Advice on equipment

[Marky84]

Hi

I have a new vehicle on order and have a carging point installation booked for at home.

One thing I can't get my head round is the charging on the road. Will I need additional equipment than what is supplied for charging at a rapid charging station?

Thanks

[lost in espace]

If you are rapid charging no cable required. Just an app.

[sjg]

Rapid always has cable tethered to the charger.

Slower (“fast”, typically 7kw) is usually a type 2 socket that you plug your own cable into. Almost every manufacturer includes the cable with the car.

[aestetix1]

There are two kinds of public chargers.

Rapid chargers have the cable built in. They charge your car in 30-60 minutes depending. The idea is you use them when doing long distances and don't hang around. It's good etiquette to unplug and move on as soon as you finish charging. Most cars can only rapid charge up to 80-90% so don't wait for 100% either.

Other chargers are much slower, typically 4+ hours for a full charge. They are usually found where you park to do some shopping e.g. the supermarket. You need your own cable for those and it will come with your car.

In both cases you often need to pay. These days you can usually use a contactless credit card or go on the web site of the provider (instructions on the charger). Some offer an app to make things easier if you use them often but for occasional use they are not normally necessary.

[Marky84]

Thank you all. Very useful. That makes sense.

For any other newbies, I've found the following further reading useful:

A whole guide from Zap Map - https://www.zap-map.com/electric-vehicles/

A guide on equipment at home from a local installer - https://go-charge.co.uk/ev-charging-what-equipment...

When I was considering models I used this - https://www.nextgreencar.com/electric-cars/

[aestetix1]

What did you buy in the end?

[Marky84]

The i3 - Can't wait

[Uncle boshy]

i'm a EV newbie, having taken delivery of an egolf a month ago.

whilst i'd started out planning to install a 7kw home charger i'm now wondering if i should bother?

My logic being that my normal commute is about 40 miles round trip, on the granny charger, i can add about 10 miles worth of charge per hour, so would take 4 to 5 hrs.

given this easily fits into the time i'm normally at home of an evening, i'd finding it hard to justify the cost of a 7kw charger.

Am i missing something?

[sjg]

Uncle boshy said:

i'm a EV newbie, having taken delivery of an egolf a month ago.

whilst i'd started out planning to install a 7kw home charger i'm now wondering if i should bother?

My logic being that my normal commute is about 40 miles round trip, on the granny charger, i can add about 10 miles worth of charge per hour, so would take 4 to 5 hrs.

given this easily fits into the time i'm normally at home of an evening, i'd finding it hard to justify the cost of a 7kw charger.

Am i missing something?

If you have good modern wiring that you’re confident about delivering 10A through one socket for hours on end and can safely get from socket to car (no pinching a cable in the garage door, etc) then it can work OK.

eGolf will easily do 2 days all year, 3 days of commute in the warmer months - it saves a bit of faff to not need to plug in every single day. On a 7kw you can be sure even if you get back late with the battery low you’ll be full a few hours later. It also means if you have a cheap off peak tariff with a limited window you can fit all your charging in that time.

The OLEV grant gets smaller all the time and will eventually go away - if you think you’ll want a proper charge point at some point (what if you have a longer commute in a bigger battery car?) or have any doubts about your wiring then worth getting a proper chargepoint fitted IMO.