[brian]

I'm always hearing about public charging stations being put up around the country, but I'm confused. Do all PHEV's use the same plug? Can a Karma be recharged off of any electric car charging station, or is there something proprietary going on? On the Tesla I thought there was lots of proprietary stuff, but maybe not. I'm confused.

-Brian

 

[jeroen]

I'm always hearing about public charging stations being put up around the country, but I'm confused. Do all PHEV's use the same plug? Can a Karma be recharged off of any electric car charging station, or is there something proprietary going on? On the Tesla I thought there was lots of proprietary stuff, but maybe not. I'm confused.

-Brian

I'm also confused. Do they expect I sit there for 8+ hours waiting for it to be charged? :huh:

 

[Dutch]

A full charge in Europe, with 220 V, should take about 6 hours. In the US, with 110 V, it will be longer (10 hours?).

With a full electric car, like a Tesla, that would be a problem, as you can't go anywhere for quite a while.

The Karma's range-extender takes care of this problem. If you don't have the time to wait for a 6 to 10 hour full charge - usually overnight or during office hours - you can still drive with the range-extender recharging the battery on the way.

This doesn't give great mileage, but it shouldn't happen often. For most people there will be plenty of opportunities to charge in between trips. We just have to get used to plugging it in everytime and everywhere we can.

 

[brian]

Oddly, my question got answered about 2 hours after I posted that message when I watched this week's episode of Motorweek. They actually had a segment on the show where they talked specifically about that exact same question! Time to go buy a lotto ticket.

Anyways, what Motorweek said was that the plugs for Level 1 and Level 2 chargers have been standardized, so any PHEV or EV will work with any charging station. They're still working on the plug standard for Level 3 chargers, but those are for commercial use since homes can't put out the power required for one of those... yet.

The reason I was wondering about this in the first place is because Austin Energy has a rebate program on Level 2 charging stations. They're doing some research on usage, and they'll pay for up to $1500 of the cost of buying and installing the charger, but they say you may have to swap your charger out for theirs (which presumably has some metering in it so they can track data), and I just wasn't sure if theirs would be compatible with the Fisker. Apparently it will. For that matter, we should be able to buy any Level 2 charger, not just what Fisker throws at us.

-Brian

 

[ct-fiskerbuzz]

Anyways, what Motorweek said was that the plugs for Level 1 and Level 2 chargers have been standardized, so any PHEV or EV will work with any charging station. They're still working on the plug standard for Level 3 chargers, but those are for commercial use since homes can't put out the power required for one of those... yet.

That's correct! (But also incomplete: there are actually multiple standards. Luckily, there is only one that is being put out for common use in the US, and that's the one Fisker uses as well.)

I don't believe the Fisker is equipped to accept any of the proposed Level 3 chargers, although I would be happy to be proven wrong.

In any case you don't normally need a full charge while you're at the mall or the restaurant or whatever. An hours' charge on a Level 2 charger gets you about a sixth of a "tank", or a little over 8 miles. Even if you've driven 20 miles to get there, you now have about 38 miles of range (because you had about 30 left) and can get home with about 18 miles left, i.e., 1/3 of a "tank". So it will only take another 4 hours at home to refill, assuming you have had a 240V circuit installed in your garage.

 

[Fabulist]

Fisker is supposed to be releasing their own charger as well, but there are no details on that other than photos of the mock up at car shows. The charging port on the Karma is going to be SAE J1772 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772) compliant and should be able to connect to most newer public charging points in the US.

 

[kabalah70]

Actually, there is much other information about it. It will be level 2 manufactured by Lear and cost around $2500.

 

[Fabulist]

@kabalah70 -- $2500 is pretty steep for a Level-2 charging station, especially when you add in the installation charge, unless there is a subsidy to lower the cost. You can get one of these (http://goo.gl/mYnB0) for $700 that just plugs into a 220V plug. Also, Coulomb Tech has a deal with California to install free home charging stations in certain areas. At the moment, this is limited to the GM Volt and the Nissan Leaf, but they are supposedly expanding the scope of the contract to include all EVs.

 

[kabalah70]

Latest news from my dealer states that it is now EVConnect that will be making the Fisker dealer marketed Level 2 home charging station. I am guessing this means Lear was dropped. Price unknown.

 

[LonePalmBJ]

Some clarification from David Harris at Fisker
(As posted in a different thread here: http://fiskerbuzz.com/forums/Thread-Production-Date-Fixed-Finally?page=3 )

"The Recharge station manufacturer is still Lear ... EVConnect is the installation company"

And, when asked about price:

"There is a convenience charger that is included with the Karma, the Lear unit is optional and your Fisker Dealer can provide specific information."

 

[DHarris]

Some clarification from David Harris at Fisker
(As posted in a different thread here: http://fiskerbuzz.com/forums/Thread-Production-Date-Fixed-Finally?page=3 )

"The Recharge station manufacturer is still Lear ... EVConnect is the installation company"

And, when asked about price:

"There is a convenience charger that is included with the Karma, the Lear unit is optional and your Fisker Dealer can provide specific information."

The Lear unit should be under $2,500. USD

David Harris

 

[Fabulist]

The Lear unit should be under $2,500. USD

David Harris

I guess I will be getting this one after all. Quoted price is about $700 and plugs directly into a household 220V plug.

--Fab