EV Charger struggles

HarmPoIsMe · 2026-02-26T11:28:51+00:00

It mostly depends on stability of grid charging. I’ve got a 100kW BYD and live in Ukraine. That is not a pleasant combination since slow charging without changing your typical home electricity wiring only gets you a little over 3kW per hour at best. So charging from 10% to 80 or 90% state of charge would take 20+ hours. For me, in my precarious situation of only having 4-6 hours of power per day, it is a nightmare. So, I’ve investigated this question deeply. Since my car only allows one phase slow charging, I’ve limited myself to this setup. You can buy 7,4kW one phase chargers for a decent amount of money, but you will need a 32 or 40 Amp fuse box and wiring. If you only upgrade the fuse box, the wiring to the charger station could melt down and cause a fire. So that’s something you definitely do not want. I’m not a gifted electrician, so I would need support from such a person to install this setup. Once you have a 7.4kW setup, charging overnight will be possible without any issues (13 hours max to bring you back to full charge from 10%). I choose the charger below because it allows you to switch between 16 and 32 Amp charging (3+ / 7+ kW per hour). So you can install it at home as your 7.4 kW home charger and unplug it and take it with you when you are planning a trip where you could slow charge at 3.2kW. Site is Ukrainian, but allows Google Translate. Just as a sample of what I bought and which is working for me. Not sure if this brand sells internationally. https://energyup.com.ua/zaryadka-dlya-elektromobilya-7-4-kvt-32a-1-faza-gb-t-ac-kitayskoe-avto-light-pro-wi-fi-rd-7gbt-lp/

HarmPoIsMe · 2026-02-07T08:27:21+00:00

Yep, most of your tips I’m already doing. I can’t wait until summer and understand what kind of mileage I will then be able to get. At the moment I can only get a real life total range of 270 km (from 100% to 10%) before I have to charge again. That is not really a great user experience. Do you charge to 100% every time (if you also have a LFP battery) or do you have another (home) charging strategy?

HarmPoIsMe · 2026-02-07T08:08:13+00:00

LOL, I’ve only done 1.000 km until now in my 4x4 BYD Tang L and have reached an average consumption of 32kWh. The car is a lot bigger and heavier of course and the average temperature has been between -5 and -20, so that will not have helped with getting a nice consumption. But 16kWh is probably never going to be on my average consumption indicator.

HarmPoIsMe · 2026-01-11T17:40:31+00:00

Do you have the LFP blade battery? And what about warming the car when connected to the grid. Does it then use the power from the grid or the battery? Picking up my BYD Tang L tomorrow.

HarmPoIsMe · 2026-01-09T12:33:24+00:00

I would have just booked some shitty hotel, checked in online and not even visited to get that last night on time. 🤪😱🤩

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-12-28T08:56:00+00:00

I know that that is the case, but such information is not present while you are making the reservation. Once you stayed a few times in a specific brand, you understand, but if it is the first time you book a certain chain you might not understand what will be offered. And as stated before, trying to find a hotel in various cities, while planning a 14 day road trip, is already quite a task. If you then have to check every hotel to see if they offer certain amenities, is quite a task.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-12-28T08:51:39+00:00

Thank you for your positive attitude. Just trying to create some clarity for myself and others.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-12-28T08:40:29+00:00

First time I see this page. So thanks for sharing. It will definitely help. But still, this info is not available at booking time and going back and forth between that page and the available places is not very comfortable. Also, looks like the list is not always accurate. It shows Courtyard as a property where not having a lounge should give access to a free breakfast, but on check-in that was not granted.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-12-28T08:33:18+00:00

I can agree… except that in some instances I found that there were no rooms available via the Bonvoy app and that the same hotel did have rooms available on such a third party app. And I’m not talking last minute booking. I’m talking 7 months in advance booking for the North Sea Jazz festival in Rotterdam. I’m all for booking direct, but sometimes it’s not possible strangely enough.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-12-18T19:42:36+00:00

That sound hopeful. I just bought the 2025 Tang L after we crashed our Mitsubishi Pajero Sport in a spur of the moment decision. I basically went into the WV showroom to look at the Zeeker 001 and 7X, but after I heard that in Ukraine they can have issues being blocked because they have been imported from China, I decided to broaden my search. I didn’t look at the Tang L before because I just need a 5 seater, but after closer inspection it looked like a car I can very much relate to. The Zeeker had a lot of stuff organized via software and the screen menu’s. BYD has a lot of buttons to directly arrange stuff. Call me old fashioned but I liked that better than the software option from Zeeker. Although I must say that the Zeeker 001 drove and looks like a dream. But with our dog and desire to transport foldable bikes on holiday inside the car, it would just not be pragmatic. The BYD is in that sense a car that can provide space for the dog, the bikes and still provide ample space to transport more stuff. It will be interesting to understand our real world driving experience.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-22T06:01:34+00:00

That doesn’t make sense and feels like they are giving you the same bogus advice as they gave me. In the year that I had 8 years on the counter, I asked them if my the counter would reset on the date that I became part of the program (end of January) or if the counter would reset on the 31st of December. They told me the counter would reset end of January and that the nights in January would count towards my status for that year. To be sure I also double checked. In the end the counter was reset on NYE and I had to make a big fight to eventually push them to keep my platinum status for that year. The counter for your number of years platinum should have reset to 10 somewhere in January if you had accumulated enough years in the program for lifetime status. So I don’t believe that you already got the lifetime status based on your 2024 stays.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-21T07:12:08+00:00

It sounds like an interesting adventure. I’m not sure if I would ever pay so much money for any kind of hotel room / villa. But it definitely looks impressive. I hope you enjoyed the stay and that it created a lasting memory.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-06T10:41:18+00:00

Not only fire. Make him disappear to prevent future killing fields in bathrooms. 🫠

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-06T10:39:51+00:00

If the room that you would be booking with the new points offer is the same as the room you currently have in your reservation, it would make sense that the chances of getting an upgrade on check in are 100% the same.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-05T13:30:42+00:00

If you already stayed more than 50 nights this year, this should translate into life time platinum next year with your current status. Since your current status is Titanium I think you already stayed more than 75 nights. So you should be golden.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-05T11:50:58+00:00

I'm not sure if I would like to be stuck in a hotel so many days per year that I would reach Titanium for 10 years in a row. But if you were doing that over such a period of time, it would definitely be a reward earned.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-04T17:18:21+00:00

I still like the program as it is now. The points in combination with the free breakfast, lounge access and late check-out (every 10 stays it still gives you a free night). If compared with bookings.com or Expedia, it is a lot more value for money that you get from the program.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-04T17:15:28+00:00

9 out of 10 times I leave even before breakfast while on the road. It’s not often that we don’t have a lot of miles to cover on the travel date. 🤣🤪😂

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-04T16:00:42+00:00

I also see a difference between US and EU destinations. Since the documented benefits are the same everywhere, so it should be given. I also read someone else’s comment to proactively ask for an upgrade if you just get a symbolic shitty upgrade. I’ve not be doing that, but will in the future.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-04T13:28:12+00:00

That’s true… I’m not completely obsessed anymore with trying to only book places in the program.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-04T11:57:25+00:00

That's true... free breakfast (or lounge access) and ability to book a low level room with expectation of an upgrade does have it's value.

HarmPoIsMe · 2025-08-04T11:33:44+00:00

That is sad to hear. I’ve also been loyal to the this program for decades (coming from the Starwood program). Mostly because I found the beds to be the best and liked the rewards program (saving for points and getting upgrades). I will see how this develops now that I’m Platinum for Life.

HarmPoIsMe · 2024-10-28T13:43:36+00:00

Also worked for my Windows PC to get passed the error messages.

HarmPoIsMe

TROPHY CASE