Charge cable

[Harni]

Hi all,
Apologies for what may be a very simple question but I’m a first time PHEV owner and have a query.
I’ve had my S60 PE since December but my charger is only going in next week so I need to order a type 2 to type 2 lead. I was just about to order a 16a 10m lead but my charger is 32a so would there be any issues here. I’m sure the car/charger is intelligent enough to work this out but want to be sure before finding out the hard way!

[Ian0803]

If the S60 has a 3.7kw on board charger, then a 16 amp cable will be ok. However, why not future proof and get a 32 amp cable?

[rhd443]

Originally Posted by Harni

Hi all,
Apologies for what may be a very simple question but I’m a first time PHEV owner and have a query.
I’ve had my S60 PE since December but my charger is only going in next week so I need to order a type 2 to type 2 lead. I was just about to order a 16a 10m lead but my charger is 32a so would there be any issues here. I’m sure the car/charger is intelligent enough to work this out but want to be sure before finding out the hard way!

Personally wouldn't bother with installing a charger, i've been using the granny charger (as the tesla fan bois call them) for 2 years now, never missed a beat and its been left out in the sun and rain, the only benefit to buying a cable is to charge up in a public car park but even then, you will find very soon that the bays are getting busy and its not worth plugging in your hybrid.

Spending £160 on a type 2 cable was probably the worst thing i did for my T8, never going to see the benefits of the money back from the cable unless its free charging somewhere.

[Director76]

Originally Posted by rhd443

Personally wouldn't bother with installing a charger, i've been using the granny charger (as the tesla fan bois call them) for 2 years now, never missed a beat and its been left out in the sun and rain, the only benefit to buying a cable is to charge up in a public car park but even then, you will find very soon that the bays are getting busy and its not worth plugging in your hybrid.

Spending £160 on a type 2 cable was probably the worst thing i did for my T8, never going to see the benefits of the money back from the cable unless its free charging somewhere.

Exactly this - over 4 years with T8s now and granny charger is fine. We charge twice a day at home most days, overnight and during the day (we do one or two 25 mile round trips per day normally in the week).

There simply isn’t enough capacity in the battery (even the newest 18kW) to make charger hopping out and about worthwhile and as it takes so long to charge up there’s no point trying to top up at service stations.

I was going to buy a type 2 cable back in 2018, glad I didn’t bother.

[Lozzingers]

Do you know if your charger will come with a tethered cable? I've just had the volvo / New Motion one installed and it comes with a 5m tethered cable, I paid an extra £75 for the 8 metre as one always needs more length...
I survived for 5 months with a granny 3pin charger which was generally ok, but a bit slow. I am pleased we have the wall charger, but if I had to pay £500 for it - not sure.
We do often do 10-15 short trips in a day (hence buying a T8) and so charge a few times during the day especially in winter. it does help having 3.6 kw after my wife's commute which may run the battery down to charge it to full in a couple of hours prior to a long evening family journey.
We do have 2 3pin cables, and a Type 2 so leave one in the car always under the boot floor space.
Just another view point

[MrM83]

I took a slightly different approach and took advantage of a new to me T8 allowing me to claim £350 from the government for a home charging point. Inevitably in the future I will be making use of it, so thought why not? Sure, perhaps I’ll need to change the charger but all the infrastructure is there and ready.

[OnyxBlaster]

I bought a 32 amp 3-phase cable for my V60 T6 (11.6 kWh) and know I'll probably not recoup all of the costs during my time with the V60 but I went for the higher spec cable as it wasn't that much more expensive than the "correct" cable and I hope I'll continue to get use out of it with my next PHEV or BEV car.

Although I generally agree with rhd443's comment about public charging bays getting busier, when in the Lake District last summer, all the "normal" bays in one of the Grasmere car parks were full, the PodPoint bay was available, so we got the last space in the car park.