Thanks. Pretty much everybody I know has got one in the end. Safety-wise I think I'm pretty well placed, and I'm just trying to work out the pros and cons. If it turns out that my granny charger can keep up with my home-charge needs (with occasional supplementation from the public charge point 400 yards away) then I need some reason to invest in a wall box!
This may sound like silly way of condoning the spend on a wall box, but one of the first things that I have come to realise when owning a full electric car, is that it is always wise to have a back up plan in place.
Especially if you only own one car and that car, just happens to be a pure EV.
What is of vital importance here is you can charge your EV ( from home ideally ) as and when you require, and therefore it has to be 100% reliable, day in - day out 365 !.
We starting using the provided Granny lead back in 2019 but after using the Granny for about 2 months, it suddenly entered my head :- "What type of back up plan do I have in place, IF this Granny lead should suddenly fail ?".
Quick answer to this was - Nothing !.
A little like owning a petrol car, but all the local petrol stations are suddenly closed down.
Therefore I quickly came to the conclusion that a wall box was the long term answer to this problem.
The wall box was installed about 6 weeks later ( under the government grant ) and instantly, the Granny was offered early retirement to hang on the garage wall.
This then became both the back up plan AND the unit we take on holiday if we expect the public charging infrastructure is going to be either poor, or prone to breakdowns.
Also, back in 2019 the price of a replacement Granny unit from the dealer was an expensive item.
A new unit was more expensive than the price we paid for the wall box back then.
Of course, the wall box has been the primary unit since 2019 until now.
The wall box has supplied 100% of our charging needs to cover almost 20,000 miles in our first full BEV and then another 10,000 miles in our now second BEV.
That is a LOT of charging sessions over a total of 30,000 miles and three years of use.
I do have to question if the reliability of a Granny lead over that period and usage would have been up to that level of work, or the electrical socket it was drawing power over that type of usage.
There are some really nice but expensive wall boxes on the market now for sure.
Question to myself :- IF my wall box failed completely, would I invest in a replacement, or jump back onto the Granny ?.
NO - My thoughts are the same, I would replace it for the very same reasons that I stated above.
Again, everybody's usage pattern and budgets are going to be different.
In your case, I would strongly recommend the use of a more cost effective wall box, over the use of the Granny unit, and then you have effectively doubled your charging options.
You asked for suggestions with regards to supplying the "Right Reason" for you to consider investing in a wall box, and this may not help convince you, but surely it is worth some type of consideration ?.
Having a public charging post nearby is great, but at todays prices they are expensive.
I consider myself very lucky that we have off road parking and can charge from home and do not want to give up this facility.
One other thing to consider is electricity tariff's.
If you are on a time of day ( off peak ) tariff and want to make the most use of that usual 4 - 5 hours on the cheaper rate, then the charging speeds of the wall box is of a huge advantage.
So, is the extra outlay worth it ?.
Only you can decide on that one I am afraid !.
Good luck with the outcome.
www.smarthomecharge.co.uk
