Peugeot iOn EV Charging Cable

It is a Type 1 car, and that is the first thing to get right

The iOn is a rebadged Mitsubishi i-MiEV, and like the i-MiEV it uses the Type 1 connector on the car. A Type 2 to Type 2 lead will not plug into it. What you need is a Type 2 to Type 1 cable, Type 2 at the charge point end and Type 1 at the car.

Do one check first: look at the inlet and count the holes. A five pin socket is Type 1 and these leads are the right ones. A seven pin socket is Type 2 and you need a different product. Thirty seconds now saves a return later.

The 7.4 kW figure you will see elsewhere is wrong

Retail listings routinely credit this car with 7.4 kW. The onboard charger is 3.3 kW nominal and in practice draws less. An owner measurement on the identical platform records "a typical 3060W at exactly 240vac", and the same community is blunt about the hardware: it "can not do any more than 3.3 kW".

Wikipedia records the AC control box as limited to 16 amps, giving a five hour charge from empty. Fourteen and a half kilowatt hours over five hours is 2.9 kW, which agrees. Charging hardware of this vintage is small, and the number that matters is the car's, not the supply's. Fitting a 32 amp wall box changes nothing here because the car will not draw 32 amps. Plan around the car's ceiling rather than the charge point's.

Two sockets, two flanks

There is a second complication on cars of this era: the rapid charging socket is a CHAdeMO connector on a completely separate flap, on the opposite side of the car from the Type 2 one. CHAdeMO is a dying standard in Britain and new rapid chargers rarely offer it, which quietly makes the home cable more important on a car like this than on a modern one.

On this car the AC Type 1 inlet is on the offside rear quarter and the CHAdeMO socket on the nearside rear quarter. The Australian EV Association fact sheet puts it in four words: "AC: Right-hand rear. DC: Left-hand rear." The two cannot be used at once; the control circuit interlocks them.

How long a full charge takes

Figures are calculated rather than quoted: battery divided by power, 13 per cent for losses, quarter hour rounding. The range column is deliberately cautious, at 3.5 miles per kWh. Worked from the 14.5 kWh usable figure rather than the 16 kWh gross.

Five hours to fill it, and about fifty real world miles when you do. CHAdeMO takes it to eighty per cent in half an hour where you can find a working post, which is a shrinking number of places.

Which length for an iOn

The car is only 3.48 metres long, which helps, but the AC socket being on the offside means a charge point mounted on the house wall is on the far side of the car unless you park nose out. Five metres is enough for a small car parked thoughtfully; ten gives you the freedom not to think about it.

Park the car where it normally lives, walk the run with a tape, and buy the next size up from what you measure.

How these cables are built

The cable meets IEC 62196-2, carries the CE mark, is sealed to IP55 and is specified from -30C to +50C.

The three pin version is an IEC 62752 unit, CE marked and IP67 sealed, specified -30C to +60C. It carries a two year manufacturer's warranty, ships free on next working day delivery, and can go back inside 30 days.

Also from Peugeot: Peugeot 3008 EV Charging Cable. The full range of Peugeot charging cables is on one page.

Peugeot iOn charging cable questions

Is the Peugeot iOn Type 1 or Type 2?

Type 1 for AC charging, with a separate CHAdeMO socket for DC. You need a Type 2 to Type 1 lead for UK public posts and untethered home units.

Does a 7 kW home charger help?

No. The onboard charger caps at about 3 kW, so a 7 kW point charges it no faster than a 16 amp one.

Where are the sockets?

AC on the offside rear quarter and CHAdeMO on the nearside rear quarter, so they are on opposite sides of the car.

How long does a full charge take?

About five hours from empty at roughly 3 kW, for a 14.5 kWh usable battery.