What is the cheapest domestic charge point available

carbuncle

As the title says what is the cheapest type 2 tethered charge point available that conforms to the standards grant?

I have a zappi and no solar and have had electric cars for 3 years. Having trouble adding pv myself to get grants but that’s another story.

i don’t do the mileage for an electric and buy through my company but my brother has solar, does a 100km commute and the has had designs on going electric for a while but the new models are just too expensive to justify. The leaf 40 on zero finance hits the sweet spot for him and savings on fuel are good - car arrive in two weeks.

I was shocked to see how expensive charge points are now with zappi and a Harvi at over €900 pre install (easy for him).

basically it will cost €600 net of grant for a zappi to use excess solar and I am thinking that won’t be made back anytime soon.

his electricity for home charging will be around €320 a year. He knows his annual solar production and we know he will get zero free charging for 6 months of the year - so that means he can only save on €160 (he is home based for a good few months in the summer). it’s a 4kW system with battery (and the hassle that involves re car charging)

what with clouds, home consumption etc I maintain he might be lucky to get €50 of free charging per year, so 12 year payback excluding price rises.

a charge point can be a simple thing, what’s the cheapest you can buy a conforming tethered type 2 charger for the grant?

I would have thought tops €200 as it’s just a different shaped 3 pin, no smarts required. The car can start the charge on nightrate

I say a dumb charge point with his easy install from the meter box should be tops €400 - his leccy has given him a price for the install inc breaker and e stop.

if it can be done for that for him then that’s €800 cheaper than a net zappi install - that’s a lot to shell out for a bit of free solar charging.

Just looking tonight I can’t seem to find anything cheap, tethered is the only option - no need for the expense of another cable or the hassle of getting it out of the car every evening

any help appreciated!

zg3409

Used home charges come up on adverts, done deal, Facebook from time to time. New name brand chargers are often 350 euro.

You can get full install for under 600 euro so grant pays for it all but there are some catches.

-cheaper ones are not tethered

-cheaper ones do not typically load share which is needed if you have instant shower like triton or heat pump. Without load share you may pay additional 200 euro for a priority switch.

- If charger is cheap or second hand it's life may be less and may have no or reduced warranty or support.

You can granny charge using any household socket at 2kW versus 7kW typical home charge point.

If you want to charge using the sun typically you need a big solar array, to have car home daytime weekdays and then you may only get a partial charge each day. It may be easier/cheaper just to charge at night rate or day rate. It's not much money. To maximize solar charging ideally you need a charger designed for solar , that can vary charging from 0.8kW to 7kW depending on how much sun and a car with a big battery that you do not use in middle of the day weekdays. You also need to not be using the solar to power other things in house such ad lights, tv etc or you will not have exess solar. You probably want a minimum 6kW solar, a zappi , and an energy efficient house. The car will charge very slowly, maybe taking a week to fill in summer, never filling in winter.

Gumbo

Just to add to the above. I’ve done 10 installs since 2017 on my homes, family homes etc

Ive done the second hand route, the brand new route, the supply route and the “let the sparks supply and fit route”.

Recent changes to the SEAI Grant payment form mean you have to include an invoice for the charge point if you supplied it. This was not required before last year.

I’ve done about 5 installs where I bought from adverts and had a local sparks fit and certify then the grant covers it all.

Worth bearing in mind.

cheapest charger I bought new was a QUBEV 32a unit from EVOnestop on Amazon just before brexit for €231 delivered.

Recently got a wallbox for €1199, supplied and fitted by carcharger.ie as it was the easiest option for that house as it needed load balancing.

carbuncle

Thanks for the reply’s.

we did note a few lower priced charge points but tethered is the way to go we think (my experience of 3 years with ev) and apparently he will need load balancing.

prices just seem very high to me for even simple units. Grants here and the Uk may be influencing prices, I am not keen on grants at all as it seems end prices just go up

anyway he has a very simple install which reduces costs and he has managed to get a decent price as he has other non ev related work to do - he is going zappi 2 tethered.

we Both know he will save very little charging with excess but he will have a number of months in the summer where he is not in work (guess the profession!) so could probably get 2kW per hour easy enough for a number of hours. He has a 2kwh grant battery as well and they are too expensive without grants to upgrade at retail prices, we may go home build for the both of us.

One possible advantage of the zappi units which I read when I bought my v1 and of course is in v2 is that the zappi can take a pricing signal from a smart meter . I was reminded when doing research last week - octopus and at least one other Uk supplier regularly have negative and very low unit pricing . The zappi is designed to take this pricing info from a cable from the smart meter, the smart meter gets the price changes via a sim. You can set the zappi to charge at a price point apparently

looks like only a few pence per unit but nice to be paid to take leccy for your car.

of course you would need to look at all unit prices on a plan.

I would like to think (but can’t assume) that the smart meters being installed here can do live pricing changes and if so once enough have been installed then suppliers here may do the same as the Uk

peposhi

Bought a tethered EO mini off Darkin Electric for €200 about 6m ago. Give him a ring, may have some spare. If you need a number , PM me.

NIMAN

Another here who recently bought a Qubev untethered from the manufacturer for £240.

zg3409

Firstly home solar battery grants changed yesterday. After 14th Feb I think it is, zero grant for home solar battery. Also grant for solar panels may increase, so apply quickly or delay as appropriate.

Re smart electricity meter, as far as I know they don't have the feature you mentioned and many people say avoid a smart meter as the pricing is far higher than non smart night meters. The pricing seems to be peak fixed times e.g. 5pm - 8pm rather than per minute variable pricing. Just beware negative pricing is not at all common. Most long commute electric car drivers use night rate non smart meters that works out cheapest.