Electrician tells me Voltecs are junk and 240 uses half the energy to charge

[DonC]

Congrats on your new car and welcome to the forum.

We have members who have Voltecs and AFAIK we haven't heard of any real issues (I have a Blink so no firsthand experience). However, at some point quality does follow price and other more expensive options probably do have a better build quality, though that hasn't been apparent so far.

Your electrician is definitely off-base as far as the power consumption when charging on 120v versus 240v. Charging on 120v might be 10% less efficient in the worst case. Probably more like 5%. The difference is simply that there is a constant amount of overhead used per minute of charging, and it takes longer to charge at 120v. Or put another way, you're losing a constant amount of energy and C/120 will be a larger number than C/240. Over the course of a year the cost of the inefficiency would probably be less than $50 and likely less than $25. (Assuming 10K EV miles, 32 kWh used per 100 miles, 10% efficiency loss, and < $.15/kWh). However, if you do a lot of short trips, like on the weekend, being able to charge faster will allow you to have more EV mile and fewer gas miles.

If you're on a tight budget you should be able to use the 120V charger without any real issues. If you want to try a 240V charger I'd go for the Voltec at the low end and the Xpress or the EVSEupgrade at the high end. If you go with the 120V, try and get a separate circuit put in. That will avoid many charging issues.

[WopOnTour]

I'm not sure what he was getting at regarding the 120V. Twice the energy? makes no sense at all. That wwould mean it would cost twice as much to charge from 120V- not so.Yes the 240V is slightly more efficient but we're only talking less than 5% especially when cold (10F or colder)

Persoanlly I think the Voltec is a great value. Yes, there has been a couple of failures reported here on gm-volt.com but most all were replaced in an expidited fashion by SPx. If SPx installed it they look after any replacement labor charges as well for 3 years. That wouldnt be the case if you used an indepandant contrator though.So weigh out your options carefully.

Additionally the Voltec EVSE is rated for a maximum of 3.3kW which just happens to be at/near the Volt's maximum charge rate on 240V. This means it can be powered by a "ganged" pair of 20A breakers and wont require as much $$ spent on "upgrades" to your electrical to supply and cabling to the Voltec. IMO a lot of people are unneccesarily over-doing their electrical upgrades and EVSE supply for future, potentially higher charge rates but personally I dont recommend that if you'er on a tight budget or dont plan to stay in the same dwelling in 4-5 years.
It's quite unneccessary at this time (it wont help the Volt to charge any faster) and your financial situation will very likely (hopefully) be better once you look to part ways with your Volt and get something that charges faster. Pulling in larger cable is EASY once there are already cables routed.

JMO
WopOnTour

Welcome to gm-volt.com

[Steverino]

Your electrician is either very misinformed, or is more of a "wire puller" than an electrician. He is handing out bad advice.

I have both Voltec units and both work. The 240V comes in handy a few times, but for 95% of the time the 120v was plenty as the car charges while I sleep. saving a few hours under that scenario makes no difference. And I fully change every workday.

[jackphillips]

Hope your house does not burn down with hsi work.

[BAZINGA]

I agree. For me the 110 is by far the cheapest way to go. My current monthly elect charges are about $20 per month. I would never regain the costs of a 240. Sure it would be nice to get a faster charge but I can live with the 110 on my budget.

Same here, since I'm not entitled to ANY incentives aside from the reduced cost ($490) for the charger, but at about $1800 to get it installed I have to pass.

In three plus months of ownership I have yet to need the capacity/speed of a 240V charger. So should I run out of battery I'll let the ICE do its thing costing me a few bucks.

If everyone was entitled to all the incentives etc then I'd have one in a second.

[voltowner]

Switching to the 240 Voltec charger dropped my cost to charge my car from about $90 a month to $19. When I go the Volt my bill went up about $90 a month using the 110 charger on the house meter. It added to my total use and put me into the higher level costs per KWH for that meter.

So adding a separate meter for the 240 volt charger on a time of use plan from PG&E saves me around $70 a month. No problems at all with the Voltec charger, installed by a local congtractor. Roy Volt #1019

[PatsVolt]

I have had the Voltec since March 2011 and have had no issues with its operation. The electrician is wrong about the efficiency, if there is any on the primary side it is slight. The efficiency of the charger, which is in the car, is most likely were higher loss occure, but again, not much. The charger is about 84 to 86 % efficient due to the power conversions electronics, but this is typical of most power supplies. Losses are in heat during the conversion process.

I like the 240v charging as it is more conveniant for weekend use, as it allows more frequent recharging during days when I am at home.

[fishhawk]

Well, I have had a 240v Voltec that developed a heat problem; it would shut itself off multiple times during a charge cycle, resulting in a honking Volt.

I believe SPX is pretty good at replacing the unit - if you are in warranty. I was one month out of warranty, and it took forever to get something (a repair estimate/statement it's not repairable) I could submit on my credit card warranty claim. But, that's done now, I called in my replacement order, and they shipped it out overnight no charge for shipping (as compensation for the slow response). The new unit is installed and working fine. I noted the circuit board on the new unit is different from the old, so maybe they fixed some issues they had with early units.

I too like the Schneider unit at Home Depot and Lowes. If I never bought the Voltec unit, knowing what I know now, I would seriously consider it. Frankly, they are all overpriced for what they are.

[Zythryn]

If the electrician thought that the 110 charger took twice the power as the 220, and his customers for which he has installed Voltecs for experience no end of trouble, perhaps it was the installer, not the device?

[Greg G]

Thanks for all the responses! The cost savings thing really did not make sense to me. I know one electrician that is getting crossed off my list of installers My savings would come from being able to quickly add a to the charge e.g. after work to go out later. Even with 110 I was able to come home with an empty charge and plug it in and have 7mi there in after a couple of hours for a short trip. If I had 240 I could get halfway charged in that time and go further before going to gas. I'm not going to try to quantify the cost savings of that vs. the cost of the charge station. I suspect that it will just make my Volt Stats better in the long run (err - I mean make me greener)

I have 240 plug behind by drier in the house that is unused since I have a gas drier (previous owner must have switched) so I believe the juice is there in my box. Not sure if I can use the wires that are running through my garage or not but I'm also ok with putting the charger right next to the panel in my garage. The electricians I've talked to say they would only charge a couple of hundred dollars for a short run. Am I right to expect SPX to want a whole lot more? My thought is that if we are taking about $500 for the box and $300 for the install I'd do it. If we are talking $1500 for the install then no way.

If the electrician thought that the 110 charger took twice the power as the 220, and his customers for which he has installed Voltecs for experience no end of trouble, perhaps it was the installer, not the device?

Great Point!