EV general discussion

Looking to install a charger at home and we had hoped it could be ran from a CU in the garage but we've been told it has to come from the meter (~20m away from where we want to install the meter) and needs a data cable running too for the adaptive fuse.

The installers preferred option is to run 2 separate cables (6mm SWA 3 core & a cat5) but as they are being ran along the wall I wanted to see if I could go with a single cable option. I spotted you can get a cable that does both but are there any downsides to this as the installer said their preferred option is separate cables.
 
The only downside as far as I can see is cost and availability of the combined cable. It’s more expensive than a standard SWA and CAT5e cable. That said you probably won’t see the data cable anyway as the SWA is far bigger and will hide it.

Is the CU in the garage the only CU or is it a sub CU running off the main CU elsewhere?
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
The only downside as far as I can see is cost and availability of the combined cable. It’s more expensive than a standard SWA and CAT5e cable.

Is the CU in the garage the only CU or is it a sub CU running off the main CU elsewhere?
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There are 2 CU in the porch and then 1 in the garage. It's a sub-CU from one in the porch. It's fused to 32A which is why I had hoped the charger could be installed directly from the garage CU but apparently not.

I've seen EV-ULTRA 6mm SWA Power + Data but as you say, it's not cheap and for 20m it's nearly £200 which is 3-4x the price of standard 6mm (from my quick googling).

Our other option is to trench 2 separate cables but saving £150 on the cost of the cable is going to be insignificant compared to trenching it as we would need to remove flagstones, dig down then redo the flags which at a guess would be 1-2 days work for a labourer.
 
Yeh that hasn’t really got a big enough supply as it will have no capacity to run the garage on top of the charger. Yes you could re-rate the charger or set the adaptive fuse on the garage supply but neither are ideal really and not how they are meant to be designed.

I assume there is no scope to upgrade that cable running the garage?

It sounds like the outdoor route is probably the easiest without having to do some more invasive work. EV ultra will give you a cleaner look but it comes at a price.
 
b0rn2sk8 said:
Yeh that hasn’t really got a big enough supply as it will have no capacity to run the garage on top of the charger. Yes you could re-rate the charger or set the adaptive fuse on the garage supply but neither are ideal really and not how they are meant to be designed.

I assume there is no scope to upgrade that cable running the garage?

It sounds like the outdoor route is probably the easiest without having to do some more invasive work. EV ultra will give you a cleaner look but it comes at a price.
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Yeah upgrading the cable running to the garage would not be a quick thing to do as it's the opposite side of the house! I think we're leaning towards running the cable outside below the front door on the porch as it would only be visible either side of the front door which we could hide a bit with a plant pot either side! Need to figure out how bendable the EV-ULTRA cable is as there are 3 90° bends.
 
No, his 100% correct. It’s stupid and has only been made because we have this existing thing that works that way.

There is no also benefit for control over wet/snowy roads, if anything it makes it more difficult and complex.

You can already limit torque and power with your right foot in a standard EV. If you are relying on traction control, you are doing it wrong. Likewise traction control in an EV is considerably sharper because of the drivetrain.
 
So it looks like even though I started an order on 16th Jan for a charger install, it won't be done in time for the end of March. The joys of taking a week to respond to each email I send when they ask questions they could've asked all at once.

Were the prices before the grant the same as what they are now minus the grant? Or were they actually cheaper?
 
tsinc80697 said:
So it looks like even though I started an order on 16th Jan for a charger install, it won't be done in time for the end of March. The joys of taking a week to respond to each email I send when they ask questions they could've asked all at once.

Were the prices before the grant the same as what they are now minus the grant? Or were they actually cheaper?
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Just had a quick look at Ohme. I paid £670 for one which I thought was excessive but it's now starting from £849, so yes, it was cheaper.
 
DarrenM343 said:
Just had a quick look at Ohme. I paid £670 for one which I thought was excessive but it's now starting from £849, so yes, it was cheaper.
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Thought so. I wonder if any of them will drop the prices back down or just blame Brexit/Russia etc

Is anyone using a Qubev? The installer didn't want to install a 32A from the sub consumer unit in the garage but I'm wondering if we could get away with 20A or 25A which would provide 62-78% of what the 32A charger would do without the issue of potentially tripping the electrics.
 
tsinc80697 said:
Thought so. I wonder if any of them will drop the prices back down or just blame Brexit/Russia etc

Is anyone using a Qubev? The installer didn't want to install a 32A from the sub consumer unit in the garage but I'm wondering if we could get away with 20A or 25A which would provide 62-78% of what the 32A charger would do without the issue of potentially tripping the electrics.
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I would suggest just doing it properly once, compromising the install now is just asking for problems later.

The chances are that tariffs like octopus go or intelligent will be come the norm or even mandatory and you’ll have to be able to shove as much electric into the car in the cheap period as possible. Just because you might not need the full 32a today, you might need it tomorrow.
 
additional phev/ice constraints in europe which should follow through on UK car specs
ice/phev taxes in france/de
This factors in that, from 2023, the German state will only subsidise electrically-chargeable vehicles (EVs) with a positive effect on climate protection, which takes into account electric driving range. <- *can't see what this means practically ?*
....
In addition to ongoing supply challenges, and the reduction in incentives for EVs since 1 July 2021, new regulations came into effect in France on 1 January. The malus (penalty) now applies to all cars emitting more than 128g CO2/km and for vehicles weighing more than 1.8 tonnes, including a 75kg allowance for the driver, a weight tax is calculated at a rate of €10 for every excess kilogramme. Battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and hybrids are excluded because of the extra weight of their batteries, on the condition that they have an electric-driving range of at least 50km. The maximum tax liability is limited to €40,000, even if the combined penalty and weight tax exceed this amount. This means that list prices of many new cars have artificially increased, pulling demand forward from January into the end of 2021.
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germany modifying phev taxes too demanding more phev range
As you move higher up the range, it gets worse. For example, the X5 will be €2,000 pricier, which is particularly bad because the xDrive45e no longer qualifies for the BAFA incentive. Therefore, the environmental bonus of €3,000 from the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control won’t be applicable anymore.
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Had the absolute joy of getting a Honda Jazz Hybrid as a courtesy car while our car is in for repairs. What an absolute waste of time that car is. A 20k+ car with an interior that looks older than the 2010 1.3L we had years ago. I do 100 miles per day. Mainly A and B roads with zero traffic due to the times I work so I have no start stopping 40-60mph. 52.5mpg I was getting. My 2010 Jazz got me as near as dammit to 50mpg on the same journey and was a far cheaper car and still retained the boot space.

So yeah, it will be full electric for me or nothing now.
 
IronSpider said:
Had the absolute joy of getting a Honda Jazz Hybrid as a courtesy car while our car is in for repairs. What an absolute waste of time that car is. A 20k+ car with an interior that looks older than the 2010 1.3L we had years ago. I do 100 miles per day. Mainly A and B roads with zero traffic due to the times I work so I have no start stopping 40-60mph. 52.5mpg I was getting. My 2010 Jazz got me as near as dammit to 50mpg on the same journey and was a far cheaper car and still retained the boot space.

So yeah, it will be full electric for me or nothing now.
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My view on the Honda Jazz
  • They are not designed as 100 mile dailies - it’s more of a 5 mile daily city car.
  • Honda cars have always been on the costly side, but £20k is about right as prices have moved on since 2010.
  • For sure, a Jazz is better suited to being a full EV rather than a hybrid, but then it would cost more.
 
Gone electric on one car. We have a Kia E-Niro on order through the wifes work (NHS). That should come at the end of May - £204 p/m on a salary sacrifice scheme, obviously insurance, servicing etc all included and 12k miles per year.

Currently 'hiring' a Renault Zoe through ONTO. That is quite a bit more, £389 per month plus I pay another £80 for 500 more miles per month. Even so, our weekly average commute between the wife and I is about 350 miles. We have had the Zoe for 6 weeks now and I have spent a total of £2.50 on charging it in that time. In 6 weeks we have saved around £400 in diesel plus the insurance etc.

For what it is worth I use the Zoe as my daily commuting car. I do about 70 miles per day. I get 2 days out of it before I need to charge it. Charge it overnight at my local Tesco on a Pod Point - costs nothing, then pick it up in the morning.
 
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