We are seeing a transition towards electric cars lately, and what we have noticed most is that many manufacturers are competing in this market. And one of the advantages of the electric car is that the electric motor better converts the energy stored in the batteries or hybrid systems into the car's movement. And best of all, you can fill up your car at home, without having to go to a gas station.
But it's not that simple. Many of these chargers for electric vehicles require an electrical installation entirely dedicated to this type of charging, and they are still expensive to install, in addition to the high installation cost and the problem is that in the end, you will only have one charging point, no You can take it with you wherever you want. But what if I tell you that you can charge your electric car using a regular socket in your home and best of all, you'll be able to take this charger with you wherever you want.
Today I'm going to tell you about the evolution of portable chargers for electric cars. Hey engineering lovers, I think one of the great advantages of having an electric car is having the idea that we can charge it while we work, sleep or do any type of activity. But what we see is that charging systems for electric cars are not that available, especially here in Brazil.
The ultra-fast chargers, or power walls that we see around, are large, complex, and require their own specific control and electrical installation, this is because they require much more robust cables and wiring so as not to affect both the charging system and the network . electrical installation locations. But if we think about it like this, the gain in portability of being able to charge your car anywhere ends up being much more restricted, as you will always need to look for an ultra-fast charger to fill your battery.
And that's when we thought, wouldn't there be a simpler, more compact and portable system that really took into account portability and the possibility of charging your car using any simple socket in our homes? And that's when we went to the market and ended up finding this charger here, which is a portable charger for electric vehicles from Taysla. We contacted the company and asked them to send us a charger like this so we could test whether this product can really be portable, and how efficient it is in charging vehicles.
And to show you how this system works in practice, I'm going to test this charger in a common socket and use it to charge the BYD Song, which was loaned by a friend of ours. Well, let's go. Opening the box, we realized that the contents are really small and portable, and can easily be placed in the trunk of the car.
We have the charger itself, the universal plug for electric cars and most importantly, a plug already in the Brazilian standard, 20 Amps. The manual is in English, but you will notice that the charger operation is very simple and intuitive, with just one button to use it. The main button is used to adjust the input current, or simply put, it is used to adjust the maximum current that the socket you are using can deliver.
To better understand our sockets, there are specifications that we need to understand. Here in Brazil, sockets usually use 127 or 220 volts of alternating current and this is the socket voltage. The cool thing is that the range this charger works with can range from 80 to 260 volts, that is, no matter the voltage of the socket you put in, it will automatically adjust itself and work in any socket.
Another point is the network frequency. Here in Brazil we use a network frequency of 60 hertz, but in other European countries, for example, the operating frequency of the electrical system is 50 hertz. And again, the charger works with both frequencies, serving both network frequencies.
Now the point that may cause the most doubt and difficulty in understanding is the socket current. Normally, the most common sockets in our homes have a connection with the thinnest pins , and they are usually 10 amp sockets. I say usually, because everything will depend on the circuit breaker you will use and especially the gauge of the wiring that reaches that outlet.
Another type of connection is 20 amp sockets, which have thicker pins and people usually end up using adapters to plug in and use in 10 amp sockets. And the interesting thing about this charger is that it can be configured with this button to work on 4 working currents. Current of 8, 10, 13 and 16 amps.
But why does it work with these 4 currents? This is because as it is portable and you can plug it into any socket, you can select the input current according to the type of installation. So if you are going to connect it to a somewhat questionable socket without much parameter, you can select the current of 8 amps.
If you are plugging the device into a common 10 amp household outlet, you can select 10 amp current. Now if you are going to use a 20 amp plug, you can now use the 13 or 16 amp current, and the only button on the charger is only used to change the current. And here we have to understand preferences a little.
The higher the voltage and current, the higher the power and consequently the higher the charging speed. Now if we have a lower voltage and a lower current, the power will be lower and the charging speed will also be lower. To understand the power, just multiply the voltage by the current, so if we have a 220 volt socket and select a current of 16 amps, we will have a power of 3520 w of power.
Just to give you an idea, this power is almost the power of a simple shower in your home. Now if we use a voltage of 110 volts with a current of 8 amps, we will only have 880 watts of power, and it would be like the power of an iron. So, understand that the higher the power, the higher the charging speed, so give preference to 220 volt sockets with the possibility of using 16 amp current.
But if you don't have one available, you can plug in the device normally, but be aware that the charging speed will be slower. When we plug the charger into the car, the screen shows us some information. The first is the working temperature, output voltage and grounding statement.
It is important to say that this type of equipment needs to be in a ventilated environment, and when we have grounding, it shows that the system is grounded, but if the socket is not grounded, know that it has a grounding protection system and it monitors this all the time. Then we have the voltage of the socket we are using, the current used and the power. If you don't know the voltage of the socket you are using, it will already show it here, and the current you selected will appear both here and here.
And the final power is the multiplication of voltage by current, and although the math doesn't add up correctly, understand that there are losses in the system, mainly due to heat, but here, we can already have an idea of the power we are pulling from the network. Here we have an accumulative timer that shows how long we have been using the charger. And finally, we have the average power we are using per hour.
And to talk a little more about the charger, the interesting thing is that it has protection against overvoltage, which is when, due to a fault in the network, we have a momentary voltage higher than specified, and protection against undervoltage, which is when also due to some network failure, we have a momentary voltage lower than specified. Plus, it has overcurrent protection, in case there is a failure, protection against lightning and even protection against temperature rise. So, is it worth using such a charger to charge an electric car?
Well, to understand a little, let's calculate a little. The battery capacity of this BYD Song is 8. 3 KWh.
If we use a common socket in a garage like this one and select the highest current available, we will have a power of. . .
. (calculate voltage x current or see on the device screen) In other words, if we divide the total battery capacity by 8, 3 by XX (value found), we will have XX hours. In other words, to fully charge this battery, we would need approximately XX hours.
Remembering that this charger is a portable device that you can take wherever you want, and can save you in an emergency, for example. So the whole question is how long you will have to charge your vehicle. If you are one of those who use your car daily, then it is a good idea to think about the charging time so that it is optimized while you sleep, for example, or while you work.
But if you are one of those who only use your car on the weekends, despite it being a portable charger, it could very well replace an expensive fast charger that you need to install in your home. If you liked and were interested in this charger, I'll leave a link so you can take a look at the video description and pinned comment. Take the opportunity to subscribe if you are not subscribed, leave your like, and activate the notification bell and if you found our content useful, consider becoming a member and help us continue producing content here on the platform and be remembered in our videos.
Now I want to know your opinion. What do you think of electric cars? Do you think they will be the future?
And what do you think of the possibility of charging your car from any outlet out there? Leave it here in the comments and I want to know. Here you have two video options that you might like and that are worth checking out to expand your knowledge.
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