Ecotricity AC chargers

Taking a trip to Penzance on Friday and the only charging points ecotricity have that far down are the AC fast charges, I tried to use one of these before at IKEA and the car wouldn't except it, does anyone know if we can now use them.
Cheers Craig

There are Ecotricity rapid CCS chargers along the M4 and at Sedgemoor, and Exeter on the M5. Once you're at Exeter there are ChargePoint Genie rapid CCS sites at Okehampton, Bodmin, St Austell, Newquay, Camborne and Hayle. www.ccs-map.eu

I've never tried the Ecotricity Fast AC although I've tried the Chargepoint Genie version. The Ecotricity website says you can connect (I'm sure you already know that) but it's a 43kW charger with Type 2 lead and I've never got one of those to charge my car - always says low-power or something like that. Even if it connected it would only charge at 7kW.

The i3's delivered in the UK (and the USA) are essentially one-phase devices. At least in the USA, some vehicles, often things like busses and delivery trucks, that can accept 3-phase power, and thus, quicker recharging (fast ac?). The i3's on-board ac-dc power supply is only capable of 7.4Kw maximum and is only wired for single-phase power. So, if the communications works, it still should charge at its maximum considering that it should be reporting more power is available. Depending on the design, the imbalance from hooking a 3-phase capable EVSE up to a vehicle only capable of single-phase might prevent it from working, but since it is just a fancy switch and the contacts aren't being overloaded, it probably would work. JUst like you can plug in a 15W florescent lamp into a circuit capable of 20A, it still will not draw more power than it is designed for, and in the case of the i3, that's 7400W.

There's a nack with the AC Ecotricity chargers. In the intialisation/handshake phase at the beginning of the charging process, you need to lift the charger plug up a little. Once charging has started, you can let it go. It's a looseness in the plug itself that causes this. I managed to get it going on a couple of occasions.

Annoying, I know.

I can confirm they're compatible.

Need to lift the handle to initialize, but other than that have been pretty reliable for me in the last month.

The J1773 standard used in the USA and Canada (and maybe some other places?) relies on a mechanical thumb-operated latch to hold the plug into the EV. This tends to even out the tension and helps (still doesn't guarantee) to ensure all of the pins make good contact. The plug chosen for Europe operates differently, and the weight of the thing along with the cable can apply a fair amount of tension onto the socket and potentially cause issues in some situations.

displaced1980 said:

I can confirm they're compatible.

Need to lift the handle to initialize, but other than that have been pretty reliable for me in the last month.

Click to expand...

I am confused, what is it that you are confirming?

Fast AC charging at 43kw?