EV general discussion

We have finally joined the EV world, albeit on the cheaper side (MG ZS EV Trophy Long Range). The plan was for it to replace the wife’s car as she mainly does shorter journeys and I would charge it at work once a week as I get free charging.

After having it for a month though I would happily trade my car in for a second EV with the amount we have saved on fuel and how smooth it is to drive compared to my manual Kia. She isn't keen on the idea though ... yet! The MG has become the car we use for 90% of our miles now.

Does anyone have an Ohme Home Pro? How has the reliability been? We had ours installed last month and it worked when they tested it. I left the car plugged in overnight and it didn't charge, turns out that it did a firmware update during the night and bricked itself! Finally getting it replaced next week but fear the same will happen again.
 
I moved to electric in Feb this year, had a charger installed in March and have never looked back. Until now….

Recently bought a property, I’m unable to have a EV charger installed at present due to the electrical supply being looped. Having to get an electrician to apply for this to be changed which can be refused.

It’s turning into a stressful situation because the granny charger just isn’t suitable and public charging is expensive (£33 for 100 miles). In hindsight I now know to look at the electric supply to any property but seems far from ideal to have these situations.
 
Tr1p said:
I moved to electric in Feb this year, had a charger installed in March and have never looked back. Until now….

Recently bought a property, I’m unable to have a EV charger installed at present due to the electrical supply being looped. Having to get an electrician to apply for this to be changed which can be refused.

It’s turning into a stressful situation because the granny charger just isn’t suitable and public charging is expensive (£33 for 100 miles). In hindsight I now know to look at the electric supply to any property but seems far from ideal to have these situations.
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Could you explain a bit more on why they can’t install the charger please?


Is this the issue?

What does that thing below the meter look like in your case?
 
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(I am no electrician) But I thought you could install a charge point on a looped supply albeit it may need to be limited. it's not all bad. if your max connection is only 16A will mean you get a hell of a lot more cheap charging slots from octopus!

once your supply is unlooped you can open the taps up.

I thought they were obliged to offer to unloop you for free tho that said it could mean disruption for you or your neighbour
 
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Tr1p said:
I moved to electric in Feb this year, had a charger installed in March and have never looked back. Until now….

Recently bought a property, I’m unable to have a EV charger installed at present due to the electrical supply being looped. Having to get an electrician to apply for this to be changed which can be refused.

It’s turning into a stressful situation because the granny charger just isn’t suitable and public charging is expensive (£33 for 100 miles). In hindsight I now know to look at the electric supply to any property but seems far from ideal to have these situations.
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As stated above you could get a charger fitted and have it limited. Would be way better than a granny charger.

Is there no Tesla or Ionity public charging by you? My local Tesla SC is 0.45 a unit off peak.
 
Gregry254 said:
We have finally joined the EV world, albeit on the cheaper side (MG ZS EV Trophy Long Range). The plan was for it to replace the wife’s car as she mainly does shorter journeys and I would charge it at work once a week as I get free charging.

After having it for a month though I would happily trade my car in for a second EV with the amount we have saved on fuel and how smooth it is to drive compared to my manual Kia. She isn't keen on the idea though ... yet! The MG has become the car we use for 90% of our miles now.

Does anyone have an Ohme Home Pro? How has the reliability been? We had ours installed last month and it worked when they tested it. I left the car plugged in overnight and it didn't charge, turns out that it did a firmware update during the night and bricked itself! Finally getting it replaced next week but fear the same will happen again.
Click to expand...
I don't have the Ohme Home Pro, just the original Ohme. Reliability has been good other than software issues but sometimes that's been because BMW have updated their API. I reported an issue to Ohme(software issue) and they fixed it fairly quickly, let me know they had done so and asked me to test it. So was quite impressed with their support.
While the hardware has been reliable, the screen on mine is no longer visible, tiny that it is anyway. Downside to being exposed on a South facing wall I suppose but really should have been built with the in mind. There's not much to see anyway on the original Ohme charger and I think the issue is the plastic used for the case which covers the screen and has deteriorated in the sun.
I received an email recently stating the firmware will be updated. First time I have received an email for that. So must be a big update. Fingers crossed it still works after!
I doubt you'll have the same issue again.
 
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pc-guy said:
Could you explain a bit more on why they can’t install the charger please?


Is this the issue?

What does that thing below the meter look like in your case?
Click to expand...
The original electrician stated they’re unable to install a charger on a looped supply due to the 32A being too much of a demand across all the properties.

I think it could also be a problem because my main fuse is 60A.

Looking at it, I’m the first property in a row of 5 that are all looped together. After speaking with National Grid they stated they can either grant the unlooping, decline to do it or let me have a charger installed but limited to 16A. It’s just all a bit up in the air, after being so used to not even having to think about charging and range I’m suddenly at the other end of the scale.

Tesla chargers, the closest to me is 15 miles away which isn’t really viable. Especially not to do during off peak hours.
 
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Ionity an option? It’s 0.43p with the passport.

I’d have the charger installed at 16a for now tbh. 3.2kw charging is still usable, depends on your daily/weekly mileage I guess.
 
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On another note, at what temps do you see range starting to decline? It’s been 8c here and I’m still getting 3.8 on a motorway run.
 
Tinders said:
Ionity an option? It’s 0.43p with the passport.

I’d have the charger installed at 16a for now tbh. 3.2kw charging is still usable, depends on your daily/weekly mileage I guess.
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Unfortunately Ionity is in exactly the same place as the Tesla chargers.

That’s probably what I’ll be leaning towards, hoping they allow me in the long run and then go up to the full speed. I usually charge twice a week so not massive mileage, I’ll have to adopt the ‘always on charge’ mentality.

I did a fair bit of research prior to going electric and I can’t remember this problem being mentioned at all, everyone just mentions having a home charger and getting off peak cheap rates but not the actual issue of getting a charger in the first place.
 
Can’t you 3pin for most the time the. Just top up when need It’s not even the cost that’s an issue now, you got to sit in a field waiting for the car to charge too.
 
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Simon said:
Can’t you 3pin for most the time the. Just top up when need It’s not even the cost that’s an issue now, you got to sit in a field waiting for the car to charge too.
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That’s what I’ve been doing, 5-7 miles an hour added is painful though. I also don’t like the heat generated by the plug.

Im just moaning about the situation, there is only so much coffee you can drink while you wait for it to charge.
 
Tr1p said:
The original electrician stated they’re unable to install a charger on a looped supply due to the 32A being too much of a demand across all the properties.

I think it could also be a problem because my main fuse is 60A.

Looking at it, I’m the first property in a row of 5 that are all looped together. After speaking with National Grid they stated they can either grant the unlooping, decline to do it or let me have a charger installed but limited to 16A. It’s just all a bit up in the air, after being so used to not even having to think about charging and range I’m suddenly at the other end of the scale.

Tesla chargers, the closest to me is 15 miles away which isn’t really viable. Especially not to do during off peak hours.
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You able to share a photo of your supply fuse?

My property has 60A fuse also. But it isn’t looped or at least it wasn’t mentioned as a problem.

The electrician did mention something about the fuse only being 60A but he installed the EV charger with its own consumer unit direct to the supply fuse and clamped the house wire so it is load sensing.

Never had issue with charging tho. The biggest load is kettle and oven going at the same time. but that is likely to be 5kw at most still a lot of headroom over 60A
 
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The issue will be its 5 properties being looped which is not super common 2 or 3 is more normal. IIRC is not if they will un-loop you or not but its more about when, they'll have to do it eventually regardless. 5 Properties is a huge project so its going to take some time. IIRC your neighbours can't refuse the work but they can be obstructive and slow it down.

I would install at 16A but on the usual 6mm/40A breaker and uncork once un-looping is complete. Its just a matter of flipping a switch in the installer configuration menu on most chargers, just make sure who ever does it agrees to come back and do it or leaves you the password.
 
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Tinders said:
On another note, at what temps do you see range starting to decline? It’s been 8c here and I’m still getting 3.8 on a motorway run.
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I am down on average maybe 0.1mile/kWh onmy car in mixed driving ..... nothing like 3.8 tho, I am at 3.0 - 3.2.
on my weekend 130 mile jaunt.mosly.dual.carrageway an motorway i finished at 2.9m/kwh

in cold wet weather that will come down to 2.5mile/KW on a motorway jaunt.
 
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pc-guy said:
2IpdLt2.md.jpg
You able to share a photo of your supply fuse?

My property has 60A fuse also. But it isn’t looped or at least it wasn’t mentioned as a problem.

The electrician did mention something about the fuse only being 60A but he installed the EV charger with its own consumer unit direct to the supply fuse and clamped the house wire so it is load sensing.

Never had issue with charging tho. The biggest load is kettle and oven going at the same time. but that is likely to be 5kw at most still a lot of headroom over 60A
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2Ipdswl.md.jpg


This is the fuse and meter at the property.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
The issue will be its 5 properties being looped which is not super common 2 or 3 is more normal. IIRC is not if they will un-loop you or not but its more about when, they'll have to do it eventually regardless. 5 Properties is a huge project so its going to take some time. IIRC your neighbours can't refuse the work but they can be obstructive and slow it down.

I would install at 16A but on the usual 6mm/40A breaker and uncork once un-looping is complete. Its just a matter of flipping a switch in the installer configuration menu on most chargers, just make sure who ever does it agrees to come back and do it or leaves you the password.
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Thanks for the reply, useful and will take note especially of the last bit.
 
I am sitting at pretty decent 4.1mi/kwh from the cars dash. That’s with 19k on the clock now. But recent drives have been yielding 3.3-3.5mi/kwh.

Dropping temp is definitely eating into range and efficiency. Tho this year it seems to get cold super early. House Heating was on early-mid October.
 
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