Been a while since ive needed a new car, so many choice, Electric, Lease, or 2nd hand?!

mickym

Thank you @BOWFER Great info once again. 
Another question. What are the options now when it comes to higher speced home chargers?
I know when EVs first came on the scene many deals included free fitting. Im presuming this has all ended now, and that you have to pay a company to do it? Are there cheaper ways of doing it, such as hiring an electricican out to fit it instead?

Are there limitations on distance from consumer unit? (Which I presume these chargers are wired directly to)
Our house is a 1970s ish build and I dont think ever had electrics upgraded. We have a Smart meter originally fitted by Eon or British gas, but we now use Bulb for our electricity.

I have seen reports of people complaining that Octopus take a long tome to set up new accounts / Octopus Go.

BOWFER

mickym said:

Thank you @BOWFER Great info once again. 
Another question. What are the options now when it comes to higher speced home chargers?
I know when EVs first came on the scene many deals included free fitting. Im presuming this has all ended now, and that you have to pay a company to do it? Are there cheaper ways of doing it, such as hiring an electricican out to fit it instead?

Are there limitations on distance from consumer unit? (Which I presume these chargers are wired directly to)
Our house is a 1970s ish build and I dont think ever had electrics upgraded. We have a Smart meter originally fitted by Eon or British gas, but we now use Bulb for our electricity.

Some places still offer free chargers as part of a deal, no set pattern to it.
The deal is usually for the basic 3.3KW chargers, I paid £90 extra for the 7KW.
My Leaf wasn't fitted with the 6.6KW charger, only the 3.3KW, so I couldn't actually benefit from the 7KW but I wanted to be future-proof for any subsequent EVs.
That's a point with the 24KWH or 30KWH Leaf, if you can find one with the optional 6.6KW on board then take it as you'll benefit from the faster home or public trickle charging.
You'll know if the car you're looking at is fitted with the 6.6KW charger as it will display 2 'time to recharge' timers on the dash instead of one.
They all rapid charge using CHADEMO, so you've no worries there.
With regard to house wiring, I've no clue other than they do charge for extra distance over a certain limit.

MX5huggy

You might get a free charger when buying a new car it would be a 7.4kW charger. 

There’s currently a £350 grant (which subsidies the “free” charger above). You can access this directly by using an approved installer list of those here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/electric-vehicle-homecharge-scheme-authorised-installers

You need to have the car (or ordered at least) to be eligible. Get 3 local installers to quote.

Using the grant probably does not provide the cheapest way of providing a car charger, but the safest. Some say just get a commando socket fitted and don’t tell the electrician it’s for a car. 

You have a huge choice of chargers, across a range of functions and price points. If you have Solar PV panels (or will get them) look at Zappi,  eo are nice and compact. Andersen best looking but expensive. Pod point the Ford Focus of chargers, many others. 

They come tethered (with a permanently attach cable) or not, Tethered is more convenient the cable is just there, if slightly more expensive. But if you are considering an older Nissan Leaf that uses Type 1 connection newer cars (including the MK2 Leaf) use Type 2 so get untethered so you can charge any car with the right cable. 

Your existing electrics aren’t so important because the charge point will be fitted back to its own distribution board and not use your existing circuits. The complexity of the run effects price to a degree very long runs might need bigger cable, but not common on domestic installs. You should really get your electrics checked out if they are 40 plus years old anyway. 

Octopus Go has been great you will probably save straight away took 4 weeks to complete the switch including fitting a meter. 

There’s more and more choice with EV’s a one year old (or new) MG ZS might appeal. I’ve get a BMW i3 they’ve been around long enough to get sub £10k now. 

AdrianC

MX5huggy said:

You might get a free charger when buying a new car it would be a 7.4kW charger.  

Which is, of course, about the largest you can run off the typical domestic supply - 32A at 230v. Anything beefier is going to require 415v three-phase, which will be an expensive install to most properties.

MX5huggy

AdrianC said:

MX5huggy said:

You might get a free charger when buying a new car it would be a 7.4kW charger.  

Which is, of course, about the largest you can run off the typical domestic supply - 32A at 230v. Anything beefier is going to require 415v three-phase, which will be an expensive install to most properties.

And fairly pointless as most cars don’t charge above 7.4 on AC anyway a few go to 11 (i3) and Zoe’s at 22. Really pointing out that no one should be installing 3.6kW charge points anymore. 

BOWFER

I went for tethered, but it's a type 1 from my 2015 Leaf.
I'll either have to change the plug end or the whole cable to a type 2 when I get back into an EV.
My wife will be going to an EV after her Evoque deal runs out too, but getting a 2nd charger installed isn't possible, way too much for the house electrics to cope with, so we'll just have to get used to using the charger in shifts.
Not like we'll be charging every day, so not a big deal.

mickym

@BOWFER @MX5huggy @AdrianC Thank you for the info, its much appreciated.
Is the discounted or free home chargers available to people who lease as well as buy a new car?

MX5huggy

mickym said:

@BOWFER @MX5huggy @AdrianC Thank you for the info, its much appreciated.
Is the discounted or free home chargers available to people who lease as well as buy a new car?

Yes the grant is available for leased cars, or used, You would have to check eligibility if you went with a short lease like ONTO that do 1 month at a time. On top of the grant you’ll be looking at £300 to £1000 depending on the charger chosen and the complexly of the install. You’ll only get a “free” one that’s a deal with a new car. 

MX5huggy

BOWFER said:

I went for tethered, but it's a type 1 from my 2015 Leaf.
I'll either have to change the plug end or the whole cable to a type 2 when I get back into an EV.
My wife will be going to an EV after her Evoque deal runs out too, but getting a 2nd charger installed isn't possible, way too much for the house electrics to cope with, so we'll just have to get used to using the charger in shifts.
Not like we'll be charging every day, so not a big deal.

If you want 2 chargers at some point look at Zappi it has load balancing so would only charge the car when there was capacity available.  Unless you have electric heating in the night you would seldom pull enough for the Zappi to cut the charge rate. 

mickym

Only need one here as im the only one that drives.
Thats interested you said that discounted chargers are available to used cars too. Does that have to be through a dealership or from anyone, private or trade?