EV Thread

[Matty]

This is based on one of the cheaper (£370) chargers that Screwfix have. To be fair, the Sync Energy does seem to get good reviews. As Simon mentioned, guess is all varies on how good (or certified) the install is. Note the install is directly next to my meter.

EDF currently do an offer where you pay £495 and the add the remaining £480~ to your electrical standing charge over 2 years, which isn't a bad deal either.

I'm with Octopus, but they won't offer me their tariff as apparently the Honda E isn't compatible with their intelligent charging, so just bump me to the cheap overnight standard tariff.

[Carlos]

I'm with Octopus, but they won't offer me their tariff as apparently the Honda E isn't compatible with their intelligent charging, so just bump me to the cheap overnight standard tariff.

I'm sure it will as long as you have a compatible charger.

[Mito Man]

They’re pretty simple to install, I’d happily let a local electrician install it, it’s just a dedicated fuse board and much simpler than a whole home installation at the end of the day. Usually EV chargers are killed by gradual moisture ingress. If it’s going in a covered location then get whatever model you want, but if it’s exposed look for a charger with a higher IP rating.

[jamcg]

Just look for nic eic (gas safe for sparks) membership and use an electrician rather than a handyman and you’ll be fine. You can use their website to find people or to check they’re registered

https://niceic.com/browse-tradespeople/

[Jobbo]

Had a second charger installed yesterday. Although the house is on a 100A fuse, the garage is on a circuit with a 63A protector so the installer had to software cap the charging when both are in use to 60A, slightly lower than the max 32A each. I don’t think it’ll be an issue in reality but it does show that our domestic infrastructure in this country is a limiting factor.

[V8Granite]

Had a second charger installed yesterday. Although the house is on a 100A fuse, the garage is on a circuit with a 63A protector so the installer had to software cap the charging when both are in use to 60A, slightly lower than the max 32A each. I don’t think it’ll be an issue in reality but it does show that our domestic infrastructure in this country is a limiting factor.

100% this!!

Whole streets are on single phases and have been bastardised so the phase load isn't the same as streets are extended or houses added etc.

Dave!

[Mito Man]

We had loads of problems with blowing the 100 amp fuse. But were never pulling more than 18kw peak loads. A few months ago UKPN caved and upgraded the transformer 100 metres away. Turns out when they built 6 new heat pump houses down the road they never upgraded it as it was still within spec. So the voltage drop was pulling higher amps.
I can’t remember exactly what the engineer said but their formula worked out at something like the transformer is only able to give out 7kw per house. You can quickly see why this doesn’t work in 2026.
New transformer is rated to something like 10kw per house and that’s been fine so far but houses here have no gas and the new ones no oil either so I imagine as more people buy EVs even that head room will quickly run out.

[Jobbo]

That's no headroom at all if they all charge a single EV at 7kW.

[DeskJockey]

I found this very interesting.


If they started the build-out it would benefit all (possibly even the power/grid companies).