prevent access to wall charger

[kuruma]

So, what's to stop anyone rocking up on our drive and plugging themselves in for a charge when we're, say, on holiday?

Any solutions out there to help prevent access to a Tesla wall charger other than vigilant neighbours?

 

[robbieduncan]

This is one of the reasons I went with an Easee charger when we had ours fitted a couple of years back. It has an RFID reader and you can add/remove cheap RFID tags. It won't authorise to charge without one of the two registered RFID tags being tapped (or manually authorised via the app).

Unfortunately I've not heard of similar being available for the Tesla wall unit. If you are away for a while could you flip the breaker for the unit off. It should be on it's own breaker

 

[Liquidv]

Isn't there a fused breaker you can use to turn it off?

 

[Mrklaw]

short time - who is realistically going to have the cheek to park on your drive while you're only away at work? Too low a likelihood to worry about it. I certainly wouldn't bother with specific security measures (except perhaps a camera if you want to monitor) that would get in the way and increase friction of my own charger. So no PIN on my zappi etc.

Long time - either lock it with a PIN if the charger supports it, or turn it off at the breaker - ours is a separate CU for the charger but I assume you can just trip the MCB regardless? Maybe would need some setup if it forgets settings when you get back though?

 

[ACarneiro]

I live in a fairly safe area so that doesn’t bother me.
For the going-on-holiday scenario you describe, if I were worried about it I’d just disconnect the circuit breaker.
At the moment I’d give the benefit of the doubt and assume that a fellow EV driver plugging in uninvited would be desperate for a few electrons and I think I’d just take it on the chin

 

[seadog]

If its Gen 3 then you can choose who has access.

 

[kuruma]

it's not Gen 3... We've had it for nearly three years.

I can't see a separate breaker for it having just had a look. We have a powerwall so I wonder if it's integrated into the Gateway. I'll check that later. Thanks for the tip

 

[Mrklaw]

it's not Gen 3... We've had it for nearly three years.

I can't see a separate breaker for it having just had a look. We have a powerwall so I wonder if it's integrated into the Gateway. I'll check that later. Thanks for the tip

you surely have a separate circuit for it - you're not spurring it off the mains for a 32A charger?

 

[DeejUK]

Have you considered a 'parking pole'? I'm not sure if that'd work based on the location of the charger, but it might be a cheap solution if the RCD thing doesn't work out.

 

[M3P75]

The Gen2 didn't have any smart features, your only option is isolating it via the supply, there will be a breaker somewhere.

 

[Adopado]

So, what's to stop anyone rocking up on our drive and plugging themselves in for a charge when we're, say, on holiday?

Any solutions out there to help prevent access to a Tesla wall charger other than vigilant neighbours?

Well, there have been 100s of thousands of posts on this forum over the past few years. I may be wrong but I don't think we've had one from anyone who has a problem with cars parking on their drive and charging for a few hours! As others have said, every charge point has a breaker of some sort .. even installations that don't follow the latest regulations will be on a circuit with a breaker.

 

[ACarneiro]

Well, there have been 100s of thousands of posts on this forum over the past few years. I may be wrong but I don't think we've had one from anyone who has a problem with cars parking on their drive and charging for a few hours! As others have said, every charge point has a breaker of some sort .. even installations that don't follow the latest regulations will be on a circuit with a breaker.

Yes, it does seem like electricity theft (for EV charging) hasn't really been a problem. Probably because it's conspicuous, slow, usually requires trespassing (which in most countries is a big no-no) and easy to challenge.

 

[workable]

You can get locks for some EV chargers to secure the point when you go away. Personally I don’t foresee EV electricity theft being a major issue for the next few years, given most households will likely have a 7kw charge point on the wall that’s essentially 10+ hours to charge to full, which is a long time for someone to leave their car on the driveway.

I have CCTV up which is a good enough deterrent anyway, if someone tried I could just scream at them through the camera or set off my house alarm to get them to go away from a beach somewhere worst case scenario.

 

[Mrklaw]

Well, there have been 100s of thousands of posts on this forum over the past few years. I may be wrong but I don't think we've had one from anyone who has a problem with cars parking on their drive and charging for a few hours! As others have said, every charge point has a breaker of some sort .. even installations that don't follow the latest regulations will be on a circuit with a breaker.

as EVs get more popular I'm looking forward to the inevitable Mumsnet parking thread of doom where some CF has rocked up and is using their charger

 

[ACarneiro]

Don't go on Mumsnet and many of your problems will magically disappear

 

[kuruma]

I came across something or other in the last month or so where someone said they'd had this happen to them. Think it was in the US and can't track down the article now unfortunately. Just made me think.

I did look in the garage this morning at our massive array of breakers (powerwall, two solar inverters and the usual gear) and didn't see anything... but this was because the breaker for the charger is inside the Gateway for the powerwall. Sorted.

 

[RedMod3]

So, what's to stop anyone rocking up on our drive and plugging themselves in for a charge when we're, say, on holiday?

Any solutions out there to help prevent access to a Tesla wall charger other than vigilant neighbours?

As well as CCTV, I have a 63Amp Wi-Fi controlled switch in series with each of my 7kW chargers. Costs about £15 to fit, including the box to house it.

 

[Durzel]

Flip the breaker, it surely has one.. I can't imagine how it could be installed otherwise, Powerwall or not.

Realistically though, I don't think it's ever likely to happen in practice. It's one of those things that sound like it could happen, but almost certainly won't.

 

[M3P75]

One of these stuck to it should do the job

 

[advocate8]

This is not really worth worrying about to the degree of even taking the time to post. This just doesn’t happen.
About number 5 on the list of reasons why, electric cars aint cheap yet and few owners of them are desperate enough for $10 worth of watts and volts to do that.
And on the million to one chance someone does it? My god, they stole $10. or Maybe $20. Once in the lifetime of your charger.
just wouldn’t sweat it.