New Owner Questions - XC60

[SteEnt]

So I took Delivery of my new XC60 on Tuesday, and have been like a kid at Christmas.
But I have a few questions that I am hoping some folk here can shed some light on/advice from their experience.

1) Charging - I am currently in the process of trying to obtain a charger to be installed at home. I am looking at an Andersen A3/A2. The A3 is cheaper and offers up to 7kwh charging, which is enough to charge the car's battery from flat, in about 6 hours or so.
Single Phase or 3 phase? What are the requirements to have a 3 phase charger installed, and how will I know if my property is ready for that?
Currently I am charging with the home lead with the 3 pin plug, which is fed through the living room window, so not ideal.
According to my smart meter in home display, it's costing around 47p per hour to charge the car, so around £3 per full charge, which isn't so bad, but I am not on an EV tariff, so those who are, what are the cost differences like?
It seams the charges go up during peak times compared to my current tariff, and cheaper at night when I can schedule charging, so not sure what the cost benefit would be?

2) B Mode/Braking - I am enjoying using the B driving mode with one pedal driving, but this uses the electric motors to regenerate charge by creating resistance as the car slows. Is this going to put additional wear on the motors over time?
Is the mode meant to be used full time, or is it specifically for town driving or other scenarios?

3) Engine running in - Whenever I have had a car from new before, I have always been advised that the first 1000 miles are running the engine in, so not to push it hard or too fast until that time.
But with this car, it rarely starts the engine, unless I do floor it so I can't really track how many miles it has been run for. But them I am concerned the engine could be cold when doing so?
Also, how often should I put it in power to run the engine up to full temperature?

4) Air Suspension - How reliable is the air suspension on these cars? I currently have the setting "Easy entry/exit" on, as I find it a lot easier to get in and out of when it is lowered slightly, but worried about it adding a lot of extra wear?

Loving the car so far, so hoping I can get some answers re the above to enjoy it to its full potential!

[sk546]

1. Your car will only charge @3.6kwh on single phase (5.5-6 hours from empty to full) but if you install a 3 phase supply, you will be able to charge @7kwh greatly speeding up your charging. It will mean that once you do schedule charging and have a good offpeak rate, your charges will become nice and cheap (mine is currently just over £1 to fully charge overnight on Octopus Go).

2. I use B and one pedal all the time and have done since I collected my car 2 years ago with no issues. Its especially good for spirited driving as you can essentially left foot brake to the apex of a corner and get on the throttle just using the one pedal, so much fun.

3. Provided you have the Auxiliary heater activated, the ICE should never be fully cold at start up (unless you manage to start the ICE straight after getting in the car) as the aux heater warms the engine cooling circuit in order to provide cabin heating. This should mean that the ICE should not undergo the normal initial start cold wear as normal ICE cars do. When the ICE is started for any reason, the ECU will go through a full heat cycle to normal running temp before it kicks the ICE out initially, at which point the ICE will start and stop as required super quick.

4. Cant answer that one, mine has Ohlins Coil-Overs as standard so can actually go around corner quickly without so much body roll that it feels like an ocean liner.

[SteEnt]

Originally Posted by sk546

1. Your car will only charge @3.6kwh on single phase (5.5-6 hours from empty to full) but if you install a 3 phase supply, you will be able to charge @7kwh greatly speeding up your charging. It will mean that once you do schedule charging and have a good offpeak rate, your charges will become nice and cheap (mine is currently just over £1 to fully charge overnight on Octopus Go).

I have looked and I have a single phase supply, currently.
Googling the cost of installing a 3 phase, simply for charging a car is eye watering, circa £3000-£3500?
And as Octopus currently are saying off-peak prices are for a 6 hour window per day, it seems like a sledgehammer to a nail to fork out that much right now, and could require additional cabling to the house.

But I am seeing information that states 7kWh is possible with a single phase supply and that is what I was quoted by the ev charger manufacture, also, and that a 3 phase is needed for 11kWh up to 22.

[sk546]

Originally Posted by SteEnt

I have looked and I have a single phase supply, currently.
Googling the cost of installing a 3 phase, simply for charging a car is eye watering, circa £3000-£3500?
And as Octopus currently are saying off-peak prices are for a 6 hour window per day, it seems like a sledgehammer to a nail to fork out that much right now, and could require additional cabling to the house.

But I am seeing information that states 7kWh is possible with a single phase supply and that is what I was quoted by the ev charger manufacture, also, and that a 3 phase is needed for 11kWh up to 22.

Fully agree, the cost to swap to 3 phase is just not worth it for the slight improvement in charging speed with the battery size currently in use.

Yes, 7kwh is achievable from a charger on single phase, my charger (installed in 2019) outputs 7.2kwh but the Volvo on-board charger can only charge @ 3.6kwh.
The newer cars (like yours I'm assuming) can go to 7kwh but only with a 3 phase supply. No idea why Volvo decided that was a good idea but thats the situation we have.

[nu11eaf]

I have air suspension and have always used easy entry and never had any problem over the 8 years I have owned and used my XC90, most owners of new cars will not keep their car that long so use it without worrying, it will outlast your ownership. And you can always extend the warranty for peace of mind if you keep your car longer.

[neilgorin]

The principle of electric motor based braking uses a reverse current to cause the magnetic core of the motor to slow, much the same as running in reverse but using less current. It's no more likely to wear the motor than simply driving the car.

"Regenerative braking" where it charges the battery is a different matter.

[Wizzpop]

In B position the car brakes using its electric motor when the accelerator pedal is released, while also charging the hybrid battery. I doubt it will increase the wear more than driving in D. There is some regenerative braking in D.

[apersson850]

Originally Posted by sk546

1. Your car will only charge @3.6kwh on single phase (5.5-6 hours from empty to full) but if you install a 3 phase supply, you will be able to charge @7kwh greatly speeding up your charging.

You have mixed up your units here.

Charging is either at 3.6 kW or 7 kW. Watt is a power unit.

Then if you are charging for one hour with 3.6 kW you have fed 3.6 kWh into the battery (minus the charging losses, that is). Kilowatt-hour is a measure of energy, i.e. power integrated over time.

Originally Posted by neilgorin

The principle of electric motor based braking uses a reverse current to cause the magnetic core of the motor to slow, much the same as running in reverse but using less current. It's no more likely to wear the motor than simply driving the car.

"Regenerative braking" where it charges the battery is a different matter.

It's not a reverse current, since we aren't talking about direct current here. Electric braking is achieved by feeding the motor a voltage of less frequency than corresponds to the rotational speed of the motor and the effect you get then is exactly regenerative braking. You get a current out of the motor and in this case that's used to charge the battery.

[sk546]

Originally Posted by apersson850

You have mixed up your units here.

Charging is either at 3.6 kW or 7 kW. Watt is a power unit.

Then if you are charging for one hour with 3.6 kW you have fed 3.6 kWh into the battery (minus the charging losses, that is). Kilowatt-hour is a measure of energy, i.e. power integrated over time.

My bad, I'm a mechanical engineer primarily so I concern myself with the oily bits rather than the wiggly amps but thanks for putting me on the right path to remove the 'h' from the units I'm using.

[Wizzpop]

Originally Posted by apersson850

Charging is either at 3.6 kW or 7 kW. Watt is a power unit.

Then if you are charging for one hour with 3.6 kW you have fed 3.6 kWh into the battery (minus the charging losses, that is). Kilowatt-hour is a measure of energy, i.e. power integrated over time.

Originally Posted by sk546

My bad, I'm a mechanical engineer primarily so I concern myself with the oily bits rather than the wiggly amps but thanks for putting me on the right path to remove the 'h' from the units I'm using.

Just to be clear a kW is the voltage applied multiplied by the amps, so with a mains votage of 240v and a current of 13amps you are supplying 240x13 kW i.e. 3kW. (Think of a fan heater on full) Over 1 hour you are using 3kWh.
A battery of 18kWh will supply 3kW for 6 hours, conversely it will take 6 hours to charge an 18kWh battery. Actually there are losses which I haven't taken into account which will increase the charge time.
The 3pin Volvo charging cable is limited to 10amps so 2.4kW. Your battery is nominally 18.8kWh which will take around 8 hours to charge from flat.
I don't use the car that much so haven't bothered with a charger. If your tariff has limited time for the lower rate and you use the car a lot then maybe get a charger as that will supply a higher current, but it needs a dedicated cable and rcd from your consumer unit.