Home car charger V 3 pin plug/granny charger

lotusm

I'm think of getting a electric car after July . I applied for seai home charger before 31st December so I would get the €600 Grant... I commute 3/4 days to work about 25 minute drive each way and maybe do 100 miles the other days including the weekend.. I can get free charging at work... I live in mayo and go only on long journeys , maybe up to Dublin / Galway once a year... just wondering am I better just using a 3 pin plug / granny charger for now instead of getting spending €1k on a home charger.... I also have solar panels and 6Kw battery .. if I was going to go with a home charger what brand would you recommend with a good reputation that would suit me... any advice most welcomed

...Ghost...

Get the charger, as you will want one sooner or later anyway. You will get away with a granny charger if you have an outdoor socket, or hang it out the window. Lots of people use extension cords and this is dangerous.

The benefit of a dedicated charge point is that it is convenient, safer and faster at charging the car, which is especially useful if you need a quick topup. Charging at 2kW is fine overnight for a smaller battery car, but if you get an ID.3, Kona, or Model 3 which have 50 or 60kWh batteries, unless you plug in every night, you will have trouble filling up.

I recommend getting a Hypervolt 3.0 Home. Some installers do them, but you can also order direct from the UK and request a VAT free invoice for export. The charger will set you back around €650 delivered, but it is the most reliable one I know of and is solar compatible. The other popular ones mentioned on here like the Zappi, or Wallbox seem to be plagued with problems.

lotusm

Thanks for all your advice, I will now certainly consider getting a home charger and appreciate your recommendation for home car chargers

the_amazing_raisin

Yeah I'd recommend getting the charger. Look for one that can act as a solar diverter where you can send excess energy to the car on sunny days

The most popular example of this type of charger is the Zappi, but there are other options so go around and get a few quotes

Versus using the granny lead (3 pin charger) the home charger can handle more power and is obviously more convenient

There's also a safety aspect to it, a granny lead pulling 2.3kW is often pushing a domestic plug close to it's limit

Strictly speaking a properly installed plug should be able to handle it, but you're kind of in the space where you don't have much margin for error

If you have a plug that you're confident can handle the current then go ahead and use it for now, but long term it's better to invest in the home charger

13 amp plugs, despite their bulk, are often fairly prone to overheating when under sustained high load.

They’re really not a very good connector for something like a car charger.

Buffman

In your case OP you have the €600 grant until it expires after 6 months, so I can see 300 reasons why you should do it before then rather than wait until some stage in the future when you'll probably want/need one anyway and only get a €300 grant.

zg3409

Get a proper charger. The zappi brand is best with solar and if home daytime you may be able to fill your car for free from the sun, or fill it from sun filled home battery in evening.

It's also handy to be able to charge 3 times quicker than granny charging for example if you arrive home low on charge and need to go out one or two hours later then you can get a significant range in 2 hours.

Shop around for quotes as prices vary a lot.

dougal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121808244#Comment_121808244

Would a Zappi charge PHEV or would it use more power than needed?

the_amazing_raisin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121824217#Comment_121824217

The charger and car will agree on the amount of power that will be supplied

For example the Zappi migh say it has 7kW available but the car requests 3.6kW, and so the charging will go at the lower power

Similarly, the car might request 3.6kW, but the charger will only have 2.3kW available and so will charge at 2.3kW

Strictly speaking, they're agreeing on current in amps, not power in kilowatts. But for clarity I just gave examples of power because most other household appliances are rated in watts

Pretty much except the AC charging station can't regulate its output. The only thing it does is to rely the car or other device to communicate that there is something plugged in and lets the plugged in device to know what the maximum power it is allowed to draw. So it really is just a 230V socket and the connected device is fully responsible for the actual power draw. There is also a safety cutoff, I think, which lets the charging station to open the contactors if the car decides to draw more than agreed current for example due to a fault or if the temperature of the plug raises too much. And the circuit itself is also MCB'd at both ends, typically 40A.

The granny lead is exactly the same but they also usually have a thermistor reading the temperature of its own input to stop a dodgy wall socket starting a fire. But again the car is responsible for not exceeding the amperage, usually 10A.

zg3409

Beware most non car manufacturer branded granny chargers have no temperature sensors in the plug, think screwfix, ebay, Amazon. It needs to be a car make branded to include that safety feature.