hi,

Just wondering what is inside of those non-intelligent European single phase charging stations (typically 1.8kW and 3.6kW) that have a schuko socket? Is it something like AC-DC + DC-AC conversion with power limiter in between?

br,
A

 

If they have a Schuko connector, then that is not a "charging station", it is just a domestic supply. Vehicles are supplied with a lead which connects to a domestic supply.

Or, do you mean this connector?

This one is a single phase type (L2 and L3 are unconnected)
The PP contact is a pilot contact which operates a relay inside the charging station which supplies power (avoid the possibility of connecting and disconnecting whilst the supply is live)
The CP contact signals to the vehicle what the maximum charging current is (7kW for this connector, 23kW for the 3-phase version)
The rectifiers and voltage/current control are in the vehicle.

The domestic charging lead also contains the relay operated by the pilot contacts, and a signal generator to tell the vehicle to charger at a lower power (3kW)

 

Actually, my initial question was what I meant. There are charging stations that are designed for EV charging but they have schuko socket. Some of them have 1.8kW limiter, some 3.6kW limiter, and some of them have adjustable limiter (controlled by an external load balancing).

How type 2/3 works is clear.

 

The limiter is normally achieved by varying the CP signal:
"a 16% PWM is a 10 A maximum, a 25% PWM is a 16 A maximum, a 50% PWM is a 32 A maximum and a 90% PWM flags a fast charge option"
(from SAE J1772 page on Wikipedia),
but I don't see how it can get the CP signal to the car without extra pins on the connector.

 

The charging stations I mean do not have any awareness of CP signal. They just limit current to pre-defined level (or it is controlled by a load balancer controller). The coverage of those devices is probably very much limited in northern Europe because of the special use case.

A