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UK Tesla Wall charger - OLEV approval yet?
- Thread starter thegruf
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- Ireland United Kingdom
Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme approved chargepoint model list - GOV.UK
I believe this is the latest list, revised in March. No Tesla and no idea if they are pursuing it. I would have thought if they were bothered it would have made the list by now.
I believe this is the latest list, revised in March. No Tesla and no idea if they are pursuing it. I would have thought if they were bothered it would have made the list by now.
They were originally not persuing it, as they didn't consider it worthwhile. At that time, the OLEV rules still required usage logging - and installing a separate smartmeter alongside the WC to meet the OLEV rules wiped out most of the value of taking the grant.
Subsequently, OLEV amended the rules to drop the logging requirement, making it sensible once again. When I last prodded Tesla (November 2016) they agreed that it was now worthwhile and were looking into it.
Probably they could do with another prod...
Subsequently, OLEV amended the rules to drop the logging requirement, making it sensible once again. When I last prodded Tesla (November 2016) they agreed that it was now worthwhile and were looking into it.
Probably they could do with another prod...
MagicMagicD
Member
Yes, but sadly to no effect.
I was told that their customer satisfaction scores for people getting OLEV-sponsored units were much lower than those for people getting the Tesla unit (at full price), and they therefore believe that the process of applying for the OLEV grant causes more hassle than the grant is worth.
Could be just an excuse to fob me off, but I think they genuinely believe it (even though I don't agree).
MagicMagicD
Member
That's a shame to hear. From what I can see, getting one of the other chargers, even on OLEV, wouldn't necessarily work out cheaper for a three phase install. I guess it's just an extension of Tesla not doing discounts!
As an aside, found the form to complete pretty simple to complete (15mins), yet some installers were charging £100-£200 just for this admin work to get the OLEV grant.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Me too, although I try and measure everything on kW terms, and on that basis I get 8kWh, which I suspect is a slight rounding up. Perhaps not so relevant at home where the draw is constant, on Superchargers looking at the mph gain is misleading as it’s averaged over the length of the charge. A much better measure is the kW draw, which does vary based on the charge level and temperature of the battery.
I know the question was specifically about home charging so apologies for the perhaps superfluous extra info.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
I was going to answer in a similar vein ... so herewith my thoughts in full
for scrutinylooking at a representative charging sample in TeslaFi:
Charge: 7 Hours 8 Minutes
Start - 29 %, End - 90 %
Used - 54.0 kWh
Added - 48.34 kWh
Efficiency 89.5 %
I make that: 7.57 kW drawn, 6.78 kW at the battery
My home charger efficiency varies quite a bit (why is that? 99% of my charging at home is when I'm tucked up in bed!) from 85% - 90%, whereas work is consistent at 90% (3-phase supply, but charger is on one phase). Both sites are within a few yards of the supply.
The couple of times I had to charge from very-low to pretty-full I made a note for how long the car took to charge. For my P90D that worked out at 1.2 hours per 10%, and thus within E7 cheap-rate I can charge about 60%. But ... I leave for work at 6AM (E7 starts at 1AM in Summer ...) so if battery is below 50% I need to consider overriding scheduled-charge to start earlier.
If not leaving at 6AM then the scheduled charge can start at normal E7 time, and then it will continue, in the morning, until completion.
Having done all that maths, just the once!, I came up with:
If leaving at 6AM and the battery is below 50% then start a charge at supper time - 8:30 PM would be fine in Summer, and 9:30 PM in Winter, earlier just means I pay the higher rate for a bit longer, but for the number of times I do this in a year its trivial.
If I need 100% at 6AM then do that if battery is below 60%
If the battery is below, say, 20% then check the maths to make sure its starting early enough!! ... but ... in practice if I came home below 20% I would put the car on charge immediately, just in case I had to go out again.
I installed a commando socket in my garage for under £10 which I use with the blue connector that came with my UMC.
I get 22mph constant.
Why would you go to the expense of fitting a tesla wall charger at £460 Plus say £300 fitting?
Genuine question.......I don’t know what benefit it provides?
I get 22mph constant.
Why would you go to the expense of fitting a tesla wall charger at £460 Plus say £300 fitting?
Genuine question.......I don’t know what benefit it provides?
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
I've got an OLEV one, Tesla product was not available then, but I too wanted a tethered charger - didn't want to be having to put the cable in the car, and get it back out again, at every charging. Mine's outside too, so when wet putting the cable in the car would not be great!
I had a Commando socket fitted alongside it, and I've used that on a few occasions. A loner refused to charge on my connector - no idea why - and on one occasion my charger was bust - or so I thought - after a couple of days using the Commando and thinking I needed to get around to sorting the charger out! I noticed there was no light on it and flipped the reset switch ...
I find it quite a wrestle to get the cable out of the Commando socket - maybe mine is cheap, but it flexes quite a bit. The plug/socket at the car end is straightforward of course, so if you don't take the UMC cable with you I suppose that's fine. I've always had mine in the car "just in case"
0) Exactly the same regulations and requirements apply to a socket installed for charging as to installing the wall charger. If it cost you only £10 to install your socket and £300 to install the wall charger, you aren't comparing like-for-like; the work is exactly the same in both cases (as is the legal requirement to notify the work to Building Control).
1) Your commando socket is only cheap because you got the UMC "for free" with the car. The wall charger is about the same price as a UMC (and more robust). If you don't think you need to carry a UMC with you for use away from home, you can sell it and put the value towards the cost of the WC.
2) If you do think you need to carry the UMC with you, having a WC at home means you don't have to get the UMC in/out of the boot every night, or if you don't do that and leave the UMC normally plugged in at home, then you avoid the risk of forgetting to bring the UMC with you when you need it.
3) If you have the UMC and the WC, and one of them breaks, you still have the other to fall back on. In particular, if the WC is your main charging solution and the UMC lightly used, you have the option of plugging in with the UMC to a 13A socket in emergency.
4) Commando sockets are the wrong answer for long-term EV infrastructure: they are not suitable for non-expert use. With a chargepoint such as the Tesla WC (which isn't particularly Tesla specific and can also charge other cars), it's obvious to anybody that it is an EV charging facility and they can be confident that they can plug in and it will "just work". With a random commando socket, someone walking up to it doesn't know whether it was installed for EV charging, or was just intended for the xmas lights/bouncy castle/whatever; plugging in risks blowing a fuse (or potentially worse).
cantanko
Member
I can't find the supporting link for this, hence apply salt as required, but I was under the impression that tethered EVSEs were discouraged under the OLEV programme as they only support their particular type of connector (type 2 in the Tesla wall connector case), whereas untethered (socketed) stations support either type-1 or type-2 by the use of the appropriate cable. My Leaf, for example, came supplied with a type-1 to type-2 cable for just this purpose...
OLEV scheme general rules here:
Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme guidance for customers: version 2.1 - GOV.UK
and technical specification for eligible equipment here:
Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme minimum technical specification - GOV.UK
The latter states:
Charging equipment shall utilise socket outlets (BS EN 61851:1 Case A2 or B2 connection) or tethered cables (BS EN 61851:1 Case C connection).
Tethered cables are a trade-off from that point of view: the socketed unit gives more flexibility but costs more. The official policy is to push everybody towards type2 so it will no longer matter (the new model Leaf is supposed to have the type2 connector, for example).
Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme guidance for customers: version 2.1 - GOV.UK
and technical specification for eligible equipment here:
Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme minimum technical specification - GOV.UK
The latter states:
Charging equipment shall utilise socket outlets (BS EN 61851:1 Case A2 or B2 connection) or tethered cables (BS EN 61851:1 Case C connection).
Tethered cables are a trade-off from that point of view: the socketed unit gives more flexibility but costs more. The official policy is to push everybody towards type2 so it will no longer matter (the new model Leaf is supposed to have the type2 connector, for example).
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