Which home charging point?

[techguyone]

Frimley111R

Motability now have any EV on their network installed with BP Chargemaster points, I haven't seen much in the way of information about them, are they any good ? Have you ever had any doings with them at all.

[Frimley111R]

techguyone said:

Frimley111R

Motability now have any EV on their network installed with BP Chargemaster points, I haven't seen much in the way of information about them, are they any good ? Have you ever had any doings with them at all.

You mean information about BP chargers? AFAIK they are fine, not heard anything negative about them. The main issue is that they are large and a little cheap looking but that's my opinion, you may think differently. Given that it will sit on the front of your home for many years you may prefer something more modern and discreet but its entirely your choice. All the main chargers are pretty good, its looks or price that are the main differentiators initially.

[techguyone]

Frimley111R said:

You mean information about BP chargers? AFAIK they are fine, not heard anything negative about them. The main issue is that they are large and a little cheap looking but that's my opinion, you may think differently. Given that it will sit on the front of your home for many years you may prefer something more modern and discreet but its entirely your choice. All the main chargers are pretty good, its looks or price that are the main differentiators initially.

OK that's reassuring then, cheap looking I can live with as it'll be free, and placement will mean that it won't be very visible if I can get it put where I'd like.

[bigweb]

Just bought a used BMW i3 Today. Had a guy out from an electrical company I know the owner of last week and just had a quote through at £1100 for a Rolec 7KW charger.

No mention of a grant etc.

The car is a 2014 but I thought I would still get a grant.

Last time I looked at getting a charger fitted I'm sure they were about £350 (cost to me)

[robbieduncan]

bigweb said:

Just bought a used BMW i3 Today. Had a guy out from an electrical company I know the owner of last week and just had a quote through at £1100 for a Rolec 7KW charger.

No mention of a grant etc.

The car is a 2014 but I thought I would still get a grant.

Last time I looked at getting a charger fitted I'm sure they were about £350 (cost to me)

You can still get the grant if it's the first plug in car you've owned. I got the grant on a second-hand PHEV. Be aware though the grant has decreased (and no doubt the labour rates gone up)

[Ken Figenus]

bigweb said:

Just bought a used BMW i3 Today. Had a guy out from an electrical company I know the owner of last week and just had a quote through at £1100 for a Rolec 7KW charger.

This is really off putting guys for someone thinking of taking the plunge. Can anyone explain why it is so massively expensive? Run a 40 amp cable to an outside socket but what further is in this 'socket' to justify that huge cost?

[techguyone]

Bet it'll get worse as more get Ev's , it'll be like how double glazing was when the big switch over happened to that from single paned windows.

[bigweb]

Ken Figenus said:

This is really off putting guys for someone thinking of taking the plunge. Can anyone explain why it is so massively expensive? Run a 40 amp cable to an outside socket but what further is in this 'socket' to justify that huge cost?

You are over a barrel though as I’ve got mine plugged into an outdoor socket now and hiding the external charger thing without it getting wet is an absolute faff.

Hopefully I can find it a bit cheaper

[robbieduncan]

Ken Figenus said:

This is really off putting guys for someone thinking of taking the plunge. Can anyone explain why it is so massively expensive? Run a 40 amp cable to an outside socket but what further is in this 'socket' to justify that huge cost?

Unless you are lucky with placement (not near anything metal at all like a garage door) you need some sort of voltage monitoring thing that will cut power to the charger when it detects a problem. Depending on the charger you choose the device itself may cost £500+ (if you want nice smart features it'll be more than that). It took the guy about 6 hours to install mine once the cable was routed from one side of the house to the other via the attic so that's quite a bit just in labour...

[Frimley111R]

Ken Figenus said:

This is really off putting guys for someone thinking of taking the plunge. Can anyone explain why it is so massively expensive? Run a 40 amp cable to an outside socket but what further is in this 'socket' to justify that huge cost?

From my post a few weeks back:

'There is a perception, brought about mostly by online adverts, that chargers are cheap items. They are not. The main charger we install is about £720+ if you wanted to buy it. Add on top of that paying a qualified electrician to fit it, armoured cabling, parts, labour, travel to your home, 16 pages of OLEV paperwork for you, an electrical certificate, and then the installer not getting paid for, often, 2-3 months and you can see why home chargers are not cheap little sockets.

Oh yes, and then the government made all manufacturers put in data connections/wi-fi which pushed charger prices up and then the IET made us put in earth spikes for most chargers. And then the government/OLEV reduced the grant to you from £500 to £350.

And then you pay 20% VAT on top of all that.

Whilst clearly not a cheap addition to your home, our customers have still spent many thousands of pounds on a car and so, in the big financial picture, chargers are low cost in comparison.'

I could add even more to this such as the basic expense of running a businesses (marketing,admin, payment fees etc) and it's not surprising prices are higher than perceived.

Also, if you are general electrical company a lot of normal electrical work is easier and less admin intensive.

[bigweb]

What model are you fitting?

The one they have priced me for is a Rolec which I can buy from Amazon for £299.

When I look around nearly everyone I see is a pod point or Rolec and they are the same price. If I wanted to brave Ebay I could get one cheaper than that

[anonymous-user]

I just had an Ohme Intelligent charger fully installed with a new RCDO for under £525 after grant.

About right to me.

[robbieduncan]

bigweb said:

What model are you fitting?

The one they have priced me for is a Rolec which I can buy from Amazon for £299.

When I look around nearly everyone I see is a pod point or Rolec and they are the same price. If I wanted to brave Ebay I could get one cheaper than that

I had an Easee Charging Robot (https://easee-international.com/uk/) fitted after my installer pulled out of installing Rolec due to multiple failures in the built-in RCDs and Rolec not reimbursing him for his time fixing their faulty products.

I also think Rolec have multiple different units. Some may be £299 but these may be less featured than the more expensive competition. In the end after the grant I paid £860 to have mine installed and I think that was a fair price for the amount of effort that went into getting the cabling done well, the voltage monitoring and protection unit required and a good quality charger. The charger alone is listed as £599 (ev VAT) on the invoice...

[Ken Figenus]

Thanks Frimley - many valid points.

However when you consider a consumer unit with MCB's and an RCD will cost under £100 it still looks like profiteering to me. And even my BBQ has wi-fi and an app! I remember an awful lot of variety in my quotes for PV installation ten years ago when it was all new too - market forces...

I'm looking at an i3 and this will charge up overnight pulling 13A so this big charging point expense may well be able to be avoided - it ruins the maths!

[RichardM5]

Ken Figenus said:

Thanks Frimley - many valid points.

However when you consider a consumer unit with MCB's and an RCD will cost under £100 it still looks like profiteering to me. And even my BBQ has wi-fi and an app! I remember an awful lot of variety in my quotes for PV installation ten years ago when it was all new too - market forces...

I'm looking at an i3 and this will charge up overnight pulling 13A so this big charging point expense may well be able to be avoided - it ruins the maths!

An EV Charger requires a type B RCD, these are very significantly more expensive than RCDs installed in standard consumer units.

[Ken Figenus]

Thanks - knowledge is power! I can see what they do - are these Type B's regs for PV nowadays?

[anonymous-user]

RichardM5 said:

Ken Figenus said:

Thanks Frimley - many valid points.

However when you consider a consumer unit with MCB's and an RCD will cost under £100 it still looks like profiteering to me. And even my BBQ has wi-fi and an app! I remember an awful lot of variety in my quotes for PV installation ten years ago when it was all new too - market forces...

I'm looking at an i3 and this will charge up overnight pulling 13A so this big charging point expense may well be able to be avoided - it ruins the maths!

An EV Charger requires a type B RCD, these are very significantly more expensive than RCDs installed in standard consumer units.

I was charged £22.45 + VAT for the type B RCB on my charger.

[techguyone]

I don't know how the price of a charge or two compares to the price of petrol, I'd bet it's a fair bit cheaper though.

I worry about what happens in the future when the revenue (tax) has dwindled due to the proliferation of EV, will they make the 'car electricity' to be marked as such somehow and make the rate a lot higher?

Or perhaps just go with black boxes and we end up PAYG or similar?

I suppose either way it'll be a few years off, was just a random shower thought.

[robbieduncan]

techguyone said:

I don't know how the price of a charge or two compares to the price of petrol, I'd bet it's a fair bit cheaper though.

I worry about what happens in the future when the revenue (tax) has dwindled due to the proliferation of EV, will they make the 'car electricity' to be marked as such somehow and make the rate a lot higher?

Or perhaps just go with black boxes and we end up PAYG or similar?

I suppose either way it'll be a few years off, was just a random shower thought.

Not sure how they could make self-generated electricity from Solar PV higher rate?

[Moley RUFC]

EO Mini Pro fitted today...