Choosing a home charger!

[Gabrielle]

I’m looking for a home charger and wondered which charger people would recommend please? What are your thoughts on the Hive? Thanks

 

[gazza487]

I’m looking for a home charger and wondered which charger people would recommend please? What are your thoughts on the Hive? Thanks

There have been good things about ohme due to the integrations with octopus if thats the way you want to go and they are big enough that it’s unlikely the company will go bump and losing functionality with the connected services.

Personally I believe the installer is an importsnt part as they will know how things are locally by that I mean with the local DNO and what may or may not be acceptable (I.e if you are on a looped supply, how to ensure the application goes through with load limiting etc). Based on that I got what I was given by them which was a relatively unknown brand but works fine, but the installer was lazy and didn’t fit the ct clamp which I’m not too happy about as this was what was specified in the install due to looped supply (in reality I’ll never reach the load limit unless I do a Sunday roast whilst showering with the dishwasher & dryer on and charging). Hive with British Gas has been somewhat mixed results and I’m having my own heartache with BG let alone having a charger from them (I believe hive is a centrica thing BG parent company) so personally I’d avoid but that’s just me.

Do a bit of research of what you want tethered, untethered, solar integration, supplier integration and go from there (maybe post up on here too as others will be able to advise better).

PS unsure if it was my car or the vchrged7 charger I have but powerline networking caused some issues so one to be mindful of.

 

[Gabrielle]

There have been good things about ohme due to the integrations with octopus if thats the way you want to go and they are big enough that it’s unlikely the company will go bump and losing functionality with the connected services.

Personally I believe the installer is an importsnt part as they will know how things are locally by that I mean with the local DNO and what may or may not be acceptable (I.e if you are on a looped supply, how to ensure the application goes through with load limiting etc). Based on that I got what I was given by them which was a relatively unknown brand but works fine, but the installer was lazy and didn’t fit the ct clamp which I’m not too happy about as this was what was specified in the install due to looped supply (in reality I’ll never reach the load limit unless I do a Sunday roast whilst showering with the dishwasher & dryer on and charging). Hive with British Gas has been somewhat mixed results and I’m having my own heartache with BG let alone having a charger from them (I believe hive is a centrica thing BG parent company) so personally I’d avoid but that’s just me.

Do a bit of research of what you want tethered, untethered, solar integration, supplier integration and go from there (maybe post up on here too as others will be able to advise better).

PS unsure if it was my car or the vchrged7 charger I have but powerline networking caused some issues so one to be mindful of.

Thank you for your comments!

 

[Jomarkh]

If you have or are thinking of getting solar panels then check out the Zappi. It also works with Intelligent Octopus Go 7.5p for 6 hours plus over night.

 

[GaryMG4]

If you have or are thinking of getting solar panels then check out the Zappi. It also works with Intelligent Octopus Go 7.5p for 6 hours plus over night.

I was wondering if it was worth getting a Zappi. I have 4kW panels on the 21p FIT rate, in the summer I used the granny to charge the car with excess going to the grid. Now my excess is 0-1.5kW so I plug in for a few hours and accept I'll pay 7-27p per kWh. How does it work out with a Zappi?

 

[Jomarkh]

Any excess over 1.4kW will go to the car.
You could get an Eddi to go with it and use any excess to heat your immersion tank.

 

[GaryMG4]

Any excess over 1.4kW will go to the car.
You could get an Eddi to go with it and use any excess to heat your immersion tank.

Thanks,
Combi boiler here so no immersion heater. Over 1.4 means that almost nothing will go to the car in the winter, does the Zappi charge at 7.4 in those circumstances or does it just supply the solar?

 

[Jomarkh]

It won't draw from the grid in eco+, but you could use eco if the excess is hovering around 1.4kW so it uses a little grid.

 

[EVsince2016]

I’m looking for a home charger and wondered which charger people would recommend please? What are your thoughts on the Hive? Thanks

Personally I would avoid Hive. The reason is that they seem to dump products at a whim as done recently, so I'd make a clear steer away from them on that basis. They even blocked these devices from being used ever again! Not a good sign.

Zappi is the best, the Tesla of the market with a stable fully supportive customer support line / email / forum. They also support all products they have made and offer long warranties, extendable and quibble free replacements of products that fail (which they refurbish & resell). You need some patience in programming their advanced features so some IT skills & patience is essential for more than basic dumb charging. It also allows cheap juice of Octopus intelligent Go as well.

I just sold my old Zappi v1 online for £200 and there are plenty more on eBay.

You biggest cost will be meeting the current UK regs on installation, so a fitment could well exceed £500 for the surge protect, earthing, new sub fuse box etc.

Final summary - only buy a charger compatible with intelligent rates such as intelligent Go

 

[Wibble]

Hive are just awful, I have a Zappi which works with intelligent octopus these days.

 

[PhotonsToMiles]

I got a Victron EV Charging Station NS.

I've used Victron kit in the past, tends to be good and more importantly has wide-open API's for integrations.

I have mine setup to only charge from excess solar, but I did write the integration myself It's possible to do it "out of the box" if you have a Victron Inverter though, I believe.

 

[tomchipp]

I wouldn’t worry about solar integration. If you go on intelligent octopus go you can charge overnight at 7.5p per Kwh and still export excess solar at a better rate. You will need an Ohme charger for that tariff as MG won’t release the API.

 

[Edward Xuereb]

I’m looking for a home charger and wondered which charger people would recommend please? What are your thoughts on the Hive? Thanks

I am from Malta, and I purchased a Lektrico smart charger that I found to be good and cheaper than other smart chargers. It has its own app if you have WiFi availability, and you can still stop the charging from the MGsmart app. At an extra cost, it is also possible to integrate with an optional energy management system and also optionally with solar panels.
In my case I did not need to integrate it with an energy management system, because I have a dedicated electricity supply to my garage.

 

[Julybaby]

I have a question. So far i have been happily granny charging when needed 4 hours a night with octopus. With it getting colder/wetter, I was thinking of moving to a dedicated charger.
So from the electrics/safety point of view, it would be preferable.
But my figures on money saving don't seem so good, unless I'm missing something. With octopus, I think I would get an extra 2 hours a night at 7.5p. Currently I don't need those 2 hours but if I did, it would still be a long time until all those 2x 7.5p add up to the £1k install.
Someone tell me I'm wrong and to book an install ASAP please. Been chucking this round my brain far too long!

 

[Rob Smart]

There have been good things about ohme due to the integrations with octopus if thats the way you want to go and they are big enough that it’s unlikely the company will go bump and losing functionality with the connected services.

Personally I believe the installer is an importsnt part as they will know how things are locally by that I mean with the local DNO and what may or may not be acceptable (I.e if you are on a looped supply, how to ensure the application goes through with load limiting etc). Based on that I got what I was given by them which was a relatively unknown brand but works fine, but the installer was lazy and didn’t fit the ct clamp which I’m not too happy about as this was what was specified in the install due to looped supply (in reality I’ll never reach the load limit unless I do a Sunday roast whilst showering with the dishwasher & dryer on and charging). Hive with British Gas has been somewhat mixed results and I’m having my own heartache with BG let alone having a charger from them (I believe hive is a centrica thing BG parent company) so personally I’d avoid but that’s just me.

Do a bit of research of what you want tethered, untethered, solar integration, supplier integration and go from there (maybe post up on here too as others will be able to advise better).

PS unsure if it was my car or the vchrged7 charger I have but powerline networking caused some issues so one to be mindful of.

I too had powerline problems causing problems by interfering with charging my early version MG5 with a Zappi v2.0, but as our Renault Zoe always charged without problems, the problem was with the MG5.

Since I have removed the last powerline adapter from the mains, I have had no problems at all charging the MG5.

I wouldn’t worry about solar integration. If you go on intelligent octopus go you can charge overnight at 7.5p per Kwh and still export excess solar at a better rate. You will need an Ohme charger for that tariff as MG won’t release the API.

The Zappi is now compatible with Octopus Intelligent Go , so getting a Zappi would give you the option of using excess solar generation for charging the EV, or exporting back to the grid for money.

 

[gazza487]

I too had powerline problems causing problems by interfering with charging my early version MG5 with a Zappi v2.0, but as our Renault Zoe always charged without problems, the problem was with the MG5.

Since I have removed the last powerline adapter from the mains, I have had no problems at all charging the MG5.

Interesting - looks like they affect our cars not the chargers then. Cost me about £200 to remove the powerline adapters (originally sent the Ethernet over about 60m of armoured power cable to shed which ran across a communal access road, very annoying).

 

[Tangoed Man]

I have a question. So far i have been happily granny charging when needed 4 hours a night with octopus. With it getting colder/wetter, I was thinking of moving to a dedicated charger.
So from the electrics/safety point of view, it would be preferable.
But my figures on money saving don't seem so good, unless I'm missing something. With octopus, I think I would get an extra 2 hours a night at 7.5p. Currently I don't need those 2 hours but if I did, it would still be a long time until all those 2x 7.5p add up to the £1k install.
Someone tell me I'm wrong and to book an install ASAP please. Been chucking this round my brain far too long!

Indeed, and also factor in the premium you will pay for usage outside of those hours over other Octopus tariffs. Octopus crunched the numbers for me and it made no sense at all moving over to that tariff. You would have to have a decent solar capacity and probably batteries, too, for it to make any sense and even then the payback on the capital expenditure takes years (and remember to discount the 5.5% interest lost had you invested it). Even then, by far your greatest cost is the depreciation, which for some reason at the moment EV’s are suffering significantly more than ICE vehicles. Hopefully, that will pass.

 

[Julybaby]

Indeed, and also factor in the premium you will pay for usage outside of those hours over other Octopus tariffs. Octopus crunched the numbers for me and it made no sense at all moving over to that tariff. You would have to have a decent solar capacity and probably batteries, too, for it to make any sense and even then the payback on the capital expenditure takes years (and remember to discount the 5.5% interest lost had you invested it). Even then, by far your greatest cost is the depreciation, which for some reason at the moment EV’s are suffering significantly more than ICE vehicles. Hopefully, that will pass.

Although I don't have solar. But yeah my figures don't seem worth it. Is it just a convenience?

 

[AndyNWuk]

I am just about to install an OHME Home Pro to replace my ageing ROLEC Dumb Charger. Things have changed over the past years and charging has become more intelligent to say the least.

The two top brands in my opinion are the OHME and the Zappi, but if you don't have or are intending to have Solar Panels on your premises, then the OHME is the cheaper but better option.

You no longer have to add an earth rod for both these products as they have what we call built in PEN Fold Protection which is great. But you will have to upgrade parts of your consumer unit to accommodate a Type A RCCD or RCBO depending on how the unit is being wired i.e. Armour Cable etc. but at the least it will require a 40amp Double Pole MCB Type C.

The final upgrade is that it should have Surge Protection too, so if your consumer unit does not already have this and many don't, then a separate consumer unit for the car charger would be a better option.

Once Octopus have finally sorted out my communications hub problem next week, I will hopefully be able to take advantage of Octopus Intelligent Tariff which will give me more hours to charge at night and a cheaper rate too.

Finally, I must add that you MUST have a decent 4G mobile connection in your area, otherwise the OHME Home Pro will not be able to communicate with the OHME Servers properly and will end up being a simple Dumb Charger. So do make sure you have a fair to decent 4G signal before buying this charger.

Hope this helps.

Andy (Blackpool)

 

[adiel]

We have an 'old' Podpoint and a 'new' Easee One. My views and experiences are:

• Old Podpoint has been very reliable and the app has improved hugely since we had the charger installed almost 4 years ago.
• Easee One is brilliant, great app and easy to use too. Has been very reliable too. We chose this charger since we could vary the charge power in the app and run it as low as 1.4kWh during times we had lots of excess solar. I wanted control over when I used solar to charge our EV's rather than relying on a Zappi to dynamically manage the excess solar, which was the main option we also considered.

We also have a 'granny' Ohme charger we use from time to time, but this qualifies us for the Intelligent Octopus tariff. These are no longer available to buy, sadly.

Things I have appreciated are:

• Having a tethered charger is easier to use for us since you don't have the hassle of having to deal with a type 2 cable every time you want to charge your EV
• Easee One charger can run tethered or untethered, so it gives you flexibility to plug in a different cable if ever needed in the future
• Qualifying for Intelligent Octopus tariff was important to us as we are 'all-electric' since we had our mains gas disconnected at the start of the Ukraine invasion. The Ohme 'granny' charger qualified us to the Intelligent Octopus 'club' (Octopus now have three EV chargers that qualify you for the tariff - Ohme, Zappi and Wallbox in case your car is not compatible - MG EV's aren't yet)
• When Octopus increased their export tariff to 15p per kWh, we stopped using solar to charge our EV's and instead charge them off-peak at 7.5p per kWh and export as much of our solar generation as possible for obvious economic reasons. We also charge our home battery to 100% off-peak every night to ensure we maximise our solar energy export.