electric car charger registration with network operator - your experiences?

downsizing

Hi all,

we are in the process of registering our electric car chargers with the network operator. We had some email communication with the Energy Networks association UK (I cannot yet post links, sorry) which pointed us towards their webpage "Connecting to the networks" and has a lot of links and forms to download. We have two car chargers and in the future want to install an Air Source Heat Pump - and we will need to upgrade our fuse to the grid from currently 60 Amps to at least 80 Amps.

Does anyone of you have experience with registering electric car chargers with their network operator? Did you register them yourself or did you have an installer who took care of it? Did you register them before installing (as recommended) or after - if after, was it a long drawn process?

I would love to hear from your experiences to get everything right hopefully in the first attempt.

Thanks a lot already for all replies!

Risteard

The Electrician has to do it. 

downsizing

Risteard said:

The Electrician has to do it. 

Hi Risteard, would you mind letting me know where you have the information from? I have not found it?

Thanks

Risteard

downsizing said:

Risteard said:

The Electrician has to do it. 

Hi Risteard, would you mind letting me know where you have the information from? I have not found it?

Thanks

I am an electrical contractor, and OLEV registered, and deal with EVSE installations. In certain circumstances the installation requires advance approval from the DNO. Generally however it can be notified within 28 days of installation. This is a legal requirement and applies regardless of whether the OLEV grant (EVHS or WCS) is being availed of.

Moss5

Do you need a home charger?

Are you aware a sim card in the charger may decide if you are charging, or giving charge to others?

My charge rate ramps up to 8-miles/hour, so overnight charging will give the car it's full range. The OLEV Grant (Office for Low Emission Vehicles), specifically named the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), provided up to £500 off the cost of purchasing & installing a home charging point. Pod-point charged an additional £359.00 installation fee for the ‘Free’ Vauxhall 7.4 kW home charger. The standard Hybrid 4 cannot use 7.4kW without an additional £500 to upgrade.

A little-known fact about ‘smart’ home chargers and ‘smart meters’ is that the government intend to use all these electric cars as a store of energy to smooth the demand made upon the power generating industry.
Vehicle to grid (V2G) Vehicle to grid technology is an advanced form of power management, and it's a potentially crucial part of the electric car future.
Energy supplier Ovo Energy is currently running a vehicle to grid trial (which is still open to registrations for Ovo customers). If you're registered to the trial, you get to choose a charging schedule via an app on your phone. This sets the minimum state of charge you need your car to be and for what time.
For example, you’ve come home at 6pm in the evening, plugged your car in and specified that you want your car to be at least 80% full by 7am the following morning.
Overnight, your car will be charged when demand on the network is low, and when it’s more likely that energy from renewable sources is feeding the grid.
But when demand on the grid is high, the charger can take power from your car, power your home and sell any excess energy back to the grid, helping to manage the UK power network and earning you money. Your app will tell you how much money you’ve made by doing this.
From <https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/new-and ... arthreepin>
The pod-point electricians would be testing the earth quality on my 61-year-old house. I did qualify for the OLEV grant, but declined their ‘smart’ offer.
"Kindly cancel our order and refund the deposit paid.
We choose NOT to continue with the home charger installation.
We are now aware that the Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid can be charged at home using the supplied 13A plug-in charging lead.
The charging rate will be slow at 2000W. To benefit from your Pod Point home charger, we would have to pay £500 more to Vauxhall to upgrade the car charging circuit"

Risteard

Moss5 said:

Do you need a home charger?

Are you aware a sim card in the charger may decide if you are charging, or giving charge to others?

My charge rate ramps up to 8-miles/hour, so overnight charging will give the car it's full range. The OLEV Grant (Office for Low Emission Vehicles), specifically named the Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme (EVHS), provided up to £500 off the cost of purchasing & installing a home charging point. Pod-point charged an additional £359.00 installation fee for the ‘Free’ Vauxhall 7.4 kW home charger. The standard Hybrid 4 cannot use 7.4kW without an additional £500 to upgrade.

A little-known fact about ‘smart’ home chargers and ‘smart meters’ is that the government intend to use all these electric cars as a store of energy to smooth the demand made upon the power generating industry.
Vehicle to grid (V2G) Vehicle to grid technology is an advanced form of power management, and it's a potentially crucial part of the electric car future.
Energy supplier Ovo Energy is currently running a vehicle to grid trial (which is still open to registrations for Ovo customers). If you're registered to the trial, you get to choose a charging schedule via an app on your phone. This sets the minimum state of charge you need your car to be and for what time.
For example, you’ve come home at 6pm in the evening, plugged your car in and specified that you want your car to be at least 80% full by 7am the following morning.
Overnight, your car will be charged when demand on the network is low, and when it’s more likely that energy from renewable sources is feeding the grid.
But when demand on the grid is high, the charger can take power from your car, power your home and sell any excess energy back to the grid, helping to manage the UK power network and earning you money. Your app will tell you how much money you’ve made by doing this.
From <https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/new-and ... arthreepin>
The pod-point electricians would be testing the earth quality on my 61-year-old house. I did qualify for the OLEV grant, but declined their ‘smart’ offer.
"Kindly cancel our order and refund the deposit paid.
We choose NOT to continue with the home charger installation.
We are now aware that the Vauxhall Grandland Hybrid can be charged at home using the supplied 13A plug-in charging lead.
The charging rate will be slow at 2000W. To benefit from your Pod Point home charger, we would have to pay £500 more to Vauxhall to upgrade the car charging circuit"

You should not be using a granny lead as your sole means of charging. Not only is it slow, but it is also likely to burn out the socket-outlet and the plug due to the prolonged use of these at a high load (in terms of what the socket-outlet is designed for). You should be getting a Mode 3 EVSE (chargepoint). Mode 2 should not be used generally, and Mode 1 should never be used.

Moss5

Ovens on a 3-pin plug are just as unacceptable to some. A fan oven may use 2kW for an almost continuous load.
My car has a published range of 32 miles. The 'slow' charger can cope with that in 4-hours.
The real range is 16-20 miles.
It remains plugged -in overnight and no sim card interferes with the process.
The 3-pin exterior socket costs £15. If it gets tired, I can replace it.

Ectophile

Can't you still get "dumb" chargers that just charge your car without phoning home to anybody?

Risteard

Ectophile said:

Can't you still get "dumb" chargers that just charge your car without phoning home to anybody?

You can get a "dumb" EVSE, but it is not eligible for a grant.

coffeehound

Risteard said:

You should not be using a granny lead as your sole means of charging. Not only is it slow, but it is also likely to burn out the socket-outlet and the plug due to the prolonged use of these at a high load (in terms of what the socket-outlet is designed for).

Would it be acceptable to permanently wire the 13-amp charger into an FCU?

Risteard

coffeehound said:

Risteard said:

You should not be using a granny lead as your sole means of charging. Not only is it slow, but it is also likely to burn out the socket-outlet and the plug due to the prolonged use of these at a high load (in terms of what the socket-outlet is designed for).

Would it be acceptable to permanently wire the 13-amp charger into an FCU?

No. They aren't for permanent use. Get a proper Mode 3 chargepoint. An FCU will suffer severe heating around the fuse carrier with heavy sustained loads also. Frequently seen where they have been used with an immersion heater.