New to EV - home charger help

Golden_Glow90

I am very new to the EV world.  Our new build house has an EV-IQ 7.3kw charger installed so we bought a 2018 Nissan Leaf.  The instructions, FAQs, troubleshooting etc for the charger or the app are pretty much non-existent.  I can charge my car but my Nissan app says it's only charging at 3kw, not 6kw.  I've spent hours googling and can't find a reason for this.  Any advice?  Do I contact the electrician who installed the charger, the manufacturer of the charger, or Nissan?

DrEskimo

It’s possible the car only has a 3.3kW onboard charger. No matter what the charger is capable of, the car will only be able to draw 3.3kW maximum. 

I know this was true of early Nissan Leaf models, but not sure on a 2018 model. Is it a 30kWh model?

Keep_pedalling

DrEskimo said:

It’s possible the car only has a 3.3kW onboard charger. No matter what the charger is capable of, the car will only be able to draw 3.3kW maximum. 

I know this was true of early Nissan Leaf models, but not sure on a 2018 model. Is it a 30kWh model?

No that vintage leaf should charge up to 6.6kW on a AC charger. 

Check the cable you are using, if it is a 16 amp cable the charger will restrict the charge to 3.4kW. If that is the case you need to obtain a 32 amp cable.

Golden_Glow90

I checked the cable when I got it and it says 32a on it. It does charge at 6.6kw as both my Nissan app and the instruction manual says it will charge to 6.6kw. It’s a 40kwh one

DrEskimo

Thanks both.

have you tried charging on a public AC charger? That will at least rule out the car or the cable. 

Keep_pedalling

You charger has a couple of DIP switches that set the maximum current, so those may have been incorrectly set (see page 16 of the installation manual)

https://evec.co.uk/content/product_manuals/Installation%20and%20Maintenance.pdf

If it is wrong a 40A RCD and 6mm2 cable must be in place before that is changed.

On my ID3 you can reduce the charging current, I’m not sure if the same can be done on the leaf but if you can you need to check that is not causing the restriction.

Golden_Glow90

Thank you. I’m going to try a public charger after work today to rule out the car. If it’s not the car (which I don’t think it is) then would it be the installer or the manufacturer that I need to contact?

Keep_pedalling

You need to contact the installer. Have you checked the rating of the RCD?

Flight3287462

Try another car on it too?

Golden_Glow90

Flight3287462 said:

Try another car on it too?

Unfortunately I don’t have any friends or family who live close by with an electric car 🙈 

so I’m going to go to a 7kw public charger after work and I spoke to the electricians who installed it who are going to come out on 31st to check they’ve not reduced it to 16A. I guess that’s all I can do now?

Golden_Glow90

UPDATE: so I plugged in the car at Tesco and it charged at 6kw so nothing wrong with the car or cable. I then also spoke to the company who own the app that the electrician used to configure the charger and they said the output had been restricted but they can change it remotely for me.

So my question now is, would there be a genuine reason for it to be restricted to 16A in the first place or is this just a mistake? We have an energy rated A new build house if that makes a difference.