Question about complex charger install
Question about complex charger install
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skinnyman

Original Poster:

1,837 posts

114 months

Yesterday (20:22)
quotequote all
Evening all.

Next car is looking like an EV, unfortunately our electric meter & consumer unit are on the opposite side of the house to the driveway (god knows why), and it's not a straight forward run from one side to the other, due to various bushes across the front and obviously the front door path. Has anyone else had a similar setup? I can already see a charger company being less than enthusiastic about the job. The only solution I can see that doesn't involve alot of groundwork is running the cable up one side of the house, across in the loft, then down the other, but not sure how receptive to this idea an installer is likely to be.

Anyone have any other ideas? Or a rough idea of cost in this situation?

Image below shows the distance between the meter and the driveway:

GT6k

938 posts

183 months

Yesterday (20:39)
quotequote all
Get a local electrician to do it. Or do the wire run yourself or get a builder to put in the run then get an electrician to wire it up.

Rough101

2,913 posts

96 months

Yesterday (20:50)
quotequote all
Have you solid floors on the ground?

But as above, you need an electrical contractor, not an online charger quote

Simon_GH

833 posts

101 months

Yesterday (21:32)
quotequote all
Almost identical situation to me. It doesn t fit the limited labour time and cable length of a so called standard install but is far from complex. Ours cost £1250 all in. Cable under the gravel around the house where possible. Channel cut under paving slabs by the front. Our electrician puts quality first so allows a full day just in case. He was here for 6 hours but it is spot on.

Edited to say if you upgrade to armoured cable then it can lie on the ground through shrubs stc. should you wish.

Edited by Simon_GH on Wednesday 14th January 21:35


Edited by Simon_GH on Thursday 15th January 08:51


Edited by Simon_GH on Thursday 15th January 08:52

GZP

15 posts

96 months

Yesterday (22:38)
quotequote all
I got one recently (Hypervolt) and they use independent local contractors to do the work. You go through a series of detailed questions on your phone and take pictures etc after which they confirm whether it’s standard or not. Whilst mine was standard, so I can’t comment directly on “non-standard” the bloke who fit it was spot on and I got the impression they’ve got no skin in the game of making it seem harder than it is. Could be worth a try, I’m very pleased with mine

Quattr04.

844 posts

12 months

Yesterday (22:46)
quotequote all
As above find a local contractor to do it, anything more than 5x meters clipped to brick is a complex install for the energy providers

I had mine which was 25meters, 3 walls to drill though for £1150 with a hypervolt

Gone fishing

7,999 posts

145 months

skinnyman said:
Evening all.

Next car is looking like an EV, unfortunately our electric meter & consumer unit are on the opposite side of the house to the driveway (god knows why), and it's not a straight forward run from one side to the other, due to various bushes across the front and obviously the front door path. Has anyone else had a similar setup? I can already see a charger company being less than enthusiastic about the job. The only solution I can see that doesn't involve alot of groundwork is running the cable up one side of the house, across in the loft, then down the other, but not sure how receptive to this idea an installer is likely to be.

Anyone have any other ideas? Or a rough idea of cost in this situation?

Image below shows the distance between the meter and the driveway:
We've just replaced an armoured power cable from the consumer unit to a slave consumer unit in a garage, the cable was 50m long but the cable alone was over £200 - copper ain't cheap at the moment

A regular sparky should be ok with what you're doing. I think electricians who specialist in EV installs tend to want the minimum amount of work to try and sound cheap, whereas any elecrtrician will do and will just cost the job properly - so go off any local recommended sparky you can find. .

595Heaven

3,064 posts

99 months

Interesting thread, as our layout is basically the same.

We don’t have a meter box as the supply comes into the utility room so meter and incoming fuse is there along with the consumer unit. I think the only way is to take the cable outside, up to the roof and through there to the other side. Then down the wall and across to where I’d need the charger.

Side of the house is rendered and painted white so would want it in white trunking

RicksAlfas

14,235 posts

265 months

We have a similar problem. Main feed comes into back wall of house. All the parking is at the front.
One half serious suggestion was to go over the roof as it is a shorter distance than going round the side.

PSRG

780 posts

147 months

I assume that's your garage...is there already power there? If so, how does it get there - and can you follow / upgrade that route?

RotorRambler

716 posts

11 months

Up and across the loft may be good option, especially if there is a downpipe in the vicinity of the charger location, as in it won’t look bad if the cable can be run next to / behind down pipe.

Then it’s simply a case of running the cable.

Actual cable say £300.

Installers likely to see this kind of thing every day.