Which home charging point?

[Frimley111R]

Fastlane said:

I
Frimley111r - have you fitted any Andersen units?

No, not seen that one before but while there are 4-5 popular chargers there are a great many others too. This does look nice with the wood finish.

As an approved installer we have to be approved by a manufacturer to install their chargers and then we have to contact OLEV to show them this. If we don't, we aren't approved by OLEV and can't get our customers the grant.

As nice as these are they're probably a bit niche and so not really worth us installing. There's so much paperwork that we have to do already that is really is something we can do without, but, as I said, nice unit.

[watchnut]

"Fastlane" that looks very neat and tidy, and chance of a photo showing the unit open?....how long is the lead for that box

cheers

[chris56]

watchnut said:

"Fastlane" that looks very neat and tidy, and chance of a photo showing the unit open?....how long is the lead for that box

cheers

Unti does not really open as such - there is a flap at the top out of which comes the charging adapter. The cable is wound around the unit in the recess behind the faceplate. The lead is tethered and is available in different lengths.
Andersen website shows the options available.
https://andersen-ev.com/andersen-a2/

[watchnut]

Blimey looks very Scandinavian and neat cheers for the link

[Fastlane]

Frimley111R - fair enough. Andersen are now an approved partner for Porsche UK, so you may they may not be a niche player for too much longer.

watchnut - It's lovely unit, bit not cheap at £895 (incl. the OLEV £500 grant) fitted. Mine was slightly more as I have the 8.5m cable (the standard is 5.5m) and 21m cable run (standard is only 10m).

[Beefmeister]

Fastlane said:

Frimley111R - fair enough. Andersen are now an approved partner for Porsche UK, so you may they may not be a niche player for too much longer.

watchnut - It's lovely unit, bit not cheap at £895 (incl. the OLEV £500 grant) fitted. Mine was slightly more as I have the 8.5m cable (the standard is 5.5m) and 21m cable run (standard is only 10m).

The Anderson is a lovely unit. They've been very smart going for the stylish, modern look to it, especially with the optional wooden front. Some balk at the idea of it costing nearly a grand, but then the same people buy a £70,000+ EV! If you want a really stylish charger that doesn't look out of place on a modern home these are a brilliant option.

And I say that as the person who designed and engineered the POD Point home and street unit

[Frimley111R]

Beefmeister said:

And I say that as the person who designed and engineered the POD Point home and street unit

Wow, really?

[Beefmeister]

Yup. I have a design engineering consultancy that actually pays the bills, then do YouTube stuff on the side. I’m actually working on three other EV charging related products (non-Pod-Point) at the moment. I seem to have found nice little niche there.

I worked for PP as I’ve known the CEO for 35yrs and were each other’s best men

Edited by Beefmeister on Wednesday 11th December 12:48

[Dave Hedgehog]

Beefmeister said:

Yup. I have a design engineering consultancy that actually pays the bills, then do YouTube stuff on the side. I’m actually working on three other EV charging related products (non-Pod-Point) at the moment. I seem to have found nice little niche there.

I worked for PP as I’ve known the CEO for 35yrs and were each other’s best men

Edited by Beefmeister on Wednesday 11th December 12:48

do any of the home charging points allow you to disable charging via an app (to stop theft of electrons)

Rolec have been promising this for ages but I am getting the feeling its vapour ware

[Fastlane]

Dave Hedgehog said:

do any of the home charging points allow you to disable charging via an app (to stop theft of electrons)

Rolec have been promising this for ages but I am getting the feeling its vapour ware

Yes, the Andersen can be locked via the app.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Fastlane said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

do any of the home charging points allow you to disable charging via an app (to stop theft of electrons)

Rolec have been promising this for ages but I am getting the feeling its vapour ware

Yes, the Andersen can be locked via the app.

Very nice but it has to fit to a post so oversized and their a1 post is way to expensive, ideally I just want to swap the unit which should take 30 mins

[Mefster]

Just to jump on the back of this thread, we’re awaiting collection of a Mini Countryman PHEV when the dealers are open again. We want to get a home charging point to speed up overnight charging. I think it’s likely when we change our other car it’ll be for a hybrid or electric car.
What is the best option for charging 2 cars? A charging point with a ‘double socket’ two separate charging points? Or am I better getting a single charging point and dealing with the second if or when we get a second hybrid?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a neat and good value solution?
Thanks

[aestetix1]

Mefster said:

Just to jump on the back of this thread, we’re awaiting collection of a Mini Countryman PHEV when the dealers are open again. We want to get a home charging point to speed up overnight charging. I think it’s likely when we change our other car it’ll be for a hybrid or electric car.
What is the best option for charging 2 cars? A charging point with a ‘double socket’ two separate charging points? Or am I better getting a single charging point and dealing with the second if or when we get a second hybrid?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a neat and good value solution?
Thanks

If you need to charge both then two charging points is the best option. The issue will be that your house probably can't supply 2x32A chargers without upgrades to the electrical supply.

You can get dual chargers that take 32A and either supply it to one vehicle or split it between two automatically. They are not cheap though.

[Beefmeister]

Mefster said:

Just to jump on the back of this thread, we’re awaiting collection of a Mini Countryman PHEV when the dealers are open again. We want to get a home charging point to speed up overnight charging. I think it’s likely when we change our other car it’ll be for a hybrid or electric car.
What is the best option for charging 2 cars? A charging point with a ‘double socket’ two separate charging points? Or am I better getting a single charging point and dealing with the second if or when we get a second hybrid?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a neat and good value solution?
Thanks

Where are you based? I’m designing a dual charging solution with a company here in Essex, will shortly be looking for people to test it in the field.

[RammyMP]

Mefster said:

Just to jump on the back of this thread, we’re awaiting collection of a Mini Countryman PHEV when the dealers are open again. We want to get a home charging point to speed up overnight charging. I think it’s likely when we change our other car it’ll be for a hybrid or electric car.
What is the best option for charging 2 cars? A charging point with a ‘double socket’ two separate charging points? Or am I better getting a single charging point and dealing with the second if or when we get a second hybrid?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a neat and good value solution?
Thanks

We had a Countryman PHEV on a long term test, as it’s only got a small battery I charged it up overnight on the 3 pin plug charger that come with the car. Overnight it would charge from flat to full. That might be an option if you’re struggling?

It’s not much good if you want to give it a boost for an hour or two though.

[SlowAndDull]

Beefmeister said:

Where are you based? I’m designing a dual charging solution with a company here in Essex, will shortly be looking for people to test it in the field.

What are your timescales? I have an EV on order (who knows when it will arrive!), but likely to replace my wife’s car with an EV later in the year. I’m in Cambridge, so relatively close.

[Frimley111R]

Beefmeister said:

Where are you based? I’m designing a dual charging solution with a company here in Essex, will shortly be looking for people to test it in the field.

These exist already. The issue is the power available from the home, not the chargers themselves.

[Mefster]

RammyMP said:

Mefster said:

Just to jump on the back of this thread, we’re awaiting collection of a Mini Countryman PHEV when the dealers are open again. We want to get a home charging point to speed up overnight charging. I think it’s likely when we change our other car it’ll be for a hybrid or electric car.
What is the best option for charging 2 cars? A charging point with a ‘double socket’ two separate charging points? Or am I better getting a single charging point and dealing with the second if or when we get a second hybrid?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a neat and good value solution?
Thanks

We had a Countryman PHEV on a long term test, as it’s only got a small battery I charged it up overnight on the 3 pin plug charger that come with the car. Overnight it would charge from flat to full. That might be an option if you’re struggling?

It’s not much good if you want to give it a boost for an hour or two though.

I’m thinking that’ll be the short term solution. How long did it take to charge on a 3 pin socket? The car will get home at 7pm and leave at 6am so potentially 11 hours of charge time. I know the newer Countryman (built after Sept 2019) have a larger battery (I think the loan cars were the smaller battery) so may be a longer charge time...

[Mefster]

Beefmeister said:

Mefster said:

Just to jump on the back of this thread, we’re awaiting collection of a Mini Countryman PHEV when the dealers are open again. We want to get a home charging point to speed up overnight charging. I think it’s likely when we change our other car it’ll be for a hybrid or electric car.
What is the best option for charging 2 cars? A charging point with a ‘double socket’ two separate charging points? Or am I better getting a single charging point and dealing with the second if or when we get a second hybrid?
Does anyone have any suggestions for a neat and good value solution?
Thanks

Where are you based? I’m designing a dual charging solution with a company here in Essex, will shortly be looking for people to test it in the field.

Cheshire, so not local to you unfortunately, but happy to help test if distance not an issue. As for time frame, the car is currently in Glasgow and won’t be going anywhere until the lockdown is lifted!

[Beefmeister]

Frimley111R said:

Beefmeister said:

Where are you based? I’m designing a dual charging solution with a company here in Essex, will shortly be looking for people to test it in the field.

These exist already. The issue is the power available from the home, not the chargers themselves.

They do, yes. But not with the very clever complex load balancing software that we have developed.