EV Thread

[Mito Man]

With solar panels the export limit is quite low, only 4-6kw then you need to upgrade to 3 phase which is extortionate but otherwise they stick a device on which limits the export rate.

[DeskJockey]

When we had ours fitted the sparky notified UK Power Networks (which serve the SE) and they sent a letter through saying they'd come and upgrade the main fuse. Guy showed up as planned, looked at the unit and made sure it wasn't too old. It wasn't so he just replaced the fuse. Had it been too old he'd replaced the master fuse board. As it was, it took me longer to empty out the cupboard the electrickery is in, than it took him to do his part.

[IanF]

I’ve got two podpoints installed at two properties.. they’ve been there for 3 and one years, and I’ve had no issues. One was installed gratis and one I paid £6-700 for.

[Ascender]

Yeah, the more I look in to it the murkier it gets. Actually like @Mito Man says, looks like the car does the smart stuff, so a grand will get you a decent charger box installed.

However... The extra load that charger puts on the supply, plus any solar panels you may intend to use and of course, any sort of heat pump, means you need to go to a special section of the electricity company because they're going to need to "reinforce the supply" to your house which now resembles a small industrial unit in terms of electricity draw.

* sigh *

That's not really the case. A new build would have a dedicated 80 or even 100a supply which is more than adequate.

So no, I can't just pre-wire it for later or put a commando on the end unfortunately! Looks like the only exemption is if the cost of providing such a supply is over £2000.

I'm getting lots of weird and wonderful answers from SSEN about this and the process and the different loads etc! I'm sure we'll get there. I won't derail the thread any further!

[Jobbo]

Ora Funky Cat is being relaunched with a new name and they are moving on the old badged ones.

Lease 24x£167 Inc Vat.

Cheap motoring with no outlay to try and EV.

I have seen a Funky Cat both yesterday and today on the way to work. Different colours so not the same car.

My initial thought was that this was due to the cheap lease, but they were both GWM badged and 23 plates, so not newly registered and not the ones on cheap leases. Expect to see a few more around anyway. The rear lights are indeed quite funky.

[mik]

Got a new Zappi car charger a couple of days ago. See fleet thread.

Old charger started as soon as you plugged the cable in. New one doesn't - you need to press a button to get it to start once the cable is plugged in.

Check with manufacturer to see if there is a menu I can change somewhere, and find out that this is due to a new UK-specific regulation that mandates a random delay of upto 10 mins before charging starts. You can override this by pressing the button, but otherwise you get this random max-10min delay. The same is true if you set a timer to start it at 1am - it'll actually start any time between 01:00 and 01:10.

So no biggy, but first I'd heard of it. Seems a bit stoopid to me, but I guess it'll make Brexiteers happy.

[Mito Man]

Is there a TLDR for the delay?

[mik]

Is there a TLDR for the delay?

Hang on, I’ll respond shortly

[Beany]

Is there a TLDR for the delay?

The video is timestamped to that exact point, but the short version is that it's to help try to prevent load spikes if everyone gets back home at 6pm and plugs their car in.

Frankly, it sounds fucking stupid to me without grid-side load management to *actively* manage it rather than randomly, but no fucker is going to pay for that as it doesn't increase shareholder value.

[Mito Man]

So it’s randomising a random event which is beyond stupid.

[Barry]

What Beany said. Manage the supply side properly and stop with the user side BS. Fuxxsake. That could mess with critical cheap overnight tariff windows too.

[mik]

The idea that everyone will arrive home and plug their cars into home chargers at the same point in time is ludicrous.

Given that I can override the delay with a press of a button, I guess what they are trying to achieve is very much focussed on :

1. People taking advantage of low overnight rates and millions of car's simultaneously requesting 7.3kW at exactly midnight

2. In the future when "Demand Side Response" is in place (see the 3rd of 3 legislation explanations on that video below) - so that when providers send the signal "ok you minions may now charge your vehicles" they get a softened surge over 10mins rather than a hard spike.

[IanF]

Do you press a button in the app to start it or is it something else? Just wondering if you can ifttt it.

I guess they’re concerned about it tripping the supply which would then mean people will wake up to a car that hasn’t recharged..

[mik]

Do you press a button in the app to start it or is it something else? Just wondering if you can ifttt it.

It's on the charger itself, but I believe I can do the same via the app - need to try things out over the next few days.

[Mito Man]

The idea that everyone will arrive home and plug their cars into home chargers at the same point in time is ludicrous.

Given that I can override the delay with a press of a button, I guess what they are trying to achieve is very much focussed on :

1. People taking advantage of low overnight rates and millions of car's simultaneously requesting 7.3kW at exactly midnight

2. In the future when "Demand Side Response" is in place (see the 3rd of 3 legislation explanations on that video below) - so that when providers send the signal "ok you minions may now charge your vehicles" they get a softened surge over 10mins rather than a hard spike.

How would point 1 work though when you just plug in your car at say 6pm and then tell it to charge off peak so they would all start at the same time again because it’s already been plugged in for hours.

[mik]

@Mito Man My understanding is that if it's on a timed charge, the start time is subject to the same random 10min start window.

[Mito Man]

@Mito Man My understanding is that if it's on a timed charge, the start time is subject to the same random 10min start window.

Not sure about other cars but the Model 3 when plugged in but not charging is still drawing around 1 amp which is being used for the cars background functions. So from the chargers pov it is still charging but at 1 amp. Then it ramps up at the required time.

[DeskJockey]

The idea that everyone will arrive home and plug their cars into home chargers at the same point in time is ludicrous.

Given that I can override the delay with a press of a button, I guess what they are trying to achieve is very much focussed on :

1. People taking advantage of low overnight rates and millions of car's simultaneously requesting 7.3kW at exactly midnight

2. In the future when "Demand Side Response" is in place (see the 3rd of 3 legislation explanations on that video below) - so that when providers send the signal "ok you minions may now charge your vehicles" they get a softened surge over 10mins rather than a hard spike.

Except the cheap economy 7 rates starting and end times vary between providers and areas. Trying to find reliable information about it is nearly impossible. So the random start doesn't fix anything anyway (as you've stated).

[mik]

Do you press a button in the app to start it or is it something else? Just wondering if you can ifttt it.

It's on the charger itself, but I believe I can do the same via the app - need to try things out over the next few days.

Now confirmed - can also do it via the app.

[Beany]

@Mito Man My understanding is that if it's on a timed charge, the start time is subject to the same random 10min start window.

Not sure about other cars but the Model 3 when plugged in but not charging is still drawing around 1 amp which is being used for the cars background functions. So from the chargers pov it is still charging but at 1 amp. Then it ramps up at the required time.

In ideal world, there'd be a central repo of charge requests that would be likely semi-open (IE to national grid/suppliers, not necessarily to the public) where all charge requests would go. This could be sent from the charging stations or the cars through low power radio networks on existing infrastructure (things like this are already being investigated for infrastructure management, using systems like LoRaWAN https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs/l ... s-lorawan/) like streetlights or broadband cabinets.

It doesn't even need to be every property - just enough to be representative of an area.

One new build estate with 100 3 bed semi-detatched houses and an x Mw supply is going to have a broadly similar usage pattern to one a mile down the road, you might want a different set of data for an estate with a bigger mix of detatched four bed places - more likely to have more EVs due to being more affluent, bigger garages (two cars charging) etc.

Those charge requests then get mapped against available power distribution, and then tell the car to go from 1A sustain/system charge, to full on 10/20/30a charging in a manner that suits the available power on the grid.

That way you can map out demand, and implement infrastructure to support it, etc.

But that requires investment in infrastructure (good luck), buy in from manufacturers (watch the likes of Tesla ignore it and try to use their own proprietary shit), and understanding and consent from the public (fat fucking chance as too many of them will think it's trying to give them 5G AIDS).

So it'll likely never happen in our lifetime, in short, and we'll have the joy of rolling brownouts from our crumbling power infrastructure once BEVs become more mainstream than they already are, because taking action by doing The Hard Thing, Once, Properly doesn't win you votes.