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The time has come, I will be needing an EV charger installed!
So, the perfect spot for it will have a non bog-standard cable route, so might want talking through with someone who can problem solve or have better ideas. Is there such a thing as an independent ev charger installer? All the manufacturers seem to have a "quote" engine and I wonder if I'll just get a lot of "computer says no".
Guildford area btw, in case anyone has any recommendations.
I Googled for installation in Cardiff and got a local sparky firm. They arranged it quickly, discussed it well, demonstrated that they'd done loads and had good knowledge, and installed no bother for a good price. So yeah it's possible.
Mine wasn't a straight cable run and had to go through several walls and around corners. Pod Point requested photos of the cable run plus a rough estimate of cable length.
As I mentioned though mine was through Pod Point and not an independant.
Congratulations!
Is there still a government subsidy for charger installation?
I found an installer by googling. These folks weren’t quite local with me being in manchester but did a great job https://mcnallyev.uk/book-home-charger/
You might want to check your mains supply rating. Ours was a feeble 60A. Not so good when you’re trying to pull 32A for car charging and run all the other demands of a modern family. NWE upgraded it to 100A after we blew it one night.
it will be worth paying to have the charger where it’s going to be most convenient. Though the heavy duty outdoor cable is fairly expensive per metre. Also, check the length of cable from the unit to the plug you need. Some offer standard lengths but you might need longer for convenience.
Yep, we're already on 100A main fuse. And there's still a subsidy on install costs of £350.
List of authorised installers who can do a grant funded install. Definitely a better route if you have a trickier install or you’re fussy about cable routes. The national outfits just want to get them done as quick as possible.
Had an EV charger (MyEnergi Zappi) installed by Greenio on Friday who are a nationwide installer recommended by MyEnergi. I’d previously tried local installers all of whom provided similar quotes but then seemed to disappear off the face of the earth probably as is a really complex run of over 45m between the consumer unit in the house to the garage. Greenio helped me work out the best route through loads of photos and emails and the installer (subcontractor) arrived on time, did the job really well and everything worked perfectly. He sorted the terrible old garage supply and electrics at the same time. Very happy with the whole thing and about the same as the other quotes.
All useful info. @devbrix that's good to know, sounds like a good experience. I'm certainly less concerned about the standard process with that in mind.
I found an installer by googling. These folks weren’t quite local with me being in manchester but did a great job https://mcnallyev.uk/book-home-charger/
You might want to check your mains supply rating. Ours was a feeble 60A. Not so good when you’re trying to pull 32A for car charging and run all the other demands of a modern family. NWE upgraded it to 100A after we blew it one night.
The installer wasn’t that great as they shouldn’t have installed it with a 60A cutout in place and should have had it upgraded first.
The Zappi monitors draw on house electrics and ramps down the charger according to the size of the main fuse. I’ve only got a 60A main fuse at the mo whilst waiting for and upgrade and the Zappi is set not to push it over.
Have a look at artisan electrics on youtube, shows the install methods and points to look out for they are based in Cambridge.
I would look for someone local, the charger manufacturer sites often have a list of approved installers.
The online sites you see that give a quote just take a cut and sub the work out, some of their work is proper shoddy. Still one person did manage to get a charger installed *before* the meter, which was nice.
and of course don't install rolec, unless you enjoy house fires.
I had the manufacturer, Andersen, install mine. Chap was great, happy to discuss the cable run, had a couple of good ideas that I hadn’t thought of, and did an exceptionally neat and tidy job.
If you have an electrician you trust, then they can do it, but they may not want to have the hassle of doing the OLEZ paperwork for the grant.
I would have thought any electrician could do the install, it's very straightforward.
You might want to check your mains supply rating. Ours was a feeble 60A. Not so good when you’re trying to pull 32A for car charging and run all the other demands of a modern family. NWE upgraded it to 100A after we blew it one night.
I quite like the French system, you pay more for a larger connection but the distribution box manages overloads by just switching off lower priority fuses eg put the cooker on a higher priority than the car charger and the car stops charging when the oven is on. Does seem much more sensible for smoothing out peak loads in the grid.