Home charger, Zappi worth it if no solar?

[Filbert1884]

Hi all,

As part of a full house renovation, I'm going to be adding a charger at home. I'm thinking Zappi, but am open to other recommendations. If I don't have solar (at the moment) is installing a Zappi overkill? What other chargers should I be looking at?

Thanks in advance.

 

[phil4]

Zappi was/is the gold standard if you're going to ever have solar.

Otherwise you may as well pick the smart charger you like the most (you could pick a dumb charger, indeed I've used one find for a couple of years, but you can't buy them new now).

But beware of the Solar bit, 2 years into the Tesla and now have Solar and so a Zappi on order, having never had any such intention 2 years ago.

 

[RCMY]

I have solar and a Zappi but recently switched to using Zappi on ‘Fast’ mode I.e. without solar due to the strange pricing structure from 1 Oct. My night charging rate is quite a lot less than my solar export rate.
I really like the Zappi but have no comparison. The menus are easy to follow and the app works really well too. If you are heading to Solar then it is a no-brainer and before the change in pricing it was a pleasure to see ‘free’ solar trickling into the car.
As I said, currently using as a normal charge point but can switch back to using solar at the touch of an app.

 

[yessuz]

I currently have no solar installed just contemplating it. but I do have pod-point charger.

I wonder if these are somewhat compatible? I think zappi is good because it can utilise solar for charging if you have any excess power?

 

[Cardo]

The Zappi has some good features even without PV, such as built-in timers (which are better than Tesla’s start OR end charge times). You can set specific charge times, set it to charge a specific amount of kWh, or charge a specific kWh by a specific time. The PV integration then works in addition to this. If you’re considering PV at some point, it’s a very good idea. Not cheap, but as usual, buy cheap, buy twice.

If you weren’t considering PV, then I’d still suggest a charger that has built-in timers, as many EVs have stupid built-in timers. Also, I’d suggest a charger with smart functionality built-in that doesn’t require cloud services. A lot of Andersen owners have just been burned by this. The Zappi works just fine without an internet connection, however it does have an app that provides remote functionality and monitoring.

 

[Dilly]

I have 2 Zappi V1’s. Had them since 2017. But I have solar so was a no brainier. they can be easily set for start/stop charging.
My one piece of advice is whatever charger get, get one with a tethered lead. Far less faffing about.

 

[yessuz]

podpoint has timers/scheduler as well, which I never use. I prefer Tesla to command when to charge

idea is, that when I have solar, I might be able to utilise 2-3 spare kws. but then again, how feasible that is, if let's say I need 60 kwh to top up after long trip....

 

[yessuz]

I have 2 Zappi V1’s. Had them since 2017. But I have solar so was a no brainier. they can be easily set for start/stop charging.
My one piece of advice is whatever charger get, get one with a tethered lead. Far less faffing about.

this is for sure. when I was chosing my podpoint 2+ years ago, the main consideration was to get tethered, because I did not want to wind/unwind cable.

initially I even used to wrap it around charger. Now it just lays on the ground

 

[Cardo]

I have 2 Zappi V1’s. Had them since 2017. But I have solar so was a no brainier. they can be easily set for start/stop charging.
My one piece of advice is whatever charger get, get one with a tethered lead. Far less faffing about.

+10000000 to a tethered model. They may not be as “elegant” as an untethered unit, but the extra convenience can only be appreciated once you’ve owned one for a while.

 

[Filbert1884]

Thanks all. I don't have any firm plans to add solar, but of course may do at some point. Tethered / smart will be the way I go, I guess I wanted to make sure that the answer wasn't "if you don't have solar, don't bother with Zappi, go for xxx instead".

 

[Zakalwe]

podpoint has timers/scheduler as well, which I never use. I prefer Tesla to command when to charge

idea is, that when I have solar, I might be able to utilise 2-3 spare kws. but then again, how feasible that is, if let's say I need 60 kwh to top up after long trip....

Thats not really the point with solar. Unless you have a huge amount, then relying on PV to charge from flat will be a non-starter. Where it is useful is to dump excess into the car instead of exporting it. If you have a BEV then it is likely that you are on some Time Of Use contract for your electricity. If that's the case, then you will normally be getting very little for exporting kWhs to the grid (I'm on Octopus SEG which pays £0.041 per kWh). Much better to dump that into the car.

On sunny days my house batteries can be filled by mid-morning. Excess then goes into heating the hot water. From then, any further excess goes into the cars. Every kWh that goes into the car replaces a kWh that I have to buy in my off-peak period, saving me about 3pence. Not huge amounts by any means, but it means that I minimise my exports.