EV use the 30 amp 110V?

[thomas201]

Can any EV's use the 30 amp plug that is so common to governmental parks and older campgrounds? What I mean not an adapter, but can they draw the full (most) 30 amps, so they can charge faster then using the 15/20 amp plug? I understand the 50 amp advantage, but the 30 amp seems to be more widespread.

Thanks, and thinking into the future. I shared a slot at Banff this spring and the other camper was in a Tesla. They appeared to be asleep when we walked home, and when we left in the morning. They were plugged into the 15 amp, just wondering does a 110v 30 amp charger exist?

Lighting and a light truck camper???

Thanks again.

[Reisender]

thomas201 wrote:
Thank you, that was the answer I needed.

For some other questions, the Tesla owner in the park had the slip on his/her windshield that showed they had paid.

Perhaps, they did not have a 30 amp plug.

Happy to help. If you have other questions feel free to ask.

[thomas201]

Thank you, that was the answer I needed.

For some other questions, the Tesla owner in the park had the slip on his/her windshield that showed they had paid.

Perhaps, they did not have a 30 amp plug.

[Reisender]

So yes…and it depends. With a tesla if you are using a proper TT30 adapter for the mobile charge cord the tesla will charge at max 24 amps on a TT30. These are smart adapters and tell the EVSE (the charge cable) that it is hooked into a 30 amp 120 volt receptacle and that the most it can draw is 24 amps. But if the voltage drops to around 113 volts it will reduce the charging to 18 amps. If it drops another 3 volts it will reduce it to 12 amps. It will continue to charge at the lower rate until the voltage returns to a higher level and stays there. Then it will ramp back up.

We charge almost exclusively on 30 amp sites when camping as we rarely rent 50 amp sites. (They are not as common up here in Canada…or at least not where we camp.

Non tesla EV’s have to jump thru a few hoops with a couple of adapters to charge at 30 amp sites at anything other than 12 amps but I’m told it can be done on some cars.

Here is a pic of us charging at a 30 amp site somewhere on the Sunshine Coast. I think it was Powell River.

[dodge_guy]

It will still only charge on level 1 which is 110V. The 50A would charge it at level 2 if you had a portable charger that would plug into the 50A, (50A has 2 110V legs which would be 220V).

[valhalla360]

Yes, it will do better than a 15amp but realistically limited to around 2.8kw with the 80% rule. With an 80kwh battery bank, you are looking at around a full 24hr to recharge. This assumes you can dial in the charging rate and you aren't running anything else in the rv. If you are running the aircon, that could cut the charge rate by half.

Also, during peak summer season many campgrounds won't be able to handle many rigs maxing out their pedestals...they often struggle with aircon units which don't run 100% of the time.

Finally there is the cost to the park. Pricing is based on typical usage...what you propose is likely 3 to 5 times the power consumption of an equivalent rv...you should be paying for that. 80kwh at 0.25...is $20.

Don't be the bad apple that ruins it for others.

[CA_Traveler]

If their charger can be set to limit the draw to 20A or 30A then sure. But is it practical? Doubtful. If you have a 40kW discharged EV battery then 30A*120V = 3.6kW or 40/3.6 = 11 hours. So charging is limited.

But gov sites are often wired for yesteryear and may not be able to supply a full 30A. In fact the NEC recommends a plug limit of 80% or 24A for sustained amps for which a EV certainly qualifies. And what if there is low voltage which is often the case. And what if the battery is 100kW and largely discharged?

And is EV charging allowed? There is a growing related limit for various reasons on "free" EV charging.

50A maxium power is 12kW which would allow faster charging of course,