I am new to this forum and looking forward to browsing through the information. I just purchased a 2021 XC90 Recharge and love the car. I have been charging with the 120V wall outlet and taking about 7 hours to charge. I am looking to have an electrician install a 240V receptacle in the garage and had a few questions.
1. Am I limited to the 16Amp charging at 240V? I notice the extra 240V pigtail provided shows a 16A limit. Wondering if another cord is available that will allow charging at 240V with a higher amperage (40-50amp).
2. If it currently takes around 7 hours charging at 120V, is it reasonable to expect that charging at 240V and 16Amp will cut charging time to 3.5 hours?
3. The car is so new we have not received a new power bill, but wonder about home electrical bill differences between 240V charging versus 120V charging.
Very sorry if this topic has been discussed before, but did a few searches and could not see any answers on this.
Thank you in advance for your thoughts!

 

there's two things here 1) what should your electrician do between your breaker box and the wall outlet and 2) what should you use for your charging station (ie what plugs into the wall outlet and in turn the car).

For the wall outlet itself, your electrician will need to know what the plug layout is for your charging station and can then install the appropriate amps support that is allowable for that type connector (ie single phase sockets are different from 3 phase sockets).

For the charging station, you need to chose one that is compatible with your car. Volvo's are designed for a single phase 16A charger (3.7KW) which will charge in 2hr 30 vs 4 hours for a normal wall outlet. You could buy a bigger charger but the car won't charge any faster. So unless you have a second EV that you plan on sharing chargers with that can take a higher KW rating, I'd go with a single phase 20A wall outlet and the 16A charger. Note most homes are single phase 220 from the street...(you can tell by looking at the master breaker in your circuit box)

Check out: https://evbox.com/en/electric-cars/v...plug-in-hybrid

 

Thank you for your help. Good information.

 

BTW, talk to your electrician. I bet they've already installed a bunch of home charge units.

 

Yes, that is a great idea. I did talk with my electrician as you suggested. He has done quite a few 220V installations for Tesla owners at a much higher amperage, but I think this is the his first for a Volvo plug in hybrid. He was hoping the Volvo could charge at 220V at a higher amperage than 16Amp, but I would be pleased with this set up.

Please excuse my ignorance, but can you help with another question? Can you explain why I would need a charger station in lieu of the 220V wall plug supplied by Volvo. If I use the 220V pigtail supplied by Volvo and the electrician supplies a 220V line capable of 20Amps, what advantage would a charging station have over this set up. I don't have any other cars to charge and I can't really see switching between 110Volt and 220Volt or between 10Amp charging and 16Amp charging. Said another way, with the 220V @ 16Amp and the Volvo plug in unit set up, won't I get the 2 hr 30min charging you mention above?
Thanks for your response!