Home charger recommendations

[dspencer12345]

Hi,

I'm a week away from taking ownership of a new ZS Long range, and don't want to spend too much on a charger. Recommendations?

In a normal week, I drive about 120 miles. Could I get away with a 3 pin plug charger? It says on the MG website that they can over heat. Is that the car or the charger?! Is this true? Does anyone else charge using just 3 pin?

Thanks!

 

[Gadget Geek]

I've been charging EV's with the 3 pin plug for 3 years now. The plug does get warm, but the box with the lights on takes care of all the protection. Just make sure the socket is rated for 10 amps continuos load.

 

[dspencer12345]

I've been charging EV's with the 3 pin plug for 3 years now. The plug does get warm, but the box with the lights on takes care of all the protection. Just make sure the socket is rated for 10 amps continuos load.

My concern is that it would have to be on an extension lead, about 10m from the socket. Not ideal.

 

[profdraper]

I found that a three pin plug charging took way too long and made prep a liitle unpredicable, YMMV. 15 amp if available may help a little…

I ended up with a 7kw Wallbox Pulsar Plus & have used this for about three years now, no issues & has its own scheduling app if needed. In all, makes charging very predicatable: 40ks per hour, charge off peak over night & the car is ready to go next morning.

 

[pollenface]

I have a 3.4kw plug in one from ebay. It run a separate circuit for it in my house with a 25a breaker so it doesn't interfere with the other household appliances.

Had originally planned to get a proper 7kw one, but it's really not needed.

 

[Bluesparky]

I have a 3.4kw plug in one from ebay. It run a separate circuit for it in my house with a 25a breaker so it doesn't interfere with the other household appliances.

Had originally planned to get a proper 7kw one, but it's really not needed.

wouldn't recommend a 3.4kw charger in the UK, have seen the ones on UK eBay that say 3.6kw, a bit worrying when the maximum size fuse for a plug top is 13amps. 3.6kw is 15.6 amps, would definitely run hot and most likely melt the plug if they are truly over 3kw, I'm guessing the figures are inflated to make people think it is a faster charger than it actually is and they do not actually run at 3.6kw.

 

[johnb80]

Hi,

I'm a week away from taking ownership of a new ZS Long range, and don't want to spend too much on a charger. Recommendations?

In a normal week, I drive about 120 miles. Could I get away with a 3 pin plug charger? It says on the MG website that they can over heat. Is that the car or the charger?! Is this true? Does anyone else charge using just 3 pin?

Thanks!

If you work this backwards from your mileage, you will see that the granny charger is fine.

120 miles and say a worse case of 3 miles per kWh mean you need an average of 40 kWh per week or 5.7 kWh per day. A 10 amp granny charger would be running for around 2.5 hrs so it will easily manage the charge in off peak timeslots if you wish to use them.

The use of an extension lead is also not a problem if it's a good quality 2.5mm2 cable and NOT on a drum, it needs to be fully unwound in use. Many of the drum extensions have cheap (read nasty) plugs and sockets. Get a good quality extension with top grade plug and socket fitted. It would also be worthwhile checking the socket that you intend to plug the car into, if it's old or poor quality, replace it with a top quality socket such as MK. You will also need to consider a plastic box or cover to protect the plug and socket outside near the car to protect from the weather.

Follow this and you will be fine, often the charge rate can be reduced as well to reduce potential problems to a minimum, thats done inside the car, I dont know if your MG has this option. We ran an Outlander PHEV, charging every night from a 10 amp granny charger, it never had an issue at all.

 

[Gadget Geek]

To be on the safe side, I got one of these fitted;

Sync EV Masterplug EV Mode 2 Charger with a Type DP RCBO - EVH132S1SPA

Electrical2Go Sell Discount Sync EV For use with Mode 2 EV charging cables (UK 3 pin to Type 1 or Type 2). for Both Trade & Home Use. Big Name Brands, Free Delivery.

www.electrical2go.co.uk

And one of these for the extension lead;
Amazon product ASIN B006X09WDW

 

[Ruislip Resident]

For the price of a few nights out getting a 7kw dedicated charge point makes your charging simpler over many years of charging. I was able to charge using a granny and extension before the charger was fitted. Its just less hassle now using the 7kw dedicated chargepoint. I am even thinking of paying to get a chargepoint fitted at my folks for when I visit them instead of using the granny. I pay them for the juice btw.

 

[johnb80]

For the price of a few nights out getting a 7kw dedicated charge point makes your charging simpler over many years of charging. I was able to charge using a granny and extension before the charger was fitted. Its just less hassle now using the 7kw dedicated chargepoint. I am even thinking of paying to get a chargepoint fitted at my folks for when I visit them instead of using the granny. I pay them for the juice btw.

A wallbox is the way to go, so much more convenient, especially if it's a tethered one. My neighbour has just had a non tethered Ohme box fitted, this morning in heavy rain he was fighting to unplug, coil and store his cable. Mine was unplugged, hung on the wall hook and I was in the car in less than 60 seconds

 

[Lovemyev]

Here is a very recent video that shows the install and features the new Hypervolt unit.

 

[sinhaEVnoob]

I found that a three pin plug charging took way too long and made prep a liitle unpredicable, YMMV. 15 amp if available may help a little…

I ended up with a 7kw Wallbox Pulsar Plus & have used this for about three years now, no issues & has its own scheduling app if needed. In all, makes charging very predicatable: 40ks per hour, charge off peak over night & the car is ready to go next morning.

I have exactly the same charger. I do a LOT of miles - approx 20k a year. This week had to do 3 trips to Birmingham from South Wales. Had to charge from below 10% back to 100% overnight. Couldn’t do that on a granny.

Cost of Wallbox install was about £1k but it is trivial in ppm terms and makes my life so much easier. All done through Octopus intelligent tariff and the app.

 

[pollenface]

they do not actually run at 3.6kw.

Mine runs at 3.3kw to 3.4kw ... depending on voltage (voltage increases during the day with grid tied solar), but the battery receives about 86% of that (14% efficiency loss)

If you put in your own cable and breaker you can run anything up to 80% the capacity of the circuit, hypothetically, that's my rule of thumb anyway.

 

[SH58]

Hi,

I'm a week away from taking ownership of a new ZS Long range, and don't want to spend too much on a charger. Recommendations?

In a normal week, I drive about 120 miles. Could I get away with a 3 pin plug charger? It says on the MG website that they can over heat. Is that the car or the charger?! Is this true? Does anyone else charge using just 3 pin?

Thanks!

If you are on Octopus, they offer cheap rate, 7.5p per unit, in between 23:30 and 05:30, but you one of two chargers - Ohme and Wallbox I think. 7.5KWh too

 

[Jomarkh]

If you are on Octopus, they offer cheap rate, 7.5p per unit, in between 23:30 and 05:30, but you one of two chargers - Ohme and Wallbox I think. 7.5KWh too

The trial with the Zappi is ongoing so hopefully that will open for everyone to switch to IO.

 

[MG Fred]

For me it was a toss up between an Ohme or Zappi Charger. I went for the Zappi as I already have an Eddi from the same company, Myenergi, and they integrate well with a good app, using excess solar energy.
Best deal was via Octopus energy, about £1100. On Octopus Go 9p/kwh presently even though I haven’t got the EV car yet.

 

[Jomarkh]

For me it was a toss up between an Ohme or Zappi Charger. I went for the Zappi as I already have an Eddi from the same company, Myenergi, and they integrate well with a good app, using excess solar energy.
Best deal was via Octopus energy, about £1100. On Octopus Go 9p/kwh presently even though I haven’t got the EV car yet.

Wow, I thought they asked you if you had an EV or one on order to get onto Go.

 

[dspencer12345]

I've gone for the Hive tethered one fitted by British Gas. Still waiting for fitting date. Anyone had experience of that one?

 

[johnb80]

I've gone for the Hive tethered one fitted by British Gas. Still waiting for fitting date. Anyone had experience of that one?

Yep, DBedford, have a look at his saga and cancel your installation asap. Hive is a dreadful company when married up with British Gas you have the worst possible combination.

Dbedford's Hive Install

Have a look at Octopus Ohme charger, their Intelligent tariff is 7.5p kWh as opposed to BG's 9.4p.

Whilt the standing charge is 2.739p per day more expensive on Octopus (£10 per year). The peak rate is also slightly higher by 0.298p kWh, all of this is negated by having longer off peak rate 6 hours plus additional slots under Octopus control. The off peak rate is 1.9p kWh less than BG. Charging a 60kWh battery would save you £1.14 every time, in addition, the whole of your house will be running on 7.5p during the off peak times and additional charging times.

 

[dspencer12345]

Thanks! Oh wow!

Unfortunately I'm in a slightly different position, in that I already have BG smart meters which presumably aren't compatible with Octopus, but of course will be compatible with this, so that issue won't affect me. BG give you 5 hours of electricity for the whole house; not sure Octopus does.
Also, it says you have to already be a customer of Octopus to be able to take their tariff, and I'm BG after my previous supplier went bust.
I've got an online survey with BG today, so will see what they have to say, and if they seem awkward, I'll consider my options again.