Charging at home or not?

[Dhrucku]

I have a MY on order and have started thinking about charging.

We won't be using the car much during the weekdays (bar the mid-weekly shop) due to work but will use it during the weekdays for 100 mile round trips. We are looking to move house in three years or so and our current house does not have an outside charging facility and we missed the Government grant for the installation of one.

My question is do you think it's viable to just keep it to charging at charge points around where I live, I have one main one near me that I'd use quite often if I have to, however it's 57p/kWh compared to my current Eon rate of:

Unit rate 29.48p/kWh
Standing charge 41.66 p/day

What would you suggest in my situation as I really don't know what to do?

 

[chwe]

Is it possible to get a 13amp outside socket installed ? This would be much cheaper than a 7kw chargepoint and combined with cheap(er) overnight electricity tariff would likely save you money over 3 years compared to charging publicly?

 

[Mr H]

Do your weekly shop in Tesco and use the free Podpoints (if they have them) otherwise i'd buy a charger on ebay and get a local sparky to install it, 3 years is a long time and i can pretty much guarantee you'll do more miles once the Tesla arrives.

 

[Dhrucku]

What charger was this? Do you have an example or link to one? Would it be an installation outside the house and is there a certain cable I would need as a connection. Sorry for the newb comments but do Tesla provide this?

Also my car would be parked behind my house so I would need an extension cord to add extra complexity to my situation! Do these extension cords exist?

 

[Mr H]

something like this, best speak to an electrician first. The chargepoint will be fitted near your car and hardwired to your electricity supply.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225059771664?hash=item34669b9510:g:pQIAAOSwuK9iwzdw

 

[Dhrucku]

something like this, best speak to an electrician first. The chargepoint will be fitted near your car and hardwired to your electricity supply.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/225059771664?hash=item34669b9510:g:pQIAAOSwuK9iwzdw

Are there any electricians out there who are aware of the comprehensive EV charging options? I know my local leccy won't have a scooby as he's an old boy who deals in power points within the house (recently had some changed)...I'm looking for someone who'd give me decent advice on options noting my electric provider and all the points above.

 

[Llama.]

Three years is a long time to go without home charging particularly as your home energy tariff is nearly twice the cost of your nearby rapid chargers.

Until you have an EV you don’t appreciate the value and convenience of a home charger.

I’d say bite the bullet and get a basic home charger fitted. My Zappi charger was about £1,000 fitted. I’m sure someone on here can recommend a cheaper one.

 

[munkypuzel]

Definitely get a home charger - it will take the only stress and anxiety out of loving your car as well as being half the price. You can pickup some free charge at Tesco's etc for fun - not because you have to..

 

[PITA]

I've got various home chargers (Zappi 7kW & Zappi 22kW), but this one I added today.

A Commando 32amp Wall Socket.

I can use the Tesla Universal Mobile Charger (UMC) at 7kW to charge my Cars off-Grid or during a blackout. Just buy the Commando Adapter for it.

Had mine wired into the Tesla Gateway 2 on the backup side.

Cost me £250 all in...

 

[ACarneiro]

For 1% of the price of the car, might as well get a charger installed. It's what the car is designed for, less hassle and (usually) more reliable.
If it bothers you that much, add £500 to the asking price of the house when you move out.

 

[chwe]

Obviously it depends on the exact situation of your car use etc, but in case it helps (and my 'assumptions' might be wrong as I have no experience of this in practice as I'm still waiting for my car!):

As a family we also will not use the car much during the week. Short trips of max 10 miles of an evening probably.

Some weekends and for holidays we will travel more. A 400 mile round trip isn't uncommon.

At the moment I plan to charge using a standard 13amp socket at home (either in the garage or using an external socket on the garage), which will deliver 10amps via the (included) car charger (UMC). I'm fairly confident in the 6 hours of over night charging this will mostly keep charge where I need it. I reckon I could even get away with dropping the charge rate further probably...the main argument against this I think is just that it's probably not a very efficient way to charge as the car would be drawing power to keep itself awake.

On occasion I might need to public charge, but the council have just installed 150kw chargers close to where I live and will be charging 25p per kWh for this at the moment (obviously this is more than likely to go up at some point but I don't expect this will be very soon). The economics at the moment mean that I don't think it's cost effective to install a 7kw Zappi charger (which would be my preference as we have a smallish solar array). I might get one fitted eventually but probably more likely if visiting family members also make the EV switch as they will need a faster charge to avoid also being sent to the council's chargers!

I might also see whether a 32amp commando socket is worth it, but my understanding is that to meet building regs (which will be important when selling house, probably) you need to fit a type B RCD which will cost upwards of £100, and then you have the installation costs so by my reckoning it would be looking like £400 probably all in.

So that's my situation. In short, I think I will be fine with a 13amp plug... probably...

If you think the same then one option is to drill a hole through your external wall and run a spur from your existing ring main. This is a competent DIY job if you know what you are doing and how to comply with electric regs, but best to get a sparky in... But shouldn't cost more than a couple of hours of time plus an external socket I would have thought.

That said, I do agree that given the way house prices are going and demand for housing, if you stick a few house plants in and bake some bread when showing people around you'd probably get away with bumping your house price up to cover the costs of installation of a fast charger anyway....

 

[Spacerat]

Or it could pay for itself (not that I necessarily agree) if this is to be believed.

 

[chwe]

Or it could pay for itself (not that I necessarily agree) if this is to be believed.

Yeah, obviously ignoring the fact that people with more money (and the ability to afford more expensive houses) can also afford to have an EV and charging point. No way it would increase the value of the house more than the cost of installation (and unlikely to be that much even I would think)

 

[Spacerat]

Yeah, obviously ignoring the fact that people with more money (and the ability to afford more expensive houses) can also afford to have an EV and charging point. No way it would increase the value of the house more than the cost of installation (and unlikely to be that much even I would think)

Never underestimate the stupidity of the public

 

[chwe]

Never underestimate the stupidity of the public

Increasing the value of my house by £25k by spending a £1k on a chargepoint is tempting though.... I really want it to be true!

 

[PITA]

Increasing the value of my house by £25k by spending a £1k on a chargepoint is tempting though.... I really want it to be true!

I've got 3 charge points, so do I get £75k extra

 

[Misterbee]

If you want to save a few quid, you could just have an outdoor power outlet installed at your home, and charge with the mobile charging cable (assuming you have one, the used to come with the vehicle). Much cheaper than the wall charger, with virtually the same functioinality.

 

[Rooster6655]

The granny chargers gives you about 10 miles per hour, so seems like a reasonable option if you don’t want to spend extra money. Public charging regardless of price is not worth the bother, that is if you can charge at home. I would rather granny charge for 20 hrs a week compared to day 2 hrs on public chargers

 

[Jason71]

I've got 3 charge points, so do I get £75k extra

No. Charge points are like cats. Its fine to have one but 3 makes you the crazy cat lady

 

[PITA]

No. Charge points are like cats. Its fine to have one but 3 makes you the crazy cat lady

Haha, we shall see...