Which home charging point?

[thebraketester]

bennno said:

Alfredo20 said:

Any recommendations on what home charger to get and pros/cons for tethered/untethered? At the very beginning of my research and know absolutely nothing at the moment.

Untethered better, we’ve an Easee at two houses and they are great. Decent app.

Define better. IMO tethered is much more convenient.

[No ideas for a name]

thebraketester said:

bennno said:

Alfredo20 said:

Any recommendations on what home charger to get and pros/cons for tethered/untethered? At the very beginning of my research and know absolutely nothing at the moment.

Untethered better, we’ve an Easee at two houses and they are great. Decent app.

Define better. IMO tethered is much more convenient.

You could always leave the cable plugged in with an untethered type.
Very much neater if you can remove the cable.
However, it is just a personal preference, obviously makes no difference to its function.

[bennno]

thebraketester said:

Define better. IMO tethered is much more convenient.

Tidier look, we’ve a discrete little Easee charger. People don’t see it’s there, compared to feathered which become a visual feature.

Plus it’s the cable that’ll eventually get damaged or degrade. Being dragged, up exposed etc.

Takes all of 5 seconds longer to connect a cable at both ends.

[theboss]

I have one of each. The untethered has its cable left in full-time generally, so neither is more or less convenient. The reason for untethered on one side of the garage is that I can extend a 15m cable pretty much anywhere on the drive. If I didn't want that flexibility, I'd probably have just got two tethered.

[samoht]

Alfredo20 said:

Any recommendations on what home charger to get and pros/cons for tethered/untethered? At the very beginning of my research and know absolutely nothing at the moment.

I suggest also having a look at the available EV tariffs and trying to think which one would be best, some of the 'smart' tariffs require either a specific model of charger or specific models of car.

You wouldn't want to spend £1k+ on a charger install and only then discover that you can't get the tariff you want because it's not compatible.

[325iMSport]

samoht said:

I suggest also having a look at the available EV tariffs and trying to think which one would be best, some of the 'smart' tariffs require either a specific model of charger or specific models of car.

You wouldn't want to spend £1k+ on a charger install and only then discover that you can't get the tariff you want because it's not compatible.

Very good point. At the moment only Ohme is compatible with both OVO and IO. Indra is compatible with OVO but believe it should get IO compatibility in the new year.

I am personally leaning towards Indra.

But the above is pointless if you have a compatible vehicle!

[C G]

325iMSport said:

samoht said:

I suggest also having a look at the available EV tariffs and trying to think which one would be best, some of the 'smart' tariffs require either a specific model of charger or specific models of car.

You wouldn't want to spend £1k+ on a charger install and only then discover that you can't get the tariff you want because it's not compatible.

Very good point. At the moment only Ohme is compatible with both OVO and IO. Indra is compatible with OVO but believe it should get IO compatibility in the new year.

I am personally leaning towards Indra.

But the above is pointless if you have a compatible vehicle!

I just went through the same process with a non compatible vehicle. I went for the Ohme.

[325iMSport]

C G said:

I just went through the same process with a non compatible vehicle. I went for the Ohme.

I was going towards Ohme but what puts me off is that it does not look very clean or discreet when not in use. I wish the cable had a wrap around design!

[mikeiow]

No ideas for a name said:

Mikebentley said:

This is mine, 10 metre cable in boot of car each morning.

That looks nice and neat.
Hidden supply cable plus non-tethered so it doesn't look like a hose pipe.

Each to their own, but I don't understand the enthusiasm for the tethered variety. As you say, you can take your cable with you - maybe to use when you are away from home too. If you like the convenience of tethered, then just leave the cable plugged in at the charger end - unless I am missing something.

Ah, I still feel the undeniable convenience of a 20-30second 'unroll, plug in, done!' versus 'open boot, get cable out that might still be wet & dirty from last time, plug in.......then in the morning, unplug, wrap up even in the wet or snow, open boot/froot/frunt and put away dirty cable for later' is the number one thing for a home chargepoint.



In the interests of accuracy, unless we are going away, we have the cord more loosely wrapped to allow just a single unloop, turn & plug in.
& for us this is down the side of the house on a private driveway......but regardless, my personal preference would always be tethered. It's just cleaner & faster.

[rugbyleague]

Tethered charger much easier that untethered (in/out the boot in the dark/rain).

I've got a hook on the wall next to the charger to coil lead around.

Pull up plug in simples....

[zxxxxxxxc]

I’ve gone with an Audi Q4 etron through my work salary sacrifice scheme with Octopus. Get a free home charger install included. Have to choose between the following. Any suggestions as to which is best?

- Wallbox Pulsar Max
- Ohme Home Pro
- Ohme ePod
- MyEnergi Zappi 2.1

[Toaster Pilot]

zxxxxxxxc said:

I’ve gone with an Audi Q4 etron through my work salary sacrifice scheme with Octopus. Get a free home charger install included. Have to choose between the following. Any suggestions as to which is best?

- Wallbox Pulsar Max
- Ohme Home Pro
- Ohme ePod
- MyEnergi Zappi 2.1

Now that it supports intelligent octopus I can’t think of a reason not to choose Zappi

[zxxxxxxxc]

Toaster Pilot said:

Now that it supports intelligent octopus I can’t think of a reason not to choose Zappi

Thanks. On that point about Intelligent Octopus, it was my intention to switch to Octopus for their overnight charging rates. Is there a minimum amount of mileage that makes this worthwhile? Lease is for 5k miles p.a. (Might do a little more than that, but no more than 6k). My wife works from home so daytime electricity use is heavier than it might otherwise be. Wondering at what point cheap overnight charging outweighs a possibly higher daytime rate.

[clockworks]

zxxxxxxxc said:

Thanks. On that point about Intelligent Octopus, it was my intention to switch to Octopus for their overnight charging rates. Is there a minimum amount of mileage that makes this worthwhile? Lease is for 5k miles p.a. (Might do a little more than that, but no more than 6k). My wife works from home so daytime electricity use is heavier than it might otherwise be. Wondering at what point cheap overnight charging outweighs a possibly higher daytime rate.

I am with Octopus, on their "Go" tariff. I'm only using a granny charger for my plug-in hybrid, so Go is the best deal we can get - 4 hours a night on cheap rate..
The car gets charged about 4 times a week, anywhere between 6 and 10 kwh each time.
The car does about 2.4 miles per kwh, and our electric mileage is just over 4k a year.

I work from home. Before getting the hybrid, our annual electricity usage was 5400kwh.

We have shifted some of the house load to the cheap rate period - dishwasher, immersion heater, and some of the washer/ dryer usage.

Even on days when the car isn't being charged or washing being done, we save around 20p compared to the normal Octopus tariff. Not had a single day where Go works out more expensive.
If the car is being charged and washing is done overnight, we save around £2 a day.

If your house base load is more than a few hundred watts, and you can shift some washing/heating to off peak, an Octopus EV tariff will save you money.

[Alfredo20]

What makes one charger better than the other?

[zxxxxxxxc]

clockworks said:

I am with Octopus, on their "Go" tariff. I'm only using a granny charger for my plug-in hybrid, so Go is the best deal we can get - 4 hours a night on cheap rate..
The car gets charged about 4 times a week, anywhere between 6 and 10 kwh each time.
The car does about 2.4 miles per kwh, and our electric mileage is just over 4k a year.

I work from home. Before getting the hybrid, our annual electricity usage was 5400kwh.

We have shifted some of the house load to the cheap rate period - dishwasher, immersion heater, and some of the washer/ dryer usage.

Even on days when the car isn't being charged or washing being done, we save around 20p compared to the normal Octopus tariff. Not had a single day where Go works out more expensive.
If the car is being charged and washing is done overnight, we save around £2 a day.

If your house base load is more than a few hundred watts, and you can shift some washing/heating to off peak, an Octopus EV tariff will save you money.

Thanks, that’s helpful

[Fastlane]

Alfredo20 said:

What makes one charger better than the other?

Looks, functionality and reliability of the app, reliability of the unit, ability to suport solar if required, ability to support 3 phase if required, manufacturer support and warranty period, length of cable, cable storage facility and of course cost.

This is still a relatively new sector, so some companies may not be around in a few years time, leaving you with no support. This happended to me when Andersen went in to administration, but luckily another company bought them and took over. My Andersen is 4 years old and still working perfectly charging my Tesla and my wife's Kona. Interestingly Steve Sutcliffe from Autocar has just bought one to go on his listed outbuilding.

[Stevil]

Apologies if this has already been answered, but I couldn't find anything. I've got an ID Buzz arriving next month and an older Podpoint tethered box with a Type 1 cable we had fitted when we bought our MK1 Leaf in 2017. It's a 7kw charger, can I just buy a new Type 2 cable such as this one:

https://ev-extras.com/collections/tethered-cables/...

And have that fitted to replace the old one? Podpoint offered me no other options bar a new charge point at £1100 which seems a bit ridiculous.

[arbit]

Toaster Pilot said:

Now that it supports intelligent octopus I can’t think of a reason not to choose Zappi

I’ve started looking into getting one installed for our hybrid (and at some point also a fully electric second car).

It seems that having the Zappi installed via Octopus is actually cheaper than having it installed directly by the manufacturer.

Does anyone having an opinion as to why it’s less, are there any disadvantages?

[No ideas for a name]

arbit said:

It seems that having the Zappi installed via Octopus is actually cheaper than having it installed directly by the manufacturer.

Does anyone having an opinion as to why it’s less, are there any disadvantages?

Presumably it is subsidised by Octopus - or they just get a better price due to volume, which they then decide to pass on to the end user.