Charger Hell

[Jason71]

My other option is the to buy a charger independently and have an electrician friend (OLEV approved) fit it for me and claim the grant on my behalf. Has anyone gone down that route?

Cheers!

not sure why this wasn't your first option?
I paid 425 all in last year (after grant which was £500 at the time) for a tethered Rolec fitted by a local olev approved electrician
Are you sure you want untethered? getting the cable out of the car all the time is a real PITA as is putting it away when wet. #firstworldproblems

 

[Mr H]

Remember this is going to probably be on your house wall for years to come, and you will have to look at it nearly everyday as you leave and comeback.

I've been doing that for years anyway........there's a mirror in the hallway...

 

[Gsteel]

I have had a rolec home smart installed, downloaded app, connected to tesla but still cannot get it to charge? What settings do others use?

 

[Mr_Dave]

Pod point charged me exactly what it said on their website. It helps that they do (most of) their own installation.

PodPoint charged me exactly what was quoted on the website, AND the gave me the 7kW charger upgrade from 3.7kW for free. The app works flawlessly. I paid £429 after the grant and including an extra £50 off for ordering via smarthomecharge.co.uk
My only criticism is that the PodPoint unit is massive and looks hideous. Given the choice again, I’d get the Andersen A2 despite the extra cost.

 

[PITA]

I went with an 8kW MyEnergi Zappy wall charger connected directly to the Tesla Gateway 2.

Untethered as it provided me with two length cabling options.

One cable is 5 metres long, if my car is parked under it. But then I have an 'installed' cable perminently outside which is 15 metres long, for when I'm parked the other side of the driveway.

Works an absolute treat.

I mostly use the 15 metre cable, so I just leave it outside anyways, anchored to the wall with a lock-anchor.

If some scumbag decides to cut the cable (or if the cable connectors are damaged), then the wall unit doesn't get damaged... the cable can be instantly replaced, and because the cable is wall-anchored it has to be cut to be removed without the security lock key.

Untethered works way better for me.

 

[Dilly]

Untethered works way better for me.

I have two Zappi’s both are tethered. One in the garage, the other hidden under a clematis at the side of the house.
they are just ready to go.

 

[Peter 224]

Sync EV, because it was the lowest cost installation I could get. I toyed long and hard with a DIY Commando socket, but in the end decided that I should play by the rules.
I believe that with the software Tesla cars use to manage charging all the "smart" boxes are pointless: I have my box set to "dumb". I pay for electricity as I need it, mostly when the sun shines as I have PV panels, the cost until the end of March at 15.5p/kwh , including standing charge, from Scottish Power. Over the last 4 months my use of electricity has not increased significantly.

 

[PITA]

I have two Zappi’s both are tethered. One in the garage, the other hidden under a clematis at the side of the house.
they are just ready to go.

Yep, I was looking at having another Zappy also, installed the other side of the driveway.

But because the Government might make 'Smart' chargers compulsory, or remotely controlled, or taxed in some way, I'm undecided if I'd rather install a 'dumb' charger instead.

Or... upgrade the second wall charger to 3 phase... and have that one Grid-Tied only at 23kW capability.

Split the difference

 

[tomorrowman]

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate that charging is a topic that's probably be done to death.

My current thinking is to go non-smart or "dumb" with the basic EO Mini (simply because it's so discreet) at £330 ex VAT and have it installed privately.

At this point, I never want to read the letters O L E V again.

You might want to rethink the non-tethered. Tethered is great on a wet, cold and dark winters night - no mucking about in boot getting your charge cable out.

The 'poor' analogy I like to use is imagine having to take your own hose to the petrol station to fill up your ice car - you wouldnt

 

[Stranger Dings]

I went for Pod Point, but the wife wasn’t impressed by how it looks. Because it is quite a big unit (I’m talking about the charger, not the wife), I got it put on the side of the house and a long cable. I can wind up the cable and you wouldn’t even know it was there.

 

[PITA]

You might want to rethink the non-tethered. Tethered is great on a wet, cold and dark winters night - no mucking about in boot getting your charge cable out.

The 'poor' analogy I like to use is imagine having to take your own hose to the petrol station to fill up your ice car - you wouldnt

Mine is untethered, and I just keep the cable outside anyways.

Equally as convenient, cable is wall-anchored, and is easily replaced if damaged.

 

[Katic1972]

I went for podpoint. Overall 7kw charger cost £860. I got £500 from Boris and £300 from Nicola in 2019. So it only cost £60. Bargain, it’s been in working and perfect since day 1. That said I only rarely use the home charger as I have local 50kw charge points that are free to use (at least for now).

 

[Dilly]

Yep, I was looking at having another Zappy also, installed the other side of the driveway.

But because the Government might make 'Smart' chargers compulsory, or remotely controlled, or taxed in some way, I'm undecided if I'd rather install a 'dumb' charger instead.

Or... upgrade the second wall charger to 3 phase... and have that one Grid-Tied only at 23kW capability.

Split the difference

I can’t see any level of Government control ever happening. At least not in my lifetime!
Taxed? I doubt that going get much support during the scramble to move everyone to EV’s
There will always be manual override!
Go with what suits best. You’re good until 2035