Charging from my garage away from house
Discussion
Hi guys,
I'm close to finalising a lease on a renault zoe for the wife who has a 10 mile each way commute each day.
My issue is charging it up. I have a garage and drive at the end of our rear garden. The garage has electricity going to it which was installed by the house builder in 2003.
My fuse board is at the front of the house. Has anyone got any ideas about whether it will be an issue installing a 7kw charger?
I could go down the 3 pin route I suppose but that isn't so efficient from what I understand?
I'm close to finalising a lease on a renault zoe for the wife who has a 10 mile each way commute each day.
My issue is charging it up. I have a garage and drive at the end of our rear garden. The garage has electricity going to it which was installed by the house builder in 2003.
My fuse board is at the front of the house. Has anyone got any ideas about whether it will be an issue installing a 7kw charger?
I could go down the 3 pin route I suppose but that isn't so efficient from what I understand?
WarnieV6GT said:
Hi guys,
I'm close to finalising a lease on a renault zoe for the wife who has a 10 mile each way commute each day.
My issue is charging it up. I have a garage and drive at the end of our rear garden. The garage has electricity going to it which was installed by the house builder in 2003.
My fuse board is at the front of the house. Has anyone got any ideas about whether it will be an issue installing a 7kw charger?
I could go down the 3 pin route I suppose but that isn't so efficient from what I understand?
Installing a 7Kw charger isn't cheap - and it needs to be done properly. I am not an expert - or an electrician! - however, I have done what you wish to do.I'm close to finalising a lease on a renault zoe for the wife who has a 10 mile each way commute each day.
My issue is charging it up. I have a garage and drive at the end of our rear garden. The garage has electricity going to it which was installed by the house builder in 2003.
My fuse board is at the front of the house. Has anyone got any ideas about whether it will be an issue installing a 7kw charger?
I could go down the 3 pin route I suppose but that isn't so efficient from what I understand?
The electricity cable going to my remote garage was not beefy enough for an EV, so I needed to have a trench dug and have a proper 40amp armoured cable put in. This new cable runs back to the fusebox in the house - and terminated in the garage with (in my case) a dumb 32amp commando socket. I chose the commando socket because I don't need a smart charger, the Tesla is smart enough to schedule charging.
A 3 pin socket will deliver about 10 miles an hour of charge, a 7kw charger about 30 miles an hour of charge.
The electrical work to put in a cable, trenching, wiring up etc cost around £1,000. But it all works fine.
If your wife is only doing a short mileage, then a 3 pin might be enough for you - EV's are like mobile phones, you charge them overnight... every night. You're going to add about 100 miles a night from a 3 pin, that wouldn't be enough for me as I have a 140 mile commute rather than a 20 mile one.
I would stick with a 3 pin and see if it works - if you then decided to buy another EV, then you could look at the proper cabling thing.
NDA said:
Installing a 7Kw charger isn't cheap - and it needs to be done properly. I am not an expert - or an electrician! - however, I have done what you wish to do.
The electricity cable going to my remote garage was not beefy enough for an EV, so I needed to have a trench dug and have a proper 40amp armoured cable put in. This new cable runs back to the fusebox in the house - and terminated in the garage with (in my case) a dumb 32amp commando socket. I chose the commando socket because I don't need a smart charger, the Tesla is smart enough to schedule charging.
A 3 pin socket will deliver about 10 miles an hour of charge, a 7kw charger about 30 miles an hour of charge.
The electrical work to put in a cable, trenching, wiring up etc cost around £1,000. But it all works fine.
If your wife is only doing a short mileage, then a 3 pin might be enough for you - EV's are like mobile phones, you charge them overnight... every night. You're going to add about 100 miles a night from a 3 pin, that wouldn't be enough for me as I have a 140 mile commute rather than a 20 mile one.
I would stick with a 3 pin and see if it works - if you then decided to buy another EV, then you could look at the proper cabling thing.
That is great, thank you.The electricity cable going to my remote garage was not beefy enough for an EV, so I needed to have a trench dug and have a proper 40amp armoured cable put in. This new cable runs back to the fusebox in the house - and terminated in the garage with (in my case) a dumb 32amp commando socket. I chose the commando socket because I don't need a smart charger, the Tesla is smart enough to schedule charging.
A 3 pin socket will deliver about 10 miles an hour of charge, a 7kw charger about 30 miles an hour of charge.
The electrical work to put in a cable, trenching, wiring up etc cost around £1,000. But it all works fine.
If your wife is only doing a short mileage, then a 3 pin might be enough for you - EV's are like mobile phones, you charge them overnight... every night. You're going to add about 100 miles a night from a 3 pin, that wouldn't be enough for me as I have a 140 mile commute rather than a 20 mile one.
I would stick with a 3 pin and see if it works - if you then decided to buy another EV, then you could look at the proper cabling thing.
We will be moving next year so what you have done would not be feasible. Plus there is no way to get to my fuse board without going through the house !
I've now just started looking into these commando sockets? But again is it worth it for 1 charge a week..
WarnieV6GT said:
SWoll said:
Just use 3 pin as you'll only need to charge weekly anyway with that mileage. We've managed 25k miles over the last 2.5 years with a 'granny charger'.
WarnieV6GT said:
I've now just started looking into these commando sockets? But again is it worth it for 1 charge a week..
No, you don't need one. Not for your usage.If you get an EV in the future that you'll use for more than 100 miles a day, then you'll need a 7kw charger. Charging technology is changing fast and commando sockets are not, any longer, the cheapest solution. Commandos need a separate earth and some other stuff which is now combined with the latest chargers.
Just a word of caution on using the 3 pin granny option - I'm not sure if it's still the case, but it used to be that the Zoe's were incredibly inefficient and slow to charge this way; some side-effect of their method of charging. I was told this was why Renault didn't supply a granny charger with the vehicle, although I'm open to the idea that it was also just them being tight.
I have an E-Golf and have a wall charger but usually just leave the car overnight on the granny charger in my garage. For some odd reason the granny charging route gives me 5-10 more GOM range than on the Rolec. In the recent good weather hit 170 miles range and commuted to work for one week on a single charge. There's nothing wrong with granny charging but as previously said check the position re the Zoe as it might be different.
Thanks guys.
I've tried to find out more about the zoe slow charging issue but I've struggled to get anything concrete.
On the back of the advice here, the car is ordered, I've move to Octopus energy on their go tariff and also ordered their 3 pin charging cable that is supposed to charge when the electricity is at a cheaper rate. We'll see on that one I imagine.
I've tried to find out more about the zoe slow charging issue but I've struggled to get anything concrete.
On the back of the advice here, the car is ordered, I've move to Octopus energy on their go tariff and also ordered their 3 pin charging cable that is supposed to charge when the electricity is at a cheaper rate. We'll see on that one I imagine.
WarnieV6GT said:
Thanks guys.
I've tried to find out more about the zoe slow charging issue but I've struggled to get anything concrete.
On the back of the advice here, the car is ordered, I've move to Octopus energy on their go tariff and also ordered their 3 pin charging cable that is supposed to charge when the electricity is at a cheaper rate. We'll see on that one I imagine.
That functionality is probably built into the car already so you shouldn't require a special cable to achieve it.I've tried to find out more about the zoe slow charging issue but I've struggled to get anything concrete.
On the back of the advice here, the car is ordered, I've move to Octopus energy on their go tariff and also ordered their 3 pin charging cable that is supposed to charge when the electricity is at a cheaper rate. We'll see on that one I imagine.
WarnieV6GT said:
Thanks guys.
I've tried to find out more about the zoe slow charging issue but I've struggled to get anything concrete.
On the back of the advice here, the car is ordered, I've move to Octopus energy on their go tariff and also ordered their 3 pin charging cable that is supposed to charge when the electricity is at a cheaper rate. We'll see on that one I imagine.
I'd make sure changing tariffs makes sense for your charging usage. Often comes with higher peak and standing charges so with minimal overnight EV charging as per your scenario could end up more expensive for you overall.I've tried to find out more about the zoe slow charging issue but I've struggled to get anything concrete.
On the back of the advice here, the car is ordered, I've move to Octopus energy on their go tariff and also ordered their 3 pin charging cable that is supposed to charge when the electricity is at a cheaper rate. We'll see on that one I imagine.
I have a garage at the bottom of my garden and I charge my Passat GTE from it some days using a 3pin charger. I want a Mode 2 charger to get a genuine 3.6kw charge as I have a 16a socket there anyway. I find the 3pin a little slow to top up in the short time between shifts as the garage is on the main road I dont like to have the car out there overnight or for more than neccesary, and it wont fit in the garage... And when I use Pod Point chargers out and about you do notice the charge rate with the extra KWH..
If you want to upgrade from the granny charger may be best to see what size MCB you have going to the garage as it may give you an idea of the size of cable you have. As I run a compressor and welder in mine I have 6mm cable going there on a 40A RCBO but i am looking to upgrade to 10mm cable next year mostly for my peace of mind, I never run big items together so the compressor is never used or the welder while the car is plugged in.
If you want to upgrade from the granny charger may be best to see what size MCB you have going to the garage as it may give you an idea of the size of cable you have. As I run a compressor and welder in mine I have 6mm cable going there on a 40A RCBO but i am looking to upgrade to 10mm cable next year mostly for my peace of mind, I never run big items together so the compressor is never used or the welder while the car is plugged in.
My P&J occupies my garage and so the EV sleeps outside on the drive.
My 7kW charger is mounted at the front of my property on the wall of my house.
It has a high IP rating so no concerns regarding water ingress.
If you're wife is only commuting 20 miles/day and your thinking of moving next year, I would stick with the granny charger.
I used to have a 100 mile daily commute and had no issues for many months using a granny charger.
My 7kW charger is mounted at the front of my property on the wall of my house.
It has a high IP rating so no concerns regarding water ingress.
If you're wife is only commuting 20 miles/day and your thinking of moving next year, I would stick with the granny charger.
I used to have a 100 mile daily commute and had no issues for many months using a granny charger.
NDA said:
No, you don't need one. Not for your usage.
If you get an EV in the future that you'll use for more than 100 miles a day, then you'll need a 7kw charger. Charging technology is changing fast and commando sockets are not, any longer, the cheapest solution. Commandos need a separate earth and some other stuff which is now combined with the latest chargers.
If you're doing more than 35-40 miles/day and on one of the short window tariffs then 7kw can also make sense.If you get an EV in the future that you'll use for more than 100 miles a day, then you'll need a 7kw charger. Charging technology is changing fast and commando sockets are not, any longer, the cheapest solution. Commandos need a separate earth and some other stuff which is now combined with the latest chargers.
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