Electric Wall Chargers

[larchtree]

Hello All

Heres Wishing all Funsters a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2022!

Would be interested to hear from anyone who has experience of wall charger fitting!
I plan to change to an electric car in the next few months.
Have started by looking at wall chargers - currently our power is supplied by Shell Energy- so far they have been very slow in responding to my requests re- wall chargers and are quoting 6 months to fitting.

When you look on line there are many companies to chose from who are quoting 6 weeks to fitting!
Anyone had experience of any of these - good or bad?
Many Thanks
Dave

 

[Lenny HB]

I don't know about fitting them but the grant is being withdrawn next year, from March I think.

Edit:
O got that wrong, the grant will still be available for flats & terraced houses, but withdrawn for detached properties.

 

[stevewagner]

Buy the charger and get an electrician to fit it. However there are several different types available depending on what output you need. As from next June all new dwellings will be required to have one as part of the Building Regulations.

 

[autorouter]

A relative has an electric car (BMW i3) and has fitted a Zappi charger from myenergi.com. It has many advantages over a standard charger.

First, most chargers need a local earth rod, next to the charger point. The zappi has a special circuit, patented I think, that means it doesn't need an earth rod.

In addition it is a smart charger. If for example you are on a low tariff during the night, it can delay charging until the low tariff starts. If you have solar, you can tell it to charge as much as possible from the solar. Or if you're in a hurry, you can tell it to just get on with charging, whatever the cost. There's a phone app to control and monitor it.

 

[larchtree]

Many Thanks guys.
Lenny - had not picked that up anywhere - thanks
Steve - thanks, will research more
Autorouter - thanks, I check out Zappi, sounds like it might be an easier fit.

cheers
Dave

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Tombola]

Podpoint were a nightmare to get the unit fitted for me, 8 months after an initial isntall date of 2 weeks, hardly any replies to my comms.
Usage, works fine, has an app to control it, took about an hour to install, about 2 metres from my electric meters.

 

[BillM]

I have a Podpoint, not the cheapest, but has been reliable since 2017. Quick and effient install.. took a podpoint electrician about 90 minutes. Generally cars (or the car app) have the sofware that controls charge start and finish times... I think the ability to heat (or cool) the car from my phone app 20 minutes before setting off (no iced up windows) is a thing of wonder. Note I think the wall box needs to have it's supply direct from a consumer unit...

 

[larchtree]

Thanks again
Will have a look at Podpoint

 

[Davb]

I have a Podpoint charger. As soon as you have your paperwork confirming your purchase or lease, you need to set the ball rolling on your charger installation as it can take quite some time to get installed. The Zappi charger is a good charger, but unless you already have or plan to have solar panels on your house, the extra cost of a Zappi would be wasted.

 

[Prospector]

Ours is an OHME charge point arranged through Motability. The whole process took about 3 weeks. We also had to have an isolation switch for the incoming electricity, had to be fitted by our energy supplier for which there was an extra charge.

Like others, it is a very smart charger and will take advantage of lower tariffs etc.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[hja]

Ours is a PodPoint. We did have some difficulties but was trying to get the install in 2020 when all the initial surveys were done remotely. Our garage is detached from the house and we wanted the "plug" on the garage front wall and the "unit" on the garage side wall. Electrics were in the house, so a cable had to run above a metal gate frame (with another electric cable). This phased them somewhat. When they came to put it in, the installer just took it straight from the electrics in the garage! Simples!
Some teething problems - partly because I put the wrong serial number in the system, but I now use the App to timetable charging times. Which for me is very good.

 

[brynric]

We couldn’t go with an installation with grant as we live in a Park Home and are not connected directly to the grid. I wasn’t impressed with the responses we had from the larger companies when we were investigating the issues.
Eventually we bought a VirIndian unit and had it fitted by a local electrician who deals with the park. I think the price for setting it up privately was probably cheaper than the bigger companies with the grant.
Our charger is not “smart” but the car is so we can set it to charge overnight. The Viridian looks smart and appears robust. Overall we’re very pleased.

 

[Crazylegs]

We moved to www.octopus.energy as they have a great overnight tariff, we just use a standard three pin charger for our hybrid, but they did offer to fit a wall box.

 

[Cairngorm]

We couldn’t go with an installation with grant as we live in a Park Home and are not connected directly to the grid. I wasn’t impressed with the responses we had from the larger companies when we were investigating the issues.
Eventually we bought a VirIndian unit and had it fitted by a local electrician who deals with the park. I think the price for setting it up privately was probably cheaper than the bigger companies with the grant.
Our charger is not “smart” but the car is so we can set it to charge overnight. The Viridian looks smart and appears robust. Overall we’re very pleased.

Just out of curiosity what type of smart car do you have as would appear that I only have till the end of March to obtain the grant for a charger.

 

[Cairngorm]

We moved to www.octopus.energy as they have a great overnight tariff, we just use a standard three pin charger for our hybrid, but they did offer to fit a wall box.

I am with Octopus but it looks like the problem there is to get a smart meter installed, in a decent time frame, to get the cheaper overnight rate. ( I assume, but on reflection your situation is different as Hybrid doesn’t mean all electric?)

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[aria]

I have a Rolec wall pod. The hardware is fine but the app and options/remote control is poor. I would not recommend it.

 

[VandM]

The Zappi unit is excellent and has a sensor on the incoming grid to house supply that "l of and balances" - it is programmed with the current capacity of the house supply and will throttle the level of charge to the electric vehicle depending on what demand is being made by the house (showers, cookers and other heavy load items). This ensures the maximum possible current goes to the EV when it's available without overloading the main service fuse from the grid.

 

[brynric]

what type of smart car do you have

I have a Kia e-Niro 3.
I’ve had it nearly a year and in that time only had to charge away from home once, though that obviously depends on useage. I’ve used the public grid several times for practice/free miles and it’s not reliable at the moment.
The dealership recommended the BP pulse network but they didn’t want to know once they heard it wasn’t a straight forward installation.
I’ve been very pleased with Viridian.

 

[cmcardle75]

Your main issue will be getting a decent smart tariff in the current climate where companies aren't taking on new contracts.

Your choice with a charger is to find an electrician and fitting their recommended, or approaching the charger company and getting them to arrange the installation. Electricians need to have done a special module to install any car charger and can only install chargers that they've gone on a special manufacturer course for.

To get the grant, the charger will need to be a smart type. You need to consider if you want a tethered or untethered device.

I'd research the charger to want. In the UK, this will generally be a 7.4kW type (i.e. 32A single phase). If you are lucky enough to have 3 phase, consider a 22kW 32A 3 phase type, although your car will probably only drink it up at 11kW and you might struggle to find a compatible smart meter.

I paid considerably extra to get an Anderson A1 charger. This is because the charging point is in a very visible location and I wanted something subdued and elegant looking (with a wood finish). The tethered cable wraps around and is completely hidden when not in use.

Most cheaper chargers are bright plastic with brighter flashing LEDs and seem to be designed by a teenager who wants a career in disco lighting.