More power!
J1772 is the standard used for level 2 charging. That is 220v at 16a+. Adding support for this charging standard will allow you to change using public infrastructure. In my case, I was using a standard 110v plug and cable to just plug my car into the wall. Moving to J1772 gives me more options for charging while out and about in addition to higher charge speeds since the power is twice as high!
The first thing I had to do was actually add a socket to my car. It is temporarily mounted where the old fuel filler neck was. I’ll more permanently mount it in that location later and seal it a bit.
You may notice a small switch to the left of the socket. That sends the signal to the charging station that everything is connected and that it’s ready to charge. Ultimately, it just switches between two resistors. One resistance is the connected signal, the other is the disconnected signal. This system is in place to protect the contacts. Disconnecting 6kW of DC power can lead to some seriously burned connectors and arcing. J1772 will make sure the power is completely off before everything is disconnected.
I went with this method rather than an automatic one because I already had this setup. I got it for free as part of a deal, so I opted to just use it here. I had one of the control boxes from these guys at Modular EV Power. In my upcoming project, I’ll be using one of their automatic AVC2 boxes.
But not enough juice…
The issue I ran into at this point is that I didn’t have a J1772 setup at home! These kinds of setups are called EVSEs (Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment). In order to charge my car at home, I would now need some kind of EVSE setup. This was a great time to address the outlet situation in the garage, so I had a local electrician, Marlon King, add some more circuits and outlets dedicated to the garage. This allowed me to set up a charging cable permanently in the garage to take advantage of faster charging rates even at home.
Future
In the future, this setup will also allow me to charge my upcoming project at 3.3kW, rather than just 1.5kW like before.