Home Charger Advice Please

[seadog]

Order placed so now looking at a home charger installation. I believe there is £500 grant available and further £300 in Scotland, so £800 in total although I'm OK to add on top if there is any product that is really worth it. Apparently Tesla's own charger is not approved for this but is it better just to pay for it instead? We have a built in garage although the car is unlikely to be in there as it is full of junk but I would like to sort this out some day . It has a roller door with a flexible weather strip at the bottom. Would it be best to install the charger inside the garage and run the cable under the weatherstrip or is outside the best solution for a charger. If inside I'm not too worried what it looks like, if outside I would like it to look neat. Installation costs should be pretty minimal as electric panel is inside the garage right beside the door so should be straightforward.

Any advice on best chargers to look at and any ones to avoid would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Roy W.]

I’ve got the Tesla charger, and it’s fine. I wasn’t bothered about a “smart” charger (it seems the “smarts” are often problematic) so I just bought the charger direct from Tesla (£460) and got my local sparky to install it. From what you describe, your installation should be quite straightforward, so you’d probably looking at another £400 for the installation, including the extra breaker the Tesla charger needs.

As you say, the big disadvantage here is no grant!

In terms of general charger advice, I’d say go tethered, and have it installed inside the garage door. If it can be done easily as you describe, I’m always happier having electrical equipment indoors where possible. Who knows, it might even prompt you to get rid of all that junk and use the garage!

 

[freekie]

Very happy with my Tesla charger. Mine is on an outside side wall. Wherever you put it would say most important is it’s placed for convenience. Someone on here did something really neat recently that might be a good solution for you. They had a custom made box with Tesla logo on it with cable threaded from inside to outside. Hopefully they will see your post and respond.

 

[seadog]

Yes, I always prefer electrics inside if possible too and it might be the push I need to finally sort out the family junk. Also to add if the Tesla works out a success we may get another EV in the future maybe a Mini or similar, so it would be a big advantage if the charger could do other cars as well.

 

[Adopado]

Despite the grants you will be forking out a few hundred pounds. There are several reasons for this. Firstly the charge points that are eligible for the grant(s) are the more expensive smart charge points. Secondly the installers that are eligible to install have to be from an authorised list. Thirdly those installers inevitably appear to "maximise their profits" by quoting high installation costs knowing that you have grants to offset. Having said all that I would think you are going to pay more for a non-grant charge point unless it's a basic commando socket installed by a local electrician on mate's rates. (No matter how cheap the electrician there are some essential hardware requirements that make the install more than pocket money!)

Having a home charge point is about convenience. You want a zero delay plug in when you get home. If you need to check your charger, and it's behind a closed garage door that will become a pain. There is no drawback to having the charge point outside other than appearance.

 

[freekie]

Yes, I always prefer electrics inside if possible too and it might be the push I need to finally sort out the family junk. Also to add if the Tesla works out a success we may get another EV in the future maybe a Mini or similar, so it would be a big advantage if the charger could do other cars as well.

My installer for the Tesla charger said it could charge other cars except Japanese ones. I have not tested it on other cars yet.

 

[Adopado]

My installer for the Tesla charger said it could charge other cars except Japanese ones. I have not tested it on other cars yet.

You'll be getting a Type2 charge point ... that will charge any car with a Type2 connector (i.e. all except those that use chademo)

 

[Roy W.]

Yes, I always prefer electrics inside if possible too and it might be the push I need to finally sort out the family junk. Also to add if the Tesla works out a success we may get another EV in the future maybe a Mini or similar, so it would be a big advantage if the charger could do other cars as well.

The Model 3 uses a standard Type 2 connector, so any Type 2 charger cable will charge any car with a Type 2 socket. I’ve used our Tesla charger to charge a Hyundai Kona without any problems.

 

[GPDP]

I got a Pod Point 7Kw charger with type 2 tethered lead installed on the outside of my garage wall. Looks ok in my opinion, is guaranteed for 3 years (even when installed externally), and is covered by the OLEV grant.

​

 

[seadog]

I've just found out from Gov website that a friend I know is on the official installer list, but it just says Rolec products. I would be happy for him to do it as I know he will do a good job and be fair on price. Anyone know if the Rolec chargers are good before I approach him?

 

[94jdh]

I got a Pod Point 7Kw charger with type 2 tethered lead installed on the outside of my garage wall. Looks ok in my opinion, is guaranteed for 3 years (even when installed externally), and is covered by the OLEV grant.

View attachment 510396​

If you don't mind sharing - how much did you end up paying total including VAT, thanks

 

[Maz0]

I will just be getting a Tesla charger myself. The whole OLEV grant thing seems like a scammy racket. Father in law is NICEIC electrician and has run a 60 amp cable to the outside wall for me. To access their grant I would need to buy a smart charger I don't want and use an electrician I don't want. Bit of a farce....

 

[Medved_77]

Order placed so now looking at a home charger installation. I believe there is £500 grant available and further £300 in Scotland, so £800 in total although I'm OK to add on top if there is any product that is really worth it. Apparently Tesla's own charger is not approved for this but is it better just to pay for it instead? We have a built in garage although the car is unlikely to be in there as it is full of junk but I would like to sort this out some day . It has a roller door with a flexible weather strip at the bottom. Would it be best to install the charger inside the garage and run the cable under the weatherstrip or is outside the best solution for a charger. If inside I'm not too worried what it looks like, if outside I would like it to look neat. Installation costs should be pretty minimal as electric panel is inside the garage right beside the door so should be straightforward.

Any advice on best chargers to look at and any ones to avoid would be appreciated. Thanks.

I'm in Scotland and got the PodPoint tethered charger installed last week. Very neat installation as you can see from the image attached.

After both grants it cost £59 in total. You pay £359 to PodPoint then EST give you the £300 back. The OLEV grant comes off the initial purchase price.

Unless you're planning to keep your car in the garage I'd suggest installing it outside. Do you really want to have to open/close the garage door each time?

 

[Adopado]

I'm in Scotland and got the PodPoint tethered charger installed last week. Very neat installation as you can see from the image attached.

After both grants it cost £59 in total. You pay £359 to PodPoint then EST give you the £300 back. The OLEV grant comes off the initial purchase price.

Unless you're planning to keep your car in the garage I'd suggest installing it outside. Do you really want to have to open/close the garage door each time?

Well done! That's the best final price-to-pay I've seen!!

 

[seadog]

Its a bit of a quandary, inside would be best if I can eventually clear our garage but realistically I'm not sure that will happen any time soon, I don't want to end up pulling the cable from outside the house into the garage Only worry with outside is electrics often end up getting water ingress in our part of the world with the amount of rain and the salt air.

 

[GPDP]

If you don't mind sharing - how much did you end up paying total including VAT, thanks

The total incl VAT was £910... so I paid £410 and the contractor who installed it claims the £500 grant back.
Could have got it a few pounds cheaper if I had opted for a non tethered cable.... and another £300 cheaper if I moved to Scotland lol

 

[*Adam]

I’m using the Tesla UMC with a 32a commando socket. I didn’t see the need to introduce another “smart” device within the charging ecosystem. I use Teslafi to schedule charging and it does so very well.

The socket is inside the garage with a Type 2 holster fitted to the exterior. All in all cost me £400. This included a new CU for garage, 25m of 6mm SWA and TT.

 

[seadog]

Would a smart charger not be handy if we did get another EV? Do all EV's have programmable timed charging the same as the Tesla? If it did ever happen, plan would be to charge cars on alternate nights on low rate period with Octopus or similar. We will never have 2 Tesla's unless they introduce a smaller cheaper range in the future.

 

[Medved_77]

Its a bit of a quandary, inside would be best if I can eventually clear our garage but realistically I'm not sure that will happen any time soon, I don't want to end up pulling the cable from outside the house into the garage Only worry with outside is electrics often end up getting water ingress in our part of the world with the amount of rain and the salt air.

I think you want to avoid the end of the charging cable being loose on the floor. On the podpoint there's a cap to protect the type 2 connector from getting wet but you'll need to remember to put that on each time and avoid someone driving over it!

The connector comes with a wall mount if you were to keep it inside the garage or outside on the wall which protects it from the elements. I asked the installer if it was worth putting a roof or some form of housing over the entire unit and he said he'd done many installations in the Scottish highlands, exposed to snow, rain etc. and never had to fix an issue relating to water ingress.

 

[Roy W.]

Would a smart charger not be handy if we did get another EV? Do all EV's have programmable timed charging the same as the Tesla? If it did ever happen, plan would be to charge cars on alternate nights on low rate period with Octopus or similar. We will never have 2 Tesla's unless they introduce a smaller cheaper range in the future.

AFAIK all EVs have charge scheduling built into the car. The two I’ve had prior to the Tesla - Nissan Leaf, Kona electric - certainly both had programmable start and stop times, and selectable days for the schedule.

The Tesla system is quite poor in comparison, only offering a “start charge” time OR a “scheduled departure time”, not both.