EVbox Elvi Charger

[Palros]

Has anybody got an EVbox Elvi?

I am looking at this or a Rolec.I really like the Elvi box, but the installed cost is quite high, the ideal its moduler is pretty appealing given the rate of change. I just wanted to see if anybody has an real world feedback.

My biggest concern is that the App is very much focused on business users, which has little to no use to me.

Thanks in advance

 

[Fullerene]

EVBox Elvi charger | EVBox

no price on the site - request a quote - how much did you get quoted installed?

My concern is that something that could be upgraded in the future could be like buying a future proofed betamax video player. We're early days of EVs for the mass market, a lot of companies trying to get a foot in the door and not all will survive the distance.

If you're paying a premium for features you don't want a lower cost alternative may be preferable.

 

[ProfessorK]

I had a Rolec at my previous property. It was a dumb charger (i.e. no smart capability), but I had no issues whatsoever. I recommend, especially seeing as it only cost £149 incl. install.

 

[Palros]

So to install at my house, it works around to nearly £900. This includes a ground spike, SPD and a 8m charging cable. Its a short internal Run.
The charger itself is around £800 without the grant. It does come with a WIFI and a Mobile connection for redundancy.

 

[WannabeOwner]

The charger itself is around £800 without the grant.

More boring chargers are about £400-500. The Tesla one (not OLEV approved) is £460 I think ...

 

[WannabeOwner]

given the rate of change

Not sure what change is likely?

Smart Meter type stuff perhaps?

 

[Fullerene]

4 miles per kWh
5p per kWh off peak
Every £100 spent on a charger is approximately 8000 miles worth of fuel. Not sure how much you intend to charge from home but the economics may sway your decision.

 

[Evilted]

Given the actual charger is on the car all the wall port really needs to do is front up the right socket and be wired in to your supply.
The Tesla app gives you the smarts you need to control when and how much charge your car takes. Smart features and modularity on what is essentially a plug socket seems to be unnecessary to me (although if you have alternative energy like solar there may be some advantage in being able to choose which source to draw power from).

I'm certainly just looking at which is most attractive vs cost.

 

[WannabeOwner]

Smart features and modularity on what is essentially a plug socket seems to be unnecessary to me

My expectation is that the energy companies will make it worth your while to charge your car when Time-of-Use rates are low (TOU rates fall to zero in several parts of the world when supply-generation exceeds demand, I'd be happy to charge my car at £0 ).

That's going to need a smart charger to stop/start the car charging when the Supplier judges it best. Also prevents all EVs in the country starting to charge at the very start of Off Peak time ...

Assumption would be that you could state minimum charge to be achieved by Time-X and maximum by Time-Y. For me that would be that if I come home at < 20% I would charge immediately, as kinder to battery, and to give me a few miles if I had to go back out unexpectedly, but I'd be happy that stopped (by itself) at, say, 30% and then charged to 90% any time overnight to be finished by 6AM

 

[Evilted]

My expectation is that the energy companies will make it worth your while to charge your car when Time-of-Use rates are low (TOU rates fall to zero in several parts of the world when supply-generation exceeds demand, I'd be happy to charge my car at £0 ).

That's going to need a smart charger to stop/start the car charging when the Supplier judges it best. Also prevents all EVs in the country starting to charge at the very start of Off Peak time ...

Assumption would be that you could state minimum charge to be achieved by Time-X and maximum by Time-Y. For me that would be that if I come home at < 20% I would charge immediately, as kinder to battery, and to give me a few miles if I had to go back out unexpectedly, but I'd be happy that stopped (by itself) at, say, 30% and then charged to 90% any time overnight to be finished by 6AM

That does sound super, but is there a charger that can do that today? If not then you can't actually buy something that smart so "smart" now is not the smart you describe so either way you're going to have to pay for actual smart when it becomes available. You may get lucky and chose something with an upgrade route but will that be free?

In the meantime I'll save my pennies and buy a cheap dumb socket and go smart when I know how smart, how much and what benefit it truly brings.

 

[WannabeOwner]

In the meantime I'll save my pennies and buy a cheap dumb socket and go smart when I know how smart, how much and what benefit it truly brings.

No argument with that

Supposedly the current OLEV chargers have to be capable of Smart and be future-ready. But given how the 3rd party charging companies interpret "adhoc payment at EV charging stalls" to be "Download APP, take out a monthly subscription, and then use that to PAY" !! (OK I jest ... but not by much) then no telling what OLEV SMART will actually turn out to be capable of.

 

[Evilted]

No argument with that

Phew.
I wasn't meaning to argue (although looking back it does read like that) I really was asking "can you buy something that can do that?" and then the rest of my post is based on the unwritten assumption that you can't.

 

[WannabeOwner]

I wasn't meaning to argue

Me neither, sorry if it came across like that

Way too much brave-new-world stuff involved, rushed-to-market and a bunch of companies putting profit-first, second and third ... so huge opportunity that the promise (and government expectation) is not achieved, in practice.

 

[Fullerene]

My expectation is that the energy companies will make it worth your while to charge your car when Time-of-Use rates are low (TOU rates fall to zero in several parts of the world when supply-generation exceeds demand, I'd be happy to charge my car at £0 ).

That's going to need a smart charger to stop/start the car charging when the Supplier judges it best. Also prevents all EVs in the country starting to charge at the very start of Off Peak time ...

DSR Demand Side Response exists already, I think this may end up being thrust upon us for EVs to prevent a meltdown in the UK.

That does sound super, but is there a charger that can do that today?

There’s a cable that does that already

Homepage - Ohme

This all relies on innovation from energy suppliers, to provide tariffs that are dynamic.

Fortunately we are starting to get this as well:

Introducing Agile Octopus: The 100% green smart tariff with Plunge Pricing

It is possible to get paid for charging your car on this tariff!

Welcome to the future

 

[Palros]

So, not seen anybody say the have one of these yet.
Given the cost is nearly twice that of the Not to ugly Rolec, I am probably going pass for now and go with the simple option.

I know I can get a non-smart option, but i given the costs probably work out close to the same, why would i not take advantage of Government money. I can consider it a tax reclaim

 

[Daverh]

tariffs that are dynamic.

"Turn that bloody kettle off, we're on surge pricing until Eastenders finishes"

 

[WannabeOwner]

Fortunately we are starting to get this as well:

Introducing Agile Octopus: The 100% green smart tariff with Plunge Pricing

Doesn't seem that rosy to me (yet)

"Over the last 12 months, unit prices dropped below 2p / kWh 31 times." ... that isn't all that often, but maybe there were lots of below 5P times?, which would be better than e.g. Octopus Go.

"Price Cap Protect, which ensures you’ll never pay more than 35p" ... 35p is a lot (more than double what most people would pay for Peak Tariff), especially if that turns out to be "most nights when cooking evening meal and watching telly"

I wonder how many people are actually using Agile Tariff and making a significant saving. Anyone with a battery can benefit, but that's a huge upfront investment (£7,500-ish for PowerWall)