Home chargers. Need to get clued up.

anticlaus105

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When ordering an EV, do you get to choose who installs the charger? I'm aware that higher Kw are favoured, but other than that what do you look out for? Smart phone connectivity? Can you schedule charging times and make sure it stops at 80%? Are some more cosmetically appealing than others? I've seen it mentioned that wiring to the house may need upgrading. Is that common? Any other considerations?
 
when we got ours there was no dealer link to charger installers, so we arranged it all.

The smarter and cleverer it is the more you will pay.

Instead you can get a dumb box and a smart charging cable instead.

 
If you want an 11Kw charger, then you'll need a three phase electrical supply, which not many UK homes have. From what I saw, it's a £2,500 - £3K job to install that.

If you're charging overnight, then a 7Kw charger should be ample.

You can get a government grant (up to £350) for installing up to two home chargers, but you need to prove that you have a parking place and that you own/lease an EV (or have order details if you've not had delivery of one yet).
 
Whether an AC charger with output greater than ~7kW is of any use will depend on the vehicle. There are some that simply won't take more than ~7kW from a single phase so a point with greater output is at worst a pointless expense and at best, maybe a bit future-proof. The other pertinent factor is, how long will the vehicle spend plugged in (eg overnight) and would a higher output simply mean it got full at 2am instead of 6am - and would it matter?
 
Charging schedules are usually handled by the car. Check your main fuse first, if it's 100amp then you're probably good to go, if it's 60amp then you'll need to get the DNO to upgrade it before any installers will fit a charge point. 7kw will be plenty, my Model 3 will charge at 29miles per hour on that.
 
In terms of the various types of wall boxes, I did some basic research and there isn't a lot of difference between most around the same price point. I've opted to have the EO Mini Pro 2 installed as it is the smallest/most discrete 7kW charger available, as part of my switchover to Octopus Energy. It includes smart charging and is software lockable so it won't charge other vehicles when not used by you.
 
It's still worthwhile doing some research on forums and reviews to make sure that the chargers work as expected or whether the apps give the functionality you need in terms of monitoring and scheduling.
 
I'll hopefully have an EV on the way soon.

I think I've narrowed down home chargers to Ohme, PodPoint , Zappi and EO mini pro 2. I doubt I'll ever get solar panels. Can anyone sway me to one of these? I would rather it had a cable.

I may switch to octopus but have quite a few referrals going through with igloo atm thanks to posting my link online, so don't want to mess them up.
 
Can't comment on the others but i'm very happy with my EO Mini Pro 2, its the smallest of all of those I think, the app works well and supports my Octopus tariffs without issue, along with scheduling (though I let my car handle the scheduling). You can disable the port as well in case you go away so someone can't park up and use your charge point, however unlikely that seems. The fitter they used also was excellent and did a very tidy job, he didn't even have to turn off the electric supply at any point for my circumstances. Finally, it has a warranty that can be extended for up to four years after the first year full parts and labour, £50 pa. Haven't decided if I'll take them up on that.
 
£545.00 fully fitted with no complications or additional requirements, subsidised with the government grant. I think the install took about 2 hours for me.
 
I’ve read good reviews about the Myenergi Zappi & Andersen A2.

Remember if you have a PME supply you may need to consider an earth rod or device which will disconnect when pen conductor fault is detected.

Also if you have only a 60A cutout fuse, which cannot be upgraded, the DNO might insist on a ev device that disconnects it, should your supply reach a certain load.
 
From what I understand, you can ask your DNO to install a 100A cutout fuse. I was watching this YouTube from a reputable (EV certified) installer who goes through what things the installer needs to know before working.

 
device which will disconnect when pen conductor fault is detected.

Also if you have only a 60A cutout fuse, which cannot be upgraded, the DNO might insist on a ev device that disconnects it, should your supply reach a certain load.
That's what we had installed, then out of the blue the DNO turned up and upgraded the main fuse to 100 Amps :facepalm: I've left the 60 amp ev device in place but presumably I could disconnect it now?
 
That's what we had installed, then out of the blue the DNO turned up and upgraded the main fuse to 100 Amps :facepalm: I've left the 60 amp ev device in place but presumably I could disconnect it now?
I’m not too clued up on these things. It may be just worth speaking to your DNO. As more and more ev chargers get installed, the infrastructure will be strained. Not a bad thing to keep if you have electric showers etc.
 
Checked and have 100A main fuse.
 
Checked and have 100A main fuse.
You can only be sure, if you remove the man fuse from its carrier, and not rely what’s written on the carrier. Only the DNO or authorised electrician can do that.

That said, I would suspect you have a 99% chance it is.
 
I should have probably qualified my in my post about no complications meaning both that I already had a 100A fuse (my friend is a sparky and upgraded my mains/fuseboard when I moved in) and that we don't have a shared supply with our neighbours, needed an extended cable run or anything like that.

It's good to do your homework on this stuff but bear in mind a good installer should be asking you these kind of questions before they turn up to fit, EO provided a lengthy online questionnaire asking for many photos of the house and supply before they would consider starting work. From their information:
We typically use a cable which is ~16mm in diameter and suitable for indoor or outdoor use. It is about as thick as a hose pipe and will need routing either from your consumer unit or from near your electricity meter to the charger.
We supply and install almost all makes and models of domestic EV chargers and they all have slightly different installation requirements. Some chargers require a lot of extra electrical safety devices (switch gear) to make the install safe whereas others can be powered from a new miniature circuit breaker (MCB) in an existing fuse board.
Earth rod?
Regulation BS7671 requires that dedicated EV charger installations must not be connected to a typical domestic earthing arrangement unless it is installed alongside additional earthing protection. This protection can be via an earth rod or a device which monitors the existing property’s earth. In many domestic settings the installation of an earth rod is not possible due to the risk of striking existing buried services, the risk of simultaneous contact with exposed or buried metalwork nearby, hard/rocky ground preventing an earth rod being installed (e.g. a paved driveway) or too high an earth resistance being measured.
Additional earthing protection:
If an earth rod is not feasible (e.g. for the reasons above) and your charger requires it then we will need to fit additional earthing protection. This is in the form of a separate protective device known as a MATT:E or a Garo unit. Both of these require free wall space at least the size of an A4 piece of paper.

They fitted a Garo unit during my installation.
 
Well they haven’t got it right EO. BS7671 doesn’t say;

Regulation BS7671 requires that dedicated EV charger installations must not be connected to a typical domestic earthing arrangement.

BS7671 does give guidance on how to install ev chargers with the different earthing arrangements.

If they are going to make such statements, they should factually correct.
 
Surely that's exactly what it says, before you chopped off the rest of the sentence?

Also, looking back I think actually that information was provided by the fitters EV Domestic, not EO themselves.
 
Not really.

What it should of said is a pme earthing facility should not be used as a means of earthing for the protective conductor for a charging point located outdoors or that might reasonably be expected to be used to charge a vehicle located outdoors unless one of the following methods (5 options) is used.

Im being a bit picky, but you can use any domestic earthing, where a vehicle is located indoors, or the options given in BS7671. Which is not what was alluded to in that statement.

Edit, a better explanation is given by John Ward in this thread;

 
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Maybe there is some level of liability cover here in how it is worded, because obviously they don't want people going off half-cocked thinking they are capable of doing their own installs.
 

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