Electric car charging

Notm

Hi all. Just recently bought an electric car and have been round the houses trying to get a high speed charge point installed. It seems that the companies doing this have very little idea about rules and regulations, with new requirements popping up all the time. Had to have a visit from my district network provider (to upgrade the voltage), a visit from an electrician (to change part of the meter tails), two visits from my utility provider (to change the other part of the meter tails and fit an isolation switch), and a couple of visits from the company itself that was installing this. Not to mention all the calls, follow ups and missed appointments throughout all of this. Was just wondering if other people have had the same experience and if this really has to be that hard...? Does the homeowner have to chase all the different parties or was there a way that one company could be able and licensed to do everything?

Jackmydad

I don't know, but anything to do with getting the supplier out to do anything with the meter / tails is always a bit involved.
What I was interested in was your comment about "upgrading the voltage"
Do you know what they did to achieve that?

System

Jackmydad wrote: »

I don't know, but anything to do with getting the supplier out to do anything with the meter / tails is always a bit involved.
What I was interested in was your comment about "upgrading the voltage"
Do you know what they did to achieve that?

I would expect another phase has been brought into the property. My uncle has 3 phase in his private house so has 450V available.

newbie1980

Jackmydad wrote: »

I don't know, but anything to do with getting the supplier out to do anything with the meter / tails is always a bit involved.
What I was interested in was your comment about "upgrading the voltage"
Do you know what they did to achieve that?

i would say he meant increase of Ampage to the property
some houses have 60amp main fuse so upgrading to 100amp needs tails upgrading etc

DrEskimo

Yea there are not many EVs that can take advantage of high than single phase AC...Zoe and I think the Audi E-tron...

Jackmydad

Tarambor wrote: »

I would expect another phase has been brought into the property. My uncle has 3 phase in his private house so has 450V available.

newbie1980 wrote: »

i would say he meant increase of Ampage to the property
some houses have 60amp main fuse so upgrading to 100amp needs tails upgrading etc

I'm a time served sparks, although way out of date now, so I know what the options are.
I was just genuinely interested in what's been done.
It's 415V across phases incidentally. Or nominally 400V, but nothing changed apart from the numbers on the standard. :cool:

knightstyle

Tarambor with 3 phase the UK now has 400v between phases, not 450v.
However, as already said it is probably the current carrying capacity that needed upgrading.
Wonder why the op bothered as a slow charger would have charged the car overnight which is fine for most people.

coffeehound

knightstyle wrote: »

. . . a slow charger would have charged the car overnight which is fine for most people.

Would make the batteries last longer, too.

Jackmydad

knightstyle wrote: »

Tarambor with 3 phase the UK now has 400v between phases, not 450v.
However, as already said it is probably the current carrying capacity that needed upgrading.
Wonder why the op bothered as a slow charger would have charged the car overnight which is fine for most people.

As I said in my earlier post it's nominally 400V between phases. However as nothing has really changed physically since the EU landed another "standard" on us, I suspect that in most places in the UK it's nearer 415V

Notm

Yes- thanks. That’s exactly what I meant.

in_my_wellies

knightstyle wrote: »

Tarambor with 3 phase the UK now has 400v between phases, not 450v.
However, as already said it is probably the current carrying capacity that needed upgrading.
Wonder why the op bothered as a slow charger would have charged the car overnight which is fine for most people.

OK if you always know what your plans are. My son lives 99 miles from me and arrived here at 8pm in an I-Pace with 70 miles left. He expected to be staying here for 72 hours doing only local driving. He put it on slow house charge

Then his boss changed plans and he needed to be 120 miles away by 7am next morning. Instead of an evening relaxing and chilling he had his dinner and then had to drive to a service station and sit there till it charged.

Lovely car but you need a routine lifestyle.