Official Plug In Car Grant (PICG) Thread

[dm57]

Its ok setting up more charge stations with grants available, its the maintenance of the site that is lacking. We have all experienced the dire state of some charge operators especially rapids being out of order for months. Workplace charging should be given a subsidy to encourage adoption and the small print being repairs fall to site owner/company. Any charger failures should be notified to site owner and escalated to local authority for enforcement. Slow charging is not rocket science my own pod point has been working fine with no issues for 5 years. Private work car parks are secure and the users have a vested interest in maintaining the facility.

 

[hutchinson82]

The government will likely blow all the money employing consultants to carry out feasibility studies and drawing up plans. Then find they have no money left to spend on the actual improvements.

 

[PAULinTHAILAND]

From 1st of June new home charging points are supposed to served by a separate meter according to my leasing agent. Have heard colleagues mention this when getting their charging points fitted.

I had this problem in Thailand when MG first offered free chargers and installation. Someone decided that the standard electric meter supply in Thailand wasn’t powerful enough to power a home and charge an EV, so a second meter was required. As I was off-grid Solar I wanted to power my home and charge my car from solar, very difficult to do if the EV charger is on a separate meter and not part of the household electrical system.

 

[BugEyed]

From 1st of June new home charging points are supposed to served by a separate meter according to my leasing agent. Have heard colleagues mention this when getting their charging points fitted.

That's a conspiratorial view of the regulations. Once again there's a requirement for charge points to be able to measure and report usage when installed, but there's no requirement to maintain that functionality. So like now communication will in the main be via the homeowners WiFi which of course is then subject to maintenance.
My Wife's PodPoint had its communication module fail after about 4 years. PodPoint want a £180 callout fee - it can remain broken as far as she's concerned. I rarely bother to update the WiFi password on my charge point so it too is dumb. And we'll not mention granny chargers.

 

[Tweed98]

I haven't been able to find anything official confirming it, just anecdotal evidence. Is there real world benefits to having a smart charger over a dumb charger? I'm getting an MG5 as a company vehicle so have done very little research other than finding this forum.

 

[BugEyed]

Only if you benefit from a variable time of use tariff or solar charging, or want to charge at specific times and your car doesn't have an onboard timer. Otherwise it appears to be a marketing thing.

 

[weedavemac]

I haven't been able to find anything official confirming it, just anecdotal evidence. Is there real world benefits to having a smart charger over a dumb charger? I'm getting an MG5 as a company vehicle so have done very little research other than finding this forum.

If you have an EV tariff with your utility supplier the timer on your smart meter becomes essential. Especially as the MG5 dues not have a smart app.

 

[BugEyed]

Smart meter or smart charge point? Currently there's no integration directly between smart meters and charge points ("Intelligent Octopus" is indirect) although the infrastructure does exist.

 

[weedavemac]

Smart meter or smart charge point? Currently there's no integration directly between smart meters and charge points ("Intelligent Octopus" is indirect) although the infrastructure does exist.

Ah.... I meant to say smart charger. Sorry.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

Strange how people that can afford £30k+ for a car find they need the Government to give them £1,500.00.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

Don't know. They will find a way! Technology-wise you can monitor home EV charging away from normal domestic. The difficulty will be monitoring a 3 pin socket to charge the car.

I have a dumb Single Phase ROLEC 32Amp charge connection point.

Not sure how the Government will charge me extra when I charge the car?

 

[m4rmite]

I wonder which politicians family friend/ member has just started a company overseeing the grant rollout for ev chargers.

 

[Nutnut]

Strange how people that can afford £30k+ for a car find they need the Government to give them £1,500.00.

I don't think any of us is really in a position to accurately judge other's finances. For some, an extra £1.5k is no small potatoes and can make or break in terms of their budget, and anybody astute didn't pay over £30k for this car either.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

I don't think any of us is really in a position to accurately judge other's finances. For some, an extra £1.5k is no small potatoes and can make or break in terms of their budget, and anybody astute didn't pay over £30k for this car either.

I think you miss my point. The gift of £1,500 was for anyone that wanted to buy a car costing up to £32,000.00. If you are even thinking of buying a car that costs such a vast sum then you don’t need a gift to do so. There are far more deserving causes for such a huge gift than someone wanting to buy a car.

 

[JohnInFrance]

I think you miss my point. The gift of £1,500 was for anyone that wanted to buy a car costing up to £32,000.00. If you are even thinking of buying a car that costs such a vast sum then you don’t need a gift to do so. There are far more deserving causes for such a huge gift than someone wanting to buy a car.

It was nothing of the sort - it was an incentive, not a gift and it was to the government by way of the purchaser to enable them to meet the frankly over-ambitious targets they set for EV take up. Without the PICG there would have been no chance of meeting those targets and now the bean counters feel that there is, thus it has been removed.
At no point was it anything other than a policy implementation tool, if some benefited from it, then fine, but the major beneficiary was always the government.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

It was nothing of the sort - it was an incentive, not a gift and it was to the government by way of the purchaser to enable them to meet the frankly over-ambitious targets they set for EV take up. Without the PICG there would have been no chance of meeting those targets and now the bean counters feel that there is, thus it has been removed.
At no point was it anything other than a policy implementation tool, if some benefited from it, then fine, but the major beneficiary was always the government.

It is a gift. You are still missing the point.

If you can afford to look at a car costing £32,000 you should not be given £1,500 of tax payer money to buy it.

If you will recall, the government was originally giving £4,500 to people buying Tesla Model S cars costing in the excess of £100,000. Total and complete nonsense.

IMHO. Clearly others think the government giving away huge gifts to already relatively wealthy people is a good idea.

 

[Gomev]

It is a gift. You are still missing the point.

If you can afford to look at a car costing £32,000 you should not be given £1,500 of tax payer money to buy it.

If you will recall, the government was originally giving £4,500 to people buying Tesla Model S cars costing in the excess of £100,000. Total and complete nonsense.

IMHO. Clearly others think the government giving away huge gifts to already relatively wealthy people is a good idea.

So what you are saying is that everybody on this forum is relatively wealthy.

 

[MichaelJHunt]

So what you are saying is that everybody on this forum is relatively wealthy.

If you can afford to drive around in a £32,000 BEV, then yes.

The vast majority of people in the UK have no hope of ever buying a new car of any sort, let alone a very expensive BEV.

 

[Gomev]

It was nothing of the sort - it was an incentive, not a gift and it was to the government by way of the purchaser to enable them to meet the frankly over-ambitious targets they set for EV take up. Without the PICG there would have been no chance of meeting those targets and now the bean counters feel that there is, thus it has been removed.
At no point was it anything other than a policy implementation tool, if some benefited from it, then fine, but the major beneficiary was always the government.

@JohnInFrance How much is the incentive in France and is the government target equally over ambitious for EV take up there ?

 

[Gomev]

I wonder which politicians family friend/ member has just started a company overseeing the grant rollout for ev chargers.

This is not a political forum.