Home chargers

[Radders]

Yes all in, supply and fit, with the OLEV grant included.

Excellant dgs, wish I'd seen that

 

[Radders]

When you sell now you have to get a recent EPC so that might cover it, and you have to get one anyway.

Yes crossed my mind, however I'm from Yorkshire, I'd probably disconnect it and take it with me to my new home

 

[Radders]

personally, I would always recommend a type 2 to type 2 cable. i once miscalculated range due to colder weather and the only charger I was sure i would get to was a 7kw podpoint. stayed for just 20 mins so didn't get an awful lot of juice, but it was worth it to avoid the flat-bed of shame!

In my case (and this will be more and more commonplace), I can also charge for free at work. Up until lockdown, almost all my charging was done from work for free with my type 2 cable. They can be obtained for as little as £150 now.

'flat bed of shame' love it!

 

[JodyS21]

I totally agreed @JodyS21 about the type 2 cable until I found that the holiday lodges site we go to regularly has a free charger installed on site,
which I found by pure luck using zap map for nearby chargers anyway fuel costs were normally £60ish cost the grand total of £5 ( cable £150) but I will recoup this after a few visits, so I guess the moral of this story is never say never

A thought:
Are free chargers tether less/need to supply a cable, to just reduce the cost a bit (not much) of the unit, or to "discourage" more people from using them?

 

[BruceT]

A thought:
Are free chargers tether less/need to supply a cable, to just reduce the cost a bit (not much) of the unit, or to "discourage" more people from using them?

I would say...... yes. Plus free chargers don't tend to be in "pole position" in the carpark. if there's a damp, dark, crappy corner, that's where they are.

 

[marcopolomt]

I paid less than £100, as there was an offer on but same place now is still only £114.

Do you mind sharing the source? will need one for the new car.

A thought:
Are free chargers tether less/need to supply a cable, to just reduce the cost a bit (not much) of the unit, or to "discourage" more people from using them?

typically 7kw public chargers are untethered so you plug in your own. I have never encountered a tethered 7kw public charger be they free or chargeable. its rapid chargers that have their own (much thicker) cables.

 

[JodyS21]

Problem with the granny lead is if you want to enjoy off peak tariffs you need to 'suck' out as much kwh between 0.30 and 04.30 as you possibly can. In the brief time I've installed my 7kw charger I reckon I'm drawing 3 times more. This enable me to fully charge my car 4hrs@5p/kw rather than the equivilant 12hrs @23p/kw. Top of my head would guess the install has paid for itself much less than a year. ( assuming I have 30% left when charging commences)

Exactly the same in my situation. Even the 4 hours off-peak isn't enough for my requirements one day each week to get enough 7kW charge in the car.
But for a lot of folk, it wouldn't get the pay back.

I was initially surprised when I first got onto this forum, at the amount of people that do very low mileage. But then I realised that I think I'm in a minority doing over 100 miles 3 times a week. I get why now though, most EV owners would not buy a ZS (at 163WLTP) if they were doing high miles.

 

[JodyS21]

Pretty much what I did but simply removed the commando plug and installed a new purpose switch, dont forget they insist on the earth rod though which is a piece of cake ( other than the test)

No earth rod arrangement etc needed for a standard commando socket install, which mine technically was, with me happening to sometimes use it to plug my Ohme charger into....so not a permanent fixed requiring those extra earthing regs.

I actually (shh don't tell anyone!) removed the commando socket and commando plug and just connected them together in a suitable terminal box, made it look a lot neater!

 

[marcopolomt]

Exactly the same in my situation. Even the 4 hours off-peak isn't enough for my requirements one day each week to get enough 7kW charge in the car.
But for a lot of folk, it wouldn't get the pay back.

I was initially surprised when I first got onto this forum, at the amount of people that do very low mileage. But then I realised that I think I'm in a minority doing over 100 miles 3 times a week. I get why now though, most EV owners would not buy a ZS (at 163WLTP) if they were doing high miles.

I never installed a 7kw charger as I can charge for free at work (35 miles away). It was rare I used to charge at home, but if I did need a top-up I used the granny cable. Now I'm mainly working from home had do hardly any mileage, but a 7kw charger makes more sense as I don't have surplus 'running about' energy that i pick up from work. I end up charging two or three times a week, whereas a 7kw charger would probably be enough for me to charge once.

 

[Gomev]

Do you mind sharing the source? will need one for the new car.

typically 7kw public chargers are untethered so you plug in your own. I have never encountered a tethered 7kw public charger be they free or chargeable. its rapid chargers that have their own (much thicker) cables.

This is where I bought mine. Price is same(ish) now but there was a 10% code for use when I bought. (and a free carry case)

EV / Electric Car - Charging Cable - Type 2 to Type 2 | 32amp | 5m |

Premium fast PHEV EV Electric Car Vehicle Charging cable lead - Type 2 to Type 2 IEC62196 / Mennekes 16 amp 3.6 kW 5 meter cable tidy carry case

evonestop.co.uk

 

[Jomarkh]

That lead is only 16a so won't get the full 7.5kw from the unit.

 

[Gomev]

That lead is only 16a so won't get the full 7.5kw from the unit.

click the dropdown to select 32amp.

 

[BruceT]

This is where I bought mine. Price is same(ish) now but there was a 10% code for use when I bought. (and a free carry case)

EV / Electric Car - Charging Cable - Type 2 to Type 2 | 32amp | 5m |

Premium fast PHEV EV Electric Car Vehicle Charging cable lead - Type 2 to Type 2 IEC62196 / Mennekes 16 amp 3.6 kW 5 meter cable tidy carry case

evonestop.co.uk

Yep, that's where I got mine from March last year. Good quality and seems well made and comes with a decent bag (which is surprisingly important). Yes, I think it was £100 then, when my dealer wouldn't throw one in and wanted either £150 or £160 for the same thing.

 

[Radders]

Do you mind sharing the source? will need one for the new car.

typically 7kw public chargers are untethered so you plug in your own. I have never encountered a tethered 7kw public charger be they free or chargeable. its rapid chargers that have their own (much thicker) cables.

Just a thought Marco, if you havent yet purchased a 7kw home charger consider the Ohme type 2 to type 2 charger, it can be used as a normal spare lead for the purpose you want. Dont dive in though, thought/advice needed regarding terminating it for home use

 

[Radders]

No earth rod arrangement etc needed for a standard commando socket install, which mine technically was, with me happening to sometimes use it to plug my Ohme charger into....so not a permanent fixed requiring those extra earthing regs.

I actually (shh don't tell anyone!) removed the commando socket and commando plug and just connected them together in a suitable terminal box, made it look a lot neater!

Hmm! not sure about that JodyS21, mine arrived with a commando plug, the literature clearly stated ( com plug) TT earthing required, but as mentioned relatively easy to do.

 

[marcopolomt]

Just a thought Marco, if you havent yet purchased a 7kw home charger consider the Ohme type 2 to type 2 charger, it can be used as a normal spare lead for the purpose you want. Dont dive in though, thought/advice needed regarding terminating it for home use

complicated reasons as to why i haven't fitted one. we have lots of charging availability at work so free charging is free charging. only considering it now as we will be working from home primarily now so i need a better solution.

the big issue is the way our parking is laid out. shared ownership property with parking at the back of the garden in a communal parking area (dedicated space which we part-own). the trouble is that these spaces are not adjacent to the property so officially i shouldn't be parking next to the back fence to charge, but neighbours are fine with it. i dont want to jump the gun though considering some charging arrangement needs to be made within 8 years as more and more turn to evs. housing association could reconfigure the bays and move them adjacent to the property and leave us to fit our own chargers. if not then residents wont be happy at not being able to charge at home and i can see most of us dangling granny cables on the back fence as i do. I have wrote to the housing acc twice and not even got an acknowledgement. i dont want to spend 1 to 2 k when i dont know what will be happening in the future. cable would need a long run from the front of the property, along an alleyway, under the garden and to a non-designated space thus also disqualifying me from any grant.

 

[JodyS21]

Hmm! not sure about that JodyS21, mine arrived with a commando plug, the literature clearly stated ( com plug) TT earthing required, but as mentioned relatively easy to do.

I didn't look at the literature that came with it.
I studied the official UK/England wiring regulations in regard to what is required for a permanent electric car charging. There's a few websites which document commando based EV charging requirements too. As I've completely re-wired my entire house renovation myself, I needed to make sure it all met the necessary regulations to get it signed off.
I've not got any links to hand unfortunately to share.

 

[Radders]

Ah let me qualify my orginal statement, having read it again it is in fact a recomendation not a requirement, have a look for yourself and apologies for casting aspersions on your skill sets!!

 

[JodyS21]

Ah let me qualify my orginal statement, having read it again it is in fact a recomendation not a requirement, have a look for yourself and apologies for casting aspersions on your skill sets!!View attachment 5605

Well spotted, that’s a good photo to share for folks.
There’s a very very good YouTube video series by a very posh sounding electrical engineer who explains all the home regs and how to test them all. One video is about EV earthing, and it’s interesting in how no earth solution really fully works for EV charging - my conclusion was that the PEN detector solution is really the only properly safe solution (unless like me you think it’s all OTT to mitigate the very negligible risk!)

 

[Radders]

Well spotted, that’s a good photo to share for folks.
There’s a very very good YouTube video series by a very posh sounding electrical engineer who explains all the home regs and how to test them all. One video is about EV earthing, and it’s interesting in how no earth solution really fully works for EV charging - my conclusion was that the PEN detector solution is really the only properly safe solution (unless like me you think it’s all OTT to mitigate the very negligible risk!)

Agree, John Ward I believe you are reffering to, explains it simply with a white board and coloured pens which suits my pea size intellect!!