Why does 110 charge the car at 3mph, but 220 charge at 35mph? It’s 2x volts but >10x charge speed.

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Why does 110 charge the car at 3mph, but 220 charge at 35mph? It’s 2x volts but >10x charge speed.

In: Physics

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Because 220/240 volt circuits can be fitted with much higher-amperage breakers. A typical 115v circuit has a 15 amp breaker with a max charge current of 12 amps. A 240 circuit can have a 50+ amp breaker which gives a max charge current of 35-40 amps or higher.

Charge rate is a measure of power. Power is voltage * current. So if you increase both the voltage and the current, you dramatically increase the power.

The key here isn’t so much the voltage as the current available on the circuit the car is charging on.

In theory you could build a very high current 115V circuit but this is not commonly done for a lot of reasons.

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