First Time EV Buyer - What to Look out For?

Sam W

Hi everyone,

I have lurked in the dark on this forum for a while. It took me a long time to decide to trade-in my old petrol car for a new Tesla Model 3 SR+. The reservation is in. The deposit is paid and financing is sorted with Tesla.

I am looking for advice as to what I need to pay attention to between now and when the car is delivered.

The list below is what I think I will need to do. Any recommendation/advice on the list itself, or whether I should add items to the list, is greatly appreciated.

1. Apply for SEAI Home Charger Grant.

2. Talk to a few certified electricians to do a site visit and get a quote. Work out the best price.

3. Once the approval letter comes, buy the Tesla Wall Charger and ask the electrician to install it.

3. Ask the electrician to sign the installation document and get the 600 euro grant from SEAI.

4. Once the car arrives, apply for a toll tag for reduced rate.

5. Create an ESB account (PAYG) so that I can use public charging if needed.

6. Collect the car and happy days.

Some questions:

A. Any idea how much it normally costs for labour?
My house is a 2017 new build so I'd expect everything to be in place and up to the 'modern' standards and no complicated conversion or revamp is required.

It's one of things I just don't understand. I lived in 4 different countries and in all other 3 countries you can get an estimate of how much an electrician/plumber/builder is going to charge by a simple search online. Not in Ireland. The price seems to be fluctuating a *lot* for the same job and most people will insist on a site visit before giving out a quote instead of simply giving a rough estimate first.

B. Will a Tesla Wall Charger be the best choice in terms of performance, safety and price? Or is there any a much better choice out there?

C. I saw a hell lot of discussions regarding different types of home charging speed/safety/limitation of using other appliances at the same time. Would it really be a big issue? I'm thinking to switch to a Nightsaver meter and charge my car, use washing machine / dishwasher / tumble dryer all during night time. Would that cause any trouble? (Again the house is a 2017 new build so hopefully it's better than those old houses where it's so easy to trip.)

Thanks in advance for any advice/recommendation.

Black_Knight

Sam W wrote: »

Some questions:

A. Any idea how much it normally costs for labour?
My house is a 2017 new build so I'd expect everything to be in place and up to the 'modern' standards and no complicated conversion or revamp is required.

It's one of things I just don't understand. I lived in 4 different countries and in all other 3 countries you can get an estimate of how much an electrician/plumber/builder is going to charge by a simple search online. Not in Ireland. The price seems to be fluctuating a *lot* for the same job and most people will insist on a site visit before giving out a quote instead of simply giving a rough estimate first.

B. Will a Tesla Wall Charger be the best choice in terms of performance, safety and price? Or is there any a much better choice out there?

C. I saw a hell lot of discussions regarding different types of home charging speed/safety/limitation of using other appliances at the same time. Would it really be a big issue? I'm thinking to switch to a Nightsaver meter and charge my car, use washing machine / dishwasher / tumble dryer all during night time. Would that cause any trouble? (Again the house is a 2017 new build so hopefully it's better than those old houses where it's so easy to trip.)

Thanks in advance for any advice/recommendation.

A:
Mine cost 150 to the electrician. Less in fact, I asked him to put 100 labour on top of my 450 charge point unit so id get the full grant. Mine was simple. 6sqr cable, about 6 foot from the fuse box.
No electric shower. No solar. Nothing fancy.

B:
Not too familiar with the Tesla charger, but it won't perform any better than any other 32Amp rated unit. It is tethered, so that's convenient.
Rolec units have got a bit of bad press. Shoddy rcbo built into then which has fried for some. I've one, not died on me yet. Eeep.
Zappi are well respected, and can utilise a solar install if you have one (obviously cost a bit more to install, and for the unit, as a result). They also handle if you have an electric shower (electric showers + car charging would blow your main fuse, but the zappi can load balanced this. Alternatively a priority switch would need to be installed)
Pop your information in the home charger thread and there'll be loads of help.

C:
Somewhat mentioned already. Charging speeds at home are 3.6kW and 7.2kW. For the M3, get a 7.wkW unit (32amp).
See above about showers.

Night saver is a no brainer if you do any milage at all. I do 15k km per year and a night rate meter is certainly saving me. I run my washer, dryer and dishwasher at night too (I somewhat stagger them, but I put minimal effort into ensuring they're staggered). There are concerns over running these appliances at night, due to potentially catching fire. That's your choice.

Gumbo

Sam W wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have lurked in the dark on this forum for a while. It took me a long time to decide to trade-in my old petrol car for a new Tesla Model 3 SR+. The reservation is in. The deposit is paid and financing is sorted with Tesla.

I am looking for advice as to what I need to pay attention to between now and when the car is delivered.

The list below is what I think I will need to do. Any recommendation/advice on the list itself, or whether I should add items to the list, is greatly appreciated.

1. Apply for SEAI Home Charger Grant.

2. Talk to a few certified electricians to do a site visit and get a quote. Work out the best price.

3. Once the approval letter comes, buy the Tesla Wall Charger and ask the electrician to install it.

3. Ask the electrician to sign the installation document and get the 600 euro grant from SEAI.

4. Once the car arrives, apply for a toll tag for reduced rate.

5. Create an ESB account (PAYG) so that I can use public charging if needed.

6. Collect the car and happy days.

Some questions:

A. Any idea how much it normally costs for labour?
My house is a 2017 new build so I'd expect everything to be in place and up to the 'modern' standards and no complicated conversion or revamp is required.

It's one of things I just don't understand. I lived in 4 different countries and in all other 3 countries you can get an estimate of how much an electrician/plumber/builder is going to charge by a simple search online. Not in Ireland. The price seems to be fluctuating a *lot* for the same job and most people will insist on a site visit before giving out a quote instead of simply giving a rough estimate first.

B. Will a Tesla Wall Charger be the best choice in terms of performance, safety and price? Or is there any a much better choice out there?

C. I saw a hell lot of discussions regarding different types of home charging speed/safety/limitation of using other appliances at the same time. Would it really be a big issue? I'm thinking to switch to a Nightsaver meter and charge my car, use washing machine / dishwasher / tumble dryer all during night time. Would that cause any trouble? (Again the house is a 2017 new build so hopefully it's better than those old houses where it's so easy to trip.)

Thanks in advance for any advice/recommendation.

If you’ve been lurking in these forums, hopefully you read enough to use a referral code?

Congrats on the order btw. You will not regret it.

Gumbo

Sam W wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I have lurked in the dark on this forum for a while. It took me a long time to decide to trade-in my old petrol car for a new Tesla Model 3 SR+. The reservation is in. The deposit is paid and financing is sorted with Tesla.

I am looking for advice as to what I need to pay attention to between now and when the car is delivered.

The list below is what I think I will need to do. Any recommendation/advice on the list itself, or whether I should add items to the list, is greatly appreciated.

1. Apply for SEAI Home Charger Grant.

2. Talk to a few certified electricians to do a site visit and get a quote. Work out the best price.

3. Once the approval letter comes, buy the Tesla Wall Charger and ask the electrician to install it.

3. Ask the electrician to sign the installation document and get the 600 euro grant from SEAI.

4. Once the car arrives, apply for a toll tag for reduced rate.

5. Create an ESB account (PAYG) so that I can use public charging if needed.

6. Collect the car and happy days.

Some questions:

A. Any idea how much it normally costs for labour?
My house is a 2017 new build so I'd expect everything to be in place and up to the 'modern' standards and no complicated conversion or revamp is required.

It's one of things I just don't understand. I lived in 4 different countries and in all other 3 countries you can get an estimate of how much an electrician/plumber/builder is going to charge by a simple search online. Not in Ireland. The price seems to be fluctuating a *lot* for the same job and most people will insist on a site visit before giving out a quote instead of simply giving a rough estimate first.

B. Will a Tesla Wall Charger be the best choice in terms of performance, safety and price? Or is there any a much better choice out there?

C. I saw a hell lot of discussions regarding different types of home charging speed/safety/limitation of using other appliances at the same time. Would it really be a big issue? I'm thinking to switch to a Nightsaver meter and charge my car, use washing machine / dishwasher / tumble dryer all during night time. Would that cause any trouble? (Again the house is a 2017 new build so hopefully it's better than those old houses where it's so easy to trip.)

Thanks in advance for any advice/recommendation.

1. Once you have the car as you need reg number.
2. Yes. Work out what’s best. Having the complete package supplied and fitted or you buying a charger and having a RECI sparks fit it.
3. Your not stuck with the Tesla wall charger. It looks pretty, but it’s not without it’s known problems. It’s downtown value though, as it manages load sharing if you have an electric shower.
4. Yes. I’ve had 4 EV’s and I only applied for it on the current one. I use toll tag.ie. Lodge €20 and you get a free tag. The discount is applied immediately as you pass so none of this messing about waiting for the following month etc
5. Yes always handy to have there for an emergency. I haven’t used the eCars in a long time, since they were free in fact, but I do have a PAYG account just in case.
6. Try stop smiling and looking for any excuse to go out in it. It’s been know for people to pour milk down the drain just so they can tell their wife they have to nip out to Tesco

A. No idea. It totally depends on where the parking is, gelato etc to where the consumer unit is, Relative to where the charge point will be fixed to the car. ESB have a fixed rate of about 1100 and you then get the 600 grant back.
B. No, in my opinion. Zappi is the best currently. But you pay for that. It has load sharing, can operate from excess solar PV etc but cost would mean it takes along time to get the outlet back. If you want simple plug in and charge, there’s a QuBev Unit on Amazon for 229 stg that does 7kw charging (same as Tesla and others as that’s the max a house can do).
C. This is where load sharing comes in. 2017 house or 1995 house makes no difference. The charger will be wired back to its own 40a RCBO or similar approved and then the other loads of the house will be factored in. I can charge at 7kw while using the tumble dryer etc during the day, but if you had an electric shower for example, some of which draw 9kw, then you have to load balance.

Sam W

Thanks a million guys! It was great to receive so much useful information.

I’m going to read your replies in detail later after work, but a quick glance told me that Black_Knight’s electrician charged him 150 euro while the Electric Ireland standard price is 1100 euro. Is there really a huge difference between different types of jobs?

Tesla told me that I can just go ahead and buy the charger and apply for the home charge grant even though the car hasn’t been manufactured yet. So I believed him and sent off the application and purchased the charger... so I guess I will stick to their charger just for now.

zg3409

Sam W wrote: »

Thanks a million guys! It was great to receive so much useful information.

I’m going to read your replies in detail later after work, but a quick glance told me that Black_Knight’s electrician charged him 150 euro while the Electric Ireland standard price is 1100 euro. Is there really a huge difference between different types of jobs?

Tesla told me that I can just go ahead and buy the charger and apply for the home charge grant even though the car hasn’t been manufactured yet. So I believed him and sent off the application and purchased the charger... so I guess I will stick to their charger just for now.

Electric Ireland's price includes the charger and you take off the grant. So say its 500 labour. In that price they need to get to you, get back, supply all cabling, trunking, glands, maybe an isolator, RCBO for fuseboard. Actual on site work is drilling holes, running and clipping cable. They have vat, taxes etc to pay. So yes prices from 150 to 500 are normal. You can't start any work until the grant is approved. You don't need a receipt for the charger. If you have an instant shower like a triton make sure the charger is set to load share so it can handle lots of things being on at once. You can get quotes by email or over the phone of you take photos of fuseboard and route to the charger location, and email them to guy. You might need to upgrade the tails on your ESB Meter depending on house or lower charging speed. Get a few quotes. Ideally try to get someone who has installed a tesla charger before. While you wait for your car to arrive download apps to find chargers such as plugshare and go and physically find your local chargers. Only the 50kW ones are really useful so check your typical long trips and see where to stop. At the start presume every second public charger will be busy or broken and you won't get stranded.

Sam W

Thanks for the advice. Two electricians came back to me today. One saying 240-600 euro depending on whether the house is prewired, and the other doesn’t want to give any quote without a site visit.

I just checked the outside of the house. There are two small white boxes beside the meters. One of them has some cut wires. I hope this is the ‘prewired’ scenario that they are talking about.

I’m not planning on longer trips just yet. Missus has a petrol car so it’s still a better solution for long trips. Just hope Tesla can cut down my petrol bills and tolls for my daily commute (and yes it’s super fun to drive).

AndyBoBandy

You can apply for the SEAI home charger grant now, and once approved, get the charger installed, but only after you collect the car can you send off all the paperwork and request the payment of up to €600 (you'll get the full €600 because the charger cost you €530, and install will definitely be more than €70 (I paid around €430 to get my Tesla charger installed)).

I got the Tesla charger too and its brilliant. Simple and does what it says on the tin, but with the added bonus of the little button on it to open your charge port door. Plugging in every 2-3 nights is an afterthought.

I've an SR+ too, and I dont have a worry about doing any distance in it at all as between superchargers and the 'improving' ESB network, you'll get anywhere you need to get to and back... comfortably.

Also, there's nothing stopping you opening a PAYG ESB eCars account now, and having the card in hand before collecting the car, and putting say €20 credit on it for emergencies.... get their app too.

Also no harm opening an EasyGo account, as they have an expanding network, as well as free chargers at some Lidl stores.

The milage I've done so far this year in the Tesla (18,000km), would have cost me around €1,500 in my 320d, whereas it cost me €207 in electricity in the Tesla (it actually cost me a lot less as of the roughly 2,600kWh I've used so far, at least 600 or so of those I got for free).

fricatus

I’m very jealous - pics when you get it please!

However just remember that Teslas can be imperfect from the factory... apparently it can take a while to get them to fix issues that they (or you) don’t spot during handover.

Therefore do your research on what are the most common things that others have found problematic, and do yourself up a checklist so that you catch all the flaws that you can on the day (that new-car dazzle can be blinding!)

Let us know how you get on. Hopefully I’ll be following you up there in a year or so

emmet02

Glad someone started a thread like this, have just bought an EV myself in last few weeks but am staying at my parents' making use of their home charge point so have yet to sort my own (am waiting on new build to be completed).

I'm trying to organise the EVSE installation and SEAI grant but won't be able to do much until I get an MPRN (new build).

I registered on the M50 toll site for video only - but think that TollTags' Pay as you go + is actually a better option and will probably try and get setup there in the new year instead.

I have not bought, but have had my attention piqued by, a 'Faraday cage' box for my keys to be on the hall table / w/e to try to eliminate keyless theft.

I have had to buy (Ioniq) a rubber cover for my key fob to try and keep a hold of it, first time I was out and about I 'lost' the fob off the keyring as the eject button for the emergency key is quite loose on mine. The rubber cover is actually pretty spot on though.

I signed up to EasyGo and ECars to get the card & Fob.

I downloaded A better route planner, plugshare, ionity, ecars and easygo apps.

I joined the Irisih EV Owners Facebook group.

I've (second hand car) bought some new car scents and booked car in for servicing just to be 100% certain all is golden.

liamog

emmet02 wrote: »

I registered on the M50 toll site for video only - but think that TollTags' Pay as you go + is actually a better option and will probably try and get setup there in the new year instead.

You won't get the EV toll discount on a video registration, so it's def worth you switching over to the tag!

Sam W

So I had the Tesla Wall Charger installed today. Took 2 electricians around 4 hours (which is way longer than I thought!).
Got a few quotes from around - 300 eur, 450 eur, 470 eur, 550 eur, 780 eur. I went for the cheapest one and the quality looks good to me so far. Neat and professional installation.

I have one question though. The electricians didn't install this 'spacer part'. What is it? Is it okay not to install it on the charger?

EDIT: I saw some of the Youtube videos that some people don't install this unit either, so I guess it's fine. Still want to understand what it does though.

AndyBoBandy

Sam W wrote: »

I have one question though. The electricians didn't install this 'spacer part'. What is it? Is it okay not to install it on the charger?

EDIT: I saw some of the Youtube videos that some people don't install this unit either, so I guess it's fine. Still want to understand what it does though.

That spacer is for if you are mounting the charger with the cable coming in from the top of the unit as opposed to in from the bottom of the unit.

Mine is sitting in my shed, unused, but I should really just throw it away as I'll never need it.

You'll need to make sure the dip switch is set correctly as when they ship I think their only set to 16amp, and it should be 32 amp...
its easy to check, just pop the cover off and make sure its set right (obviously isolate all power to the unit before taking the cover off!!

zg3409

There is a switch to allow non teslas to charge too. I don't think its in the manual, but someone here will know. The default I think is tesla only. Check what new fuse was installed on your fuseboard inside. Sometimes 32A or 25A is installed for a reason not 40A, and the charger will be deliberately set to a lower limit. This is sometimes due to fuseboard limitations, or ESB tails to meter or supply to house limits.

slave1

It’s the dip switch on the right, it needs to be changed from factory default to allow non Tesla EVs to use open protocols to allow charging