As the vehicle deliveries are approaching, the GV60 will become the first electric vehicle for many owners, me included. Many of us will need to get our homes/garages ready to charge our new car and this brings a few newbie questions that may be obvious to some, but not to all:
1. Is there a charger cable supplied with the GV60? what kind is it and how fast will it charge the battery?
2. Is there a need to buy a different charger at home for a faster charge?
3. If yes to question 2, what make/models should one consider? Where is the best place to buy (in Canada)?
4. Besides getting a 220V plug outlet for a Level 2 charger, is there anything else to consider and/or to ask an electrician?
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1) Yes, the GV60 comes with a Level 1 EVCE cable. It's a 120v unit capable of up to 12 amperes, which is 1440 watts, or 1.44kW. (That's about the equivalent of a toaster oven.) If you're going by "industry standard" 10% - 80% charge on the 77.4kWh battery in a GV60, that's ~54kWh of charge, which makes it ~37 hours. Not exactly "fast", but overnight, you could add about 40 miles of range, which might be enough to get to work and home, or take the kids to school and do some shopping.
2) If you only do short trips, or don't use the car often, maybe not. I'm guessing that the price of Level 2 (240 volt) home EVCE units will be dropping as Electric Vehicles become more common. As noted elsewhere, currently (no pun intended) your electric company and the federal government may have rebates which can make a BIG dent in the cost of installing an EVCE. Some are capable of delivering up to 48 amperes at 240 volts, or over 11.5kW, making charging go 8 times faster. A 10% to 80% charge would be less than 5 hours! Note that the GV60 can take a maximum of 48 amperes from a Level 2 EVCE. Don't spend the extra cash on a EVCE that can output 50 amperes - I only know of two that can do that anyway.
3) There are literally dozens of brands to choose from. Offhand, I know of one actually made in Canada, and it's had good reviews from Ziff-Davis and other reputable magazines. The GV60 has some built-in charging features that allow you to delay charging, which may make it cheaper to charge late at night, after you've gone to bed - plug in the cable, set the timers, and not worry about it until the next morning! Some EVCEs have other features like nice displays, wifi, which allows you to monitor charging status, turn on & off charging etc., but those features will add to the cost of the EVCE. As for places to buy, our Genesis dealer said they bought theirs online from "a large e-commerce company."
4) Beware of the higher-voltage, higher-current receptacles. The NEMA 14-50 connections are pretty common in the US, but it's one that's suitable for an electric dryer or electric range and may not be capable of handling high current for extended periods of time. Those inexpensive "residential" receptacles are intended for intermittent higher current, not for continuous high current use, as would be required for charging a car. Reports of melted receptacles abound, as they're made of plastic. Some even catch on fire. (Google it.) That $10 receptacle might be okay for a clothes dryer, but you'll spend ten to fifteen times that for one that can handle the punishment of up to 8 hours of continuous 40 ampere currents. It's safer to get a higher-power EVCE hard-wired in. Yes, it may more expensive (see #2 above), but do you REALLY want to risk that new $70,000+ GV60 (not to mention your home) being burned up?
You must be in a very new home.