Charging at home or not?

[Avalyn]

I don't have a home charger (parking space is about 50m from house, I own it but not the land between so it's too much of a pain in the arse to try and get one installed). I think I have a similar usage to you, short trips around town most days and the occasional 100+ trip at weekends,

I've had an M3 LR since February and have not found any problem with using superchargers/local charge points. I do appreciate this is not the cheapest way to charge the car and in the long run it would likely save me money if I could home charge.

However, any long trips we've had are easy with the supercharger network. There are charge points at my local Tesco, Asda, cinema, shopping centre and there's now one across from where I work (I walk to work but could take the car if it needed filled up) and there's one being installed in the car park next to the gym we visit most mornings. There's actually one being installed in my private car park (but not sure if this is going to be reserved for the CoWheels car club).

So, to answer your question, yes I think it's viable to own an electric car without home charging (note I didn't say easier or cheaper)

 

[yessuz]

Standing charge 41.66 p/day

why you include the standing charge? you are already paying it irrespective you charge your car or not.

Obviously it's worth wile charging at home.

let's say you will charge 40 kwh twice a week.
57 vs 30 p / kwh (actually, off-peak tariffs are cheaper). just do the multiplications...

you can always install charger and then move it together with your house move (as I did...) Any regular electrician will disconnect it and install it for 300-400 I suppose.

 

[Casss]

Really boils down to cost of convenience.

What is your time worth to you, is it going to bother you that a period of increased mileage might see you needing to go out and find somewhere local to charge for up to an hour? If yes, just get a proper charger installed.

I would also say this: technically speaking, whilst you could just get a 13a or 32a socket or commando socket installed pretty cheaply, you are meant to tell your leccy that it is for charging an EV, even if it won't be plugged in all the time so that they can inform your supplier / DNO.

By the time your electrician has dealt with any prep work (drilling, moving, fixing, running cable then making good etc.) that may need doing for just a simple external socket you may find the cost of the charger itself on top is just a no-brainer. External sockets can still be expensive to install properly, even if the socket itself costs £10. All depends on your house and the work involved, how old your electrics are etc. Add on to that you might have to faff about with your DNO a bit to ensure your mains fuse and consumer unit are up to par for charging an EV safely.

Spoiler: Does everyone tell their DNO what they're using their commando socket for?

Probably not. I wouldn't want to run the risk though.

 

[Mr H]

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.

I’d say probably some that have fitted the thousands of chargers already will be versed in the regs

 

[LLWS]

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

I have three of the Gen 3 WC's wired up at my house, but zero cats. LOL. Either way the earlier comment about the cost of convenience is straight away the right answer. We started out with a NEMA 14-50 and found that to be moderately inconvenient with multiple EVs at the house. What I ended up doing was putting a WC in the garage to service any cars in the garage. Over time that proved still a bit inconvenient as we had to move cars around to get to the WC. So then I installed the Tesla pedestal and put two WCs on the pedestal mounted conveniently adjacent to the driveway. Now, no matter where the cars end up in the garage, driveway, etc. I can charge them with the upmost convenience. I think the right answer is just get the WC as without it you really don't get the EV convenience you've already invested in by purchasing the car.

 

[WannabeOwner]

We are looking to move house in three years

In 3 years time buyers will be much more likely to be wanting an EV charger ... could make the difference between your house selling, or the one down the road ... plus the 3 years usage / convenience you would have had as others have said.

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

200 miles a week, allowing some some of that being short-trips, I'll take a pessimistic 3-miles per kWh - about 70kWh, so much the same as @yessuz example above.

Off Peak rate would save around £500 a year - more if you have a significantly cheaper Off Peak rate, but that might have higher Peak price, or an even higher "Evening rate" which you'd have to factor in and maybe you would have Washing Machines / Immersion scheduled during the off peak rate - but realistically its difficult to move much consumption to Off Peak, except for the Car.

If you decide to use UMC and 13AMP there will be some losses from the low-power of 13AMP compared to a 7kW EV charger. I don't know how much they would be, but its definitely a tangible amount.

 

[Jason71]

In 3 years time buyers will be much more likely to be wanting an EV charger ... could make the difference between your house selling, or the one down the road ... plus the 3 years usage / convenience you would have had as others have said.

I would disagree since its just a question of cost. The houses would have be be pretty identical for that to be the decider
BUT
A rep from my DNO told me that the local cabling in most places will not support everyone having a 32amp charger so how far away are we from people being refused installation permission since there estate/road is maxed out supply wise?
Where I live a long way I think but that is the point at which having a charger could start to add real value beyond its original cost!

 

[WannabeOwner]

The houses would have be be pretty identical for that to be the decider

I agree, unlikely to be a decider between 2 identical houses, but I think it would add a "that's useful" brownie point, and for someone lazy like me that might be enough!

Maybe everyone else in the road will have a wall-charger in 3 years time! but good point about the DNO - they are going to be in for a hiding if country wants to move to EVs and grid can cope, but the stumbling block is DNO supply limit to each street causing wall-chargers to become first-come first-served.

I'm surprised that DNO have allowed me to extend my house from 16 panels, one charger and a PowerWall to 48 panels, 2 chargers and 2 PowerWalls. I'm not planning to export anything, but of course DNO has to assume that I might ... so maybe rest of my street being fossil-users was in my favour

 

[Nick77]

My advice would be to give it a go via public chargers for a couple of months. If you find it too much of a hassle or too expensive then have a commando unit fitted as the cheaper option until you move.

 

[Silicon Desert]

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

hmmm, what do you consider to be a granny charger ?

 

[Ogre]

I used the Mobile charger for well over a year. Sounds like you will be driving even less than we did. So long as you have a 12-15a outlet, the mobile charger should be fine.

If you don't have an outlet you can use, just get the Tesla Wall Connector. The Wall Connector is extremely competitive price-wise and has some nice features.

 

[PITA]

I have three of the Gen 3 WC's wired up at my house, but zero cats. LOL. Either way the earlier comment about the cost of convenience is straight away the right answer. We started out with a NEMA 14-50 and found that to be moderately inconvenient with multiple EVs at the house. What I ended up doing was putting a WC in the garage to service any cars in the garage. Over time that proved still a bit inconvenient as we had to move cars around to get to the WC. So then I installed the Tesla pedestal and put two WCs on the pedestal mounted conveniently adjacent to the driveway. Now, no matter where the cars end up in the garage, driveway, etc. I can charge them with the upmost convenience. I think the right answer is just get the WC as without it you really don't get the EV convenience you've already invested in by purchasing the car.

Same here. No matter where the cars are parked, there is a Wall Charger available.

The added benefit is we can charge from Solar, Battery Storage, Grid 7kW, Grid 22kW... or off-grid during a blackout.

Using 3 Phase also allows multiple charging at the same time without reducing charge capacity.

But then, I am a crazy old cat lady, apparently