Mid-Terraced house EV charging options

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We have a similar situation where our house is backed off from the road in a corner of a street and without a driveway means our car is parked on the street a good 30-40m away from the edge of our front garden and its been on my mind how we would facilitate an EV should we need a new car.

The best I could come up with is potentially running a line overhead about 30m where the old telephone line comes into the house from the post on the street, and building the charging box onto that the post somehow. Theres probably something i've not really thought about tbh like how would you secure it so no one else used it and if its even possible to do that over a longish distance. Also not sure how the council would feel about it and how it would work without having designated parking spots on the street, but it could be one work around.
1. No way would the council approve that.
2. If someone is injured by your electric cable then you will be sued into oblivion.

Please don't try this.
 
Soldato
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Couldn't agree more (a first?).

All new built houses should have south facing roofs with a driveway.

The architecture needs to change entirely to something greener and future proof, instead of just cheap brick boxes. There is no innovation at all.

A lot of these new builds are probably going to have to be torn down in 30-40 years. Not great longevity for a house.
 
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Soldato
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We bought a sixties house with EV charging, a front garden, a drive and sold the EV charger back to the previous house owner because we did not see a use in our lifetimes for one.

The next owner can of course buy one again
 
Soldato
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Move house and make it someone else's (expensive) problem before its too late.

The above may not seem like a serious comment but it's serious. Houses with 'proper' driveways are already at a large premium over those that don't. Once people start fully factoring the realities of EV ownership and the cost of public charging and home charging into purchases prices then I can only see that gap widening unless something dramatic changes on the public charging front.

Home charging for 8k miles will cost you £160 a year, public charging the same 8k miles will cost anything from £1k to £1.7k at current prices. Now scale that over a 25 year mortgage.

Something is going to have to change on the public charging front, hopefully competition and time of use pricing will drive prices down but its never going to be as cheap as charging off your own fully. There are solutions for some properties but they are only geared up to bridge a small pavement, not 30m of someone else's land.
Maybe the thing that needs to change is the EVs are the solution for all so we'll remove the alternatives approach from the government.

As for building all houses with south facing rooves... Not sure how that would pan out. I picture some dystopian future where we all go home from our government issued work placements to our gable ended utopia with all the houses perfectly aligned in rows to sit with the family and consume our state issued nutrient capsule :p
 
Man of Honour
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Honestly you sound like you have a busy enough job and life that I really just wouldn't bother. There will no real financial savings I presume, its going to be a ton of hassle and compromises and it'll just end up being a limiting factor.

I get why you'd consider it, but honestly I would just stick with something hybrid/petrol and save yourself a lot of headaches.

This is coming from a tesla s owner and a 911. Electrics are a pain in the ass for people who actually do things with their lives.
This is an old thread, and that's what we did in. Bought a Corolla Estate hybrid, I was a bit wary of there being more to go wrong on a hybrid / new tech teething problems, but someone rightly pointed out that Toyota have been making hybrid engines for like 20 years so it's pretty refined now.
 
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Man of Honour
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Maybe the thing that needs to change is the EVs are the solution for all so we'll remove the alternatives approach from the government.

As for building all houses with south facing rooves... Not sure how that would pan out. I picture some dystopian future where we all go home from our government issued work placements to our gable ended utopia with all the houses perfectly aligned in rows to sit with the family and consume our state issued nutrient capsule :p
have you seen the houses they've built south side of the A47 by the Norwich Showground - they've chucked a couple of panels on the north side of the roof :rolleyes: - ie: https://maps.app.goo.gl/LoAbPD2DXwmL1t4s6
 
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Soldato
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Doesn't it just mean that you have to do something like install a pole as part of install cost depending on the location, getting the appropriate permissions along the way. Our neighbour powers their garage similarly with electric cable going from roof to roof across the garden, much like phone lines do. With it being detached private parking you can get grant to assist with that?

Obviously I don't have a clear picture of the layout of the property and am not an installer so can't comment with any real knowledge, I'd get someone in to survey the site and provide feedback.
I'd be surprised if thats legal unless its his own land. My stepfather had power installed to the garage but it had to be paid for with electric company who dug up the car park and made good after and presumably sorted out the legalities

If outside every terraced house was one of these, imagine how bad of a situation it is for anything using wheels or people running. The odd one or two, you can deal with, but it is a slipper slope to ruining pavements. Worse when it is dark.

ev-cablecover2-grande.png
Contractors do that all the time but its regarded as a temporary solution rather than a permanent fixture and they will have indemnity insurance in the event of some kind of accident/claim, do they?
 
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Associate
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This is an old thread, and that's what we did in. Bought a Corolla Estate hybrid, I was a bit wary of there being more to go wrong on a hybrid / new tech teething problems, but someone rightly pointed out that Toyota have been making hybrid engines for like 20 years so it's pretty refined now.

whoops I did not see the age of the thread! Not sure how a thread over a year old was top of the list but glad you got sorted in the end. :)
 
Soldato
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have you seen the houses they've built south side of the A47 by the Norwich Showground - they've chucked a couple of panels on the north side of the roof :rolleyes: - ie: https://maps.app.goo.gl/LoAbPD2DXwmL1t4s6
That doesn't surprise me. They are probably the 'affordable' housing tick box properties so they couldn't care less.

Some of the new housing around here is shocking. Houses plonked on top of each other at all angles. To be fair that seems to be a UK wide approach by the big name builders.

Our place isn't ideal from a plot point of view but at least we have some space that doesn't feel like the chimpanzee enclosure at the zoo.

With a hip roof ours isn't suited for current solar panels. I do hope that at some point they manage to create a solution that works on a triangular facet of a roof without A) looking rubbish and B) only ending up with a few panels and a load of wasted space.
 
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Soldato
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I'd be surprised if thats legal unless its his own land. My stepfather had power installed to the garage but it had to be paid for with electric company who dug up the car park and made good after and presumably sorted out the legalities


Contractors do that all the time but its regarded as a temporary solution rather than a permanent fixture and they will have indemnity insurance in the event of some kind of accident/claim, do they?

Yep temporary and I'd think they would need some sort of risk assessment and permit to do it. Also warning signs. You can't just go and do it and expect nothing to happen if the council notice.
 
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Soldato
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have you seen the houses they've built south side of the A47 by the Norwich Showground - they've chucked a couple of panels on the north side of the roof :rolleyes: - ie: https://maps.app.goo.gl/LoAbPD2DXwmL1t4s6


Solar panels on a north roof can be cost effective with current efficiencies. They don’t need direct sunlight to work. Shading is far less of an issue on modern panels now too.

Fitting bi-facial panels (solar cells on the front and back) is also gaining a lot of traction now also, even on black/grey roofs.

Now I’m not saying those are not a token 2 panels to tick a box on an EPC but putting panels on a north facing roof isn’t necessarily stupid anymore.
 
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Soldato
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It is when you can place them on a south facing roof.

The only reason you'd put panels on a north facing roof is because the south one is already full of panels. Even then it's probably not worth it in the UK.
 
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Soldato
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It is when you can place them on a south facing roof.

The only reason you'd put panels on a north facing roof is because the south one is already full of panels.
Thanks for stating the obvious... good value add :rolleyes:

Even then it's probably not worth it in the UK.

Like I said installing on a north facing roof can be cost effective in the U.K.

Whether you do it or not is up to you and how you spend your money but that’s your decision and doesn’t change their performance.
 
Soldato
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I must admit I've literally never heard of installing solar on a north facing roof as being a good idea!

Then again I'm no expert. The ROI for solar killed my interest pretty quickly so my knowledge is probably out of date.
 
Soldato
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I must admit I've literally never heard of installing solar on a north facing roof as being a good idea!

Then again I'm no expert. The ROI for solar killed my interest pretty quickly so my knowledge is probably out of date.

It's cheap, and you should fill you roof regardless of facing with as many panels as you can afford, as the cost isn't in the panels, but the installation, certification, and inversion equipment. A 430w panel is now ~£60+VAT (you pay no VAT on solar or battery installs), so to add say 8 panels to a North facing roof if you are already doing the South, would be £480, plus the mounting equipment, cabling and uplifting the inverter a notch, so maybe and £1k, given you are likely spending £6-8k in the first place, you'd be a fool not to.
 
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Soldato
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In fairness to the developer, if I was buying one of those houses and it had to have a token 2 panel system on it, I'd rather they put it on the north roof so I could install a proper system on the south roof. That's particularly the case when they are installing in roof systems as they would add a lot of cost to remove and install a 'proper' system.

I must admit I've literally never heard of installing solar on a north facing roof as being a good idea!

Then again I'm no expert. The ROI for solar killed my interest pretty quickly so my knowledge is probably out of date.
What are you expecting on your RoI? Almost everyone I have spoken to have said theirs have actually paid off in under 8 years, some are as low as 5 almost regardless of when they had them installed.

The MCS payback calculations are pretty flawed these days as they don't take account of time of use tariffs where you can charge the battery overnight or things like electric heat and cars.
 
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