T8 charging power draw and start amps (France)

[Director76]

Been in comms with a gite owner about whether we can charge the T8 whilst staying. They have a 9kW supply and are concerned about the total load.

So...volts x amps = Watts

If the charger is set to 4amps, French supply is 230v, the car will be able to draw 920w (so will take just over 9 hours to charge, if you assume the 10.4kW battery is depleted by 8.5kW).

Set at 10amps, the car can draw 2.3kW, taking about 3.7 hours to charge the same amount (which is about how long it takes at home).

I will take some instantaneous kw readings from my smart meter to check, but the above seems logical?

The charger is not an inductive load (like eg a motor) so assume no current spike on startup of the charging...?

Thoughts welcome! Thanks D76

[Chief inspector]

The real voltage is more like 220 over there, 230 is the harmonised European, so you need to recalculate a bit more time.

Also the charger is likely to have a transformer with a bit of inrush (inductive) but would seem OK, assuming the 9kW isn’t overly pre-occupied supplying something else.

Are those amps you quote the charge current at the mains side or the battery side though?

I suspect they dont really want to pay for your charge!

[Director76]

Originally Posted by Chief inspector

The real voltage is more like 220 over there, 230 is the harmonised European, so you need to recalculate a bit more time.

Also the charger is likely to have a transformer with a bit of inrush (inductive) but would seem OK, assuming the 9kW isn’t overly pre-occupied supplying something else.

Are those amps you quote the charge current at the mains side or the battery side though?

I suspect they dont really want to pay for your charge!

I’ve offered to pay generously for the charge!

Amps quoted are charge current mains side - as set on the charger unit itself

Cheers D77

[Lexman8]

Your calculations are basically correct so a 9kW supply will easily be enough for charging the T8 (but see below).

It won't be a purely resistive load as there'll be a transformer and/or solid-state converter in the circuit. I'm pretty sure there'll be circuitry in the charger to limit any in-rush current.

As mentioned above, the only issue would be if other appliances were drawing a significant current at the same time, eg a cooker or, specifically, an electric shower.