Home charge points (purchase/problems/questions) (See mod note post#1)

I applied for the charger grant on 31st December this year but only received letter of offer on 2nd January. Does anyone know if I will get the €600 or if it will be €300. Its unclear on the grant approval form.

Just got confirmation that I qualify for the €600 grant.

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If it was me, I'd put in the CT clamp and future proof the installation. It's not a big cost...assuming of course the charger you are installing can take in the information from the CT clamp?

The installer is correct to a point, but personally I'd put it in as someone already mentioned to future proof the install if you ever decide to upgrade your PV. What charger are you getting? I know Zappis come with 1 CT and additional ones are only around €20 for public purchase, a REC would be getting them at a lot less than that wholesale so €70 seems excessive even in todays rip off market.

But ye, forget about any meaningful charging off a 1.5kW PV system, even a 10 amp granny charger pulls around 2kW while charging, and you'll only rarely be actually getting anywhere near 1.5kW in the ideal conditions needed for max PV production.

Off topic on the car charger but going forward you can give some thought to upgrading the PV, you can have up to a 5kW inverter without any additional permissions needed from ESBN and probably sell your existing system for around €3-400 if you ask the installers to remove it carefully. I assume your NC6 is already sorted and you're getting FIT payment back from your supplier for the small bit of electricity you might export at the minute?

Yeah it seems counter intuitive but the maths definitely mean export as much as you can and consume as much as you can on night tarrifs. Charging from solar is slow at the best of times. I did it last summer a few times and even on a really sunny day you're probably putting in 4 kWh into the car (from 4kwp south east, 3kw north west) I'd have been far better off chatting on 6 cents night rate with pinergy etc and getting 25 cents for every KWh exported

Ye, the only thing I'll say about not doing it now is that it may cost more in the future as getting it done at the initial install means the installer can probably run and pull and connect all the cables together at the same time along the same route from the charger back to the consumer unit, whereas doing it afterwards would mean having to run and wire the solar CT clamp cable from scratch which could substantially increase the labour on it. Normally the Solar PV installers wouldn't have any reason to go near the car charger wiring at all unless it was all part of the same job being done at the same time, you might find they won't want to touch it at all and you might have to go back to the car charger installer anyway.

Don't be afraid to haggle a bit either. Is your house new enough to be already pre-wired for the charger or does the installer have to install the power cables from the consumer unit and is the consumer unit close to the proposed charger location? Is the installer going to install the 'load management' CT clamp for the charger? (Would be mad not to on an EO pro) If it's the latter three I'd ask him if he'd do the solar CT clamp for €50, if you don't ask you don't get.

But even for €70, that would be probably a lot less than what you would pay to get it installed as a 'stand alone' job for the reasons above so personally I'd go for it now. Although as mentioned, depending on whatever energy plan you're on it might work out cheaper to charge at night and export during the day and hence not need the solar CT clamp at all, so that's worth keeping in mind. But personally, if I was getting an EO mini pro 2 I'd want all the available functionality working if possible. (Even if I didn't have solar yet, I'd get the additional CT clamp run up to the CU for future proofing.)

Having installed a few I've a fair idea of the logistics involved which is why I was asking the poster what charger they were getting. In this case, if the installer is installing the load management CT clamp anyway and the CU and EO are within reasonable distance of each other, asking €70 for the additional CT clamp which will follow the exact same wiring route from EO to CU that he has to pull other cables along anyway is IMO a bit on the high side. I see some installers like Energia will actually include it for free.

"Additional CT clamp included FOC for solar customers. (Where required)"

https://smarthomestore.energia.ie/eo-mini-pro-2-socket-install

If by 'long winded' you mean a far more detailed explanation of why it would be better and cheaper to do it now, then yes, you're correct.

Thanks alot buffman, very helpful and everyone else.

Will get the solar clamp fitted he is already doing the load management one and have been haggling alot.

# Yes, you can change model as long as it is an approved one.

# Tethered is what I would recommend. Type 2, as very few cars will be type 1.

# Only much older EVs like the pre 2018 Leaf will be Type 1 charger. Most cars are type 2 and this is the standard. Adapters are easily purchased regardless.

# Most EVs have a charge timer built-in. Otherwise the charger will have a timer built into the APP. They can all be overridden if you need to charge right away. I tend to use the car timer.

# Get a charger that will give you the option. My preferred charger is the hypervolt, but must be ordered from the UK. Zappi is a common one too, though I'm not a fan of them personally. Plenty of solar options. Nice to have the option.

# Future proofing...I would just say get the clamp installed for the solar capable charger. I also ran a cable for an outdoor domestic socket. If there are issues with the charger, or you need to add charge to a second car overnight, the outdoor socket is a saving grace.

# Don't worry about V2H (vehicle to home) setups. Use your car as a car, not a battery. If you want a home battery, consider that during your solar install.

# I have a dislike for what electricians are charging for installs of EV chargers. I can't say they are all reputable, only that they are all registered. Just pick one with a good deal, or choose any RECI to do the work and provide the charger yourself if you want. Get a few quotes.

Whats the clamp needed for ? I’m thinking of getting a Zappi installed myself as I might get solar in the future. Thanks.

The clamp reads what the charge point is drawing. It stops the charger from drawing too much juice when the house is running a high load. It lets you charge from solar among other things. Better to export the solar though and charge at night regardless of having a clamp.