EV general discussion

[b0rn2sk8]

on speakev forum someone had a second charger fitted via octopus?
The dno were not happy and wanted him to remove it, or pay £6k to upgrade to 3 phase.
I'll try and find the link but I would double check before having a second one fitted.

If the link to another form isn't permitted, mods please remove it. Second charger

It's titled DNO want me to remove a second charger, if the link is removed.

Remove the charger and put a commando socket on there, problem solved, no DNO notification required.

You wouldn’t even need to sell your wall box, just make up a tail with a commando plug and hay presto it’s a portable charger. Yes the latter is a propped bodge.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Lol, they gonna make me remove my 10kW shower as well.

Diversity is a thing.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I read the thread and in fairness it wasn’t just 2 EV chargers. It was 2 EV chargers and solar and battery storage of an unknown size. A 10kw inverter would put you over the 100A limit.

With a single EV charger, battery and heat pump going plus the usual overnight loads like appliances, my overnight loads regularly exceeds 18kw spikes and 16kw sustained for some time.

There is no way I would run a second EV chargers at full chat, even a 16A charger will push me right up to the 100A fuse limit, there is no way a DNO would permit that.

 

[sovietspybob]

8000 miles into my EV ownership (Since January this year) and having paid £0 in any kind of electricity or fuel really is a huge win. Cant understand what all the fuss about range is. Never had any issues.

I think it depends on your usage and where you live?

Day to day i'd be ok but if we wanted to go abroad on holiday and fly then it'd be a bit of a pain without a car with decent range, the airport is 100 miles of motorway/dual carriageway each direction so i'd need at least 200 miles real world motorway range as the last thing you want is on the rush to the airport is to stop to charge and the same on the way back if its late and you've got young kids with you.

 

[tom_e]

I read the thread and in fairness it wasn’t just 2 EV chargers. It was 2 EV chargers and solar and battery storage of an unknown size. A 10kw inverter would put you over the 100A limit.

With a single EV charger, battery and heat pump going plus the usual overnight loads like appliances, my overnight loads regularly exceeds 18kw spikes and 16kw sustained for some time.

There is no way I would run a second EV chargers at full chat, even a 16A charger will push me right up to the 100A fuse limit, there is no way a DNO would permit that.

To be fair they're not even disputing that are they? They had the 2nd installed in good faith that octopus did their job. The main point was octopus should be accountable for not notifying of the first install and therefore he just wants it to be set right whether that be a refund on the second install/them paying for the 3 phase upgrade.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

I think it depends on your usage and where you live?

Day to day i'd be ok but if we wanted to go abroad on holiday and fly then it'd be a bit of a pain without a car with decent range, the airport is 100 miles of motorway/dual carriageway each direction so i'd need at least 200 miles real world motorway range as the last thing you want is on the rush to the airport is to stop to charge and the same on the way back if its late and you've got young kids with you.

You dont realise how much easier that choice is than having to fill a car week to week on a commute in all weathers until youve tried it. ANd thats DRIVING on a European holiday let alone a short stop for an annual trip to the airport or whatever.

 

[Haggisman]

Someone with an EV had a bit of fun and games and a touch of range anxiety due to unreliability of access to or existence of local chargers in a rural part of Wales - nothing too bad but another day it might have gone wrong.

Maybe 5-6 years ago, but I've driven through/around rural Wales several times over the past few years and never had an issue finding a charger. Yes it takes a little more planning, but unless you do something stupid like get down to 1-2% in the middle of nowhere without considering where you're going to charge, then you'll be fine in any modern EV (e.g. with 200+ miles).

 

[tom_e]

Maybe 5-6 years ago, but I've driven through/around rural Wales several times over the past few years and never had an issue finding a charger. Yes it takes a little more planning, but unless you do something stupid like get down to 1-2% in the middle of nowhere without considering where you're going to charge, then you'll be fine in any modern EV (e.g. with 200+ miles).

I don't know how common it is but when I switched my insurance policy from ICE to electric they also added ran out of charge in the middle of no where and need a boost cover. So even if you really want to play charger roulette it's still not the end of the world.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

I wouldn’t be calling my car insurance to claim that for them to hike the premiums next year.

At least with the AA (or any breakdown provider) you don’t have to declare how many times you used it when you sign up to the RAC the following year.

I’m guessing the car insurance companies are banking on you not using that cover.

 

[tom_e]

I wouldn’t be calling my car insurance to claim that for them to hike the premiums next year.

At least with the AA (or any breakdown provider) you don’t have to declare how many times you used it when you sign up to the RAC the following year.

I’m guessing the car insurance companies are banking on you not using that cover.

It's just an AA service, same as using included breakdown.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Do you have a breakdown cover with them and it’s being added to that rather than your actual car insurance?

 

[Penfold101]

Do you have a breakdown cover with them and it’s being added to that rather than your actual car insurance?

With Admiral it’s specifically part of my car insurance policy:

Electric Car Insurance - EV Insurance Quotes - Admiral

Protect your electric or hybrid car with our electric car insurance. Includes 24-hour emergency helpline, battery and charging cable cover. Get a quote today!

www.admiral.com

 

[tom_e]

With Admiral it’s specifically part of my car insurance policy:

Electric Car Insurance - EV Insurance Quotes - Admiral

Protect your electric or hybrid car with our electric car insurance. Includes 24-hour emergency helpline, battery and charging cable cover. Get a quote today!

www.admiral.com

Yep that's the one. When you check the terms it's just an AA service so you call them and they sort you out the same as if you'd added break down cover to you policy.

 

[unwashed potato!]

Hoping for some advice. Just bought a plug in hybrid. It has a separate small battery for full eV driving. The battery is only 30 miles, but that covers almost everything the car will mainly be used for, right now at least. The issue we are having is deciding how to charge the eV part.

Because the battery is so small, paying out for a charging station on the drive seems excessive. Though are these charging points future proof? So the next vehicle we have (which will almost def be fully electric) will be able to also use this charging station?

We also looked at swapping tariffs.currebtly with octopus we pay 24.3p per unit, but swapping to their go option, at night it drops to 8.5p, but the day jumps to 28p, which is when we do most of our usage. Seems silly to swap given the battery is small and any saving is probably more than lost due to paying more for say usage.

Charging in towns seems at least 50p per usage! Was surprised at this. Some places even 80p. Are there secret places people go for small cheap/free charges any more? I figured there werr free/low cost slow charging options at supermarkets that want your business but don't want to give you a full charge of a large battery, but for ours it would be enough.

 

[Armageus]

The issue we are having is deciding how to charge the eV part.

Because the battery is so small, paying out for a charging station on the drive seems excessive. Though are these charging points future proof? So the next vehicle we have (which will almost def be fully electric) will be able to also use this charging station?

Can't you charge it via a 3 Pin plug Granny Charger?

 

[unwashed potato!]

Can't you charge it via a 3 Pin plug Granny Charger?

Yep, but then it's 24.3p per unit. Not good, it bad.

And awkward having to run a cable out the window every 5 days

 

[Simon]

Well if you want cheap electric you need to pay a grand as you already said

You can go on a EV tariff without a charger anyway

24.3p/kWh -losses. is still cheaper than liquid fuel

 

[lordrobs]

Yep, but then it's 24.3p per unit. Not good, it bad.

And awkward having to run a cable out the window every 5 days

Why? Aside from the "intelligent" tariffs there is nothing stopping you from having an EV tariff while using a 3-pin charger.

I've had my plug in hybrid for 7 months, charged daily (sometimes twice daily) via a 3-pin charger and it works perfectly for me. I'm on Tomato's lifestyle plan, not the EV one as I worked out I only needed 5 hours of cheap rate to charge the car. Prior to that I was on Octopus Go.

I didn't add anything to my existing electricity setup, just ran a £120 3-Pin EVSE under the weatherstrip on my garage door and plugged into an existing socket. Total investment of £120 and I'm doing up to 35 miles a day at 2ppm. Happy days

 

[oweneades]

If you swap to the Go tariff (cheaper overnight for 5 hours - assuming not Intelligent Go) then the whole house will be able to utilise the cheaper rate (load shift).

Assuming you can schedule the charge in the PheV then you can trigger the charge in the cheap window. 5 hours @ 10a (~2kW) should fully charge the battery in this time.

Every now and again we top up our EV on its 3 Pin in the garage using the cheap overnight rate (schedule set in the car) as our Hypervolt won't reach the back of the car when its reversed into the garage (This is me being lazy and not turning it around so the Hypervolt will reach...)

 

[Rroff]

Maybe 5-6 years ago, but I've driven through/around rural Wales several times over the past few years and never had an issue finding a charger. Yes it takes a little more planning, but unless you do something stupid like get down to 1-2% in the middle of nowhere without considering where you're going to charge, then you'll be fine in any modern EV (e.g. with 200+ miles).

There was 3 chargers locally each ~4 miles away but 2 of them were just single chargers that were in high demand and the other wasn't locatable. In the end they combined a trip to nearest built up area ~11 miles away as they were starting to have range anxiety Vs trying more options without being certain they could charge there.