The Japanese auto industry came up with the CHAdeMO standard in 2009.
The Nissan Leaf, and Mitsubishi i-MiEV, arrived arrived in the US in 2011. The few DC chargers were 120 A, 50 kW maximum.
The US, and European, auto industry came up with the idea for CCS charging standards, CCS1 in North America, and CCS2 in Europe, in 2012.
The first car in the US to have CCS1 was the 2014 Chevy Spark EV. The chargers available then were 50 kW maximum capacity, and had both CHAdeMO, and CCS1 plugs.
The Bolt came out in December of 2016. We took our first road trip in the fall of 2017. All the chargers we used were 50 kW max. Just finding one required driving miles off the highway. It was an amazing adventure, and being able to charge in an hour or so seemed magical. The only other EV we ever saw at a charger was the Leaf.
In 2019 we took road trips using the new 150-350A, 150-350 kW chargers, which allowed charging in 30-45 minutes. That year, I saw a high reading of 56.3 kW for several seconds, charging on an EA unit. I got a screen shot about 30 seconds later.
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Then came COVID-19, the battery fire software updates, and finally the battery replacements.
I have DC fast charged the new battery 4 times since getting it installed in September of 2022. The temperatures have not been high enough to get the battery to the 75 -85 F range it requires for 150A, 50-55 kW charging, until yesterday.
I picked the Bolt up from our local Chevy dealer, after having the third brake caliper replacement. Still have one original, properly functioning brake caliper, at 52K miles.
I did some errands. Even though it had been in the 80s F for several hours, the previous night had been in the high 40s F, so the battery was only in the high 60s F.
I drove down the interstate for 45 minutes, doing some accelerating, and regening, when possible, to warm up the battery. I managed to arrive at the Sheetz, to try out the EA DC chargers, with the battery in the low 70s F.
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The double CCS 150 kW charger was down. One of the 350 kW chargers was down. I used the other 350 kW charger, leaving the 150 kW CCS/CHAdeMO for anybody else showing up.
The charge started,
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and the battery heater started immediately at 2.0 kW, and soon the pack was mid-70s F.
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By 25% SoC, the pack was in the upper 70s F, and the heater had tapered to 0.5 kW.
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The heater then cut off, and the pump kept circulating the hot coolant, trying to maintain a fairly even temperature from module to module.
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By 50% SoC, the circulating hot coolant, and the act of charging, had raised the battery to the high 80s F.
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At this point, the AC chiller kicked in to attempt to keep the battery in its happy place, below 90 F.
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I quit charging at 52.2% SoC, and the conditioning promptly stopped.
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Note that 50 pump rpm is a false reading. It is actually stopped.
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The Bolt is fast charging at below 1C under the best of conditions. I saw 51.6 kW max on this charge, and EA reported 52 kW max in their summary. The conditioning struggles to keep the modules within 3 F of each other during charging. This seems pretty sad.
However, I had a $50K, 72.8 kWh, 2023 Subaru Solterra, as a loner, while they were working on the brakes of our Bolt. It averaged just over 2mi/kWh while driving exactly as I drive our Bolt, seeing 4 mi/kWh. I charged it to a preset 80% SoC in our garage overnight, and it was below 75% SoC when I arrived at the EA station, under 10 miles later, to try a 350 kW fast charger. Granted, it was surely tapering by that point, but the maximum EA recorded was 13 kW.
The Nissan Leaf, and Mitsubishi i-MiEV, arrived arrived in the US in 2011. The few DC chargers were 120 A, 50 kW maximum.
The US, and European, auto industry came up with the idea for CCS charging standards, CCS1 in North America, and CCS2 in Europe, in 2012.
The first car in the US to have CCS1 was the 2014 Chevy Spark EV. The chargers available then were 50 kW maximum capacity, and had both CHAdeMO, and CCS1 plugs.
The Bolt came out in December of 2016. We took our first road trip in the fall of 2017. All the chargers we used were 50 kW max. Just finding one required driving miles off the highway. It was an amazing adventure, and being able to charge in an hour or so seemed magical. The only other EV we ever saw at a charger was the Leaf.
In 2019 we took road trips using the new 150-350A, 150-350 kW chargers, which allowed charging in 30-45 minutes. That year, I saw a high reading of 56.3 kW for several seconds, charging on an EA unit. I got a screen shot about 30 seconds later.
Then came COVID-19, the battery fire software updates, and finally the battery replacements.
I have DC fast charged the new battery 4 times since getting it installed in September of 2022. The temperatures have not been high enough to get the battery to the 75 -85 F range it requires for 150A, 50-55 kW charging, until yesterday.
I picked the Bolt up from our local Chevy dealer, after having the third brake caliper replacement. Still have one original, properly functioning brake caliper, at 52K miles.
I did some errands. Even though it had been in the 80s F for several hours, the previous night had been in the high 40s F, so the battery was only in the high 60s F.
I drove down the interstate for 45 minutes, doing some accelerating, and regening, when possible, to warm up the battery. I managed to arrive at the Sheetz, to try out the EA DC chargers, with the battery in the low 70s F.
The double CCS 150 kW charger was down. One of the 350 kW chargers was down. I used the other 350 kW charger, leaving the 150 kW CCS/CHAdeMO for anybody else showing up.
The charge started,
and the battery heater started immediately at 2.0 kW, and soon the pack was mid-70s F.
By 25% SoC, the pack was in the upper 70s F, and the heater had tapered to 0.5 kW.
The heater then cut off, and the pump kept circulating the hot coolant, trying to maintain a fairly even temperature from module to module.
By 50% SoC, the circulating hot coolant, and the act of charging, had raised the battery to the high 80s F.
At this point, the AC chiller kicked in to attempt to keep the battery in its happy place, below 90 F.
I quit charging at 52.2% SoC, and the conditioning promptly stopped.
Note that 50 pump rpm is a false reading. It is actually stopped.
The Bolt is fast charging at below 1C under the best of conditions. I saw 51.6 kW max on this charge, and EA reported 52 kW max in their summary. The conditioning struggles to keep the modules within 3 F of each other during charging. This seems pretty sad.
However, I had a $50K, 72.8 kWh, 2023 Subaru Solterra, as a loner, while they were working on the brakes of our Bolt. It averaged just over 2mi/kWh while driving exactly as I drive our Bolt, seeing 4 mi/kWh. I charged it to a preset 80% SoC in our garage overnight, and it was below 75% SoC when I arrived at the EA station, under 10 miles later, to try a 350 kW fast charger. Granted, it was surely tapering by that point, but the maximum EA recorded was 13 kW.
