Home charger option for Parking spaces away from house/flat

[Casa1862]

Are there any solutions for having a home charger for a parking space or Garage not directly next to the property. It would mean tunnelling under a shared access road, could a cable be run using a mole to avoiding digging up the road? I'm assuming I won't be the only only with this issue in the coming years, I can see it being expensive though, it would be a run of about 50m, can the cable be that long?

[aestetix1]

The main problem will be getting permission to do it. If you want to bury a cable under the road then maintenance of that road will be more difficult, because it can't simply be dug up.

This is a huge problem in the UK, lots of people with remote parking spaces or just fighting for on-road parking somewhere near their house. Currently there are no solutions and the government doesn't seem interested in the problem. Obviously these properties are going to become much less attractive when fossil fuel car sales end and people realize that public charging is going to cost them thousands of pounds a year more than charging at home.

First step is to figure out how owns the road there and talk to them about the problem. They probably won't be interested but it's what you need to do.

[Mammasaid]

aestetix1 said:

If you want to bury a cable under the road then maintenance of that road will be more difficult, because it can't simply be dug up.

I'm afraid to say that's incorrect, as long as it is buried at least 6 inches below the surface, preferably in the sub-base layer, repairs to the road will not involve digging the road up.

It will wither be overlaid with a layer of new tarmac (most likely option in a domestic setting) or the surface wearing course will be planed off and replaced.

[boombang]

Mammasaid said:

I'm afraid to say that's incorrect, as long as it is buried at least 6 inches below the surface, preferably in the sub-base layer, repairs to the road will not involve digging the road up.

It will wither be overlaid with a layer of new tarmac (most likely option in a domestic setting) or the surface wearing course will be planed off and replaced.

Recommended minimum depth of ducting to hold low voltage electrical cable is 600mm, can't recall actual minimum but it's more than 150mm.

Think in all my years in civils the only electricity cable I saw at 6" was on private land, and that should have been substantially deeper and properly ducted (was uncapped armoured cable through a flower bed feeding a house, a genuinely shocking installation by the original builder).

Either way this would be a tough one to sort and expensive. If the road is shared ownership you'll need consent from owners, if it's share access but adopted (not privately owned) you will need a permit. Also do you own freehold of house and garage? Any covenants or restrictions you need to comply with relating to the garages?

To mole you still need trenches to mole between so it isn't excavation free. Whole job needs proper surveys to establish a route, whether mole or open trench. Sorry to say but I suspect a rough quote would be sufficient for you to decide not to take this any further.

Edited by boombang on Friday 20th May 11:51

[vikingaero]

There's an interesting YouTube video for Artisan Electrics channel where they mount 4 wall chargers onto shared property of a block of flats and all the shenanigans of cable routing from the owners fuse boxes and the landlord cupboard. I imagine anything is possible given £££.

[Casa1862]

boombang said:

Recommended minimum depth of ducting to hold low voltage electrical cable is 600mm, can't recall actual minimum but it's more than 150mm.

Think in all my years in civils the only electricity cable I saw at 6" was on private land, and that should have been substantially deeper and properly ducted (was uncapped armoured cable through a flower bed feeding a house, a genuinely shocking installation by the original builder).

Either way this would be a tough one to sort and expensive. If the road is shared ownership you'll need consent from owners, if it's share access but adopted (not privately owned) you will need a permit. Also do you own freehold of house and garage? Any covenants or restrictions you need to comply with relating to the garages?

To mole you still need trenches to mole between so it isn't excavation free. Whole job needs proper surveys to establish a route, whether mole or open trench. Sorry to say but I suspect a rough quote would be sufficient for you to decide not to take this any further.

Edited by boombang on Friday 20th May 11:51

Yes, I'm beginning to think a solution won't be easy, I've got three rental properties and they have have issue, plenty of parking just not near the property. They are all Freehold inc Garages. One is an adopted block paved road right outside so council involved, the other is a newish estate with a residences management company formed for the carparks and shared areas, luckily everyone will have the same issue, if the enough people want it done then could be done.

I'm hoping the government look into this as loads of properties will be affected, its something that can be done, hopefully some idea will be formed, might take many years though.

[Zetec-S]

For shared/communal parking areas, especially the sort you see on a lot of new estates, or for flats, rather than trying to wire charging points into each individual's own supply, surely a better system would be for standalone charging points. So like public charging points, but private access by residents only?

Obviously not a cheap solution, and not going to happen overnight, but in the longer term getting more residents on board to spread the cost. Use of an app to restrict usage to those who've signed up and paid for it. Or if the government is serious, then they could subsidise the cost - eg. shared parking for 10 flats, each flat pays 1/10 of the cost of installation, but the government subsidy picks up the tab for those who don't want to pay. And if those who don't pay want access in the future they have to "buy out" the government share?

Still doesn't solve on-street parking issues but it would be a start.

[Largechris]

Zetec-S said:

For shared/communal parking areas, especially the sort you see on a lot of new estates, or for flats, rather than trying to wire charging points into each individual's own supply, surely a better system would be for standalone charging points. So like public charging points, but private access by residents only?

Obviously not a cheap solution, and not going to happen overnight, but in the longer term getting more residents on board to spread the cost. Use of an app to restrict usage to those who've signed up and paid for it. Or if the government is serious, then they could subsidise the cost - eg. shared parking for 10 flats, each flat pays 1/10 of the cost of installation, but the government subsidy picks up the tab for those who don't want to pay. And if those who don't pay want access in the future they have to "buy out" the government share?

Still doesn't solve on-street parking issues but it would be a start.

Yes obviously that is the technical solution, but do you really think the government (this government in particular), or any local council, has got the organisational and thinking skills to implement anything like that? There are still whole towns (eg Oxted) with not a single public charger FFS.

[Maracus]

Zetec-S said:

For shared/communal parking areas, especially the sort you see on a lot of new estates, or for flats, rather than trying to wire charging points into each individual's own supply, surely a better system would be for standalone charging points. So like public charging points, but private access by residents only?

Obviously not a cheap solution, and not going to happen overnight, but in the longer term getting more residents on board to spread the cost. Use of an app to restrict usage to those who've signed up and paid for it. Or if the government is serious, then they could subsidise the cost - eg. shared parking for 10 flats, each flat pays 1/10 of the cost of installation, but the government subsidy picks up the tab for those who don't want to pay. And if those who don't pay want access in the future they have to "buy out" the government share?

Still doesn't solve on-street parking issues but it would be a start.

POD Point have these where my son is going to live near his Uni next year.

[aestetix1]

Mammasaid said:

I'm afraid to say that's incorrect, as long as it is buried at least 6 inches below the surface, preferably in the sub-base layer, repairs to the road will not involve digging the road up.

It will wither be overlaid with a layer of new tarmac (most likely option in a domestic setting) or the surface wearing course will be planed off and replaced.

I'm afraid that's hopelessly out of date. It needs to me deeper than that, minimum 0.6m. Even then the owners of the road will have to be careful about maintenance. There may also be other stuff under there like water pipes that need to be considered.

This is a problem for millions of homes in the UK, and there is no solution in sight.

[Mammasaid]

aestetix1 said:

Mammasaid said:

I'm afraid to say that's incorrect, as long as it is buried at least 6 inches below the surface, preferably in the sub-base layer, repairs to the road will not involve digging the road up.

It will wither be overlaid with a layer of new tarmac (most likely option in a domestic setting) or the surface wearing course will be planed off and replaced.

I'm afraid that's hopelessly out of date. It needs to me deeper than that, minimum 0.6m. Even then the owners of the road will have to be careful about maintenance. There may also be other stuff under there like water pipes that need to be considered.

This is a problem for millions of homes in the UK, and there is no solution in sight.

Maybe for H&S, however I was just commenting on the repairing of the road surface which typically won't take more than 50mm depth,