Why do I NEED a home charger for my electric car? | Electrifying

#electriccars #homecharging #evs

If you're considering buying an electric automobile or have simply got one, you may be wondering why you require to spend for a proper house charger. After all, all electrical vehicles can, in theory, be refuelled from the standard three pin plug – like the one you have on your wall.

The quick response if you actually can't be troubled to view our video for another 2 minutes is that they are much safer, faster and will make your electric life SO much simpler. They can likewise spend for themselves in simply a few years. However there's a bit more to it than that!

Let's begin with safety, for example. Your electric automobile may include a charging adaptor (referred to as a granny battery charger) that will allow you to plug your vehicle into a three-pin socket.
However here's the catch. It may look fairly innocuous, but that little box draws rather a large load from your mains. Home sockets aren't truly developed to take big loads for extended periods of time.

If we were charging a vehicle like a Citroen ë-C4 from empty to full, it would require to be plugged in for around 23 hours. That's a lot of what's called 'constant load' on a socket and if there are any weak points or slight faults in your electrics, things could start to get a bit dynamic.

With a purpose built battery charger, you do not need to stress over any of that. A charging system like this is linked directly to your fusebox – or customer system to give it its. Wiring it straight to this means that there are no other loads on the circuit and if there's any issue with the charger, it will not take out any of your other devices.

Discover more about house chargers and charging in basic by going to www..com.

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Comments

43 responses to “Why do I NEED a home charger for my electric car? | Electrifying”

  1. Victor Lopes Avatar
    Victor Lopes

    Agree 100% with stated reasons!

  2. Mika Davies Avatar
    Mika Davies

    If you have the opportunity for Off-Street parking, then a proper EV Charging box it will allow you to charge (1) At much much cheaper rates and (2) it safer.
    It is NOT convenience to use Cheap Rate Charging… A “full tank” of electricity is around £7 to £8… Approx 1/5th the price of a petrol car.

    1. Brian Avatar
      Brian

      I agree, around £6 to £7 is what I normally pay. I’d like to know where you can fill up a petrol car for £40 though…….

    2. Mika Davies Avatar
      Mika Davies

      @Brian-om2hh  The 1/5th the cost of petrol is allowing for 150 to 200 miles real world for the £7 or £8 of electric. 200 miles is approx 5 gallons at say £7 per gallon…. Some rounding up here. But filling an BEV is sadly not the same range as filling a petrol tank.

  3. Jori Diculous Avatar
    Jori Diculous

    Honestly i have no idea but a wild guess would be to charge at home.

    1. Boëthius M Avatar
      Boëthius M

      To charge what? Could you please be specific

    2. Ray Emre TUFEKCI Avatar
      Ray Emre TUFEKCI

      It looks good on the wall. Besides you can always put your purse on it whilst looking for your keys.

  4. sha wing Avatar
    sha wing

    😂😂😂
    Wait for it,… to charge at home!
    😁🤣

    1. Daniel Richards Avatar
      Daniel Richards

      She’s on about Vs charging from the wall socket otherwise known as granny charging

  5. Mr Mawson Avatar
    Mr Mawson

    Sounds great

  6. Paul Barker Avatar
    Paul Barker

    Spent £120 on a 32amp commando socket with isolation and it’s IP rated and guess what, get 7kw from it and car does the smart bit 🤷

    1. Asif Khan Avatar
      Asif Khan

      Didn’t know about this! There’s a fancy commando to type 2 cable for £240 with a timer but generally, why don’t more people know about this?

    2. andrew sutton Avatar
      andrew sutton

      i looked at this, but for me it’s a convenience thing… I have a solar arry, and getting all the systems talking to each other to charge appropriately makes the cost worth it to me. If I didn’t have solar, i would just use the 32 commando and suitable connection, and get he car to time when it pulls from the grid off peak…

    3. Alan Cooper Avatar
      Alan Cooper

      You have to run a 40A cable to the distribution box and have a 40A Fuse. You may as well do this and fit a proper fixed 7kW charger.

    4. Paul Barker Avatar
      Paul Barker

      @Asif Khan I’m not sure, I just did some research online and thought this seemed like a more affordable option, I can always go back to a smart charger if I wanted but for what I need it’s fine.

  7. Chris Bailey Avatar
    Chris Bailey

    Some of the benefits are overstated, many cars allow a lower level of charge to be selected at say 8 Amps and if you already have a ‘cooker socket’ that has a direct feed to the consumer unit too.

    They only really ‘work’ if you regularly need to charge from low states of charge in as short a time as possible, however we keep being told that most people’s commutes are under 20 miles. When the gov. used to give grants they made more sense and I think they will need to do that again with V2H and/or V2G units that are going to be very expensive (although electric companies may subsidies V2G units).

    Lower off-peak electric gives the problem that you then try to solve using more Amps, be careful to calculate all the higher ‘day’ costs too, and not just say it costs the lower rate to fill the car battery.

  8. John Winters Avatar
    John Winters

    Your 13 A socket can charge your car at 3 kW, not 2.3 kW. OTOH, most granny chargers are only 2.4 kW.

    1. Martinz Watcher Avatar
      Martinz Watcher

      I used to have 16A custom EVSE for my Leaf. I could adjust it down to 6A if I recall correctly. After few months I learned though that European Schuko at 16A, even if rated, the slight risk of poor connection (I would often take it with me so plug in and plug out) will cause the plug to heat up and melt. So I went down to 13A and never had issues again. So technically it really depends on your EVSE, vehicle and your house.

  9. stevenjonesnmcc Avatar
    stevenjonesnmcc

    Crikey you’re a lucky one using the new Evios charger!

    1. Roy M Avatar
      Roy M

      Are they hard to obtain? I was looking at getting one

  10. Martinz Watcher Avatar
    Martinz Watcher

    The safety reason deserves a deeper look:
    * The load will depend on the control unit (the granny charger) and the vehicle – often with adjustable amps so speed of charging can vary,
    * The sockets in your home may not be rated for the chosen kW load but you can double check as, often on sockets, it’s stated,
    ** To add to this point, sockets have to have ground, otherwise control box will report error,
    ** The presented control unit has a built in fuse in the plug – in UK fuses are used almost in every connection so it’s relatively safe in case of overcurrent,
    ** If you home wiring looks shabby or is not rated for many kW, reduce the amps on control unit,
    * Sockets not designed for use of high load for extended period of time is only true if it significantly heats up which may indicate socket is not designed for the load in the first place or faulty connection.

    The only safety concern that should have been raised is the risk of how users may use it:
    * control unit with cable is hanging from socket with full weight causing improper connection, heating up the socket and depennding on your breakers could lead to melting socket and burning.
    * Extension cord is used while it’s rolled up, causing it to heat up and then damage depends on breakers,
    * it’s laying on ground and your new puppy likes chewing cables.

    Getting a wall box likely means an electrician sets it up so less risk of user error. Or you could just hide a granny unit in a box mounted on a wall while ensuring all connections are safely in place. The only practical reason to have wallbox then is potentially increased charging speed depending on the car, more control and aesthetics.

    1. pmholling Avatar
      pmholling

      The biggest issue is that ‘granny chargers’ don’t have PEN fault protection. Since EVs are not isolated they can present a significant shock hazard in every of an Earth-Neurtal fault

  11. Kőrösi Krisztián Avatar
    Kőrösi Krisztián

    I wish home charger was rather compared to public charging instead of (emergency) granny charger. Quite frankly I can’t really see the reason of building a dedicated wall charger. Better have a CEE high load outlet and get a compatible EVSE for the fraction of the price. This you can take when moving or even on long trips (instead of granny charger).

    1. EVKX Avatar
      EVKX

      The reason is simple. This will not be your last EV, and investing in a home EVSE will increase your house value. The emergency EVSE should be in the trunk

    2. Kőrösi Krisztián Avatar
      Kőrösi Krisztián

      @EVKX check what CEE plug is. There are high amp and 3 phase version EVSEs, I for one have a 11kW 3 phase charger that I can carry on trips for my Kona. These you can also leave at home.

    3. EVKX Avatar
      EVKX

      @Kőrösi Krisztián I have it on my EVSE (Audi deliver both), but still, much better to have a propper installation.

    4. Kőrösi Krisztián Avatar
      Kőrösi Krisztián

      @EVKX why exactly? This is the answer I tried to get from the video tbh, and admittedly I have only charged once at home my Kona over 1.5 years.

  12. Gary Smith Avatar
    Gary Smith

    Efficiency is a reason to get a charge point. AC charging at 2.3kW is only around 75% efficient, but at 7kW it’s 95% efficient. Assuming 30p/kWhr it would cost an extra £150 – £200 per year to use a granny cable for a car covering 8k miles/year.

    1. EVKX Avatar
      EVKX

      Could you explain why lower charging have less effiency?

    2. Asif Khan Avatar
      Asif Khan

      Wow, did not know that! Any reason why it’s less efficient at lower power

    3. Chris Bailey Avatar
      Chris Bailey

      That seems to be the wrong way round, more power equals more heat in the car battery, in a relatively cold battery state it would be an advantage in taking less time to charge as a warm battery is quicker to change, but not less kWh overall?

    4. Alan Cooper Avatar
      Alan Cooper

      You pay for what you use, as long as the equipment does not get hot, it is efficient.

    5. Paul Buckingham Avatar
      Paul Buckingham

      For the cost of a few nights out I’d rather have a more convenient and quicker 7kw dedicated chargepoint. I also like the coloured lights on it that I can set to different themes eg Christmas, Halloween, Night rider etc etc.

  13. B Shah Avatar
    B Shah

    Note Cupra Born is not now supplied with a granny charger!

  14. eBoard3R Avatar
    eBoard3R

    ⚡⚡

  15. ian palin Avatar
    ian palin

    Why does no one ever talk about the Hive chargers, not expensive, easy to use and a great install experience.

  16. Riverside Red Avatar
    Riverside Red

    Thought this was about the poor sods who can’t charge their cars at home

  17. Jon Singleton Avatar
    Jon Singleton

    But most folk with solar are capped at producing 3.68kW, so a granny charger is better at ensuring all the electricity going into the car is “free” since a wallbox will charge above your solar’s cap, meaning you are importing or paying for approximately 3.5kW per hour.
    Personally I’ve got both, so I use the granny to save money, and the wallbox when I’m in a rush.

  18. samu xan Avatar
    samu xan

    What if the power company can only supply 4kw max to your house?It’s the same using the 3 pin or a proper charger. the dealership gave a free charger as a bonus, 3 years later I haven’t installed it because of that

  19. Martin Hutchinson Avatar
    Martin Hutchinson

    Current full charge at a fast charger on the network is approx £70 on Audi RS E-tron GT and yet £7 overnight at your wallbox (depending on tariff), simples!

    1. Brian Avatar
      Brian

      Although – depending on which charge network you use – subscribing to that network could reduce your charging costs by up to 50%……

    2. Martin Hutchinson Avatar
      Martin Hutchinson

      @Brian still cheaper to charge at home but that is a good saving if you must use a charge network

  20. Gary Avatar
    Gary

    There is an alternate option half the cost of a wallbox but still 7kw.

    That’s a CCE connection, such as the cable available from Jolt.

    The regulations permit use of interlocking CCE connections for special applications, of which charging an EV is.

    Simply getting an electrician to connect up an interlocked CCE socket plus a 32A CCE to type 2 cable costs half what a wallbox does (around £500), yet gives you the same capability as a £1,000 charger and ability to charge at 7KW.

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