EV point wiring planning.

Tinders

Tinders

Tinders

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There's a voice that keeps on calling me.
Hi Folks,

Just wanting to pick electricians brain.

I’m having a PHEV delivered in a few months. I was going to get a charge point fitted via the OLEV scheme, but the prices are mad, around 800 after the grant for a very straightforward install with budget charge point.

So the plan is to self source the EV point, do the donkey work of wiring and mounting the EV point and CU and then get a sparky in to do the final fix and certification and DNO notification.

I will be running a 6mm armoured cable from a separate CU for the point, but I was thinking if I could I wire in a external socket on the same SWA cable. I’ve always wanted a point outside for the jet wash etc, but I wasn’t sure if I could use the same cable as the EV point.

Cheers for any advice.
 
Whilst I agree that some of the installers are taking the proverbial with pricing, I would still just get them to do it all. Also a lot of sparkies won't sign off on "home" installs.

Depending on the unit you are going for most of them are £500 minimum so your unlikely to save yourself that much doing it yourself.

Self installs can end up causing you more issues when it comes to the sign off/certification etc if not done correctly.

Almost certain you can not have anything else on the same cable (6mm armoured) as I suggest it to my installer and he said no.

Don't forget you may need earthing rods etc with the install as well.

Honestly - just pay for it to be done properly. I was around £520 after OLEV grant but then got another £300 off for Scottish grant as well. So cost me £220 for a full 6mm armoured cable install/earth rod/Rolec unit.
 
Thanks for that. I’m still waiting on a few quotes to come back. To be fair i might just stick with charging via the 3 pin plug, i was hoping to pay not much more than £500 for the lot after the grant.

I may just keep an eye out for a used pod point, they dont need a earth rod, so would be a viable option, having spoken to the guy that did my consumer unit the final hook up and certification will be £200, pod points go for £150 to £200 on the bay, which would leave me £100 ish for materials. One of the main reasons why im reluctant to go down the OLEV route, is that, we are planning to move in the next year or 2, so it would be quite a sum down the drain. Plus it pees me off when companies take the michael with govt funded things such as this :p
 
Tinders said:
Thanks for that. I’m still waiting on a few quotes to come back. To be fair i might just stick with charging via the 3 pin plug, i was hoping to pay not much more than £500 for the lot after the grant.

I may just keep an eye out for a used pod point, they dont need a earth rod, so would be a viable option, having spoken to the guy that did my consumer unit the final hook up and certification will be £200, pod points go for £150 to £200 on the bay, which would leave me £100 ish for materials. One of the main reasons why im reluctant to go down the OLEV route, is that, we are planning to move in the next year or 2, so it would be quite a sum down the drain. Plus it pees me off when companies take the michael with govt funded things such as this :p
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yeah - my quote was £1020 for the unit plus fitting which in itself was ridiculous.

However £800 off thanks to OLEV and Scottish Grant made it only £220 to me but they were taking the mickey putting £1020 on the quote.
 
The circuit for the charge point is supposed to be dedicated to EVSE, there are ways round it, you could take a submain out to to an outside board and supply both from that as long as you had enough capacity, but then you'd need to have space to mount a weatherproof distribution board, or a suitable cabinet, etc. You could run an SWA with enough cores for two circuits, but that would probably get messy in this situation, with the extra work to install a box and containment to branch it at the far end. To be quite honest, the easiest way would probably be to pull two SWAs in, no more hassle if being done at the same time.

Make sure that the separate consumer unit has at least two ways, and I'd go for a wylex main switch board, with two of the miniture RCBOs they do as they are RCD type A and break the neutral. (For EVSE the circuit needs individual RCD protection, minimum of type A, and must break the neutral)

PME earthing (which your house very likely has) is generally not allowed for EVSE unless some extra requirements are met , although we are seeing some of the newer chargers include devices which meet the extra requirements, its by no means all, and you'd have to pick based on this if you needed it. The other way is to drop the PME earth and use a local electrode, but you have to be careful with this, that nothing connected to the PME earth is within arms reach of the vehicle when parked up, so if your socket is adjacent then its something that you've got to be aware of, but not a problem, you simply include the adjacent socket on the same earth electrode.

Happy to help further, but may need some photos / rough sketches of what you are planning
 
Adam_151 said:
The circuit for the charge point is supposed to be dedicated to EVSE, there are ways round it, you could take a submain out to to an outside board and supply both from that as long as you had enough capacity, but then you'd need to have space to mount a weatherproof distribution board, or a suitable cabinet, etc. You could run an SWA with enough cores for two circuits, but that would probably get messy in this situation, with the extra work to install a box and containment to branch it at the far end. To be quite honest, the easiest way would probably be to pull two SWAs in, no more hassle if being done at the same time.
Click to expand...

Hmmm i'll drop another SWA in, I only need 4mm as it it will only ever have a jetwash or led light on it. I could get away with a 4mm,might look a bit odd, but they are easier to bend lol. cost is negligable to be fair.

Make sure that the separate consumer unit has at least two ways, and I'd go for a wylex main switch board, with two of the miniture RCBOs they do as they are RCD type A and break the neutral. (For EVSE the circuit needs individual RCD protection, minimum of type A, and must break the neutral)

PME earthing (which your house very likely has) is generally not allowed for EVSE unless some extra requirements are met , although we are seeing some of the newer chargers include devices which meet the extra requirements, its by no means all, and you'd have to pick based on this if you needed it. The other way is to drop the PME earth and use a local electrode, but you have to be careful with this, that nothing connected to the PME earth is within arms reach of the vehicle when parked up, so if your socket is adjacent then its something that you've got to be aware of, but not a problem, you simply include the adjacent socket on the same earth electrode.
Click to expand...

Funnily enough, its actually wylex mini RCBO's ive got to put in! In terms of the earth rod, some of the more recent pod points dont need a rod, you can connect them to PME systems as they have the internal monitoring. Some of the more expensive Zappi's and EO units have the same levels of monitoring built in aswell.

Thanks for the advise tho, its confirmed what i was thinking.
 
booyaka said:
yeah - my quote was £1020 for the unit plus fitting which in itself was ridiculous.

However £800 off thanks to OLEV and Scottish Grant made it only £220 to me but they were taking the mickey putting £1020 on the quote.
Click to expand...

I'd happily pay that lol, the olev grant is only 350 now sadly :(
 
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