preface
This year is the first year of new energy vehicles, but also the year of outbreak, the domestic new energy automobile industry is developing in a spurt.
On April 3, 2022, BYD Automobile officially announced that it will stop the production of fuel vehicles from March 2022 according to its strategic development needs, becoming the first car company in the world to officially announce the suspension of fuel vehicles.
Since the beginning of this year, oil prices have been rising several rounds, and for ordinary people, the pressure to drive oil trucks is really great. For new energy car owners, although there is no pressure brought by the rise in oil prices, however, the subsidy standard for new energy vehicles in 2022 will decline by 30% on the basis of 2021, the price of new energy vehicles will rise and the insurance cost will rise, and there will also be a reduction in the phenomenon, and some brands originally gave away the charging gun charging pile with the car, and everything has become more money and money! Charging, as an indispensable part of the daily life of new energy vehicle owners, greatly affects the performance of the vehicle and the user's driving experience. Safe, timely and reliable charging can extend the battery life of the tram and greatly reduce the mileage anxiety of the owner.
For example, Weilai has begun to try to set up a replacement power station, the entire battery replacement process is faster than the car refueling, although it may not become the mainstream, but the courage to eat crab is definitely a good start. Nowadays, under the impetus of policies, a series of enterprises, including Geely, Weilai, BAIC and so on, have increased the number of power exchanges, and the outlet is booming. Can a large number of replacement power stations that are on the road meet various requirements and conditions as desired and obtain the corresponding approval permits? Many practitioners have no bottom in their hearts.
At present, I am more inclined to the way of charging piles and charging guns, after all, the current distribution point of the power station is still a big problem, basically the first and second-tier cities are difficult to meet, not to mention the cities below the third line. Take Tesla as an example, open Tesla's official website and choose the charging product interface, charging methods are mainly divided into home charging and travel charging, in fact, it is a charging pile and a charging gun.
Tesla's official website provides 2 kinds of charging guns: 2550 yuan of national standard travel charger, 4775 yuan of European standard travel charger. Among them, the national standard travel charger is 6 meters long, the maximum current is 13A, the price is more expensive, if there is no brand belief, it is recommended to directly start a more affordable third-party charging gun to replace.
Choosing a new energy vehicle charging gun must see four points
1. Charging speed
Some new energy vehicles give away the charging gun using 220V 8A, the charging power is only 1.5 kilowatts, the charging time is very long! In particular, the waiting time of new energy vehicles with a long endurance of 4,500 kilometers is really torturous. The current of some high-quality charging guns can reach 10A or even 16A, the charging efficiency is doubled, and the daily "power anxiety disorder" can be greatly reduced.
2. Features
The free charging gun is basically a single charging function, no ground-free, no reservation, no transfer 10A, no full automatic power off and other functions. The charging gun sold separately on the market basically has many additional functions in addition to supporting high-power charging, such as intelligent temperature control, LED display, electronic lock anti-theft and so on.
3. Cables
The free charging gun, the length of the cable is basically only about 5 meters, which has certain limitations. The self-purchased charging gun wire specifications can be selected to be longer, such as 10 meters-20 meters, and the range of use can be more extensive.
4. Security
Many brands of charging guns on the market, the products are also mixed with dragons and snakes, and the quality is uneven, so when choosing, we should pay attention to rejecting miscellaneous brands and improving safety and quality assurance.
Recently, I just mentioned a new energy car, and decided to buy a charging gun with a longer cable to replace the 5-meter-long charging gun distributed with the car. After screening, it was decided to start the Bull brand, after all, its reputation in the field of plug boards is very high, and the Bull charging equipment is also very wide in the domestic audience. At present, the bull has produced 2 models with the car charge: the standard version and the fashion model, the difference between them is about 400 yuan, the appearance design is basically the same, mainly the control box function is not the same.
Standard version, the control box is equipped with 4 indicators, different colors indicate different charging states, only 8A and 13A two current modes, do not support the appointment charging function.
Fashion model, the control box is equipped with a display and a bar indicator, which can directly see the charging status data at a glance, such as current, power, etc., and also has 8A, 10A, 13A, 16A four current modes and appointment charging function. Fast charge and slow charge can be adjusted arbitrarily, suitable for different current demand models, in line with GB/T 18487.1-2015 national standard for electric vehicle conduction charging system, supporting the use of mainstream new energy vehicles on the market.
Design & details
In the end, I chose the Bull Safe Portable Car Charging Fashion Model (hereinafter referred to as the Bull Portable Car Charging Fashion Model), which is 10 meters long. The outer packaging uses recyclable and environmentally friendly kraft cartons, and on the packaging there are the highlights of this car-with-charge: vehicle-level protection, current safety conversion, lifelong technical service, 1-year warranty, etc.
The Bull Portable Car Charger also comes with a storage bag, which is really practical! On the one hand, it can be used to store and place the charging gun, so as to avoid directly placing the rear trunk and becoming messy, which is easy to carry. On the other hand, it is also possible to protect the charging gun.
The Bull Portable Car Charging Fashion Model consists of four main parts: 16A plug, cable, control box, gun head, basically all AC charging guns are this construction, so the use is the same. This charging gun officially provides 5 meters / 10 meters / 15 meters / 20 meters of choice, I started with a length of 10 meters, so that it can be used from the 16A socket next to the meter on the first floor of the home.
Standard 16A/250V plug, the material workmanship is very solid, with a bull logo on it. There is also a handle on the left and right sides of the plug, which is convenient for insertion and removal when in use.
Bull also takes into account that some users use 10A sockets at home, equipped with a 10A plug converter, so that the 10A sockets at home can also be accessed. If there is a small partner using a 10A socket to charge the new energy vehicle, you need to pay attention to whether the wire of the socket is more than 2.5 square wires, and you cannot use a wire below 2.5 square meters, otherwise there will be a safety hazard that exceeds the power and causes the line to burn.
It can be found that there is a metal contact above the female part of the 10A plug converter, which is the trigger switch of the overcurrent protection device. Although other brands of charging guns are also equipped with 10A plug converters, but do not have overcurrent protection devices, it is easy to cause charging safety hazards, and the bull's conversion head built-in metal contacts can automatically identify the signal, and the charging current is automatically limited to the maximum 10A safety current, is a thorough plug + current double conversion. It can be seen that the accessories of the bull are still full of materials!
The charging gun adopts a bright black and roasted dark exterior design, and the front is intaglioed with the bull brand logo. It can be found that the thickened and thickened tail design is adopted at the junction of the handle end and the charging cable, which can resist the aging under the use of frequent pulling and bending every day. The charging tip end has a protective rubber cover to prevent foreign objects from entering, which can be opened when in use. The charging tip has its own protective cover, which can prevent rain and dust from entering the tip and causing a short circuit, and the waterproof level in the coupled state has reached IP55, even if it is rainy weather.
The gun head part adopts the national standard universal AC 7 hole slow filling port, which has wide compatibility and can adapt to 99% of new energy electric vehicles on the market. The two small holes in the top row are the signal lines, and after the charging gun is inserted into the charging port of the car, it will be identified through here first, and the charging will be turned on after the recognition is correct. The three holes in the second row are fire, ground, and zero.
Bull portable car charging fashion model, gun tip material is made of high flame retardant PC material, not easy to burn, to ensure charging safety. The lock button design is very user-friendly, with a press groove, which can be easily plugged in and out without too much effort, with electronic anti-theft lock function.
The snap-in clip when the tip of the gun is inserted into the charging port of the car can play a role in fixing.
The back of the tip is marked with specific parameters and the specification is 250V(AC)16A.
If the vehicle supports electronic locks, plug in the charging gun when locking the car, and the tip of the gun is automatically locked, so that you are not afraid of passers-by or bear children pulling it off at will. The electronic lock unlock is also very simple, unlock the vehicle and you can unplug the charging gun.
Bull portable car charging fashion model supports 16A high power, its cable material must also be exquisite, the cable diameter size is 3 * 2.5mm + 1 * 0.75mm, the use of pure copper car standard cable in line with the national standard, the gun head high flame retardant high strength nylon material + shell high flame retardant high strength PC material combination, flame retardant to meet the UL94-V0 level, safe and non-flammable. With high temperature and low temperature corrosion resistance characteristics, and safe and odorless, compared with the low-end goods on the market, the quality is more secure.
Rectangular control box design, the front is a bright black appearance, surrounded by a frosted black shell. There is another reason why I chose this charging gun, that is, it uses an intelligent "double temperature control combination", respectively, in the controller and plug have added temperature monitoring functions, the whole process of real-time monitoring of the controller and plug temperature, up to 80 ° C when the temperature control protection measures are turned on, disconnect the charging, and automatically resume charging after the temperature drops to 70 ° C, to prevent charging overheating, charging no longer need to worry about overheating.
The use of outdoor charging scenarios is more complicated, the control box is placed on the ground to charge, if other vehicles drive by from the side, do not pay attention to the ground will be crushed, the control box material is not passed, there will be damage caused by leakage risk. The control box of the Bull Portable Car Charging Style is made of high-strength imported PC material, which can withstand 1.5 tons of car crushing without damage, even if the outdoor charging is accidentally crushed by other cars, there is no need to worry about damage.
In addition, the control box supports IP66 dustproof and waterproof, no fear of wind and rain outdoor environment, can meet the needs of daily use, in order to avoid water immersion for safety.
The control box panel is equipped with a multi-function information LED display, providing real-time current, real-time voltage, real-time power, charged amount, plug temperature, controller temperature, grounding status and other information, very intuitive through the display to understand the current charging conditions, no need to guess or open the mobile phone App to view the charging status of the vehicle, very convenient.
▲The status indication of the bar indicator with different colors
The bottom of the LED display of the control box is a bar indicator, which is composed of DIFFERENT color LEDs, and the current working situation is displayed through different light states. Green breath flashing during normal power-on standby, green streaming effect during normal charging, green long light when charging is completed, yellow light when booking mode, red light when encountering fault, and can intelligently detect whether the grounding is normal, so as to quickly grasp the charging status of the current vehicle.
There is also a control key below the bar led, long press to enter the option, you can select the current switching and appointment charging, short press to switch options, long press to determine the option.
Current switching, plugged into the 16A socket, you can choose the current value of 8A, 10A, 13A, 16A (if it is connected to the 10A socket, you can only select the current value of 8A and 10A).
Note: Do not charge the car before setting the current. It should be set up first, and then the gun should be inserted to charge.
To book a charge, you can choose to start charging after 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours or 8 hours after the appointment. Preparing for the summer, many places in order to avoid the peak period of electricity consumption, the introduction of the night trough electricity price preferential policy, through this appointment delay charging function can achieve night charging preferential prices.
Note: Do not charge the car before setting an appointment to charge. It should be set up first, and then the gun should be inserted to charge.
During normal charging, the plug or charging gun cannot be forcibly unplugged. If you want to lose power, you need to press and hold the control key first, and according to the screen prompt [whether to stop charging], long press to confirm to unplug the plug or charging gun.
The back of the control box is designed with wall mount holes, which can be wall mounted or used horizontally. The back label also has detailed specific parameter information and precautions for use, and the parameters of the charging gun and the meaning of the status indicator are detailed on the label in the center. If you encounter a charge that cannot be used normally, you can quickly flip to the back to check the specific status and troubleshoot.
Usage experience
The actual use is very simple, I installed a 16A outlet at the meter in the yard of my home, and I can plug it directly in. The left side of the Euler good cat is a slow filling, directly plugged in, 10 meters of cable, proper enough!
The bull's portable car-mounted tip section features an ergonomic design that requires only the position of the handle of the gun and presses the hook button at the top to easily plug into the charging port.
The damping is moderate, there is no problem of swaying left and right, and it can also protect the car and the charging gun. Support hot-swappable protection and electronic lock function, charging is in an anti-theft state, the vehicle will automatically lock the gun head when charging, as long as the vehicle is not unlocked, pressing the snap lock is unable to remove the charging gun, only after the completion of charging or unlocking can be pulled out, to avoid poor contact damage or arc damage.
The Bull Portable Car Charger model is very friendly equipped with a conversion plug, which will automatically identify and match the corresponding current according to the plug. Therefore, the bull portable car charging fashion model is completely no problem at home, do not pick the socket, and do not need to buy additional adapters. Slow charging 16A charging, not large, while the voltage stabilization technology under the blessing, can also better protect the car battery. The outside fast charging pile uses high-power DC charging, the voltage is greater than the car voltage, and the damage to the battery is large, so it is recommended that the small partners still charge at home better, and the electricity bill is also very economical.
The safety aspect of the charging gun is very important, the bull portable car charging fashion model has passed the China Quality Certification Center CQC certification and Chinese insurance underwriting liability insurance, providing one year free warranty service. In addition to the intelligent "double temperature control combination", the control box also supports built-in leakage protection, temperature protection, overvoltage protection, overcurrent protection, undervoltage protection, lightning protection and other multiple measures, when there is an overcurrent overvoltage undervoltage and leakage will automatically turn off the power supply, to ensure the safety of new energy vehicle charging.
Through Euler's App, the specific parameter information of charging cannot be directly queried, and only the slow charging gun access and estimated full charge time can be seen. Now use the Bull Portable Car Charging Fashion Model can be directly on the control box to see the charging protocol, through the LED display, you can see the real-time status of charging: using 16A current mode, real-time current 15.6A, real-time voltage 231.2V, plug temperature 34 °C, controller temperature 26 °C, grounding status is normal, charging time display and charged amount.
After charging for 1 hour and 18 minutes, the real-time current is 15.7A, the real-time voltage is 232V, the plug temperature is 45°C, the controller temperature is 34°C, and the charged amount is 8.52k wh. Through the test, it can be seen that the bull portable car charging style model can maintain a charging power of 3.5KW when charging with a 16A socket for a long time, and the temperature control is also well controlled.
When using a 16A socket, it can have a charging power of 3.5KW, in order to charge faster, it is recommended that the small partner consider accessing the 16A socket. Charging in a 10A outlet, using 8A or 10A current mode, although slower, but for the home electricity has no impact, but also safer, can be used for the vehicle remaining high power when the slow charging or outdoor emergency charging needs.
In addition, in the old community or in the countryside, due to the old lines, many wires are not grounded. In the use of bull portable car charging fashion model with automatic detection of grounding status, if there is a grounding abnormality, the bar indicator will prompt, and the grounding anomaly symbol appears on the display screen, at this time you can start emergency charging, by long pressing the control key to achieve authorized charging. However, in order to use electricity safety, it is recommended that small partners still choose to charge under grounding.
summary
In general, the bull portable car charging fashion model is very good, abandon the fixed charging pile, cumbersome installation process, if it is their own charging conditions of the owner can be directly at home or parking space for quick charging. Compared with the traditional charging pile is indeed much simpler, with 4 current modes (8A, 10A, 13A, 16A), 3.5KW high-power portable charging gun, fast charging and safe, easy to carry with the car, wherever you can charge. Effectively solve the safety problems of vehicle charging difficulties, slow charging, and charging, and is very suitable for users who go to work in urban areas, parking in the community, rural villas, and outdoor travel.
In addition to the advantages, of course, there are also some improvements, such as the charging tip out of the light, convenient for the charging port to be inserted when charging at night; the appointment timer can be customized, not a fixed 2/4/6/8 hours choice. In general, choosing a suitable charging gun, such as the bull portable car charging style, is not only for the safety of vehicle charging, but also a way to protect the car.
Portable charging gun for new energy vehicles, charging speed is not very fast, similar to my new car 405km long endurance version, from about 38% of the remaining power, full of about 7 hours or so, relatively fast charging will be a lot slower, of course, the conditional installation of fast charging piles of small partners can also consider choosing to use charging piles to charge the car, there is a chance I will write another article to install the charging pile process, to the small partners to quickly get started, I hope this sharing can help the small partners.