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Original poster

EV Car chargers

20 replies

EmmaStone · 10/03/2023 09:08

Hi Everyone

I've got an EV car on order, and now jumping through hoops trying to get a charger installed. Got an electrician on board, but am overwhelmed by the options for chargers. I've narrowed down that I'd like a tethered one, but there's so much other stuff to consider (not least that it's touch and go as to whether we've got enough power going to the garage from the house to support it - we've just contacted National Grid to discuss this or whether we need to install a new power supply).

I've not seen loads of comments on complexities of getting a wall charger, are we just unlucky, or is this par for the course? And any recommendations for chargers? My car will require a Type 2.

OP posts:

Caspianberg · 10/03/2023 09:40

We just ordered it online and electrician fitted and signed it off. No issues. Only took them about 1hr

MargaretThursday · 10/03/2023 09:54

We're getting a wall charger. The only complexity so far has been we needed to make sure our electricity supply was up to the current regulations. This meant we had to "bond" (or earth) the water/gas and electricity supply. It look a friend who's an electrician a few hours to do, but he said it wasn't complicated.

gingercat02 · 10/03/2023 09:57

We have a Pod Point charger, not tethered because it was cheaper. It's no problem to get the cable out of the boot and plug in at both ends.

The man took about 30 minutes to install it, although there were no power issues.

The company has send an online form to complete with photos of your meter, fuse box, earthing points, etc and then decide on the installation you need.

Interested in this thread?

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Cars & vehicles

Original poster

EmmaStone · 10/03/2023 13:24

Hmm, I think it's the complexity of how much power is currently going from the garage to the house, and it's touch and go as to whether it's safe to add a charger to that supply. It's quite a distance from the garage to the house, so not simple to just up the supply...

OP posts:

Caspianberg · 10/03/2023 14:05

It shouldn’t be that hard?
Our charger is in carport. It runs from main power unit, into cellar, and then outside, then down another floor as built into hill. It’s at guess 25m from main electrics?

Electricians just ran a high grade cable capable of 22kw unit. We have a 22kw Wallbox.

DanceMonster · 10/03/2023 14:07

We’re about to book an installation and I’m worried now that it’s not going to be as simple as I thought!

Original poster

EmmaStone · 10/03/2023 15:57

Caspianberg · 10/03/2023 14:05

Electricians just ran a high grade cable capable of 22kw unit. We have a 22kw Wallbox.

Did they need to dig up the ground? Ours would go through the garden requiring a trench of 60cm depth (plus the current cable goes underneath the patio). And probably about 100m distance from the house to garage.

OP posts:

Original poster

EmmaStone · 10/03/2023 15:57

DanceMonster · 10/03/2023 14:07

We’re about to book an installation and I’m worried now that it’s not going to be as simple as I thought!

Don't panic, it sounds as though everyone else's has been straightforward :)

OP posts:

Caspianberg · 10/03/2023 16:23

@EmmaStone a they went through tarmac raised driveway outside. Then ducted down to the carport below. The cable is only slightly thicker than normal
cable so they don’t dig a huge trench, just a 5cm gully really.

Caspianberg · 10/03/2023 16:24

I mean about 5cm wide, and then deeper, but they had a tool that did it really quick

SellFridges · 10/03/2023 16:27

We had power issues. Western Power signed it off initially, but then after it was installed (PodPoint) there was an issue with the “tails”. That meant the whole supply had to be replaced. At first we thought we needed to pay for that, but actually because it was unsafe they did. Our house is over 120 years old though so no surprise the supply wasn’t up to it.

IglesiasPiggl · 10/03/2023 16:28

We just contacted Hypervolt. They ask the questions they need to, and then come and install it. Ours didn't require any complex digging though - it's on the side of the porch, and our driveway is right there.

Saker · 10/03/2023 16:29

Some of the electricity companies like Ovo and Octopus do good rates for charging if you have a smart meter and a compatible charger. So it might be worth getting a charger that is compatible with them so you can access the cheapest electricity.
We had to get our fuse upgraded. This was something we had to book and get done in advance via UK power networks and also involved the "tails" whatever they might be. It was free to get it done but there was a wait of a few weeks. The person you get to install your charger should know about this. It might be worth getting someone specialist rather than an ordinary electrician.

Saker · 10/03/2023 16:31

Also to say, we have solar panels so we got a charger that enabled us to measure the electricity being generated off them and charge the car accordingly. Our charger is a Zappi and it works well for this but isn't currently compatible with the cheaper electricity options though we do have the Octopus plan that lets you charge cheaply at night.

Em3978 · 10/03/2023 17:23

We have a Zappy charger, untethered, and we're on Octopus energy.
Unfortunately though, when our house was built 30 years ago, they looped our neighbour's (end of the street, last house!) electricity supply through ours for some utterly stupid reason! We had to get in touch with the main supplier to get THEIRS re-routed, but it cos us nothing, the energy company paid for it all, including making the drive look a bit better after neighbour complained that they made a mess with the tarmac!
We had to charge the car using the 3 pin plug socket in the garage for about 3 months. Thankfully we only just built the garage, so knew the supply was up to scratch.

MrsAvocet · 10/03/2023 17:33

Ours was very easy. We had a bit of a wait as we live in a rural area and there aren't a lot of companies doing it. But once they came it was very quick. The checks with the electricity board were done online beforehand and the actual installation probably took just over an hour. It's on the side of our house, not in the garage but we never put our cars in the garage anyway. We decided to future proof things by fitting a double charger. Only DH has an EV at present, I'm still driving an ICE car, but as we will probably both end up with EVs in the not too distant future we decided to pay extra for double one now rather than having to get it changed in a few years.

WeldMeDaphne · 10/03/2023 17:45

We have a myenergi zappy as well, though a tethered one (we have solar panels), and no major issues getting it installed. They sort of buried the cable (went through front garden so not buried and sealed in tenacity or anything). Can’t remember how long it took but maybe an hour. We had looked at getting it in detached garage wall but decided against as it would have added a few more metres of cabling and been harder to bury.
pretty pleased with the zappy- occasionally it doesn’t communicate with the cars but I suspect that may be a car thing rather than a zappy thing. I can check mine on the Hyundai Bluelink App, DH hasn’t managed to download the Skoda app yet so it’s a surprise to him when it does happen 🙄🙄

picklemewalnuts · 10/03/2023 17:57

They ran a cable from the meter area at the side of the house, round the house, back wall and into the garage. It must be 30m. Maybe more.

The extra cable made it more expensive, but it works fine.

We got a tethered one, but don't wind it up after use. We've a spare bin it sits in.

A free cable can be a bit mucky- it sits on the floor while in use, then you have to coil it away. It's handy to have out and about though.

Cyclistmumgrandma · 10/03/2023 18:22

It depends what you want out of your charger.
PodPoint is relatively cheap but basic.
Zappi (which we have) works really well with solar panels and can be set to charge only when there is enough excess solar power. Also works very well with Octopus Go - 4 hours of cheap electricity over night.
Ohme best if you want to move to Octopus Intelligent - more complicated to use but 6 hours of cheap electricity overnight.
We run a Zappi as said earlier and run both cars purely on solar power over the summer. We had to get rid of our PodPoint to be able to do this so it depends what you will want going forward.

IkBenDeMol · 10/03/2023 18:25

We had a Zappi charger fitted last week for a car we have on order. The large national companies were hopeless. We ended up getting a recommendation for a local electrician who was familiar with the style of our house and fitted it quickly and cheaper. We were told that we had to have some pipes "bonded" or earthed or something - don't know - to conform with building regs which have changed since the house was built in the 60s. Whole job took about 3 hours.

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