: Dual-Plug Charger?



igotzzoom
11-10-2010, 12:14 PM
Does anyone know if any company is planning on offering a dual-plug charger? My wife and I hypothetically discussed the possibility of being a dual-Volt family. :) Having a Plug for each car would certainly be more convenient than having to switch one between cars. Thanks.

ChrisC
11-10-2010, 12:57 PM
I don't see how. You would still need two separate circuits to feed them, or at least a double-sized circuit to handle the worst case of both of you charging at once. It seems like an extreme niche product that would be better served with simply two chargers and two circuits.

I supposed the unit could be on a single-sized circuit, and the controller would be smart enough to only allow half-loading to each load when both are plugged in. Which now makes me wonder if J1772 allows for renegotiating the current draw while in the middle of a charge. Because the scenario would be that you'd be charging one car at full current draw, and then the second car would show up and you'd want to split the current between them. Interesting idea!

igotzzoom
11-10-2010, 08:15 PM
I only bring it up because it will probably become more of an issue moving forward, as more households adopt multiple plug-in cars.

igotzzoom
02-03-2011, 12:51 PM
What about a series dual-plug charger. Basically, you can select charging priority for plug 1 or plug 2 on the device itself, or from a smartphone app, and it would charge the vehicles in the selected sequence. That way, it wouldn't over-load the circuitry.

bitguru
03-08-2011, 02:06 AM
Does anyone know if any company is planning on offering a dual-plug charger?

Take a look at the EV2101 model pictured here. http://ev-chargeamerica.com/products_ev2001.html

It appears to be a dual level-II EVSE. However (1) I don't know if the product actually exists, and (2) even if it does I'm sure it costs more than two Voltec units.

ctdeng0
03-08-2011, 01:50 PM
I am charging one volt with a Voltec 220 charger and the other with the 120 volt charger. Once the first one is done I then use the 220 charger to finish the other unit. http://gm-volt.com/forum/album.php?albumid=13&attachmentid=1327

DarkStar
03-08-2011, 04:13 PM
(1) I don't know if the product actually exists

With EV-Charge America, that's more important than anything else! :-)