Mid-Terraced house EV charging options

[dlockers]

Not where I live. Houses, path, large green space, another path, narrow road next to a junction that people can't park on...
Yeah yeah I know, edge case.
I'll end up with an EV, possibly as my next car in a few years, but I certainly don't pretend it will be easy or convenient for most people. It will be a complete ballache.

No-one pretended it was easy or convenient for most people. But I look out of my window right now and see hundreds of houses with nearly-new cars parked on driveways.

It is just like SkodaMart in the Electric Car thread though; we get it - you don't think it works because of "x" or "y" hypothetical situation/your personal circumstance/aunt fannies personal circumstance. But the reality is, we need to stop burning fossil fuels - especially where humans live and breath.

 

[Uther]

No-one pretended it was easy or convenient for most people. But I look out of my window right now and see hundreds of houses with nearly-new cars parked on driveways.

It is just like SkodaMart in the Electric Car thread though; we get it - you don't think it works because of "x" or "y" hypothetical situation/your personal circumstance/aunt fannies personal circumstance. But the reality is, we need to stop burning fossil fuels - especially where humans live and breath.

'We get it'? This isn't the full of fruitloops EV thread. Like it or not there are issues with some people going EV, living in a terraced house being one of the biggest ones.
Trying to pretend everythings great is not the way forward. I'm not even anti EV ( I'm going to look at an MG4 shortly) but for some people, public charging will probably be the only way forward, and currently that's pretty ****.

 

[HangTime]

Similar layout here except the houses and gardens are rotated 90deg counterclockwise so the gardens back onto the parking and garage area.

We are end terraced and our garage is attached to our garden and came with power installed by the developer but our middle neighbours garage is furtherest like yours across a brick weaved parking area.

Last year I watched as he had a trench dug along his garden to the gate and a then a company came in and tunnelled under the brick weave across to his garage without disturbing anything! Was impressive to watch.

He now has power and data to his garage and a charger on the wall outside the door.

No idea how much it cost but could be an option.

Interesting, it's brick-weaved courtyard here too.

I can see that being a problem. Is the garage a separate plot to your house?

Yes, it's part of a block comprising our garage, a neighbour's garage, and then a coach house on top. This is what makes me think it might be more complicated, having to install a charger on leasehold property, maybe some additional safety regs because there is a third party living above it (although I guess this can't be much different from the regs for just installing on the wall of a house, but maybe you need to get permission from the other leaseholders).

What's kind of weird is the residents of the coachhouse above our garage have a garage that is the other side of the courtyard, closest to our garden. I would've though it would make more sense for their garage to be underneath their home rather than on a separate plot, it must be due the logistics of where they put put parking spaces, our garage has a space in front of it but theirs does not (although they still sometimes park in front of it 'illegally').

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Interesting, it's brick-weaved courtyard here too.

Yes, it's part of a block comprising our garage, a neighbour's garage, and then a coach house on top. This is what makes me think it might be more complicated, having to install a charger on leasehold property, maybe some additional safety regs because there is a third party living above it (although I guess this can't be much different from the regs for just installing on the wall of a house, but maybe you need to get permission from the other leaseholders).

What's kind of weird is the residents of the coachhouse above our garage have a garage that is the other side of the courtyard, closest to our garden. I would've though it would make more sense for their garage to be underneath their home rather than on a separate plot, it must be due the logistics of where they put put parking spaces, our garage has a space in front of it but theirs does not (although they still sometimes park in front of it 'illegally').

The parking space thing will be down to the ‘coach house’ being a cheap property compared to a semi or detached house. The latter expects a parking space, probably more than one.

I was more thinking that it was a separate plot to your house (like they did it in the old days where you leased your garage as a separate transaction) but now I realise it sounds like you are on a fairly newish estate and they have a new like that near me with houses on the garage.

There shouldn’t be any issues with putting electricity in there or a car charger, the issue is dealing with the freeholder. That’s a lot easier if there is a few of you clubbing together. It can be done, it’s just how much £££ you are willing to throw at it.

The main reason they don’t put electricity in there is to corner cut and save cost and people buy them anyway.

I expect the premium on a house with a EV charging space will continue to rise (compared to the off street vs street parking premium there is now).

 

[muon]

I’m not sure why no one has mentioned this yet but will obviously need council permission:

Home - Gul-e | No Driveway? No Problem!

The simplest, fastest solution to charging your EV at home without a driveway, from just £499.00. Contact us to check local availability.

gul-e.co.uk

It’s basically just a posh rain water gully from days past.

As for the back, find out who owns the courtyard (it may well be partly owed by you). Get permission to lay a cable, bring ground workers to put in a duct and make good the paving, bring the sparks in to pull in a cable and fit the charge point.

Pro tip: while canvassing the neighbours, convince them to get a duct out in for their garage at the same time, it will cut costs per household.

That's pretty good as long as the homeowner becomes responsible for paving outside their home. Can be organised the same way dropped kerbs are.

If the demand is there I'm sure councils can charge enough of a fee to maintain an oversight process.

 

[Journey]

The shortest distance from our house to the car would be if we parked out the front and then ran a loose cable to it, but that would literally be going across the pavement which I assume isn't allowed / trip hazard / would get run over by pushchairs etc.

Given it doesn't need to be a permanent fixture across the pavement a lot of councils have no issue with you doing that as long as you follow their guidelines like a tradesman or contractor would do

How many miles do you drive on average per week? If it isn't in the 1000's then most of your charging would be done at night when there is very little foot traffic, unless of course your work night shifts etc. You also should need to be plugging it in every night/day, again coming back to weekly milage covered.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Workplace-Depot-Pedestrian-Cable-Protector/dp/B08NFHXZT2/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?keywords=cable+pavement+cover+ev+charger&qid=1677010826&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1

Less than £30, lots of reviews with pictures illustrating it for the very use you have

 

[theone8181]

Fwiw I do average milage and I'm charging my model 3 twice a week and that's the performance once so allegedly has a range of 250 miles, except it doesn't as I don't drive that in one go. I have a drive so it's no issue to me, but let's assume moat people have 2 cars amd need to charge every 2-3 days. To me that means cables will vecome a permenant trip hazard as there'll always be someone charging.

 

[HangTime]

The parking space thing will be down to the ‘coach house’ being a cheap property compared to a semi or detached house. The latter expects a parking space, probably more than one.

I was more thinking that it was a separate plot to your house (like they did it in the old days where you leased your garage as a separate transaction) but now I realise it sounds like you are on a fairly newish estate and they have a new like that near me with houses on the garage.

There shouldn’t be any issues with putting electricity in there or a car charger, the issue is dealing with the freeholder. That’s a lot easier if there is a few of you clubbing together. It can be done, it’s just how much £££ you are willing to throw at it.

The main reason they don’t put electricity in there is to corner cut and save cost and people buy them anyway.

I expect the premium on a house with a EV charging space will continue to rise (compared to the off street vs street parking premium there is now).

Yes I know the coachhouse is one of those without a parking space because it's cheaper, but that in itself wouldn't prevent them having a garage under their coachhouse, it's more that logistically with turning circles the allocated spaces have to be adjacent to that building rather than in front of the garages opposite. One of the reasons we bought the plot we did was because it had a parking space in addition to a garage, which wasn't the case for all the plots of the same house type.

Not looking to throw much money at this, leaving aside the cost of a charger I'd say a couple of hundred max, otherwise will just hold fire on getting an EV and keep an eye on how range / public charging evolves in the coming years.

Running electricity during the build phase I could see being a faff for the developer because it would need to be 'linked' to the meter for the right house, it really wasn't a consideration for us and I doubt would have added much value 15 years ago. Our neighbour did run power to his garage but that's because he was on the end and could just go straight across the courtyard entrance to his garage without needing to go across any neighbouring properties. So the garage next to ours already has power meaning they would have no interest in clubbing together.

I agree we should see some sort of premium associated with the ability to charge an EV, especially with the looming legislation around sales of new ICE vehicles.

How many miles do you drive on average per week? If it isn't in the 1000's then most of your charging would be done at night when there is very little foot traffic, unless of course your work night shifts etc. You also should need to be plugging it in every night/day, again coming back to weekly milage covered.

About 200 miles a week. Really depends what we do at the weekend, we do 60-65mile round trips every few weeks. In a 'quiet' week I'd hope we could get away with just charging it once a week plus perhaps some minor public top ups. Part of me thinks we'd be less likely to charge it at night as wouldn't want anyone coming along and fiddling with it whilst we're asleep.

 

[Journey]

About 200 miles a week. Really depends what we do at the weekend, we do 60-65mile round trips every few weeks. In a 'quiet' week I'd hope we could get away with just charging it once a week plus perhaps some minor public top ups. Part of me thinks we'd be less likely to charge it at night as wouldn't want anyone coming along and fiddling with it whilst we're asleep.

Fiddling with it? What exactly are they going to fiddle with? If someone was to bother messing with it they are more likely to cut off the cable and sell it for scrap, given the charger gets locked in the car charge port until you unlock the vehicle. Or I suppose the could nick your pavement guard, or maybe spray graffiti on it if you live in a dodgy area.

 

[dlockers]

Fiddling with it? What exactly are they going to fiddle with? If someone was to bother messing with it they are more likely to cut off the cable and sell it for scrap, given the charger gets locked in the car charge port until you unlock the vehicle. Or I suppose the could nick your pavement guard, or maybe spray graffiti on it if you live in a dodgy area.

Tbf I did think someone would mess with me. As a young lad I'm sure I'd find it humourous to unplug the lead.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

…

Not looking to throw much money at this, leaving aside the cost of a charger I'd say a couple of hundred max,

Scrap that idea then. An electrician wouldn’t even get out of bed for £200 on a standard install right next to the consumer unit or meter cupboard. You probably need £200 of cable alone.

Running electricity during the build phase I could see being a faff for the developer because it would need to be 'linked' to the meter for the right house, i

It wouldn’t have been a faff at all, during the build phase is exactly when you want to be putting it in, it’s sooooooo much easier and soooooo much cheaper.

They didn’t even need to put the cables in, suitable ducts literally cost a £1 per meter and a matter of minutes to install at the time of then laying the finished drive.

You give developers too much credit. Developers are only interested in building the bare minimum to meet the regs and maximising profit. It’s never been about producing a quality product that’s built to last or even fit for purpose.

Sure EVs might not have been on their radar but I’m pretty sure almost everyone wants a light and a 3 pin socket as a bare minimum.

About 200 miles a week.

You’ll want somewhere to charge it pre regularly than once a week. My EV does 200 miles without issues but only in one go. A bunch of short trips over the week will soon drop that in the winter.

 

[413x]

Imo if you don't have offroad charging capability you shouldn't buy an ev. I know its an unpopular opinion, but some of these things are quite bad trip hazards (and I'm normally lax with H and S stuff).

Just needs a proper solution.

Problem in a lot of places you'd need access to that same space as well.

A proper solution will have to come. There are loads of people in this situation and electric is coming fast.

No way can have 100s of ramps on pavements. Its ridiculous

 

[tom_e]

Fiddling with it? What exactly are they going to fiddle with? If someone was to bother messing with it they are more likely to cut off the cable and sell it for scrap, given the charger gets locked in the car charge port until you unlock the vehicle. Or I suppose the could nick your pavement guard, or maybe spray graffiti on it if you live in a dodgy area.

100% at some point you'd get some scrote/drunk/bored teenager thinking it was funny to see how hard they had to yank it to get it out of the car/until something broke.

 

[Scam]

Folllowing this thread with interest. We live in a small terraced house on a narrow street in London. I’ve never owned a car and would love an EV once I can afford one, but it just doesn’t seem practical. People with cars on our street rarely get to park outside their own house…

 

[theone8181]

Just needs a proper solution.

Problem in a lot of places you'd need access to that same space as well.

A proper solution will have to come. There are loads of people in this situation and electric is coming fast.

No way can have 100s of ramps on pavements. Its ridiculous

I know tapping off streetlights get mentioned sometimes, but I'd guess the cable for normal lights it's probably on 2.5mm so going forward it's probably the easiest solution but will cost quite a bit.

 

[Journey]

100% at some point you'd get some scrote/drunk/bored teenager thinking it was funny to see how hard they had to yank it to get it out of the car/until something broke.

Guess that is going to be an issue regardless of an individual case like this. You can't stop the world having total plonkers or criminals sadly, probably a lot worse in certain areas though. There is a few videos around on the net showing various degrees of failure and success with this kind of vandalism. We all know that supermarkets are the most dangerous place on earth to park a car though.

 

[Nasher]

It will be even more difficult seeing as streetlamps are all being replaced with lower voltage, thin and sealed LED ones. All the ones in my town already have.

 

[Scam]

It will be even more difficult seeing as streetlamps are all being replaced with lower voltage, thin and sealed LED ones. All the ones in my town already have.

Same here. Although there’s a movement/complaints to get them changed because they’re so dull. They barely light the paths!


They obviously didn’t see the EV change coming. Putting chargers in all lampposts would be perfect. Charging back to your home electric account even better (although I guess you could just pay separately). It has to be the solution - lamposts are the only things you have on every residential street right!

 

[Nasher]

Same here. Although there’s a movement/complaints to get them changed because they’re so dull. They barely light the paths!


They obviously didn’t see the EV change coming. Putting chargers in all lampposts would be perfect. Charging back to your home electric account even better (although I guess you could just pay separately). It has to be the solution - lamposts are the only things you have on every residential street right!

Yep they aren't big flood lights like the old type, they are low power and the lenses need regular cleaning or they go dim. The one outside my house is covered in cobwebs now.

Another issue is when LEDs start to die, they often start flashing like strobe lights and that can go on for months. Which is super annoying.

The big up side is the skies are much darker now though.

 

[mid_gen]

100% at some point you'd get some scrote/drunk/bored teenager thinking it was funny to see how hard they had to yank it to get it out of the car/until something broke.

It's not like scrotes/drunks/bored teenagers damaging parked cars is something unique to EVs. Don't hear it much these days with locking fuel caps but having your tank siphoned off in the night definitely used to be a thing!

These are not insurmountable obstacles.

The major obstacles are a lack of high-level planning and oversight of charging, what to do with terraced houses. It may be the solution is simply not charging at home, once fast-charging is more advanced and ubiquitous enough to not need it.