How to install a rapid charge at home 800v. Can it be done & Suppliers who can do?

jumeriah64

Morning all, we made the decision to order an EV.

Learning very quickly but still bit hazy on home charging. If we going to install then would like to install a really good one .... not sure of the precise terminology but a fast charge one. The model we are ordering I think is 800v.

Is there an MSE thread, some informative thread, a website, or go to resource that makes this subject easy? I've read a lot but still not stumbled upon this fast charge type option.

Appreciate any info that can help with that one.

Many thanks

ABrass

jumeriah64 said:

Morning all, we made the decision to order an EV.

Learning very quickly but still bit hazy on home charging. If we going to install then would like to install a really good one .... not sure of the precise terminology but a fast charge one. The model we are ordering I think is 800v.

Is there an MSE thread, some informative thread, a website, or go to resource that makes this subject easy? I've read a lot but still not stumbled upon this fast charge type option.

Appreciate any info that can help with that one.

Many thanks

Why would you want that? Do you need to charge your car from flat to full in an hour or less?

Assuming you wanted a 150kW charger, not the fastest but stupidly fast, you'd need to draw around 625A on your domestic 240v supply. That would result in bad things like melting fuses and fire brigade call outs.

You might just about manage that on 70kWA 3 phase, it's complicated so I won't try to do the calculations, but you might. But really you're starting to go to industrial installation sizes.

I'd guess five figures or more. For an 800v one I'd expect closer to six figures.

To charge your car at home typically all you want or need is a level 2 charger. Typically they draw up yo something like 50A. That might mean you need to upgrade your fuse to 100A but probably not install 3 phase. Those can charge your car from flat in 6 hours or less. 

Martyn1981

Been discussing higher power chargers with my sister this week, though there is no rush yet as they don't have a BEV, but the sparkies are on site, and 3phase has just gone in.

She can have a 22kW charger installed (due to 3phase) and that might be what happens in the future, or one 7kW and one 22kW, but it's important to note that most cars won't be able to use that anyway (yet?). Our Hyundai can only take 6.6kW AC, and our Tesla is 11kW.

So, 7kW seems perfectly adequate/reasonable for most home charging, and if just on E7 would hopefully add 150-200 miles in one night.

jumeriah64

ABrass said:

jumeriah64 said:

Morning all, we made the decision to order an EV.

Learning very quickly but still bit hazy on home charging. If we going to install then would like to install a really good one .... not sure of the precise terminology but a fast charge one. The model we are ordering I think is 800v.

Is there an MSE thread, some informative thread, a website, or go to resource that makes this subject easy? I've read a lot but still not stumbled upon this fast charge type option.

Appreciate any info that can help with that one.

Many thanks

Why would you want that? Do you need to charge your car from flat to full in an hour or less?

Assuming you wanted a 150kW charger, not the fastest but stupidly fast, you'd need to draw around 625A on your domestic 240v supply. That would result in bad things like melting fuses and fire brigade call outs.

You might just about manage that on 70kWA 3 phase, it's complicated so I won't try to do the calculations, but you might. But really you're starting to go to industrial installation sizes.

I'd guess five figures or more. For an 800v one I'd expect closer to six figures.

To charge your car at home typically all you want or need is a level 2 charger. Typically they draw up yo something like 50A. That might mean you need to upgrade your fuse to 100A but probably not install 3 phase. Those can charge your car from flat in 6 hours or less. 

Solid data and understandable. Thanks

I'd have no problem installing a 100a board and even a 3 phase supply. We already have a couple of 80a fuses on two boards.

So a level 2 charger is what I need be aiming at?

I phrase the question earlier based on too many times 'compromising' on things like this than later prove to have been 'nearly ok' ... so just keen to get something robust in place first time. Too much time wasted in the past with 'ok-ish' solutions and even if that has a price tag, I'd prefer that.

5 figure no, the car is nearly 6 and that's too much but you take my point. But thanks for explaining that, makes good sense.

I guess (thinking out loud) I'd be loathed spend more than 10k on a home installation of any sort.

I looked around our area and there are a few charging stations .... all very low output devices. And there does seem be a drought of fast charger facilities on the M6 stretch from below Birmingham to up towards Cheshire. No Ionity at all from what I see. Are there any other more powerful chargers in the Shropshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire area?

No huge surprise that further South things improve and further North.

Reed_Richards

ABrass said:

...Assuming you wanted a 150kW charger, not the fastest but stupidly fast, you'd need to draw around 625A on your domestic 240v supply. That would result in bad things like melting fuses and fire brigade call outs....

Your house probably has a 60 A or an 80 A mains fuse.  I'm told these are slow-blow but your house should not exceed the mains fuse current for any lenght of time.  You might be able to pay to get your mains fuse upgraded to 100 A if the supply cables to your house can cope.  Ultimately the current-carrying capacity of your supply cable is your limiting factor

jumeriah64

Reed_Richards said:

ABrass said:

...Assuming you wanted a 150kW charger, not the fastest but stupidly fast, you'd need to draw around 625A on your domestic 240v supply. That would result in bad things like melting fuses and fire brigade call outs....

Your house probably has a 60 A or an 80 A mains fuse.  I'm told these are slow-blow but your house should not exceed the mains fuse current for any lenght of time.  You might be able to pay to get your mains fuse upgraded to 100 A if the supply cables to your house can cope.  Ultimately the current-carrying capacity of your supply cable is your limiting factor

Yes I think we can do that with some ease. Thanks for explaining that.

And who are the go-to best home devices/manufacturers etc to be putting on the shopping list? As mentioned earlier, without going totally nuts, I'd like to get best of breed first off to minimise necessity to revisit this later. In other words a no compromise installation without betting the ranch.

Thanks

Martyn1981

You could look at different leccy suppliers and tariffs to find an EV friendly one, and they may then handle the install for you.  Typically they cost about £800, but there is an install grant of £500. You may find a leccy deal that includes a 'free' install, in that they cover the cost above the grant, in order to get your locked in business for a year or two.

I think a 22kW unit is around £1k, but also gets the £500 grant.

You can of course do this yourself, and arrange for an approved installer, and again claim the grant. You can also contact some organisations that handle installs, who in turn will handle the grant part.

I suspect if you start Googling home ev chargers, most of these options will pop up, and you can have up to 2 installs (with grants) but you'll need to be able to show ownership/lease for each vehicle.

jumeriah64

Martyn1981 said:

You could look at different leccy suppliers and tariffs to find an EV friendly one, and they may then handle the install for you.  Typically they cost about £800, but there is an install grant of £500. You may find a leccy deal that includes a 'free' install, in that they cover the cost above the grant, in order to get your locked in business for a year or two.

I think a 22kW unit is around £1k, but also gets the £500 grant.

You can of course do this yourself, and arrange for an approved installer, and again claim the grant. You can also contact some organisations that handle installs, who in turn will handle the grant part.

I suspect if you start Googling home ev chargers, most of these options will pop up, and you can have up to 2 installs (with grants) but you'll need to be able to show ownership/lease for each vehicle.

Very interesting stuff and will do that for sure. Prices are far from bad.

Do you have any names of suppliers or installers of a credible nature? Or does anyone have first hand experience with suppliers or installers?

With this all being very new, it's a little a little difficult to tell the premium organisations from the chancer ones.

YBR

Ours is a pod-point. I can't compare with others but I'm generally happy with them for the job they did.
I mildly regret not getting a tethered charge point 'cos it means getting the cable in and out of the car lots.

Martyn1981

jumeriah64 said:

Martyn1981 said:

You could look at different leccy suppliers and tariffs to find an EV friendly one, and they may then handle the install for you.  Typically they cost about £800, but there is an install grant of £500. You may find a leccy deal that includes a 'free' install, in that they cover the cost above the grant, in order to get your locked in business for a year or two.

I think a 22kW unit is around £1k, but also gets the £500 grant.

You can of course do this yourself, and arrange for an approved installer, and again claim the grant. You can also contact some organisations that handle installs, who in turn will handle the grant part.

I suspect if you start Googling home ev chargers, most of these options will pop up, and you can have up to 2 installs (with grants) but you'll need to be able to show ownership/lease for each vehicle.

Very interesting stuff and will do that for sure. Prices are far from bad.

Do you have any names of suppliers or installers of a credible nature? Or does anyone have first hand experience with suppliers or installers?

With this all being very new, it's a little a little difficult to tell the premium organisations from the chancer ones.

Hiya, we went through ChargedEV, and got a smartpro, but that's because our leccy supplier deal went through them and was free, but they were friendly and helpful throughout.

Apologies, looking at that site and the Gov page, the grant is £350, not the £500 I said earlier. Starting to think the leccy deal was better than I'd thought, even if the E7 rate is a rather high 10p/kWh.

Solarchaser

It used to be £500 Martyn,  changed a short while ago. 
Like the ev grant, when they start to get used more often the government drops the incentive amount.