Home charger recommendations

[Angelo]

This will probably have been asked many times before on here and I have watched many videos on YouTube but still do not know what to go for.
I have ordered my 5 LR and will pick up in a 2 weeks

Does anyone have a recommendation for an Untethered home charger?
Can any of them read the car's battery and stop charging at a set percentage?
What kind of smart features do these chargers have and are the apps any good?

I don't have solar, just the 1 EV
Single phase supply

I get free charging at work so will mostly be charging there and there is an Instavolt station about 2 miles away from my house

 

[Jomarkh]

You need weigh up if you need to spend £600-£1000 on a charger unless you want to take advantage of the cheap 5p kWh night tariff like Octopus Go.

 

[JCFlippen]

You cannot set a limit of charge on the battery but the safety buffer means it never goes to full 100%. I charge knowing that only 4 hours of 5p (at the moment) 28kw of electricity is topping up the battery.

 

[Jomarkh]

I have never got more then 25kW or is that 25kWh in the 4 hours from my Ohme

 

[bloggsy]

This will probably have been asked many times before on here and I have watched many videos on YouTube but still do not know what to go for.
I have ordered my 5 LR and will pick up in a 2 weeks

Does anyone have a recommendation for an Untethered home charger?
Can any of them read the car's battery and stop charging at a set percentage?
What kind of smart features do these chargers have and are the apps any good?

I don't have solar, just the 1 EV
Single phase supply

I get free charging at work so will mostly be charging there and there is an Instavolt station about 2 miles away from my house

Hi Angelo - asking for your favourite charger is kind of like asking what you like to eat/drink!

Everyone will have their own good/bad experiences but for me, I went with Pod Point untethered because, at the time of installation, the ZS EV (it uses a Type 2 connector) was my wife's car whilst I had a Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid which has a Type 1 connector, so it enabled me to charge both cars.

Plus, it's a well known brand, has over the air updates and. now, has an app with which you can time charging so can take advantage of the cheap rates of electricity (if you've got an electricity tariff which has a cheaper rate - i.e. Octopus Go / Go Faster).

It can't read the car's charge so you set the timer to either 'on' or 'off' but, if you really wanted to, you could work out yourself how much charge you wanted.

I.e. If you had 50% left in your car's charge and wanted to charge up to 80%, just put the timer on for 2 hours and you'll get 2 x 7Kwh = 14 Kwh (roughly!).

Aside from timed charging and giving you a readout of data so you can see how much energy you've used and, if you put in the cost of power, it will tell you how much it's cost you (especially good to see if you're on Octopus Go / Go Faster! ), there's not much else the app will do.

I've also got to mention their Customer Service was pretty good, in my opinion! I've only had to call them once and the chap I spoke to did a reset and an update remotely and I was able to charge my car within 5 minutes.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Cheers

Bloggsy

 

[Angelo]

Hey all, Thanks for the info here

I am not sure yet on what home tariff I will be looking for, especially with the price nightmare at the minute

Looking at the chargers, I quite like the look of the Easee – Electric Car Charger | Electric Vehicle Charger | Electric Vehicle Chargers | EV Chargers | Smart Electric Vehicle Charging Scotland

However, I will probably need a consumer unit upgrade to go with this / possibly main fuse & meter tails to the consumer unit also
Currently waiting for someone I know to come check
Consumer unit isn't that bad, it just isnt the most recent standard

For now, I might need to manage with 3 pin charging, with fast charging at work & a rapid in Mcdonalds around the corner

 

[Jomarkh]

Sounds like you are sorted short term, if you are thinking of solar in the future then the Zappi is a great unit.
Your DNO can do a load check to see if your fuse is ok for a 7.5Kw charger. Can you check if you currently haveca 60A or 100A incoming fuse?

 

[Angelo]

Sounds like you are sorted short term, if you are thinking of solar in the future then the Zappi is a great unit.
Your DNO can do a load check to see if your fuse is ok for a 7.5Kw charger. Can you check if you currently haveca 60A or 100A incoming fuse?

Currently its 60A

 

[Angelo]

I know that some (including the easee) have load management to stop you getting to your main fuse
they ramp the charger down or off if there is another high load

 

[Lovemyev]

I have a 60 Amp main cut out fuse and the older type consumer unit / fuse box installed at our property.
This has been used to first charge up our previous PHEV for almost five years firstly and now our the full BEV of our ZS EV for almost the last 2 years.
I wanted to charge at night, in order to take advantage of the cheaper rate off peak electric.
But , if you are pulling through a main fuse head rated @ 60 Amps, then you just have to give a little bit more consideration, of demand placed on the that main DNO fuse.
Taking a shower via a 12 kw electric shower, at the same time as having the cooker / tumble drier running is not really a good idea, that is running on a 60 Amp main DNO main fuse cartridge.

 

[Aussi55]

Hi Angelo,

I'm in the same position.


Hypervolt could be worth looking at, not only for the features including timed charging and solar support but it can also be set to limit the electric draw.

I would however get your DNO to upgrade your main fuse to 100 amps then you can charge at 7kw.

I'm thinking hypervolt or zappi as I have solar but it depends on cost compared to other systems.

Good luck.

 

[Lovemyev]

I would however get your DNO to upgrade your main fuse to 100 amps then you can charge at 7kw.

Upgrading to a 80 - 100 Amp main incoming fuse by the DNO is a good idea, but you can still pull 7 kw’s through a wall box with no problem at all, on a smaller 60 Amp rated fuse.
I am still running on a 60 Amp fuse and have been charging regularly over the last 2 years.
Most people are taking advantage of “Off Peak” electricity and therefore charging in the middle of the night.
Very few heavy electrical loads are being used then, so you are never going to get close to over stretching the carrying capacity of a 60 Amp incoming fuse.

 

[Deleted member 6627]

I am having a Zappi installed. Probably over the top for what I need but I like the look of it.

I did consider the hypervolt but decided against it for several reasons. Main ones being the use of the raspberry pi, the lights and their thoughts on use of customer data. I have no interest in them managing load to assist the DNO during peak periods.

In all reality I imagine they will all be old tech in a few years so I am also investing in a consumer unit in the garage. I hope that means a swap out will be cheaper when required.

 

[Jomarkh]

The Zappi is a great unit. Are they putting in the hub too and is that hardwired to you router?

 

[Deleted member 6627]

The Zappi is a great unit. Are they putting in the hub too and is that hardwired to you router?

Yes, and yes. I found an installer who was happy to talk through the detail and discuss options. Not the cheapest but I want it done in a specific way hence am happy to pay a little more.

 

[Aussi55]

Hi Angelo,

Just taken the plunge on a Sync EV charger.

The choice is quite large and growing so hopefully it's the right one for my needs.

Will know more in 10 days.

Mind you something is better than nothing!

All the best.

 

[Slipstream]

Sounds like you are sorted short term, if you are thinking of solar in the future then the Zappi is a great unit.
Your DNO can do a load check to see if your fuse is ok for a 7.5Kw charger. Can you check if you currently haveca 60A or 100A incoming fuse?

Hi I only had the 60 amp fuse contacted western power thay replaced it with 100 amp foc

 

[Jomarkh]

Result .
Did they do a load check etc. or was it on the back of an installation quote?

 

[Ozzie1989]

Hi Angelo,

Just taken the plunge on a Sync EV charger.

The choice is quite large and growing so hopefully it's the right one for my needs.

Will know more in 10 days.

Mind you something is better than nothing!

All the best.

Just looking at a Sync EV myself, could you let me know how it goes and roughly how much it cost? Thanks

 

[Lovemyev]

Have a look at this fine collection of wall boxes !.