coherent-rambling t1_iyeq8hu wrote
You actually do just plug them in - the charging components are all in the car. The fancy Level 2 home wall charger is just a glorified extension cord with circuitry that tells the charger in the car the maximum amount of power it's allowed to draw. This is an important safety feature.
When you plug in a normal cord, whether that's 120v in North America or 240v in other countries, the car will only charge at whatever rate the normal sockets in that country are rated for. The standard North American socket can provide 1.5 kilowatts, so cars delivered to North America will not attempt to charge faster than that on a standard cord.
When you want more power, you need a nonstandard circuit. Again talking about North America, we've got two different common 240v plugs: a 7.2 kW plug for electric clothes driers, and a 12 kW plug for electric stoves. How does the car know which of those you're plugged into? It doesn't. And what if you want even more power, so you get a hard-wired connection that could be as much as 20 kW? Now you can't just make assumptions about how much power the car can use without tripping breakers, you have to tell it what's available. Rather than trusting end users to always punch in the right values, we get licensed electricians to install a fancy extension cord that does this automatically.
Taco__Bandito t1_iyet1rr wrote
American homes receive two 120v feeds making a total of 240v..
You do not charge an EV with 120v at home. That’s insane. 240v is the trickle charge which is the only real way to charge an EV without permanent damage to the battery.
coherent-rambling t1_iyevuaa wrote
You'd be silly to charge your EV with 120v at home, but it's not going to damage the battery, it's just slow. Most EV's actually come with a 120v cord, called a Level 1 charger, so you can do this in a pinch (and so the manufacturer can be assured that every buyer will be able to go home with a charging solution right away).
Your implication that 120v charging could cause permanent damage is completely bullshit; batteries can be damaged by excessive charge rates but not by slow charges.
Nor is 240v a trickle charge. Trickle charging is typically considered just enough to offset self-discharge, which even 1.5 kW Level 1 chargers can exceed. Level 2 240v charging is a "normal" charge, and is generally around 0.1C (a 10-hour charge), which is very safe for most battery chemistries. Level 3 DC fast-charging is the fast option, and the only one that really causes extra wear and tear.
Taco__Bandito t1_iyf7okb wrote
I didn’t realize 120v was even an option. I didn’t mean that 120v would damage it, I meant the rapid charging will.
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