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I have a 7metre three phase 22kw one and it is a perfect length for both my EVs. Never needed longer. I definitely would prefer it not to be shorter.
I think most people take into consideration that the charger might be ICEd so need a longer cable to plug into the car
louco73
Member
I've never needed more than my 5m cable. I've used it mostly at Chargefox AC chargers when waiting for the DC charger and just the other day in Hervey Bay Stocklands car park.
I would opt to get the longest one (if you get one rated to only 11kW ie the maximum the 3/Y can take) it will be thinner conductors so easily coiled and less weight. Also optionally remove 11mm from the male end to use as an extension and stop the risk of the cable being locked into the BYO Cable EVSE/Charger.
RichardV
Member
This is not good advice. There are more subtleties between the 11kw and 22kw cables. If you get an 11kw cable it will only charge at 3.6kw on a 7kw single phase charger. You need the thicker conductors on at least one phase to get the 7kw single phase. As you cannot predict which phase is wired through in practice you need a full 22kw cable to be able to charge at 7kw single phase.
I'm looking to get the 7.5m type 2 cable that Tesla stocks, it's rated for 16.5kw. Do you reckon I'll get somewhere between 3.6kw and 7kw on a single phase? and do you see single phase type 2 chargers often?
That's what I use at home. Single phase up to 32A. I definitely recommend a 22kw cable for flexibility. Yes it weighs a bit more but I have had mine for 5yrs and no problems moving it around and carrying it.
![[Zombie]](/tmc/data/avatars/l/236/236453.jpg?1658216431){kind=avatar}
[Zombie]
Member
The Tesla cable will do 22kW (32A per phase), but Tesla no longer sell any cars that can charge at that rate, which is why they market it the way they do.
It'll do 7.3 to 8.0 kW depending on the line voltage you get at the time.
There used to be a large number of them in Perth but they're getting pretty old now and most are dead or dying now, I believe.
RichardV
Member
"Max charge rate:
- Up to 11 kW with Model 3
- Up to 11 kW with Model Y
- Up to 16.5 kW with Model S
- Up to 16.5 kW with Model X"
The table here is giving the max charge rate for each vehicle. The cable itself is 22kW but unfortunately they don't seem it explicitly state as such.
RichardV
Member
I think the answer to this going forward will still be yes, you will see 7kw single phase chargers.
Take the 28 7kw chargers propose for Victor Harbour here,
"NRMA and JET Charge - EV Smart Holiday Parks Trial
The EV Smart Holiday Parks Trial will deploy ... at NRMA’s Victor Harbor Beachfront Holiday Park... along with 28 fast 7kW chargers on cabin and camp sites.
A flexible pricing plan will incentivize charging during periods of high renewable energy generation.
The trial will demonstrate an electric vehicle charging service model for holiday parks, that will enable guests to park, plug and holiday."
Now it does not explicitly state these are single phase but if for example they were to provide 10A per phase 3 phase chargers(really EVSEs, and this is where the distinction starts to become important), also 7kW, these would not be able to charge '7kW charging' AC capable cars, as these are almost always 7kW single phase on board chargers. For AC the real charger is on board the car and the external EVSE, sometimes refered to as a Type 2 EV 'charger', merely passes through the site and vehicle negotiated maximum charge per phase.
If they were for example to provide 'only' 11kW chargers the cars like the Atto 3 with its 7kW single phase charger only get 3.6kW (as would early model S cars in Australia without a relay harness modification to link two of the three phases of on board charging into one phase. The relay harness is present on all modern Tesla's with type 2 charging giving them more flexible 1 and 3 phase charging. The US is different, so don't compare with what is written there, though europe with its type 2 / CCS port is the same as here.)
I think we will be most likely to see either 7kW or 22kW EVSEs(/chargers), even though not many vehicles support 22kW, because otherwise some cars will not be able to reach the maximum charge of what the site is being designed to provide depending on different on board car charger configurations.
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There are situations when you need to pull the cable diagonally over the entire car, because you cannot turn the car around for various reasons. In these situations you need a 7 m cable in my experience.
I have bought one that is rated for 20 A, so it does not fail on some weird 22 kW chargers, and that has the "Tesla button" to open the charging port and to stop charging. I just used it today in a one-way street where I could not turn the car around. The cable is quite a bit thinner and lighter than the long 32 A cables Tesla sometimes provides with new cars.
However, I'm in Germany, not in Australia. Perhaps there you always have enough space to turn the car around, so you only need a 4 m cable. In Germany, streets can be narrow, traffic can be dense, and rules can be very restrictive.
I have bought one that is rated for 20 A, so it does not fail on some weird 22 kW chargers, and that has the "Tesla button" to open the charging port and to stop charging. I just used it today in a one-way street where I could not turn the car around. The cable is quite a bit thinner and lighter than the long 32 A cables Tesla sometimes provides with new cars.
However, I'm in Germany, not in Australia. Perhaps there you always have enough space to turn the car around, so you only need a 4 m cable. In Germany, streets can be narrow, traffic can be dense, and rules can be very restrictive.
RichardV
Member
A 20A cable would only be rated to 14kW 3 phase or 4.8kW single phase. I am not sure why you think it would not fail 'on some weird 22kW charger' and that no 22kW charger is weird and actually follows the standards. And in fact challenge my knowledge on how a 22kw charger would limit a 11kW cable on a car capable of 22kW to only 11kW or even 14kW. I am hoping the standard dictates some form of resistor or otherwise in the cable to passively communicate the cables maximum amperage else risk over heating the cable. Someone more knowledgeable with the standard I hope can respond.
It does, but can you be sure that all these cheap thin cables from dodgy factories are putting the correct resistor in?
I’ve seen some awfully thin cables being sold as 32A capable. I can’t see how they are legit.
Stand by for the fires to start and EVs to cop the bad rap.
I don't know the details, but over here in Germany there are some 22 kW chargers that refuse to charge at 11 kW if the cable is rated at 11 kW only. In my view this is a defect of these chargers. The hypothesis is that this way they are a bit simpler and cheaper to build.
Why the cables rated at 20 kW work, while those rated at 16 kW don't, I again don't know. But that's how it is. Tested multiple times by multiple people. I believe the cables signal their capability somehow, perhaps through a resistor.
It could also still be a European specialty. But you can trust me that I'm not making this up. I only report what I have learned.
As to the risk of wrongly rated cables, at least for a Tesla that cannot draw more than 11 kW this is irrelevant. But I wasn't talking about such cables.
Your power figures don't exactly match what we have in Australia, but I'm betting its the same problem we encounter as follows:
Typical Type2 cables for sale are 22kw and 7kw. Despite most cars not supporting 22kw (most capping out at 7kw/11kw or thereabouts), it's recommended to still buy the 22kw cable. Why? Because the 22kw cable is three-phase, whereas the 7kw cable is single-phase. On a 22kw charger, both cables will hit their marketed power, but on an 11kw charger (which are very common here), the single-phase cable only delivers 3.5kw. This is because the 11kw charger is 3 phase, and the cable is only able to deliver power from one of the phases. The 22kw cable will deliver the full 11kw.
It's the fault of the cable, not the charger.
I do think that the way the cables are marketed could be improved - perhaps by marketing them with how many phases they support on top of their max power rating.
The typical problem seen is the other way around: an 11kW three-phase cable attached to a 7kW single-phase charger can only deliver 3.5kW because the 11kW cable is 3.5kW (16A) per phase.
Hmm, not sure which is more typical but I guess both are possible and reinforce the recommendation to go 22kw.
