Amid all the advancements to electric-powered vehicles and the stations that recharge them during the past few years, we can find plenty of reminders that we're still pretty new to all of this. In the latest case, theHonda Fit EV might not get along well with Ecotality's Blink charging stations. Specifically, Plug In Cars writer Colby Trudeau says his place of work has seven Blink charging stations, and that six of the 30-amp stations start overheating after about 20 minutes recharging his electric Fit.
Fortunately, the car has a thermal-monitoring device that stops the charge when the temperature gets too hot and risks damaging the car. Of course, this also means Trudeau isn't getting the juice he's counting on. As a result, he's changed habits and will now only recharge his Fit at Level 1, 12-amp chargers using a Honda-supplied cord. Those stations take about 15 hours to fully recharge the vehicle.
Trudeau writes that cars that charge at 16 amps, including the Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and Mitsubishi i, aren't at risk for overheating, but that the Toyota RAV4 EV and Ford Focus Electric may have problems charging at 30 amps and the excess heat may cause the connector crimps to be damaged.
Honda said in a statement to AutoblogGreen that it is "monitoring the situation" and looking into it further while stressing the fact that the car does have a temperature monitoring system to prevent overheating. Meanwhile, Ecotality said in a separate statement that "there is no clear cause" to the overheating, and that the company's aware of issues involving the Fit EV and RAV4 EV. Ecotality also said it's working with Honda and Toyota on a solution to the problem.
For those keeping track, Honda, which started leasing out Fit EVs in limited numbers last summer for $389 a month, ended up leasing out 93 for the year, including a monthly high of 26 in November. The EPA says the Fit EV can go 82 miles on a full charge.
Source: Autoblog Green
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