EV charger and tariff

Sunshine_and_Roses

Not sure if this should be on the Green or Motoring page, please move if required.

I purchased a new to me Mokka E yesterday.  It has a fast charger but we do not have a charge point as yet.  I was expecting a 3 pin charger to be provided but must have misunderstood.  We will only be travelling up to 100 miles per week and prefer to charge at home.

I am with British Gas at the moment, and they are doing an offer with Hive to have a point supplied and fitted for £989, payable interest free over 10 months.  Overnight discount rate will be 9p kWh, and about 28p otherwise.

My thoughts are:
Get a 3 pin slow charger to use at the moment and for emergencies (£109 from Amazon)
Get a charger point fitted with BG/Hive - but check on waiting time to fit
Change to Octopus but has less overnight discount rate charge time

BG has the EV tariff fixed.  I don't think there are any variable rates for when the prices are due to go down again, wondering if this is the best way?

Any help or advice would be really appreciated.

Netexporter

It depends on you daily mileage whether a 4 hour charging window will be enough. A 7kW charger will put in about 100 miles of range in that time. The average daily mileage is about 20, so you need to consider you particular needs before making a decision.

born_again

Unless you have a dedicated 32 Amp socket for a granny charger do not bother. As it is a big load over a sustained period. Which unless household wiring & sockets are in top condition can lead to fires.

100 miles a week will only be one night connected to wall box (A/C charger is in car)

Think about Octopus Intelligent
Off peak 22:30 to 05:30, but the bonus is if car connected you can get charging slots @ any time in the day which is also @ off peak rate, as is rest of house.
Octopus also do wall box installs.

So far since Sept last year & over 50 charges, only 2 have been during off peak night time. All the rest have been during the day.

Reed_Richards

I have the same car, a Mokka E, bought last October.  I am strongly of the opinion that a rapid fast charger is a complete waste of money, even more so for you than for me as you will do so little mileage per week.  I am on the E.on Next "NextDrive" tariff  which gives me 7 hours of cheap electricity.  7 hours with my 2.35 Amp "granny charger" gives me over 16 kWh of power or over 32% of a full charge; the same for you if you have the same 50 kWh battery that I do.

You may be told that there is a danger to using a "granny charger" and that could be true if the wiring to the socket you use is of poor quality.  The wire I use is part of a 40 A dedicated spur to my garage that was installed very recently so I have no reason to fear fire.  

I think it is all too easy to get brainwashed into the idea that if you have an EV then you need a rapid fast charger.  Do the sums, for example work out how much cheap rate electricity you could buy for £989 and how far that will take you.  Or how much it would cost to get an electrician to fit a dedicated spur for your charging socket, if you think your house wiring may be suspect.  

Sunshine_and_Roses

Reed_Richards said:

I have the same car, a Mokka E, bought last October.  I am strongly of the opinion that a rapid charger is a complete waste of money, even more so for you than for me as you will do so little mileage per week.  I am on the E.on Next "NextDrive" tariff  which gives me 7 hours of cheap electricity.  7 hours with my 2.35 Amp "granny charger" gives my over 16 kWh of power or over 32% of a full charge; the same for you if you have the same 50 kWh battery that I do.

You may be told that there is a danger to using a "granny charger" and that could be true if the wiring to the socket you use is of poor quality.  The wire I use is part of a 40 A dedicated spur to my garage that was installed very recently so I have no reason to fear fire.  

I think it is all too easy to get brainwashed into the idea that if you have an EV then you need a rapid charger.  Do the sums, for example work out how much cheap rate electricity you could buy for £989 and how far that will take you.  Or how much it would cost to get an electrician to fit a dedicated spur for your charging socket, if you think your house wiring may be suspect.  

That's a really good point.  I have ordered a granny charger from Amazon, will try it out for a month or so and see how we get on.  Thanks for advice.

Ectophile

Reed_Richards said:

I have the same car, a Mokka E, bought last October.  I am strongly of the opinion that a rapid charger is a complete waste of money, even more so for you than for me as you will do so little mileage per week.  I am on the E.on Next "NextDrive" tariff  which gives me 7 hours of cheap electricity.  7 hours with my 2.35 Amp "granny charger" gives my over 16 kWh of power or over 32% of a full charge; the same for you if you have the same 50 kWh battery that I do.

You may be told that there is a danger to using a "granny charger" and that could be true if the wiring to the socket you use is of poor quality.  The wire I use is part of a 40 A dedicated spur to my garage that was installed very recently so I have no reason to fear fire.  

I think it is all too easy to get brainwashed into the idea that if you have an EV then you need a rapid charger.  Do the sums, for example work out how much cheap rate electricity you could buy for £989 and how far that will take you.  Or how much it would cost to get an electrician to fit a dedicated spur for your charging socket, if you think your house wiring may be suspect.  

Being pedantic, most houses have a fast charger fitted, not a rapid charger.

If I had a rapid charger installed, it would blow the main supply fuse the moment I plugged the car in.

Reed_Richards

Ectophile said:

Being pedantic, most houses have a fast charger fitted, not a rapid charger.

If I had a rapid charger installed, it would blow the main supply fuse the moment I plugged the car in.

If you have only a granny charger then any other sort is more rapid and in common parlance rapid does not mean faster than fast.  But I have edited my post to address your comment.  

Veteransaver

You'd probably be better off on an Octopus tariff. Even standard octopus go should beat that British gas tariff. I think the BG tariff is only cheap rate for the EV, whereas the Octopus one would give you cheap rate for the whole house during the offpeak period.
Be a bit careful with those granny chargers off Amazon. Make sure you only charge at 10A max, I've seen some advertised which do 13 or even possibly 16A from a 3 pin plug! Some don't have overheat protection in the plug either.
Try not to use with an extension lead either, but if you do make sure it is a good quality one. Ensure the plug socket on the wall is good quality and not worn.
Screwfix do a masterplug granny chargee.which is well regarded.

Reed_Richards

Veteransaver said:

.... I think the BG tariff is only cheap rate for the EV ...

In which case it could not possibly work with a "granny charger".  EV only tariffs are only available if you use the right model of fast charger as this charger needs to record and report the amount of electricity used.

Netexporter

More reason to move to Octopus.

Reed_Richards

Except that Octopus only give you a 5 hour window of cheap electricity whereas I, with Eon NextDrive, get 7 hours.  If you have the right sort of car or the right sort of charger you can go on a more complicated Octopus tariff that may give you more hours of cheap electricity but the economics don't work for me as I don't have the right car so would have to pay the cost of the charger.