Mr Viral
This year, I got my wife an EV charging cable (among other things). Having owned our EVs for 2 and 5 years, so far we’ve leveraged home charging off a standard 230V outlet and DC fast charging on road trips.
There is a third option, destination charging that we use very rarely, but is an important aspect to Australia’s charging options.
Typically destination charging imagines you’ll be there longer, multiple hours, to overnight, compared to a DC fast charge (typically 20-40mins).
While many EV chargers offer a drive, up, plug in experience, not all provide cables. As I review charging options on @Plugshare I see an increasing number of charging providers add an EV charger, but opt for the lower cost option, which requires EV owners to BYO the cable.
To access these destinations, there are many cable options and the one I purchased is just one of them.
The Arlec range of EV charging cables can be confusing. While they’re all AC Type 2 connectors (on both ends), there’s a blend of power support, including single and three-phase, as well as a rated charging rate which has a consequence on price.
The range starts at 4.6kW and extend all the way up to 22kW, so how did I decide? How should you decide on which is the right option?
Something to know about the EV charging experience is that the speed will be governed by the slowest link in the chain.
There are 3 pieces to the charging chain..
The vehicle
The cable
The charger
The Vehicle
Our 2022 Tesla Model Y offers a max charging speed of 11kW (3 phase 16A) which allows for as much as 75km of range to be added every hour.
The Cable
The Arlec EV Charging cable is rated for up to 22kW charging (3 phase) and will step down to lower charging speeds where required.
Cables also vary in length, this one being 7m should reach all charging configurations.
So if the vehicle only supports 11kW, why buy a 22kW cable?
The answer is for the long term. If we look after it, this cable should last quite a while and we expect vehicles in the future to feature higher charging rates, so for not much more money, this is an effort to future-proof and make sure the cable is never the delimiter.
The Charger
As we browse locations in Plugshare, or use the in-vehicle charger search charging it shows all charging types, including 3rd party chargers now.
If you’re navigating to a regional town, depending on size, you may find only destination chargers, not a single DC fast charger. This is where these kind of cables come in most handy, as you could find a hotel that offers destination charging overnight.
It is worth noting that having the cable doesn’t mean the energy is free, the location may include a fee for charging, or embed it into service costs.
Imagine you’re on a holiday and want to go driving/exploring each day, but the only chance you have to charge is overnight. A standard (slow charge) may work if you need to recover ~150km, but what if you get home at 10pm and need 400km range by 8am ? This is where a cable like this has the potential to be worth it’s weight in gold.
This certainly won’t be necessary for all EV owners (as I said, we’ve lived without it for years), but for a once off investment, can open the door to hundreds of more charging options.
Bunnings
There’s lots of places to buy EV chargers and cables from, but one of the most convenient is your local @Bunnings. Our Wodonga Store doesn’t have it, but just 10 minutes drive to Albury and their display is full of them.
Recently they added Tesla charging options, adding to a range of options for customers.
If you like this article, and are buying an EV (particularly a Tesla), then please consider using our referral link that’ll get you A$1,400 off and me A$700 credits – https://ts.la/jason45054
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings