Home charging - what's the best option?

[pottman]

I'm now 1 year into my Golf GTE ownership and am still undecided as to whether to get a home charging unit installed or just carry on charging the car from a wall socket in my garage.

I think I can now get a home charging unit for c£150 so what's the considered opinion of the PH massive, stay as I am or buy a pod point, rolec point or something else?

[bonus99]

I have only ever had the installed charger for £150.

Had no problems at all with it. Its outside, I pull up and plug in.

I would say it charges quicker as its on a feed direct from the fuse box and fused at 40 amps whereas the plug top will be at 13 amps.

I am not an electrician and maybe wrong

I am more interested to know what you think of the the GTE as I am looking to get one in October.

What do you still love about it and what do you hate (if anything)?

[Chris-S]

I got a Rolec installed ASAP after getting the C350e. I already had a convenient outside 13A socket but just found the brick charger thing a hassle TBH. Went for a tethered cable charger (extra £50) but it's just so convenient as it has a nice long cable.

Others have rigged up their 'brick' so it behaves like a tethered charger, which would work just as well apart from the potential issues if you pull 10A + from the socket a lot.


Nowt wrong with the supplied brick, but personally I'm very happy I went for the tethered cable charger solution.

[pottman]

Chris-S said:

I got a Rolec installed ASAP after getting the C350e. I already had a convenient outside 13A socket but just found the brick charger thing a hassle TBH. Went for a tethered cable charger (extra £50) but it's just so convenient as it has a nice long cable.

Others have rigged up their 'brick' so it behaves like a tethered charger, which would work just as well apart from the potential issues if you pull 10A + from the socket a lot.


Nowt wrong with the supplied brick, but personally I'm very happy I went for the tethered cable charger solution.

Thanks. I can't make up my mind whether it is cheaper in the long run to get the charger point installed or just leave the brick plugged in (and switched on) to the socket in my garage.

[Timbergiant]

I've been using the three pin home charger that came with my BMW so far but tomorrow (no, really, we mean it this time) I'll be getting a rolec charger fitted in my garage by ChargedEV, opted for the non tethered version, £140 plus the cable, I'll report back after it's fitted and tell you what I think.

[anonymous-user]

I've never found the need for any fast charging at home (yet) but then i have a small battery i3, so even on a 12A socket it easily charges during the cheap rate 'lecy period overnight.

Certainly, from an overall efficiency point of view, copper (resistive) losses scale with the square of charging current, and in terms of battery long term life, they last longer when trickle charged, so there's two reasons to stay with slow charging if you don't need the extra speed.

The biggest improvement is just to have a dedicated charger wired in, (that can't be stolen easily) so when you get home you don't need to phaff with the mobile one (which can just stay in the boot/frunk for use away from home).

If i do anything i'll probably stick an cheap openEVSE unit into the garage, which is currently limited to around 20A max charge current by the wiring out to it, so i can't really leverage a full speed (30A) charger anyway)

[pottman]

Timbergiant said:

I've been using the three pin home charger that came with my BMW so far but tomorrow (no, really, we mean it this time) I'll be getting a rolec charger fitted in my garage by ChargedEV, opted for the non tethered version, £140 plus the cable, I'll report back after it's fitted and tell you what I think.

Thanks. Be good to get your feedback. I'm intererested to see whether the cost of the unit will justify itself, or I should just stick with things as they are.

[oop north]

pottman said:

Thanks. Be good to get your feedback. I'm intererested to see whether the cost of the unit will justify itself, or I should just stick with things as they are.

I don't see how the unit will justify itself - not financially anyway. (I have a BMW wall charger for my i3 - free when I got the car). I would not want to charge from a regular wall socket - much happier with the proper item

[Chris-S]

I can't think of any financial advantage to having a Rolec or similar, only convenience. The parasitic drain of a brick plugged in but not charging will be tiny, probably no more than a Rolec style device.

The other potential advantage of the Rolec style is it gives you the option for a quicker charge than a brick, assuming your particular vehicle can accept it of course.

I opted for the 7.2kW Rolec despite the fact the C350e can only charge at 3.6kW maximum, my thinking was, you never know, I might buy a Tesla S or an I-Pace one day . There was no cost penalty by the way. I usually charge the Merc at 1.9kW anyway as I don't need to rush things. I'm very conscious of total power drain these days having recently has solar PV and a Powerwall installed. It's turned me into a right geek I'm afraid, trying to make sure I draw as little as possible from the grid, so I try to manage peak demand so it stays within the capacity of the Powerwall + solar output at any given time. Within limits though, I'm not quite totally obsessed yet.

[Frimley111R]

So the 3.6 and 7.2 were the same cost? Why would anyone not have a 7.2 then?

[Timbergiant]

Charged EV came and fitted the Rolec charge point today, I've just connected the car up and it's charging now, too early to say if it's any good or not but the installer got a bit trigger happy with his drill/screwdriver and cracked the plaster on the wall when fitting it (not a massive problem but still annoying) it has a nice blue light on it that changes to green when charging, very little else to say about it really.

[pottman]

Thanks all for the feedback. Charged EV are doing a £50 discount in July, so I've just ordered a unit for £99 all in. I've even managed to get SWMBO to pay for it ....

[Chris-S]

Frimley111R said:

So the 3.6 and 7.2 were the same cost? Why would anyone not have a 7.2 then?

I know, daft isn't it. I can't think of any reason except perhaps if the house wiring / consumer unit wasn't up to handling the load??

[FeelingLucky]

With a tiny capacity of 8.7kW (relatively speaking) why would you need or even want to charge faster than a plug in brick?

I totally understand the requirement for faster charging on a Tesla or Leaf or i3,
But with the regular plug in charger, won't you be able to fully charge in 3 hours or so?
Also the more gentle charge is better for battery life.

[Heres Johnny]

Chris-S said:

Frimley111R said:

So the 3.6 and 7.2 were the same cost? Why would anyone not have a 7.2 then?

I know, daft isn't it. I can't think of any reason except perhaps if the house wiring / consumer unit wasn't up to handling the load??

I know the 7 kw chargers need to have a dedicated feed from your fuse box and the electricity company need to be told etc. Installation costs are often less about the charger (Tesla support a blue commando socket which costs about £10 at the end and the use of their "brick") and more about the installation. A 3.6kw charger is essentially the same as a 16A plug - whether you have to have a dedicated spur or not, I don't know, but even if you did the lower max current would make it a lot easier.

Either way, go for 32A if you can, even if your current car won't accept it, your next one will, and its not as simple as changing the box at the end of the cable to achieve it.

[Chris-S]

FeelingLucky said:

With a tiny capacity of 8.7kW (relatively speaking) why would you need or even want to charge faster than a plug in brick?

I totally understand the requirement for faster charging on a Tesla or Leaf or i3,
But with the regular plug in charger, won't you be able to fully charge in 3 hours or so?
Also the more gentle charge is better for battery life.

For me, the reason for the choice was future proofing. My C350e only has a weedy 6.5kWh battery, but as I said, I might one day find myself owning a pure EV with a much bigger capacity so why not get the biggest capacity charger, particularly since I can control the charge current on the car with ease. I only charge it at 8A for the reason you mention, as well as managing the loads on my PV/Powerwall installation.

Others will no doubt have different reasons, those were mine.

[Somebody]

BMW would argue that the granny charger that comes with the car is an "occasional" charger and is not designed to be used full time.

In the 330e thread on here, a user said that "the charger that came with the car (plugs into standard outlet at home) developed a fault. BMW said it was misuse - I used it too often as it is only an occasional charger 'when you are stuck out in the countryside with no fuel or charge'. I also used an extension lead as the cable was too short to connect to a socket at my house, which not allowed. They want me to pay £647.00 to replace it, with a charger I can only use - 'when you are stuck out in the countryside with no fuel or charge'. As it's a lease car, at some stage I will need to buy one to go back to the lease company!!! Be warned." He also followed up with "I went to the dealer first and then complained to BMW direct. They said the dealer was correct and they wouldn't accept it was a warranty issue."

[Ocho]

Somebody said:

BMW would argue that the granny charger that comes with the car is an "occasional" charger and is not designed to be used full time.

In the 330e thread on here, a user said that "the charger that came with the car (plugs into standard outlet at home) developed a fault. BMW said it was misuse - I used it too often as it is only an occasional charger 'when you are stuck out in the countryside with no fuel or charge'. I also used an extension lead as the cable was too short to connect to a socket at my house, which not allowed. They want me to pay £647.00 to replace it, with a charger I can only use - 'when you are stuck out in the countryside with no fuel or charge'. As it's a lease car, at some stage I will need to buy one to go back to the lease company!!! Be warned." He also followed up with "I went to the dealer first and then complained to BMW direct. They said the dealer was correct and they wouldn't accept it was a warranty issue."

This is interesting and sounds a bit nuts. I've ordered a 530e and so have just asked the BDM at BMW via email if the above is true or not. That way if he tells me it's rubbish and you can use it full time, then I'll have something to show BMW if mine goes pop!