Energy supply unlooping for EV

neilied

Netexporter said:

neilied said:

Hi all. Wow many thanks for the responses. Am going to pop a reply to them here.

Netexporter: absolutely an option but would have to purchase one for now. Also trying to calc time on charge for the battery size.

Most cars come with a granny charger (but best to check with the dealer) but they don't usually come with a Type 2 cable, so save your money for that!

Cheers again. I did look when someone mentioned you don’t usually get the cable you need. Grandland comes with a 7M type 2 as standard so would need the trickle version.

neilied

matt_drummer said:

Or you could have a Tesla Model 3 Performance that will wipe the floor with the dinosaur Porsche and cost miles less to run even if you have to use Tesla superchargers.

Guess what I have!

Ha ha. You are right. I was looking around for a Model S either a P85D or P90 D with SC01 so free supercharging but prices are strong and budget was putting me to very high mileage older cars. Also it’s been mentioned a lot that using supercharger only degrades battery quicker. 

MWT

Netexporter said:

neilied said:

Hi all. Wow many thanks for the responses. Am going to pop a reply to them here.

Netexporter: absolutely an option but would have to purchase one for now. Also trying to calc time on charge for the battery size.

Most cars come with a granny charger (but best to check with the dealer) but they don't usually come with a Type 2 cable, so save your money for that!

I've seen it the other way around, never yet come across an EV that shipped without a type 2 cable, but granny chargers are getting less common. 

Always worth checking though...

neilied

So… I can definitely recommend Octopus for energy provision but definitely not recommend them for EV installs. After a brief conversation, to action survey I had to order and pay upfront. It took a week to get a confirmation with a dedicated direct contact to a specialist called Sam. For a week their mobile rang dead and then last week it diverted to a member of the team but rang once and cut off. Emails took 5 working days for response. I range a London number twice and spoke with others who passed messages on. All this meant that yesterday I received an email from Sam detailing the going forward requests. It didn’t read right and so I again attempted contact without success. 

I contacted office number and spoke with a team member who was able to live chat said Sam immediately. As I questioned the fact that he was my dedicated point of contact I wanted to speak in person to him, I was told he was too busy to speak to customers 😳🤦‍♂️. When I then questioned the communication and the thought he didn’t understand my emails. The team member then confirmed that install could not happen until delooping as that was policy. So after almost 3 weeks I now have to cancel the order for EV charger and await 14 days for a refund. Very poor service from this department of Octopus.

contacted Ohme, was put through to local installer. Explained everything and then got email back saying need to speak to engineer. Today I chased up after the cancellation. Spoke direct to engineer and was told no problem booking for 2 weeks time be in touch tomorrow with the date. Payment on completion. Done. 

Sorry octopus you lost a sale.

neilied

And so I am back to square one looking for an installer. I have at least received a refund from octopus. However I have had a quote from the official installer for Ohme and a local specialist and rather than the octopus £1098 I am looking at £1700. The local installer who quoted on visit also noted the lack of earth bonding visible on the water system and the need for National grid to be on site to cut power as there is no isolation switch fitted to the supply requiring the fuse inside a tamper proof old style box to be pulled. So it looks as if it’s going to cost quite a bit more and have one last quote incoming. Also have the NG guy Wednesday to survey required delooping works.

one positive is that the in person quote gave a really good explanation of what and how a reducing clamp works and it’s not all bad as he fits as standard.

explanation was that it measures usage on the supply and restricts the charger accordingly. He mentioned that as most charging occurs overnight there would mainly be no reduction in power. In addition when works are finally done and new 85A fuse fitted, it’s a simple revision to update the clamp.

born_again

neilied said:

also I am working on assumption that what may be needed to sort a charger might ultimately not be free and require a hefty financial involvement. I, at the moment can’t see my neighbour agreeing to have a 14-16ft long 50cm wide trench dug through her garden and concrete 60’s path and then have to have her meter moved to an external location all for me to have a shiny car. I will also need the same, lifting a block paved driveway in addition.

I would ask them, as they may decide to go EV route at some point & not be aware of this restriction. Or think you will feel the same. Might also like the meter moved outside. 

In terms of Charger cost. Our £1K charger cost was recouped in 9 months in savings between petrol (Hybrid) & ev doing the same miles.

Ectophile

I have a 60A fuse and an EV charger.  The charger came with a current clamp, which clips over the supply cable.  If it looks like I am overloading my supply, the charger will tell the car to slow down its charge.

I don't think that has ever happened, though.

barker77

born_again said:

neilied said:

also I am working on assumption that what may be needed to sort a charger might ultimately not be free and require a hefty financial involvement. I, at the moment can’t see my neighbour agreeing to have a 14-16ft long 50cm wide trench dug through her garden and concrete 60’s path and then have to have her meter moved to an external location all for me to have a shiny car. I will also need the same, lifting a block paved driveway in addition.

I would ask them, as they may decide to go EV route at some point & not be aware of this restriction. Or think you will feel the same. Might also like the meter moved outside. 

In terms of Charger cost. Our £1K charger cost was recouped in 9 months in savings between petrol (Hybrid) & ev doing the same miles.

I assume if neighbour doesn’t agree national grid have to do another way ? Also do you have to pay for it or do national grid do that work for free? 

QrizB

Ectophile said:

I have a 60A fuse and an EV charger.  The charger came with a current clamp, which clips over the supply cable.  If it looks like I am overloading my supply, the charger will tell the car to slow down its charge.

I don't think that has ever happened, though.

My Ohme has a similar system. The curent clamp measures the household demand, and if it appoaches the curent limit (set in software, by the installer, as part of commissioning) it will step down the charging rate.

I think it's a common feature.

born_again

barker77 said:

born_again said:

neilied said:

also I am working on assumption that what may be needed to sort a charger might ultimately not be free and require a hefty financial involvement. I, at the moment can’t see my neighbour agreeing to have a 14-16ft long 50cm wide trench dug through her garden and concrete 60’s path and then have to have her meter moved to an external location all for me to have a shiny car. I will also need the same, lifting a block paved driveway in addition.

I would ask them, as they may decide to go EV route at some point & not be aware of this restriction. Or think you will feel the same. Might also like the meter moved outside. 

In terms of Charger cost. Our £1K charger cost was recouped in 9 months in savings between petrol (Hybrid) & ev doing the same miles.

I assume if neighbour doesn’t agree national grid have to do another way ? Also do you have to pay for it or do national grid do that work for free? 

No idea what would happen if neighbour would not agree.

Normally it is free service.