws a lot more current. There may be efficiency issues as well, though I couldn't say why, since the difference in voltage drop is pretty small for the distances involved.

 

I just took the PSeH to the grocery store. For comparison, PCC is saying 8 mi range with a charge time of 1:10. I think I started with 19 miles, and drove 12 all electric.

 

At this point, I mostly ignore the range estimate and look at the power meters. Either then analog one on the far left, or the digital bars you can find various places, including the PCC app.

 

Do you guys know if the wall charger is 3.6kw or 7.2kw?

Curious if I will have a different wall charger with my onboard 7.2 charger, or if the one you have is compatible for either (goes up to 7.2kw)? Or worse case is that it is 3.6kw and I will only get 7.2 on the road (at other stations).

 

The existing EVSE is definitely limited to 3.6 kW. The NEMA 6-50 cable I'm using now, for example, says that it draws at most 16 amps, which is 3.6 kW.

If they're offering on-board 7.2 kW chargers, I'd think they'd update the EVSE. Or maybe a higher-power box is included as part of the option. I know you can buy an Bosch 7.2 kW wall-mounted EVSE for $570 from Amazon.

Looking around on Chargepoint, I think most commercial level-2 charging stations are limited to 6.6 kW.

 

Makes sense (getting a 7.2 EVSE with the new on-board 7.2 charger). Will have to wait and see.

I hope I didn't jump the gun...as this is the email the dealer sent me yesterday (so its not 100% sure thing yet):

looks like I was able to get the 7.2kw charger on the Cayenne - I will know Monday!

 

Is the new uprated onboard charger a single 7.2 or twin 3.6?

 

It was hard enough to find out there is an option for the 7.2 (pretty much had to inform the dealer). I found it deep on the Porsche site (and found the option code "KB2" on some Porsche International Catalog) then emailed my sales person and Atlanta.

Basically no one has info and with my freeze date being yesterday I figured I was out of luck (as it wasn't in the configurator system yet). But that note from my sales person gave me hope that he figured it out.

Finding out the type of 7.2 (single or 2x3.6) might be a long shot until it shows up in December.

 

I've learned to assume that hopeful communiques from a dealer are probably false.

Got a PCC message from the car, charging finished at 13:40. Total charge time was 1:25, about 10 minutes more than the estimated 1:15. So yeah, it works as advertised.

I'm not entirely sure what difference a single 7.2 kW chargers would make vs. two 3.6 kW. The traction battery is 384 volts, which implies it's 106 lithium ion cells at 3.6 volts each. Charging them in two banks rather than one should be pretty much the same effect.