http://evsolutions.avinc.com/products/at_home/home_charging_appliance Home Charging ApplianceHCA L-2* FEATURESFeaturing Level 2 charging convenience Integrated energy storage Designed to charge any standard EV or PHEV with standardized connector Fast setup No electrical permit needed No professional installation needed Anticipated full charge in 3-8 hours depending on conditions Charge any time without “peak demand” charges* Moveable unit follows you to your next residence Promotes less wear on power distribution grid Promotes a more balanced grid Various financing options availableHOME CHARGING APPLIANCE SPECIFICATIONSCharging System: Level 2 Connector: SAE J1772 Input Voltage: 120VAC Output Power: Up to 6.6kW (at 240VAC) from battery | 1.4kW to 1.9kW (at 120VAC) when battery depleted Frequency: 50Hz / 60Hz Output Current: 30A max
I wonder how big the battery is in that thing. Maybe 5 kWh? In which case, a 85 kWh battery would take roughly 43 hours to fully charge from the lowest level. If we assume it's 20 kWh, a 85 kWh battery would take around 37 hours. I can't see much market for it, in any case. Any significant battery would make it a lot more expensive than simply wiring up a beefy 240 V line.
Why? Surely, if the battery was big enough to make it useful, it would cost too much to make it saleable. And, if the battery was small enough to make it saleable, it would be too small to make a difference to a 110volt/10amp charge.
This could work for Volts and Leafs with their smaller batteries but not a Tesla. I agree it has limited utility but could be helpful for those in a condo. I assume you would have the higher rate for the first hour and then it drops down to a normal 110 outlet.
If it has the higher rate for an hour, that would be a battery of around 5 kWh. If we assume really cheap lead-acid batteries, how much would 5 kWh cost? I'm guessing at least $1000. Add in the electronics, development, marketing, profit, etc, and we're probably not looking at less than $3000. This is for a device that fully charges a Volt in about 6 hours instead of around 8.5 hours. What market could there be for this? How many people have a place to park their car where they can safely use this charger without worrying about it getting stolen or anything, and yet don't have the opportunity to spend those $3000 on an electrician?
5 kwh could be as simple as 2 good sized car batteries (12 v 200 amps) which can be had for $200. So it is not that much money. I also believe that the Volt and Leaf only have 3.3 kwh charger.
Don't confuse cranking amps of a car battery with amp hours capacity. A typical car battery probably has no more than 50 amp hours, which is only 600 watt hours. I'm sure anyone with a home built EV can provide more detail.
I'm still confused how this works. Given the size of the box, it looks like it will fit perhaps 2 or 4 regular car-battery sized lead acids. Assuming we need 5kWh capacity and will drain at 6.6kW, what sort of size of lead acid batteries would we need? Given a 23kWh battery in the EV, even 5kWh is only going to give us about an hour of charging (<25% SOC) before falling back to 120v.
Volt users are OK with the base model. But, if you have an EV with a larger battery then you need the "range extended" version with backup generator so you avoid "charger capacity anxiety"...
The cheapest high-capacity lead acid batteries I can find run about $300-500, and you'd need three. That would work out to around $1000. I think that if you are very optimistic, the charger would cost at least $1500. That's still a high price to pay for marginal benefit. (If you know of any place you can buy them cheaper, I'm all ears.)
Look at the Trojan flooded golf cart batteries. That is the cheapenormal st format and 225I amp hrs runs $125. I agree not the cheapest solution but I see places like apartments or condos where one may be limited to a 110 outlet.