Tell me about home chargers and heat pumps

loopymum

Hi, I'm giving serious consideration to getting a BEV, more than likely a leaf as they are more in my price range and was looking at the 6.6kw charge leafs.
I have been advised that I shouldn't fit a 32amp charger as we have a geothermal heatpump, there are also two electric shower switches that aren't in use and won't be in use.
The heatpump is 11 years old btw.
At the moment the heat pump usually runs at night but can be played around with.
I have been reading all the posts here and is it only an ABL charger can be flashed to provide 32amp instead of 16amp but can it be changed up and down or priority switched?

Also any advice welcome on what to buy? The nearest fast charger to me is over an hour away and I would be using it only rarely, we will still have an ice as we are a 2 car family.
While charging is free I would top up when I am running kids to activities in local town at 22kw ac chargers which is 30 mile round trip.

goz83

If you cannot install a 32amp EVSE (charger), you will find little benefit from a 6.6 Leaf and you would be just as well to go for a 3.3 unless a 6.6 is readily available. The car will charge just as quickly at a rapid charger, which bypasses the On-Board-Charger. The benefit of having the 6.6 would be if/when you use a public charge point which could provide the 6.6kWh the car can take.

If you can install a 32amp EVSE, then by all means go look for the 6.6 Leaf, as you will be able to charge the car more quickly. Prices seem to have gone up recently however, which is at odds with the release of the new Leaf in January next year.

What is your budget?

loopymum

That's the thing though, I am not sure if it is unsuitable with the heat pump and wondering about, sorry if I haven't been very clear.
The only public charge points near me are AC, nearest rapid is 1 hour drive which I would not be doing very often.
(but then I might go more often if I had the leaf)
My budget is around the 13k, and I am leaning more towards the SVE model as I have 3 kids aged 6, 9, 12 and they can be fairly messy, I would probably keep the car forever though but we do go to the beach and stuff a fair bit and sand gets everywhere so I was thinking the leather would be good for this. Also have a dog who I'm more likely to take if the seats are leather.
I can drive up to 110kms per day between running around trips during the week but it isn't a commute, for example I could drive
school run 7miles roundtrip (not always as they can also get the bus if not raining)
class for me 15 miles round trip
7 mile round trip to the shop
30 mile round trip to kids activity
and then could be parked for the night, that would be average daily with occassionally extra 30 mile round trip for a match,
longer spins on weekend sometimes

KCross

loopymum wrote: »

Hi, I'm giving serious consideration to getting a BEV, more than likely a leaf as they are more in my price range and was looking at the 6.6kw charge leafs.
I have been advised that I shouldn't fit a 32amp charger as we have a geothermal heatpump, there are also two electric shower switches that aren't in use and won't be in use.
The heatpump is 11 years old btw.
At the moment the heat pump usually runs at night but can be played around with.
I have been reading all the posts here and is it only an ABL charger can be flashed to provide 32amp instead of 16amp but can it be changed up and down or priority switched?

Also any advice welcome on what to buy? The nearest fast charger to me is over an hour away and I would be using it only rarely, we will still have an ice as we are a 2 car family.
While charging is free I would top up when I am running kids to activities in local town at 22kw ac chargers which is 30 mile round trip.

Was it an electrician advised you not to get a 32A EVSE?

I have a Geo heat pump and a 6.6kW Leaf (with 32A EVSE) and they run simultaneously. Its not an issue for me.

However, a few questions are required here...

- What kW is your heat pump? Do you have a link to a spec sheet for it or just give make and model?
- Does your heat pump have a soft starter? What Amps is it limited to?
- What supply did you get from the ESB? Is it the standard 12kVA supply or did you pay the extra and get the 16kVA supply?


In my case my heat pump is a 12kW heat pump but you have to bear in mind that that is the output, not what it uses. When its running it is pulling between 2-3kW which is about the same as a kettle but it pulls, I think, about 25A on startup.

I have a 32A EVSE and a 6.6kW Leaf so I am pulling about 30A on that.

I have the 16kVA supply from the ESB so I have an 80A fuse in the meter box (60A is the standard) so I have enough headroom in my supply to run both together, no need for priority switches.


The car charges every night between 4-8am and the heat pump would also run at that time as I've it setup to heat the hot water just before we get up and it would be coming on anyway during the night to utilise night rate electricity.

You did say you have electric showers but they are not and won't be used. That would need to remain the case as an 8kW shower on top of a 6.6kW Leaf and a 3kW heat pump will certainly blow the fuse.


Don't buy a BEV if you are planning to regularly use the public charging network. Charging is only just around the corner (probably early 2018 at a guess). If you do use the local 22kW points you will benefit from having the 6.6kW Leaf as it will charge twice as fast but you do realise it is still quite slow (4hrs from 0-100%) but still decent enough if you are in that location for an hour or two. A 3.3kW Leaf wouldn't add much in an hour on those chargers.

I'd recommend the 6.6kW charger as it allows you to quickly topup at home. We're a busy house with dropping kids to training and this class and that class!.... particularly at weekends we could come home with low battery and still have collections to do so its very useful to be able to add ~60% to the battery in 2hrs. With a 3.3kW Leaf that would be 4hrs. So, it depends on your own circumstances and only you can answer that.... take a log over the next few weeks of how far you are travelling everyday (averages are no good, you need the daily figures) and then you will have your answer..


Generally though, unless you are doing more than 100km daily on a regular basis, you will be doing 99% of your charging at home on night rate.

KCross

loopymum wrote: »

My budget is around the 13k, and I am leaning more towards the SVE model as I have 3 kids aged 6, 9, 12 and they can be fairly messy, I would probably keep the car forever though but we do go to the beach and stuff a fair bit and sand gets everywhere so I was thinking the leather would be good for this. Also have a dog who I'm more likely to take if the seats are leather.

Again, I'm practically the same as you here. 3 kids and a dog and I have the SVE Leaf. I've washed my fair share of jellies and chocolate off it!

loopymum wrote: »

I can drive up to 110kms per day between running around trips during the week but it isn't a commute, for example I could drive
school run 7miles roundtrip (not always as they can also get the bus if not raining)
class for me 15 miles round trip
7 mile round trip to the shop
30 mile round trip to kids activity
and then could be parked for the night, that would be average daily with occassionally extra 30 mile round trip for a match,
longer spins on weekend sometimes

Is your 110km an estimate or have you actually clocked it?

If you regularly do 110km's in a day you have two choices, imo...
1) 24kWh Leaf (max range 100-120km) ensuring it has 6.6kW charger and you have a 32A EVSE and topup during the day at home as required.
2) 30kWh Leaf (max range 160-180km) and it doesn't matter whether you have 3.3kW or 6.6kW and it doesn't matter whether you have 16A or 32A EVSE as it will easily cover your daily drive on just the overnight charge.

However, option 2 is probably beyond your budget. I'd say you would need to add another ~2k as they only came out in 161 and you might have to go to the UK for it.

I think you should clock your daily mileage for the next few weeks and see if you are really exceeding 100km on any day and then option 1 will make more sense.

goz83

as Kcross says, record your mileage so you know what you are doing. You could be well under, or over estimating your distances.

If you plan to keep the car for a long time, I would push for the 30kWh Leaf, which will cost an extra couple of thousand, but will give you some breathing room on your range. However, if you're clocking under 100klm per day (especially if you have time to top-up power at home) then the 24kWh will serve you very well and within budget.

For the dog, you could put the rubber boot mat in and remove the parcel shelf. That's what I have done when transporting 2 Labs in the boot

I would avoid where possible putting dogs onto a seat. I personally think it's extremely dangerous.

BoatMad

the ABL can be reconfigured to support upto 40A with the current contactor set installed inside it,

so my advice would be to install a 32A "capable " circuit , but you could start with the ABL configured to 16A to see how the load profile works out

I would always recommend the 6Kw over the 3Kw, irrespective of the home charging situation

past indication from Ecars is they would consider offering free charging at SCP sites for a longer time, with pricing coming in on rapids sooner. SO there might be a burst if popularity for SCP usage for a while !!

its never worth going to a rapid when you have any form of night rate home charging , so never factor that in , why sit at a cold damp FCP when you can charge at home for 90 cents , you only use rapids because you " have too"

goz83

BoatMad wrote: »

why sit at a cold damp FCP when you can charge at home for 90 cents , you only use rapids because you " have too"

There's no feeling like sitting in a warm EV, getting free electricity, munching into a supermacs and watching everyone else pump 80 quid into their tank...over and over again. It feels a bit like....


indigestion :P

BoatMad

goz83 wrote: »

There's no feeling like sitting in a warm EV, getting free electricity, munching into a supermacs and watching everyone else pump 80 quid into their tank...over and over again. It feels a bit like....


indigestion :P

seriously , you'd charge at a FCP rather then at home,

anyway dont worrying , you'll be pitting 80 quid into your EV soon enough

goz83

We need a sarcasm button

reboot

loopymum wrote: »

Hi, I'm giving serious consideration to getting a BEV, more than likely a leaf as they are more in my price range and was looking at the 6.6kw charge leafs.
I have been advised that I shouldn't fit a 32amp charger as we have a geothermal heatpump, there are also two electric shower switches that aren't in use and won't be in use.
The heatpump is 11 years old btw.
At the moment the heat pump usually runs at night but can be played around with.
I have been reading all the posts here and is it only an ABL charger can be flashed to provide 32amp instead of 16amp but can it be changed up and down or priority switched?

Also any advice welcome on what to buy? The nearest fast charger to me is over an hour away and I would be using it only rarely, we will still have an ice as we are a 2 car family.
While charging is free I would top up when I am running kids to activities in local town at 22kw ac chargers which is 30 mile round trip.

22kva CP is much more beneficial with Zoe, charge time about half that of a leaf on AC.