Charging cable.

[Baldytone]

Hi All, I’m getting a tethered char fitted, and I will need a cable in the car for charging when away, my question is do I need a single or three phase cable? I know that the rapid chargers themselves are tethered.
cheers Tony.

 

[Tight Git]

Initial long range MG4 (without the rear wiper) had ability to charge at 11kW, all subsequent models can only charge at 7kW so no real need to purchase a 3 phase cable unless you want to future-proof for a future car purchase.

So single phase 32A type 2 cable should be fine. Pay around £100 in most places.

 

[Baldytone]

Thanks that’s great.

 

[Rolfe]

I think the ER can still charge at 11 Kw, is that not right?

 

[Tight Git]

I think the ER can still charge at 11 Kw, is that not right?

I'm not sure anyone has definitively proved they do charge at 11kW, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong...

 

[siteguru]

3-phase 11kW chargers tend to charge between 9 and 10 kW, usually nearer 9kW. This is due to losses and is quite normal.

 

[tsedge]

I'm not sure anyone has definitively proved they do charge at 11kW, but I'd be happy to be proved wrong...

We've had reports of this from several. I haven't tried it myself which means my investment in a 32A 3 phase cable was a bit of a waste of money, but I didn't know that before I got it (first EV).

I think 11kW is pretty pointless unless you happen to have a work charger that does this and need to go out and about at work at lot.

 

[gnutrino]

Fun fact for anyone disappointed to have only have a single phase capable on board charger: on some manufacturers' double socket 3-phase charge points if a 3-phase and 1-phase cable/car are both connected at the same time the 1-phase connection will actually be delivered more power.

This is because they were set up to allow 2 1-phase connections to pull the full 32A from different phases or 2 3-phase connections to get 16A on all three phases each but they didn't account for the case of both a 1-phase and a 3-phase connection so it used to just try to deliver 48Amps over one of the phases and trip the breaker. Allegedly, the firmware was unable to limit the single phase connection in response to multiple connections so instead it was changed to limit the 3-phase connection to 8A when it detected that the second connection was single phase (they use a 40A breaker so this just about worked). The end result of which was that a 1-phase connection would get its full 7kW while the 3-phase connection got limited all the way down to 5.5kw.

 

[Rip Van]

3-phase 11kW chargers tend to charge between 9 and 10 kW, usually nearer 9kW. This is due to losses and is quite normal.

Yep, I'm often on 22kW CPS charge points and it's normally at 9.45-10.6kW

 

[Grumpy]

Hi All, I’m getting a tethered char fitted, and I will need a cable in the car for charging when away, my question is do I need a single or three phase cable? I know that the rapid chargers themselves are tethered.
cheers Tony.

Why not have an untethered charger if you are going to buy a cable and save yourself extra costs.

 

[tresidder]

Hi All, I’m getting a tethered char fitted, and I will need a cable in the car for charging when away, my question is do I need a single or three phase cable? I know that the rapid chargers themselves are tethered.
cheers Tony.

3 phase will give you 22kW . single phase only gives you 7kW so that limits your options.
I made this mistake so I always look for tethered chargers or just put up with slow charging. I may get a second lead which will be 3 phase next time.

 

[siteguru]

@tresidder Do you have a car that will charge with 3 phases? (Your profile pic shows a Trophy, but your Driving detail shows an SE SR).

If you have a Trophy, is it a Phase 1 (no rear wiper)? They were 3-phase 11kW compatible; the Phase 2 cars are only single phase.

 

[Coulomb]

Very few EVs have a 22kW on-board charger, certainly no MG models that I know of. So in that sense "3 phase gives you 22kW" is not correct. But a 32A 3-phase cable gives you all the options, including up to 22kW of AC charging, should the vehicle allow it. A 32A cord is good because you need that to get just 7kW from a single phase.

 

[siteguru]

I have a 3-phase 32A Tesla charging cable, which I bought when they were still available (in the UK) via the Tesla app. £85

 

[Anon70]

I have seen from other posts on this forum that the thing to check is how many pins the connection on the car has, if the top section of the CCS connector has some pins missing you will only be able to use single phase AC charging no matter what cable you use

 

[stevegus]

Why not have an untethered charger if you are going to buy a cable and save yourself extra costs.

I wouldnt as its a hassle having to fight that snake back into the boot each time. My home charger is tethered. This means the rarely used cable can be stored neatly under the front bonnet.

The boot is small enough without clutter in it

 

[gazza487]

I wouldnt as its a hassle having to fight that snake back into the boot each time. My home charger is tethered. This means the rarely used cable can be stored neatly under the front bonnet.

The boot is small enough without clutter in it

I was limited by where my charger is, just above a gate on rear of house that backs onto a communal road (no protection for charger really or place to hook cable, plus light fingered ones around) so it logically had to be untethered.

It is like fighting a wet snake on the rain I have to admit. The charger has an option to lock the cable in making it tethered but no storage.