Home Charger 2022

[Infiniteey]

Any concensous on the "best" budget home charger at the current time?

I'm usually quite good at doing my own research on all things technology and cars, but it seems like a minefield as new ones are coming out all the time with new tech and specs, etc.

Looking for a cheapish one under £550 with install, and taking into account the OZEV grant which ends early next year.

Current got my eye the Ohme Home Pro £550 as it's got a cool screen that does something.

 

[Housey]

I need some guidance on these as I have to come up with some rules for residents using them on communal electric sources

 

[GinG]

Whilst not 'budget' and over budget by around £100 have a look at Hypervolt.

UK designed and manufactured with probably the best customer service to back it up.

The app is still work in progress but is constantly being improved.

I'd deffinately say it's worth paying that little bit more for a quality product.

https://hypervolt.co.uk/

 

[Daaaavvveee]

Any concensous on the "best" budget home charger at the current time?

I'm usually quite good at doing my own research on all things technology and cars, but it seems like a minefield as new ones are coming out all the time with new tech and specs, etc.

Looking for a cheapish one under £550 with install, and taking into account the OZEV grant which ends early next year.

Current got my eye the Ohme Home Pro £550 as it's got a cool screen that does something.

I have the Ohme, its fine, charges on a schedule, had no issues with it. Think I paid around £650

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Podpoint isn't bad as a budget either, recent app with timed charging control etc and a revise wallunit design has just come out.

Also today article:
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/news/...ectric-car-chargers-driver-power-results-2021

 

[peige]

I've both a Podpoint and a SyncEV unit, one at home and one at work. The Podpoint has just done it job from day one, its tethered and app is nice with scheduling to take advantage of low overnight rates, it just works. It cost me £600 back in June.

The syncEV unit has taken a while to get right but now it seems with software and firmware updates its become just as good and its a much smaller unit although just a socket. Can't say exactly what these cost as we brought two of them and its on the business voucher thing connected via a longer than standard length of cable.

For home i'd go podpoint again to be honest but the SyncEV unit is good if you want untethered.

 

[Demon]

Hypervolt here, £550 installed, the initial blanket quote was £700, but when the sparky came out to quote properly, the price dropped, I have a nice easy install so fair play for being honest and reducing the quote.

The app is nice and the way the cable sits around the unit is quite neat.. the biggest issue with chargers outside IMO is keeping things looking neat.

 

[paradigm]

I’ve got a Zappi on the wall, and an Ohme granny lead. The Ohme app is nicer and more useful to be honest, wish I’d gone for an Ohme wallbox. Not that the Zappi is a bad EVSE, and it’ll make a lot more sense once we have PVs on the roof.

 

[Richie]

I've got an awkward run if I get a charger at home. The meter and consumer unit is in the middle of the house under the stairs... Only way I can see it working is popping it out the bottom of the stairs, along the "hall" {about 3 feet} and out the wall behind the front door. Then under the slabs at the front door and pinned along the wall.

Not sure how else I'd get it done.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Easee Home Charger

You can install up to 101 on a single feed and they do smart loading, so perfect if you’ve got two cars and one is at 30% and another at 75% as it’ll prioritise the one with the higher draw.

They’re also lockable by RFID tag and can be tethered / untethered as you see fit by locking the cable in.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Over 100! Perfect for the usual home installation.

They do look clever how they manage distribution on a limited capacity feed.

 

[paradigm]

I've got an awkward run if I get a charger at home. The meter and consumer unit is in the middle of the house under the stairs... Only way I can see it working is popping it out the bottom of the stairs, along the "hall" {about 3 feet} and out the wall behind the front door. Then under the slabs at the front door and pinned along the wall.

Not sure how else I'd get it done.

The cable run is what dictated where I had the charger installed. I really wanted it in the middle of the front wall of the house, so that it was sat between the two cars, however that would have involved a 10-15m cable run (and it's not exactly a small cable either) visible on the outside of the house for at least half of the run (the other half fortunately would be in the garage). In the end I placed the charger on the garage wall instead, this cut the cable run down to <2m, none of which is on the outside of the house (straight through the back of the EVSE and into the wall), It does mean that charging the car furthest from the garage is only just doable with the tethered lead, and you have to think about which way you are parking the car. 1st world problems I know, but I'd rather the tactical parking than 5-6m of visible thick cable pinned to the brickwork!

 

[Richie]

The cable outside wouldn't bother me as it can go under the ridge or, if I wanted it hidden, under the slab path to the corner of the house.

How I'm getting it from under the stairs is a whole other issue

I could always try and hide it behind the profile skirting on the hall - the stuff you can buy that has the trunking type thing built in

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Pull the skirting off and channel behind. There always a way

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The grant is going away in March so you really need to chose and get it booked NOW if you are eligible.

I had a hypervolt installed yesterday, the main reason for picking it was the aesthetic, specifically how it neatly deals with the tethered cable which was a must for me.

The app is fine and has all the functionality you would need. Tracks power usage and cost, can lock the charger, scheduling (though the car does this just as well) and supports solar if that’s important to you. It can also ramp down the charger if your power draw it approaching what your main fuse can take.

That said there are loads of chargers out there these days, many have very similar functionality and a lot of the time it mains comes down to how it looks against the wider property or just price and availability.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Over 100! Perfect for the usual home installation.

They do look clever how they manage distribution on a limited capacity feed.

I think this is where everyone else is making a shortsighted decision.

Sure, there are great chargers out there that are geared for one vehicle but the choice for expansion if you go for an Andersen or Hypervolt is zero.

It’s likely our household will see more than one EV in the next 18 months so I went with the Easee and fitted two of them on a dedicated circuit.

I’ve also got family that have these installed in Norway (where Easee are based) and they’ve held up in the winters with extreme cold, snow etc. If they can survive that, then the Welsh weather is a walk in the park.

They’re useful in a commercial application too with the RFID lock feature and expansion off a single feed.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Good info. I’ll deffo bare that in mind when turn my house into a commercial building and move it to Norway.

The real expansion I’ll miss with Ohme is if I ever get solar, will have to rethink.

you do know hypervolt and Andersen both do load balancing yeah? Just maybe not ideal for a daisy chain installation.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Expandability is a good option to have but I’m not too worried about it if I’m honest. For the vast majority of normal two car households a single charger will meet your needs.

It’s my recommendation to buy a charger based on the functionality you actually need now and not what you might or might not want in the future.

EVs and chargers have been around for awhile but in reality they are still in their relative infancy so spending a load of money investing in an ecosystem which may have moved on may not be the best use of money. The market will still very much evolving and experiencing huge growth. New players are entering the market all the time and the electrical regulations are ever evolving.

For example nothing* on the market you can actually deploy yourself currently supports bi-directional charging (aka turning your car into battery storage your house can use). That is a properly game changing feature that everyone will want in the future.

*I’m well aware you can have this functionality on a Leaf but it’s very much a limited trial and tech is otherwise obsolete at this point as Chademo doesn’t have a future in Europe.

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Indeed CHAdeMo preferred currently for V2G as not as difficult to manage as CCS protocol and main benefit is that its providing DC to the house in a similar fashion to battery storage and the inverter rectifier does the rest. Wallbox Quasar seems to be the go to EVSE for that.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Good info. I’ll deffo bare that in mind when turn my house into a commercial building and move it to Norway.

The real expansion I’ll miss with Ohme is if I ever get solar, will have to rethink.

you do know hypervolt and Andersen both do load balancing yeah? Just maybe not ideal for a daisy chain installation.

You’re missing the point entirely.

One cable from the consumer unit will feed up to 100 chargers. The Andersen or Hypervolt both need additional hardware (you need to order the load balancer up front for the Andersen etc) and each additional charger would require an additional run from the unit, with its own RCD etc. double the cost.

The weather proofing was an attempt to show that I know people that can verify it’s performance in extreme weather.

I’ll shut up then