Electric car home charger

vidukasp

Hi, thinking to move into electric vehicle and don't know what home charging point to buy and where.The car I'm looking at the moment is Hyundai Ionic or Kona.
This thread may help other users too.
Thank you all in advance.

ewj1978

Just make sure its 32A.

_dof_

I can recommend the Zappi which you can get from electricautos.ie or directly from the manufacturer. It's a little more expensive than a regular charger, but if you have an electric shower you don't need a priority switch with the zappi which you would need with a regular charger, so that is a saving of 200 euros. It's also designed to work with solar PV panels by charging the car with excess electricity instead of sending it to the grid for free, so good choice if you ever intend insalling them.

DesperateDan

I am in the same boat of shopping for chargers now. How does a Zappi monitor the electricity load in the house? I see the instructions have Eddi and Harvi gizmos I don't really get. I am thinking for the Zappi to monitor things it needs extra cabling?

The other one I like the look of is the Elvi, I like the design a lot more than the Zappi, does it have the same thing where a priority switch is not needed?

_dof_

The Zappi comes with a small current sensor that clamps around the main electrical cable so it senses all the current flowing either into or out of the house. The electrician installed it inside my consumer unit, so I don't even see it.

The Zappi display then shows the total power being used in the house. There's a menu in the Zappi that allows you to set the maximum current to the whole house, and when it senses that it is going above that limit, e.g. when you switch on the electric shower while the car is being charged, the Zappi reduces the current being sent to the car to keep it under that limit.

So, no need for a priority switch.

The Harvi is just a device to allow that current sensor to communicate to the Zappi over a radio signal instead of being directly wired to it, but the supplied wire is quite long, an can easily be extended, so you probably don't need one, I think the Harvi's are not that reliable at the moment, some firmware update is expected to fix the problem.

The Eddi is just a gizmo to send excess electricity from solar panels to your hot water immersion to avoid sending it back to the grid for free, so if you've no solar panels, you don't need one.

niall_eidw

I'm considering a JuiceBox 32 Pro:

google: emotorwerks.com/eu/juicebox-pro-32

The JuiceBox can be ordered from Germany with €27.00 shipping

and

ChargePoint Home:

google: chargepoint.com/en-gb/products/home/

The ChargePoint can be purchased through Tokheim Services Group who are in Dublin 22.

Both do 32A, both do WiFi and have their own App. Hope this helps.

DesperateDan

Interesting! You can see the Android Elvi app, and JuiceBox app have nowhere near the number of good reviews / downloads that ChargePoint has. Although Elvi seems newer, and ChargePoint do public chargers as well.

No Zappi app, but it seems to be the only one that supports PV out of the box. I wonder if all of them don't require a priority switch and have the same Zappi current monitoring tech.

_dof_

I doesn't look like either of them support it, they don't mention it anyway, and it would be a selling point.
They both seem quite expensive, the juicebox at 700ish euro +shppint and the chargepoint one is 800 pounds on amazon!!
The Zappi's 585 euro+shipping

Wifi is nice-to-have on them, but not really a need-to-have for me, I don't need the ability to monitor the charging session, it's happening at night anyway. myenergi have said they're planning to deliver an internet router to allow the Zappi to be connected to your network and they're delivering an app to allow the remote control and monitoring.

They've been talking about that for a while though, I think it was supposed to be delivered in September, but I'd say they're up to their eyes trying to keep up with the demand for their existing products.

DesperateDan

Yeah I've been tossing it up and for the price + monitoring tech I think Zappi comes out on top with the PV just a bonus for me if I get them eventually. It's just a shame I think it's the ugliest one

rolion

niall_eidw wrote: »

I'm considering a JuiceBox 32 Pro:

google: emotorwerks.com/eu/juicebox-pro-32

The JuiceBox can be ordered from Germany with €27.00 shipping

and

ChargePoint Home:

google: chargepoint.com/en-gb/products/home/

The ChargePoint can be purchased through Tokheim Services Group who are in Dublin 22.

Both do 32A, both do WiFi and have their own App. Hope this helps.

Hi Niall,

Will you have handy a contact number or address for Tokheim,please !?

Thanks

daheff

DesperateDan wrote: »

Interesting! You can see the Android Elvi app, and JuiceBox app have nowhere near the number of good reviews / downloads that ChargePoint has. Although Elvi seems newer, and ChargePoint do public chargers as well.

No Zappi app, but it seems to be the only one that supports PV out of the box. I wonder if all of them don't require a priority switch and have the same Zappi current monitoring tech.

Hi Dan,

did you go for one yet? If so, which one are you getting and why?