Getting electric supply to garage across public highway for EV charging

mmmmikey

Worth contacting the local council. Round here you have to use an approved contractor but the costs aren't horrendous. Even if it costs a couple of thousand pounds it will probably add more than that to the value of the garage/property and once it's done it's done for all time.

Scot_39

matelodave said:

Scot_39 said:

Compared to paying commercial rates - maybe 50p higher on average according to google (e.g. AI 53-80p fast vs home sub 10p ) - not sure the standing charge the killer you might think it is.

That would be saved in just say £200/50p saving = 400 kWh - maybe 1500 miles in a larger EV (does that sound about right folks ?).  And the rest of the time you would be saving off the 10p rates. For majority of your mileage.

you are making a really big assumption that beneficial EV rates are here to stay. However ,its pretty obvious from the way the government have been whittling away at the tax and benefit advantages of EV's as they become more numerous then there's a fair assumption that the energy companies will start rowing back as well when they find that they cant afford it anymore.

Just my opinion you understand but history shows that many of the incentives that get put our way to encourage a change of behaviour get taken away once the objective has been achieved or well on it sway

But then even 27p single rate is a lot cheaper than 50-80p

So say still benefit on half mileage vs public chargers.

And thats assuming they don't ramp as well.

Pat38493

mmmmikey said:

Worth contacting the local council. Round here you have to use an approved contractor but the costs aren't horrendous. Even if it costs a couple of thousand pounds it will probably add more than that to the value of the garage/property and once it's done it's done for all time.

Thank you to all who replied here although there seems to be some different opinions about it.

Firstly, the house is in a perfect position for us and it's actually a lot cheaper than other houses we've been looking at - as such, even if we ended up having to revert to (gasp) hybrid cars for a few years, we would have saved a lot of money in other areas.

Secondly - I tend to agree that getting a second supply in the garage, although it would incur a second standing charge, would still probably be worthwhile but only if the TOU benefits of EV tariffs continue to deliver the same benefit.  Back of a napkin - using an Octopus TOU tariff my cost per mile will be about 10 times less than what it would be if I was using my petrol PHEV Volvo all the time without charging it, or if I was charging an EV at a motorway services.

There are also a few places around where I can charge at public chargers for 20p per KWH but they are of course slow chargers so unless you have a reason to park in that place for several hours it's a bit inconvenient.

I also noted that one of the neighbours has simply run a heavy duty cable across the road and it's just sitting there with people driving over it - according to the house owner nobody has complained up to now!  Not that I am advocating this option.  It is not even protected by any kind of high visiibility cable cover.

There are some other solutions which will probably become more popular over time e.g. "charge gully" 

https://www.chargegully.com/

Seems like one or two local councils in the UK have already approved this solution.

Gerry1

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Pat38493

Gerry1 said:

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Probably although I am not sure how they will achieve this with home charging - they would have to put devices in the cars that report back how many KWH was taken and tax you on it (or charge fuel duty tax rates on all electricity used).

MeteredOut

Gerry1 said:

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Can you explain how they'll do that?

More likely they'll move to a per-mile charge and remove VED altogether.

Gerry1

Pat38493 said:

Gerry1 said:

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Probably although I am not sure how they will achieve this with home charging - they would have to put devices in the cars that report back how many KWH was taken and tax you on it (or charge fuel duty tax rates on all electricity used).

By law, home chargers must have a built in SIM that snitches how much electricity you've used and when you used it. 

Pat38493

Gerry1 said:

Pat38493 said:

Gerry1 said:

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Probably although I am not sure how they will achieve this with home charging - they would have to put devices in the cars that report back how many KWH was taken and tax you on it (or charge fuel duty tax rates on all electricity used).

By law, home chargers must have a built in SIM that snitches how much electricity you've used and when you used it. 

It would have to be something in the car itself otherwise people will just use a granny charger instead.

Gerry1

MeteredOut said:

Gerry1 said:

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Can you explain how they'll do that?

More likely they'll move to a per-mile charge and remove VED altogether.

The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021

Note that it can also be a digital version of this... 

MeteredOut

Gerry1 said:

MeteredOut said:

Gerry1 said:

Bear in mind that cheap charging of EVs is only an introductory offer: the government won't be content to lose all that fuel duty forever.  When most cars are EVs and it's difficult or impossible to buy petrol cars then the electricity used to charge EVs will be taxed just as heavily as petrol.

A similar thing happened with self-charging EVs such as the Prius.  Early adopters were exempt from the London Congestion Charge but after a few years they found out it had been Bait and Switch.  They're also no longer exempt from VED.  

Can you explain how they'll do that?

More likely they'll move to a per-mile charge and remove VED altogether.

The Electric Vehicles (Smart Charge Points) Regulations 2021

Note that it can also be a digital version of this... 

Still doesn't explain how they'll recognise all EV charging and be able to tax it. 

Hint: Are all EV chargers smart chargers?