Finally found a well designed cable protector.

[johnb80]

Many street lamps are direct unmetered supply from the DNO from the same cable that supplies our properties, so should have plenty of power, others are local authority.

So every lampost around an estate could cope with 7kW additional load?

Let's not also forget that when most lampposts were put in place they had to provide power to much higher wattage bulbs than the LEDs used now, so there would be excess capacity in those now.

Yes they would but I seriously doubt the older lamps were 7kW plus.

I did see some interesting pop up out if the ground public chargers (as and when required) on a fully charged podcast a while back. Designed by some electrical engineers working in the oil industry in Aberdeen so they have taken account of potential impacts of water on the electrics under ground if it rained heavy.

I suspect its a solution looking for a problem. It's hard enough to get working chargers yet alone ones that rise out of the ground.

 

[Nutnut]

Lampposts make an ideal solution to on street charging as they already have an electricity supply and every street has them.

Charging Solutions

ubitricity provide fully funded lamppost, fast and rapid EV charging solutions for local authourities. Expand your EV infrastructure today!

ubitricity.com

This is what I rely on. There are now 9+ on our street let alone the surrounding roads, and it means if I can't use either of the 2 posts dead outside then there are others in easy reach. Couldn't always park outside the house anyway whether in an EV or not, and IMO it shouldn't be expected unless you have a dedicated space.

I think the biggest help has been having enough of them installed in the first place. It's not a solution that suits everybody, but I'm happy with it as well as the increasing number being added.

 

[Alb]

Yes they would but I seriously doubt the older lamps were 7kW plus.

Here's an example from my local authority of pre LED street lighting load:

 

[smokie]

That's interesting. The 2 LEDs cost £11.45 each a year to run whereas all the bulbs on average cost nearly £28 each.

I realise that it's not quite as simple as that, as some lights are probably more expensive to run than others and I have no idea of the split, nor any idea whether the two LED lights would be man enough to replace to any of the ones above - or they may be more powerful - but either way they do appear to be considerably cheaper to run than every single other light on the sheet. And of course there would be a cost to change but soon recouped I imagine, probably with lower maintenance too.

 

[johnb80]

Here's an example from my local authority of pre LED street lighting load:

Interesting table, so between 35w and 250w which doesnt leave any headroom for LED's to save 7kW. I suppose it's down to size of cable feeding the lamp and the spare capacity on the underground cable supplying the street both lighting and domestic / industrial supplies. One thing for sure it is a great idea, it will help but it's not quite as simple as it may first appear.

 

[Alb]

I struggle to see the supply cable being suitable for multiple continuous 7kW loads on top of the original design load but it depends on the original design criteria. I'd imagine that older installations designed for incandescent fittings would have the highest rating whereas anything installed in the last 50 years would be based on SOX and SON loading which would have been much less.

 

[johnb80]

I struggle to see the supply cable being suitable for multiple continuous 7kW loads on top of the original design load but it depends on the original design criteria. I'd imagine that older installations designed for incandescent fittings would have the highest rating whereas anything installed in the last 50 years would be based on SOX and SON loading which would have been much less.

Exactly the problem with this solution. Maybe a new underground cable to feed charging units on lamposts may be viable.

 

[Gadget Geek]

This is what I rely on. There are now 9+ on our street let alone the surrounding roads, and it means if I can't use either of the 2 posts dead outside then there are others in easy reach. Couldn't always park outside the house anyway whether in an EV or not, and IMO it shouldn't be expected unless you have a dedicated space.

I think the biggest help has been having enough of them installed in the first place. It's not a solution that suits everybody, but I'm happy with it as well as the increasing number being added.

Having seen replies about the 7kW load, do you know if the council had to dig up the road/pavement to install new cables to the lampposts?

 

[Stuart Wright]

Having seen replies about the 7kW load, do you know if the council had to dig up the road/pavement to install new cables to the lampposts?

I don't know for sure, but I imagine so.

As an aside, if I owned a terraced property with a tiny frontage but enough to get the car on there (even sideways), I would cut down the trees/bushes/pretty flowers and dig up the lawn so I could pave or tarmac it so I could charge up. Drop the pavement too, if I could justify it.

 

[PremierscfcEV]

I was happily letting go but felt a response was required to a post from a member called Gadget Geek, who clearly couldn't let it go.

Your mod badge isn't visible btw.

Out of Interest how/where do you charge your EV?

 

[smokie]

Out of Interest how/where do you charge your EV?

Nearly always at home, on my drive. Why do you ask?

 

[PremierscfcEV]

Nearly always at home, on my drive. Why do you ask?

Just interested.

 

[smokie]

Hmmm most mysterious....

Still, I don't have problem with people charging on the road if that's what you were thinking. And I'm all for increasing EV ownership, and for the already-significant public charging infrastructure to be further improved to make life easier for us all.

 

[Nutnut]

Having seen replies about the 7kW load, do you know if the council had to dig up the road/pavement to install new cables to the lampposts?

We have a mixture of Ubitricity and Char.gy as suppliers for the lamppost service, and for those 5kW points they adapted them without any road/pavement digging - just the adjacent parking spot itself ringed off whilst they worked there for a few hours. I typically get 37kWh in the overnight window for these, which does me nicely.

For the 7kW larger bollard type we have in a couple of spots via another supplier, yep, there was some digging of the footpath involved back when they were done.

Sorry if all that didn't quite answer your question - can't say as I'm particularly technical

 

[Rolfe]

Over the last few years, I’ve lived in a variety of places, each of which had different charging challenges. Between moving out of and eventually into houses where I could install Zappis, I lived in

• A flat with no possible way of charging. I had to drive to a car park with 8 x 7kw chargers and walk 1.5 miles home, leaving it there most of the day to charge up. Or go to local rapids, but they were few in number and often in use or out of service.
• A flat with a window opening to the shared car park where I could plug the granny charger cable in to the kitchen socket and arrange with neighbours to let me use the nearby parking spot.
• House with off road parking but the landlord refused to consider putting in a charger, so I ran the granny cable out of the lounge window.
• House with off road parking but not staying there long enough to put in a charger, so ran the granny cable under the garage door.

When finding somewhere to live, the ability to charge was a factor. Not being able to plug in at all was so inconvenient that if I didn’t already have the EV, there is no way I’d chose to have one. And it set my beliefs that the UK charging infrastructure is absolutely inadequate.
Having to live with the cable running through a window was a security risk and let cold air in.
Having to charge with a granny cable for several years wasn’t ideal. Only melted one.

This is why it’s so important that this particular issue is addressed well.
It’s ok for us lucky people with a drive and the budget to install a charger. What the hell are people living in terraced houses who compete for parking spaces supposed to do?

Lamppost charging isn’t going to work in many cases because the supplies to the lamp are ok for an LED, but you start pulling 7kw for hours and the underground cable will melt. Even sustained 3kw might fail.
When they put 3 phase in for my house, I got to see the cables running to my neighbours, my house and the nearby pathway lamp. In that case, the lamp supply looked like it was the same sized cable as a house. But it might not be the same in all cases.

Putting a gully from the boundary of a property in the pavement sounds like an ideal solution if the cover can be adequately secured. I wonder how much the council charge. It should be less than dropping a curb, which takes weeks to organise and costs £ hundreds.
You’re still looking at long cables. You’re still looking at cooperation between neighbours. Which shouldn’t be a big deal, but can be.
And if I were using a gully, I’d need to put up a security camera monitoring the car for peace of mind. Actually if I were parking on street, I’d want the camera anyway.
My 2p.

It's reassuring to read of someone else who has been able to rely on a granny charger. In my situation it actually seems to be ideal, and it's going to take a lot to persuade me to shell out for a wall box. However I've taken a lot of flak from people who think using a granny charger is unacceptable, that they should be banned outright, that anyone who can afford a new car shouldn't be mean about another £1,000, and even from someone who declared that I should never use the rapid charger at the end of my road because it should be reserved for drivers passing through.

People use the charging method that suits them. People who don't have off-road parking next to their house deserve a lot more choice of solutions so that nobody who wants an EV is prevented from getting one.

I passed on a lot of what is in this thread to my friend who lives in a terraced house this afternoon, and suggested she gets writing to her local council (which introduced a Low Emissions Zone at the start of this month) about Kerbo and Gul-E and lamp-post chargers, also to Asda about the need for chargers in the car park of the huge store very close to where she lives.

 

[johnb80]

It's reassuring to read of someone else who has been able to rely on a granny charger. In my situation it actually seems to be ideal, and it's going to take a lot to persuade me to shell out for a wall box.

One of our EV's we have run for 4 years using a granny charger and a smart plug to do the timing, the lead from it came out under the garage door. All of the things that are frowned on by some!

However I've taken a lot of flak from people who think using a granny charger is unacceptable, that they should be banned outright, that anyone who can afford a new car shouldn't be mean about another £1,000, and even from someone who declared that I should never use the rapid charger at the end of my road because it should be reserved for drivers passing through.

What a complete nonsense, you use what you need to use end of. I did instal a ZAPPI wallbox for my EV and really like the convenience of the tethered cable. Park on the drive, plug in, done, solar and off peak tariffs in winter time charge my car. I was able to buy the Zappi at trade price which was £475 to me, I probably wouldn't have gone this route if it had be £1000 or more.

People use the charging method that suits them. People who don't have off-road parking next to their house deserve a lot more choice of solutions so that nobody who wants an EV is prevented from getting one.

I'm not sure about the 'deserve' part, you should have access to a charging supply nearby be it destination charger or rapid charger where you have a coffee for 20 mins or so.

I passed on a lot of what is in this thread to my friend who lives in a terraced house this afternoon, and suggested she gets writing to her local council (which introduced a Low Emissions Zone at the start of this month) about Kerbo and Gul-E and lamp-post chargers, also to Asda about the need for chargers in the car park of the huge store very close to where she lives.

Most supermarkets are getting onboard, our local council have some little publicised free chargers which I use from time to time when I go shopping.

 

[Gadget Geek]

We have a mixture of Ubitricity and Char.gy as suppliers for the lamppost service, and for those 5kW points they adapted them without any road/pavement digging - just the adjacent parking spot itself ringed off whilst they worked there for a few hours. I typically get 37kWh in the overnight window for these, which does me nicely.

For the 7kW larger bollard type we have in a couple of spots via another supplier, yep, there was some digging of the footpath involved back when they were done.

Sorry if all that didn't quite answer your question - can't say as I'm particularly technical

It answers my question perfectly. It indicates that lamppost charging can be installed on existing lampposts without needing an upgrade to the cabling as some have postulated.

 

[johnb80]

It answers my question perfectly. It indicates that lamppost charging can be installed on existing lampposts without needing an upgrade to the cabling as some have postulated.

Well to 'postulate' a little more, it surely depends on the size of the original cable and the underground infrastructure being able to take the additional load? I never said it cant be done only that it 'may' not be as straight forward as we think.

 

[smokie]

Nothing wrong with using a granny if it fits your requirement.

I don't really agree with free chargers though, even though it's nice when you find one and can use it. Tesco have stopped them (in most stores anyway) presumably due to the cost. But at the end of the day, someone is paying, whether it's the local ratepayers or the shop customers, and no-one expects free petrol for visiting a store. It's yet another thing artificially keeping motoring costs low for EV drivers (and also maybe encouraging EV ownership) which, when it goes, will cause outcry among some.

 

[Gadget Geek]

Well to 'postulate' a little more, it surely depends on the size of the original cable and the underground infrastructure being able to take the additional load? I never said it cant be done only that it 'may' not be as straight forward as we think.

Agreed. It looks like they limit the current though to save money and hassle. Nutnut mentioned that the lamppost EVSE are 5kW, which for overnight charging wouldn't be a problem. 3kW, the same as a "granny" would be adequate.