Does the Kia Soul EV require EVSE to Fast Charge (32 Amp)?

[DurhamFarm]

Hi all, I have been driving EV's for 3 years, my first one is a DIY conversion of a tiny Honda Beat, the second is a Mia Electric (Quirky 3 seater) and I love them both, neither of these cars require any sort of EVSE, however the Mia can only charge at Type 1 slow charge, my DIY build can charge at 32Amps directly from a dedicated hard wired wall outlet with an 8 meter J1772 Charge cable, but then I built the charger myself from an EMW kit.

My question is (as the title states), does the Kia Soul EV "require" EVSE (Electric Vehicle Service Equipment) to Fast Charge @ 32 Amps? or will it charge at 32 Amps via a J1772 cable wired directly to a dedicated hard wired output with a 40 Amp trip?

Lets assume that I am not interested in charge stats, oh and I live in the UK and have a (separate/independent from my house) 240v single phase domestic supply in my garage.

I am seriously interested in the Kia Soul EV because it has class leading 200kwh/kg (NMC) energy density batteries (Basically the dogs nuts of battery tech right now!), it is getting excellent reviews (even by hard core petrol heads!) and has fantastic charge options (despite the lack of infrastructure) not to mention the sweet in car electronics, heat pumps etc.

I am obviously an EV nut, and basically the Soul EV is by far the best EV that money can buy (not including cars for the rich and famous, Teslas etc.) I commend all of you here for having the balls to invest in this world leading technology.

Does anyone here have any ideas on my question?

Many Thanks

Graham Martin

 

[notfred]

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean by a "J1772 Charge cable". The Kia Soul EV does the full J1772 signalling protocol and so it needs signals to tell it how much current it can safely draw. It comes with a cable that plugs in to a standard power outlet but the cable has a box on it that is really just a small EVSE.

 

[DurhamFarm]

I'm not entirely clear on what you mean by a "J1772 Charge cable". The Kia Soul EV does the full J1772 signalling protocol and so it needs signals to tell it how much current it can safely draw. It comes with a cable that plugs in to a standard power outlet but the cable has a box on it that is really just a small EVSE.

Hi notfred, Thanks for your prompt response, I mean a cable with a J1772 plug on the end that plugs into the car with no signalling at all (Signal wires are not connected) wired directly to 40 Amp 240v mains, So what I am assuming from your answer is that the Kia Soul EV requires J1772 signalling in order to select a 32Amp charging current, My home built charger allows me to set that in the charger itself, I can set the charging current from the on board charger in the car rather than "requiring" EVSE signalling. This means that I can hook up to many more home supplies without the need for my friends and family to have EVSE's at home (the don't have EV's and so wont be getting an EVSE any time soon, unless I can convince them of the benefits)

No worries I guess I will just have to invest in a 32Amp capable EVSE cable/adaptor that provides the correct signalling (or maybe I will look into the Open EVSE depending on the cost), can you point me in the direction of such 32Amp (fast) charge J1772 cable/EVSE Adaptor so I can get an idea of how much this 32 Amp EVSE adaptor will cost?

Why you may ask did I bother with the J1772 Plug at all for my home built EV, well after burning out many 13 Amp plugs and blowing fuses (even when drawing current that 13 Amp plugs are supposedly rated for) and discovering that Anderson connectors are far to prone to arcing to be safe enough for even home builds I went for the J1772 as it provides a solid safe plug and socket for home builds, I never got around to implementing the EVSE signalling standards as up till now they were not required.

Thanks again for your reply.

Graham