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Thinking about getting one of these

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Personally, I use an external, weatherised 13A socket with a portable EVSE (PEVSE) - or Granny charger - for charging my MS (and another one for my i-MiEV, for that matter) a home made one, as it happens. I am firmly of the opinion that the dedicated domestic EVSEs (as funded) by HMG are largely unnecessary and the money could be far better used for a proper rapid charger infrastructure for use by those EVers not fortunate enough to be able to afford a Tesla (but us Tesla owners too, of course).

If you do lots of miles, then sure, a 30A EVSE is worth it (or one with even more power, if needs be). Just bear in mind that you can still do 6MRHC (6 miles of range per hour of charging) on a 13A socket with one of these, enough of an overnight charge for double the average UK daily mileage. PEVSEs only pull 10A so as to not overload the plug/socket. Just be sure to check the plug and socket for heating once in a blue moon and ideally, leave the PEVSE always connected. This will prevent wear on the mating contact surfaces which leads to a poor connection, which leads to increased resistance between the contact surfaces, which leads to more heating, more resistance, more heat... Not good. The relevant British Standard for plugs (BS1363) says about 50 degrees C is the maximum working temperature for plugs - but they should still be 'operational' at 70C. The thermal due above blows at 72C.

Aside from building your own PEVSE (for about £250 or less), they come up on eBay quite regularly and both Type 2 and Type 1 PEVSEs (so all of them, basically) are electronically compatible with the MS. However, the Type 1 plug (and therefore cable as the plug is normally crimped onto the cable with a hydraulic crimping tool) will have to be replaced with a Type 2 plug (3m replacement cable&plug set is £99 at EVBitz) and is a relatively simple job for the competent DIYer (but should, of course, be checked by a 'qualified person' before use). Longer ones can also be bought as can a special, short 3P, 32A T2>T2 cable as well as other T2 cables, EPCs, plug 'holsters' and other charging bits and bobs.

If your PEVSE does not have 13A plug thermal management already built-in, I would also advocate the use of a thermal fuse wired in series with the live wire inside the plug to protect the installation in the event of the plug overheating due to the above. This is very simple, effective and cheap (£1) insurance against plug over-heating issues. MW (Director of EVBitz.uk)

Sorry I cannot recommend any of that. A 13A UK plug is not well suited to permanent EV charging, and I can't think of any sane reason to spend £300 on a DIY solution designed around a 3 pin socket in preference to paying £300 to have a professional installer fit a properly designed and tested 32A charge point.

Also 10A charging is inefficient, so as well as being slower it is more expensive because a greater proportion of the energy is wasted in the charging process. With the Model S the inefficiency is not so bad (though it is there), but with other cars it's very significant indeed (originally it was so bad on the Renault Zoe that it could not charge at all below 16A).

And given that there's only a 7 hour offpeak charging window in Economy 7 then 10A charging really doesn't get you that much charge - about 40 miles of typical range per day.

And in Winter in particular the remote cabin pre-heating can easily draw 7kW, so where a proper charge point will allow the car to heat itself up from the mains, a 10A slow EVSE will not be able to keep up so you end up discharging the battery to warm the car.

The OP implies they're going to do about 500 miles a week, in which case 10A charging cannot keep up with their charging needs if they want to charge only during offpeak hours.
 
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They had petty much all the colors and, surprisingly, the standard white stood out to me with black/red/blue also looking good.
I am trying not to add options to keep the costs reasonable but I think the sunroof is a must having seen a car with it and one without.
The only thing I didn't get to see was the standard seats as all the cars were leather.


I have seen the fabric seats and they are nice enough. Saying that you might be surprised on the lease costs with leather, I'd think for the UK it's sort of expected at this price range and could impact residuals, getting a comparative quote on certain options sometimes throws up surprises.

The only other downside to fabric is it's only available in black. I personally found a black car with black interior was just a bit too monochromatic, it's highly subjective though. In the end I went for black exterior and the tan leather and it gives a nice contrast and definitely brightens the interior. Personally I'm not at all bothered about sunroofs in general, so I didn't think twice about not ordering it, so again for me lighter interior combined with no pano roof worked out well.

If I was ordering tomorrow, I'd go for a 70D in black with tan leather and solid roof. (Or a White P85D with black leather, grey 21s, with every option, but I'd just wait for a CPO one in that spec ;) )
 
Thanks for the input and i understand charging now. It looks like a tethered 'type 2' will be my best bet. I have a fuse box in my garage and the car can be reversed right upto the garage door so i should be able to get a feed straight to the outside of the garage and be within 2 meters of the car.
 
Haf sounds a straightforward install, and yes tethered type-2 is the best bet.

Personally I'd go for someone like Home - The Phoenix Works Home | nuCharge Electric Car Charging Stations | EV Charging Solutions

All three have good reviews from us here. (I've used NuCharge at home and EVCharging at work, and both were great to deal with.) For what an EVSE actually is Martin is right they are expensive, but that's likely skewed by government getting involved with grants :( (The biggest installer being owned by an ex Tory Treasurer ;) )

The days when you didn't even need proof of ownership, and the real cowboys milking the scheme are thankfully behind us, but it does mean you are best of talking to one early if you do place an order. It is much more bureaucratic now than it was and they need lots of evidence to process the grant application.
 
Agreed that a a Govt subsidised EVSE is the way to go. Mine was installed the day I paid my tax bill so it felt like a bit of a rebate! At least I had actual evidence they were not spending my taxes on blowing someone up! The most convenient, reliable charger you will ever use is your own one so get the best.

I have gone for an untethered Rolec for the following reasons:-

1. You can get one of these cables which has the chargeport opening/port unlocking button incorporated in the handle. Elon would approve!:-

EVChargeKing. Unique Tesla charging cables

2. God forbid I ever buy another non-Tesla EV in the future I can get an alternative cable to fit it and not have to replace the EVSE.

3. I can replace the cable if the connector gets damaged or corrodes as has been reported in the past.
 
The ChargeKing retro fit kit seems like it is battery operated...
The Cables with the button appear to have the plugs resin filled...

So how do you change the battery?

I like the idea of the button to open the charge flap, I don't like the idea of the button ending a charge session and disconnecting without the key!
 
The ChargeKing retro fit kit seems like it is battery operated...
The Cables with the button appear to have the plugs resin filled...

So how do you change the battery?

I like the idea of the button to open the charge flap, I don't like the idea of the button ending a charge session and disconnecting without the key!


TBH for €50 euros I wouldn't bother since you can now do it with the key fob. (I looked into this before that firmware patch and would have gladly paid it, but now... not so much)
 
Mboyes will be along soon to answer you, but my answers in brief:

70kWh battery, of which maybe 63 usable at a guess. Your electric is probably around 14pence per kWh. You will never be completely empty, so calculate any %. For my 85 I reckon a full charge is around £10 (prob less).

The 45p/mile allowance for first 10k business miles can be used, but only for private car use (ie cash in lieu, which is my route when using car on business).

10 quid for a full charge? Does electricity really cost that much here? I mean that really seems rather expensive, compared to 65 pounds for a full tank of diesel which gives you a range of ~1200km-1300km at crusing speed. an S70 does about a quarter of that.

edit: I pay 14 pence per kwh. So with 10% extra for inefficiency it really does work out to a bit less than 10 quid. :O
 
Get yourself onto Ecotricity's economy 7 +ev rate. 6p per kWh overnight plus an extra discount for having an EV of about 5%. As an added bonus, Ecotricity supply 100% renewable, so no CO2 footprint! :)
 
The ChargeKing retro fit kit seems like it is battery operated...
The Cables with the button appear to have the plugs resin filled...

So how do you change the battery?

I like the idea of the button to open the charge flap, I don't like the idea of the button ending a charge session and disconnecting without the key!

I talked to the guy who builds these cables and yes there's a battery inside the plug, yes it is pretty much non-replaceable, but he expects 10 year lifetime from normal use. Caveat emptor, of course.

There is a (small) advantage to the built-in battery design though which is that the button works even when the cable is not plugged in at either end.

And I am not 100% sure, but I think that in fact what would happen if someone pressed the button on the cable while the car is locked and with no fob in range is that charging would stop for as long as the button is pressed down, but would restart as soon as it's released. The cable would never unlock though.
 
I am hopefully going to get a 70D in the new year. The 6p overnight rate sounds great, is it more expensive during the day than normal tariffs? I pay about 14p currently but I also have solar panels for the day. I do about 15,0000 miles a year so if I can get a 6p rate thats 900 miles a year or £75 a month. I am sure 25% would also be on superchargers etc. bringing the cost down further.
 
Yeah, it's just over 16p during the day. My car is scheduled to charge during the cheap period - have had to top it up during the day a few times, but still quids in. Went from approx £80/week in fossil fuel to about £10/week, so cant grumble :)
 
I am hopefully going to get a 70D in the new year. The 6p overnight rate sounds great, is it more expensive during the day than normal tariffs? I pay about 14p currently but I also have solar panels for the day. I do about 15,0000 miles a year so if I can get a 6p rate thats 900 miles a year or £75 a month. I am sure 25% would also be on superchargers etc. bringing the cost down further.
Living in Yorkshire does your PV system actually generate anything :wink:
I've got a 4 kW system and I'm just about to fit an immerson auto diverter that constantly monitors generation and usage . Any surplus is then channeled into my thermal heat store tank . Fitted one at my fathers about two months ago and he now has two tanks of hot water almost continually all day FOC he's got two conventional hot water tanks but I'm looking at putting in one large heat store tank so he can run his heating as well as hot water off the PV if the suns shining
my brothers getting a PV system fitted on Monday before the FIT drops again and we're both looking at the Ecconomy 7 tariffs over the next few weeks to see if it's worth swopping as I've just signed for a new contract on our G+E supply
 
It does really well between March - November. I am one of the lucky ones who gets the maximum FIT from 2011. We had them fitted on our house and mother in laws and it brings in nearly £4000 a year in FIT between the 2 plus good savings on electricity.