Third Party Device To Boost "120V Charging"

[FordAnglia]

Saw this on a Tesla-centric site.

Third party device to help charge “On those EV road trips”
https://insideevs.com/news/363756/quick-220-voltage-converter-review/

Watch the video here:
https://youtu.be/78m5YuVbgaE

Seems legit. Will it work on a B250e? Only concern is that the charging cable supplied with the vehicle is expecting a 120V AC input, but will it pass a 240V AC input from this gadget (or similar phase combining add-on circuit)?

Peter

 

[Mzteaze]

Interesting.

 

[hallcp]

Some chargers can handle 240V simply by cutting off the 120V plug and changing it out for a 240V plug. Other chargers will self-destruct. The charger that came with the 1st Gen Chevy Volt was 120V only, the charger with the 2nd Gen Volt could handle 240V fine. Tesla chargers can handle 240V or 120V depending on which adapter you stick on it.

I prefer to leave the M-B charger in the car for emergencies, and charge at home with a Duosida 240V 16A charger. Sells for $169 on Amazon https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B018A6QK7C/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_JZCtDbAJC10KN

Mine is pretty dumb, but some of the smarter chargers are wi-fi enabled and you can do stuff with them remotely. Of course, you can use this on your next EV as well, nothing M-B specific about it.

If you want to investigate whether the M-B charger can handle 240V, you'd have to open it up and find out who made the circuit board and try and research it that way.

 

[FordAnglia]

Thanks Hallcp for the helpful post.

I'm new to EVs and curious about the chargers. I use my employer's chargers (a nice perk) but with a fleet of over fifty vehicles and only eight EV chargers at work, access is limited and sometimes frustrating. I use a public L2 charger on the weekends if needed.

I don't have 240V in the garage at home, a Condo. Adding L2 Charging, while living at this location, would be problematic as adding a 240V feed from our breaker box/Load Center would be difficult.

The "Phase Combiner" has some merit, but again its unlikely we have two branch circuits on opposite phases in our garage to make it work.

Time permitting I'll crack open the B250e supplied charger cable box. It's quite small so I wonder what I will find. Probably only one relay/contactor needed for a L1 120V application.

For those interested in the EV charger technology check out: Il blog di Mastro Gippo http://www.mastrogippo.it (it's in English)

Peter,