Category: EV driving and charging

My BYD Atto 3 has been delivered on November 14th 2022, and I took some pictures today under the bonnet:

Suddenly it is snowing in the Netherlands, barely a week after my BYD Atto 3 was delivered on  2022-11-14th.  The car came with fine Continental summer tires:

But I don’t feel like changing tires twice a year so it will be all-weather tires to match the car.

After some research I chose all-weather tires with the same size as the summer tires the Atto3 came with: 235/50/18.

Because of the weight of the car (1725 kg), solid tires are needed, not so much because of the maximum speed of 160 km/h.

So it became these all-seasons tires:  Bridgestone 235/50 R18 101H XL (GAN) Weather Control A005.  The new tires will come on the original rims and the Continental summer tires will go into storage for the time being.

The energy rating of the Bridgestone all-weathers comes to class A, rain and snow resistance comes to B and noise comes to 72dB.

These tires have a snowflake as a mark on the tire so at least you can also drive them in Germany in winter.

After the installation (2022-12-13th) our experiences are:

Well, the handling of the car improved a lot on icy roads, as was to be expected.

These all-weather tires are behaving a lot like the original tires, prime quality as well with the f=difference of good grip under below-zero degrees (C) temperatures on wet or iced roads.

Also, under such conditions it makes a great difference when accelerating a bit more than niormal, then the true difference can be experienced.

All in all, I am very pleased with the Bridgestone 235/50 R18 101H XL (GAN) tires, also because I could not detect any change in average power usage after the switching of the tires.

I am very happy with the Atto3 from BYD,  that came delivered 2022-11-14 within 1 month after ordering!

Most  pictures are taken in the parking garage where I have my own charging connection, from Blue Current.

This allows me to top the car off daily, and every morning I start fresh with 420 km range!

I have a wallbox copper charging station for an electric car with load balancer that I use both in the garage and at the front of the house with 11kW charging via power.

At the front of the house is a public sidewalk and parking is available to all.  Usually there is no place to park the car out front when I get home.

If I want to charge in the garage I have to park the old car outside first so the EV can get in to charge.  Because I always work from home during the day I can always park the car in front of the door at those times to charge. But the municipality of Woerden has included in its existing 2017 decision on its charging policy, among other things, that it is not allowed to lay a charging cable over the sidewalk.  Other options for home charging such as a charging chute in the tiles or other solutions are also not allowed (yet). The starting point of municipal policy is public charging from user-driven applications.   I have done that through an application to the party chosen by the municipality, and after 9 months it has still led to nothing.  There are all kinds of reasons such as the full power grid and going through objection procedures that make building public charging points not very fast. but at my home it was settled with Stedin within 2 weeks.  Now I can just charge at home with 11kW.  But municipal policy does not allow that on public roads.

So I charge publicly when I can or in the garage.  I hope the municipality, under pressure from its residents, will eventually allow alternatives to use charging cables safely over the public sidewalk.  There is quite a bit of political pressure to move on this.  The existing charging policy of the municipality of Woerden predates the time when EVs are available in growing numbers, so it is time to change this in terms of vision anyway.

As is now clear from user experiences, the purchase of EVs will be significantly stimulated when home charging solutions become available including solutions for connecting your EV to your home charger via public space. This is already in place in a growing number of municipalities, albeit mostly on a temporary trial basis.

In order to charge the EV at home, I have already implemented the following:

First, I replaced the meter box with a 3-phase meter box with circuit breakers.

Then I also laid a power cable to the garage, including the connection between wallbox copper on the one hand and load balancer and internet on the other, both via their own CAT-6 cable.

Then I made a box on the front wall with an extended wallbox copper connection point.

From the connection box the cable can be laid to the car.  The cable mat below will be laid over the cable.  The mat has a hollow space in the middle, lengthwise so the cable can lie neatly under it.

And so the above wallbox copper I can now mount::

1) OR in the meter box when the car is in front,

2) OR in the garage when the car can load on “own ground” in the garage.

Yesterday I spotted a Harley Davidson electric bike, covered by a Zündapp sticker!

It was parked next to a canal in Amsterdam-Old West.

Above is the original version shown of an HD livewire!

I took some pictures of the Zündapp and they are shown below:

The bike is registered as an HD Livewire in the Netherlands, from 2021-05-14th at 0.42 kW/kg and at 60kW.

Weight is registerd at 143 kg drive ready.

Max speed as registered is 177 km/hr.

Catalogue price is registered at Eur 34.000.

UPDATE 2025-05: We now have a flat 2.5mm2 x6 cable::

In this post we will describe our solution for charging Electric Vehicles from your home across the public pavement when using our super thin EV cable mat with rubber slabs.

Due to the rapidly growing ownership of electric cars, and the fact that roughly 60% of the Dutch population can not charge their car from within their own property, charging across public pavements has become an issue.

25% of Dutch City Councils is involved in pilot projects about all sorts of solutions to get the private energy-infrastructure used for charging ones own EV.  But- there is no general regulation for this.

And- you really don’t want to get all sorts of different solutions for putting charging cables in the way of pedestrians, especially not when these solutions leave something in the way after it has been used. Certainly you don’t want to put anything in the way of people with baby walkers, playing children, people with disabilities, elderly or people that use mobility walkers.

Numerous solutions have been tested and there is not one solution that fits all.

Most promising appears to be the solution of a pavement gutter in which the charging cable can be pushed in, during charging.  But- it has also proved to be difficult in practice since this only works well if no-one interferes with its usage.  If the cable is pulled out, it will be in the way of everyone that needs to step over it.

In my mind, a simpler solution will be required by thinking unconventionally,  typically out of the non-electric box

The problem is that we want to charge the car’s battery from our existing solar panels, we then want to make use of the EV’s battery for our home aplliances through the Vehicle to Load feature during the period that there is not enough sun to use the solar panels.  Then, we can really close the energy circle without additional investments in home batteries and so on.  That is what this is all intended for.  Multi-use of the EV’s battery and of the available solar power.

BUT- this can only work with the EV’s battery connected to your home.

And the public pavement needs to be crossed.

One of the possibilities to do this could be by constructing a charging/Vehicle To Load cable that is flat enough to behave as a doormat on the pavement.  This mat must be flat enough to not cause any interfecerence for pedestrians, walkers and so on BUT it must be tough enough to keep its form and electrical characteristics during its use.

In my view, the flat cable mat should have flat start- and ending docking cables,  reshape to normal round cables and EV charging connectors, connecting to the EV’s charging port and the other end to the charging point at the home.

EV charging from A/C has a maximum power of 11kW, 3 phase 400 Volts.

The current will be 16 Ampères x3 lines and per line at least 2.5 mm2 is required.

Some insulation in between the wiring is regulatory required.

For the 2 management wires we will also use round wires.

We will need 5×2.5mm2 and 2 control wires, a total of 7.

Standard flat elevator cable will be used of 7×2.5 mm2, see the below picture, the lowest one.

And- the mat will need to be wider than this, since we can use this to bring the height (thickness) back to 2-3 mm at the end of the mat’s side.  That gives the look and usage experience that the EV cable mat is hardly in the way of the walking/rolling path.

Our ‘patent pending’ design of the  Jantec.nl  EV charging pavement cable mat:

Total width of the EV pavement cable mat is around 40 cm

The slab has the behaviour of a normal doormat. We will pour our rubberized mat around the center EV-cables part.  The rubber will protect the cables and will also keep the EV cable mat flat on the pavement.

Cable center part is only  1,5-2 cm wide and  only 5 mm high (thick)

The EV cable mat will become available in lengths of 1, 1.5 and 2 meters.

At both ends the copper wires are bound into a regular round cable with 2.5 meters of cable, including regular Mennekes a male and a female charging connector.

NB: The product is under evaluation 2022-10-29.

Pricing is yet unknown, but will be above Eur 300 per set.

For the  time being,  I used  my old rubber mat that has a cut-out already, although the cable is clearly visible through  he mat.

The flat cable is working much better!!

EV-battery types and their basic differences:

NMC532, NMC811, NCA, solid state and LFP

Due to growing demand of raw materials, required to produce large capacity batteries for electric vehicles, prices are rising and the development of batteries that require less expensive materials is growing.

Lithium-Ion is almost always the  basic component  for existing EV-batteries.

The way that the current is brought to the Lithium is via a cathode and an anode.  The used materials for these cathode and anode differs, and this has great impact on stability, life span, kw/gram thus maximum current and deterioration behaviour of the batteries.

LFP batteries

Recently a new type of battery has been developed, using another type of materials for the anode and cathode than NMC batteries:

The lithium iron phosphate battery (LiFePO4 battery) or LFP battery (lithium ferrophosphate) is a type of lithium-ion battery using lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) as the cathode material, and a graphitic carbon electrode with a metallic backing as the anode.

LFP can be cycle-charged to 100% at least 2000x.

But LFP batteries (and -by the way- NMC532 as well) are less compact than NMC811 and NCA batteries. That is because LFP batteries have less electrical capacity per volumetric unit than NMC811 and NCA batteries.

The result is that smaller to medium sized cars will not be able to carry more than an 50-55 kWh LFP  battery pack.

It is expected that LFP batteries will become cheaper than NMC type of batteries in the long run because iron phosphate can be made without  material availability restrictions, while the required raw materials for NMC and NCA batteries will become even more expensive over time.

NMC (or NCM) and NCA batteries

The mainstream of Li-ion batteries, however, is currently NMC (and Tesla’s NCA long range and LFP standard range),  with different types of battery composition.

Tesla’s NCA development of batteries for the Tesla3 long range and new Tesla model S long range types has its own kind of composition for the batteries as is also shown in the below raw materials overview:

NMC811 batteries

The latest development within the NMC type of batteries is NMC811, which has more power in a smaller pack but requires a very strict producing method and a very tight Battery Managment System.

NMC811 batteries  will deteriorate quickly if they are repeatedly charged at their max power capacity and it is recommended to charge the battery pack as little as possible above 80% of its maximum capacity.

And- it is recommended to only charge to maximum capacity when the charge will be used immediately after charged.  For instance when a large trip is made, before heading off and in between the trip.

NMC811 has a maximum full charge cycle of 200-300x, when performed according to the recommendations.  This might be the main problem with these type of batteries, but in practice it might mean a lifespan of over 8 years.  Provided that you only charge to 100% for the holiday trips.

NMC811 makes it possible to equip a small/medium sized EV(SUV) like the MG ZS EV (2022 version) long range with a 74 kWh NMC811 battery pack.

Solid state batteries

Solid state batteries are also becoming available, and these batteries provide the best performance in a similar – or possibly even smaller build volume than NMC811 batteries.

But Solid state batteries are still quite expensive and are not commonly available.

Toyota is one of the main developers of solid state batteries and will equip their hybrid cars with these batteries.

It will be interesting to find out wether solid state batteries will outperform the older//existing type of batteries in the long run, since hybrid cars make maximum use of the charge/recharge cycles.

Summary

For small EV’s, LFP will be the best choice. (less range required, usually city cars. USP of LFP: 2000+ times possible to chargecycle @ 100% full capacity.

For the mid-to higher segment, NMC811 and/or NCA will be the best fit. USP of NMC811: more capacity makes longer range possible, with requirement of a very good BMS. Due to less usage of expensive materials in NMC811 (less cobalt&manganese) the price for NMC811 is within affordable range.

For the highest segment EV’s, solid state will be the best option. Solid state is more expensive, smaller, more capacity, recycling to full power is no problem.

For Hybrid EV’s either LFP or solid state can be applied, but not NMC811.

In the Netherlands, City councils usually forbid to put charging cables for electric vehicles on public pavements.

And- to charge your electric car, of course you want to use your solar panels and connect your EV directly to your own domestic power grid.

But what do you do when your municipality forbids you to lay the charging cable across the sidewalk to your car?

My municipality has passed a council resolution whereby you can order a charging station through an external party, and so then you can have a public charging station installed nearby.  Provided there isn’t already a charging point within a reasonable distance.  In my neighborhood there are hardly any charging points, and the only one I have been able to find niche about 400 meters away, consisting of 2 AC charging points where two cars are always charging.

In my search for possible solutions to still make it possible to get to the car via the public sidewalk so that I do get to charge the car at home, I have come across several solutions.  Of those solutions, only one is really useful, because all solutions with cable trays or cable protection over the sidewalk can still lead to liability issues if someone trips over the cable or is otherwise inconvenienced by the cable over the sidewalk.

The solution of using a hinged cable tree placed high on your facade to get the cable across the public sidewalk directly to your car is a pretty eye-catching solution.  But- the sidewalk remains free of obstacles and no one is bothered by it.  Except perhaps for the fact that it doesn’t look very pretty.  I wonder how the municipality would want to and can- prevent this solution.  After all, similar things like flags on the public sidewalk at a sufficient height are not enforced either. If that is even possible by law.

In terms of principle, it looks like this:

The lever can be moved upwards after use.  Then the whole tree falls away into the vertical holder.  Very nice, just a pity that the link to the supplier doesn’t seem to work anymore.

For my home situation, I prefer to place the lever on the facade. With a hinge point, the lever can then be moved away nicely against the facade after use, where you can attach the lever.

Below is an example of a company that makes these levers for hanging welding shields in factory halls.  They also exist in extendable versions up to a length of 6 meters.

When you create such a solution, it must of course comply with all the rules and regulations, and the design must be such that it fits in with the surroundings.  The choice of color and material is also a matter of concern, and it must not cause any inconvenience, such as clattering against the facade, etc.  And the structure must be professionally grounded.

I do expect resistance from the local authority because they assume that electric vehicles are still in the minority and that there is therefore no need for a serious solution for home charging in public parking spaces.

The world is changing so fast towards electric personal transport, the sale of new cars already consists for 10% of electric cars.  Of course the subsidy schemes help with this too, but all those cars sold are just going to drive and need charging spots.

Given the fact that people that already installed solar panels at their home are also the first people to drive electric cars, these people also want to use their installed solar panels for their electric transport.   And as long as the net metering regulation for the return of energy is still in force in the Netherlands, the pressure on necessarily wanting to charge the electric car at home will not be very great.  But with the rising energy prices suddenly making public charging much more expensive than charging at home, the pressure on wanting to charge at home using one’s own solar panels could become much greater.

VEHICLE TO LOAD

In addition, the latest development to run your home on your car battery is suddenly serious, because all brands now supply electric cars with a vehicle to load connection, which means that you can also use your charging cable to feed energy back into your home.  This means that during the day you can charge your car from your solar panels and in the evening you can use the energy from your car battery.  An average family consumes 8kWh in the evening and the car usually has about 50-70 kWh available.  Most private solar panel installations start at 8 panels and that is exactly enough to fully recharge the car for the use of 8kWh per day on an average day during the 8 so-called sunny months of the year.  And the months of November through February? You will still have to ‘buy’ electric energy during these 4 months.  Preferably with wind energy from a green supplier, of course.  When you drive your electric car to and from work every day,  recharging your EV from your solar panels for those days is obviously not true.  But when you regularly work at home, the story does apply for those days, as well as the periods during the weekends when you are plugged in at home.