1st time charging: partial failure

[OlyCamasu]

Just got my Bolt a week ago and I'm thrilled. It's a big step up from my 1985 diesel wagon -- I finally have cup holders!! But they won't be all that useful if I can't charge my car and go places. Last night I plugged in to my house's exterior outlet; nothing special, just the standard 120v. After a few moments, the car told me that it'd be fully recharged by 6:30 this morning. Great. When I get in at 10:30 a.m., it's not even 50% yet, and it's still charging. What happened? What do I need to do differently? I'm so new to this, I'm baffled. Thanks for any help ~

 

[WetEV]

Just got my Bolt a week ago and I'm thrilled. It's a big step up from my 1985 diesel wagon -- I finally have cup holders!! But they won't be all that useful if I can't charge my car and go places. Last night I plugged in to my house's exterior outlet; nothing special, just the standard 120v. After a few moments, the car told me that it'd be fully recharged by 6:30 this morning. Great. When I get in at 10:30 a.m., it's not even 50% yet, and it's still charging. What happened? What do I need to do differently? I'm so new to this, I'm baffled. Thanks for any help ~

EV 101:

Did you have the current set to 12 Amps, or the default 8 Amps?

You add a bit more than 1kWh per hour or 4 to 5 miles of range per hour on the higher power setting. You have a 60kWh battery. On 120 V, 12 A, it takes 50 or more hours to charge from near empty to full. Or 30 hours to go from half full to full.

On the default 8A setting, it takes around 80 hours to go from near empty to full.

Pages 124- 126 of the manual. Before setting the current to 12 Amps, make sure that there are no other loads on this circuit, and that the wiring is all in good condition. I suggest an electrician if you don't work with electrical circuits. Perhaps a new outlet, if the old one isn't in top condition.

Unless your driving needs are fairly short and predictable, you probably want a 240 Volt "L2" charging station in your garage or on your wall. A 32 Amp 240V station will charge the car from near empty to full in 9.5 hours or so.

 

[OlyCamasu]

Thank you, WetEV. I'm one of those owners who believes in EVs whole-heartedly but can only absorb limited amounts of technical info at a time. No, I did not check the Amps, and I would definitely want an electrician to do any work. (Not only do I know close to zip about it, but my house is still almost all knob and tube.) I'm just surprised that the car itself, after maybe 10 seconds of apparently assessing the power flow, estimated a 6:30 am full charge. I guess it meant 6:30 tomorrow, not today.

 

[WetEV]

Thank you, WetEV. I'm one of those owners who believes in EVs whole-heartedly but can only absorb limited amounts of technical info at a time. No, I did not check the Amps, and I would definitely want an electrician to do any work. (Not only do I know close to zip about it, but my house is still almost all knob and tube.) I'm just surprised that the car itself, after maybe 10 seconds of apparently assessing the power flow, estimated a 6:30 am full charge. I guess it meant 6:30 tomorrow, not today.

Knob and tube wiring? Don't pass go, get a 240V L2 installed. Do not turn your car up to 12 Amp charging rate, leave it at 8 Amps. And if you need more charging short term, there may be public charging stations around. See:
https://www.plugshare.com/

Maybe fuse box? Maybe 60 Amp service? If so you might be looking at more than just an outlet install. And/or you might want to consider a smaller L2 station than the 32 Amp that would provide full rate charging.

Talk to a few electricians and find out your options.

If you add your location to your profile, someone might be able to give suggestions as to electricians to call.

L2 charging stations can be hardwired, or plug-in. The first is probably slightly cheaper, the second allows you to take the charging station with you if you move, allows you to upgrade by just unplugging the old station and plugging in a new station. You will need to decide.

L2 charging stations come in a range of currents. Regardless of how large the current that the station can provide, the Bolt will not take more than 30 Amps. The station tells the car what current it can provide. If the station says 24 Amps, the car should only draw 24 Amps. Your wiring (and budget!) may require a lower current station than the full 30 Amp.

As for brands of charging stations, I suggest any UL listed station. A list of brands I've heard mostly good things about is:

Siemens, Clipper Creek, ChargePoint, JuiceBox, AmazingE, AeroVironment and Bosch

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Thank you, WetEV. I'm one of those owners who believes in EVs whole-heartedly but can only absorb limited amounts of technical info at a time. No, I did not check the Amps, and I would definitely want an electrician to do any work. (Not only do I know close to zip about it, but my house is still almost all knob and tube.) I'm just surprised that the car itself, after maybe 10 seconds of apparently assessing the power flow, estimated a 6:30 am full charge. I guess it meant 6:30 tomorrow, not today.

What percentage charge did you have to begin with? Charging a Bolt from empty to full at 120V / 12A takes 2 1/2 days. An issue I have with the Bolt's interface is that it tells you a completion time but not which day. You can get this information from the app, but not from the car (that I know of). I have plugged in on a Friday evening, and charged at 8A (the default). The car told me it would be done at 2:30am. I pulled up the app, and it meant 2:30am on Monday!

The Bolt has a huge battery. If you need to use more than 15-20% of it each day, you will definitely want to upgrade to a 240V (L2) EVSE.

 

[GernBlanston]

Yeah, it meant 6:30 the following day.

 

[SeanNelson]

Yeah, it meant 6:30 the following day.

No doubt. At 120V / 8A it takes over 48 hours to fully charge from zero - and the "time to completion" display makes no mention of which day it's referring to. It's pretty easy to misinterpret the time.

 

[GetOffYourGas]

Yeah, it meant 6:30 the following day.

No doubt. At 120V / 8A it takes over 48 hours to fully charge from zero - and the "time to completion" display makes no mention of which day it's referring to. It's pretty easy to misinterpret the time.

At 120V / 8A it takes more like 80 hours to fully charge from zero. It could have been multiple days into the future. In fact, I bet it was since the OP said the car was only charged to 50%. That means it still has about 40 hours to go.

 

[SeanNelson]

At 120V / 8A it takes more like 80 hours to fully charge from zero. It could have been multiple days into the future. In fact, I bet it was since the OP said the car was only charged to 50%. That means it still has about 40 hours to go.

Whoops - I was thinking about 120V / 12A.

 

[EldRick]

According to Wikipedia, with knob and tube wiring, the OP doesn't even have grounded outlets, because it would be two-wire.
At least it's copper, not the horrible aluminum wiring that was used for a while.

 

[OlyCamasu]

Thanks, everyone. Funny that the dash board's indicator doesn't specify the day. At least I have my expectations aligned now. If/when I get a L2 installed, it'll have to be a separate circuit, I bet, like when I remodeled my bathroom and by law had to have a separate circuit. It will have true grounding.

 

[Pigwich]

Oh God yes, get L2. I know it's been discussed before on this forum, but you very much CAN put 220V to the stock Bolt portable charger (done it many times at AirBnB) and it will charge at 220V 12A and works like a charm. Completely safe. The same charger is used worldwide with different plugs on the end no doubt.

One thing to know, the knob and tube actually technically isn't so bad. The wires are actually way more exposed and are cooled more efficiently because they're not in a big jacket and snuggled up next to each other. The thing to watch is the outlet itself and of course any jury-rigged BS that you can't see in the walls. There's actually a temperature sensor in the plug that will fault the charger if it gets hot, hence why extension cords are risky.

But get some L2 in there, it will absolutely change your life. Charging with the 110V is PAINFUL. It shouldn't be called portable, it should be called emergency. I just bought 4 Delta AC Mini 30 amp units for our building and they seem like they're great units, and the price was good. Delta sells tons of white label stuff, oddly enough they look EXACTLY like the Bosch units, just hundreds of dollars cheaper who'd a thunk it!

Good luck. I've heard a lot of similar complaints about 110V charging.

 

[Tarrngtn]

There is no reason for not getting an L2 in your garage. The Feds have a $1,000 tax rebate that will pay in total for this to be installed. So clearly you can have this done at no cost, unless electrician installation costs in your area are a lot more than they were for us here in NM. This $1,000 is separate from the $7500 tax rebate for the car.

 

[BillHowland]

Thank you, WetEV. I'm one of those owners who believes in EVs whole-heartedly but can only absorb limited amounts of technical info at a time. No, I did not check the Amps, and I would definitely want an electrician to do any work. (Not only do I know close to zip about it, but my house is still almost all knob and tube.) I'm just surprised that the car itself, after maybe 10 seconds of apparently assessing the power flow, estimated a 6:30 am full charge. I guess it meant 6:30 tomorrow, not today.

Knob and tube wiring? Don't pass go, get a 240V L2 installed. Do not turn your car up to 12 Amp charging rate, leave it at 8 Amps. And if you need more charging short term, there may be public charging stations around. See:
https://www.plugshare.com/

Maybe fuse box? Maybe 60 Amp service? If so you might be looking at more than just an outlet install. And/or you might want to consider a smaller L2 station than the 32 Amp that would provide full rate charging.

Talk to a few electricians and find out your options.

If you add your location to your profile, someone might be able to give suggestions as to electricians to call.

L2 charging stations can be hardwired, or plug-in. The first is probably slightly cheaper, the second allows you to take the charging station with you if you move, allows you to upgrade by just unplugging the old station and plugging in a new station. You will need to decide.

L2 charging stations come in a range of currents. Regardless of how large the current that the station can provide, the Bolt will not take more than 30 Amps. The station tells the car what current it can provide. If the station says 24 Amps, the car should only draw 24 Amps. Your wiring (and budget!) may require a lower current station than the full 30 Amp.

As for brands of charging stations, I suggest any UL listed station. A list of brands I've heard mostly good things about is:

Siemens, Clipper Creek, ChargePoint, JuiceBox, AmazingE, AeroVironment and Bosch

Hehe, first question to ask is "Does the house have 240 volts period"? There are still homes in Buffalo , New York and even the first ring suburbs that still only have 30 amp 120 volt (3.6 kw tops) electric services. A few have 60 ampere 120 volt services - at least you can charge at 12 amperes 120 with them (a 50% improvement).

But since the car is a continuous load, and would tend to stress anything of a marginal nature, it might not be a bad idea to get at least a friend knowledgeable about wiring to look over things, just to make sure everything looks ok - if you don't feel like spending money with an electrician.

 

[BillHowland]

There is no reason for not getting an L2 in your garage. The Feds have a $1,000 tax rebate that will pay in total for this to be installed. So clearly you can have this done at no cost, unless electrician installation costs in your area are a lot more than they were for us here in NM. This $1,000 is separate from the $7500 tax rebate for the car.

I thought the '$1000 - 30% credit' was only retroactive to 2017 ONLY. By coincidence I bought TWO wallboxes that year, one 16 ampere unit for $200 and another 32 ampere unit for $289. So, I UNEXPECTEDLY got a tax credit for those when I did my taxes 4/15/18.

But I thought anyone buying in 2018 is out of luck - no credit.

 

[AyeJay]

Making or buying the adapters to convert your car's 110V standard charging device to 12 amp 220v may be a good choice for you.

see this link: http://carcharging.us/adapt/bolt-240.php

If you have a 30 amp 220v dryer circuit available this could potentially give you 7-10 miles per hour of charge time, reducing your charge times by roughly 1/2 safely.

Of course CAUTION should be used when dealing with older knob & tube wiring, smaller size service panels .. please consult an electrician if in doubt.

AJ