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

TheSunIsShining · 22-09-2024 07:18PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122642922#Comment_122642922

Depends how much the charger would be and how long you'd need to use it. The cost per kw will be higher in shopping centre compared to home - but you have a sunk cost to buy it etc. A week of charging publicly would probably be cheaper than having to buy the charger and charge at home - but 6 months of public charging and buying the granny charger would probably be cheaper. Be aware too that a granny charger will only get probably 2.5kw or so an hour into the car so you also need to see if that covers you...

Nigzcurran · 22-09-2024 07:53PM

Just spotted the car comes with a granny charger, we only do a small bit of driving each week so hopefully a night or two of slow charging at home each week will be enough till we get the wallbox sorted

Cuauhtemoc · 22-09-2024 09:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122643654#Comment_122643654

We used a granny charger for the last 3 months until we got the EV charger installed. We drive about 500 to 600 km a week. That would add about 30% charge to our iD3 58kw overnight on night rate electricity. Only the odd time I'd have to do back to back long journeys I'd just top up on a high speed charger. Esb usually.

Edit: Just make sure it's a decent socket. Sparks put in an outdoor one for us. Ours never got hot even when we left it charging for 12 hours. Not sure was that down to the VW granny charger tho.

New EV charger just Installed on our meter box as no other option.

TheSunIsShining · 22-09-2024 09:38PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122643888#Comment_122643888

This re the granny charger. Are you in an older house with older wiring if you need the tails upgraded? If you are, then strong warning would be to keep an eye on the socket you intend using and make sure its not getting excessively warm etc. Also, don't use an extension wire unless you very much know what you're doing

Cuauhtemoc · 22-09-2024 10:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122643919#Comment_122643919

100%. Didn't read back up the thread.

Our house was relatively newly wired. Sparks happy with our situation and I'm definitely not an electrician!

Nigzcurran · 22-09-2024 11:35PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122643919#Comment_122643919

Yep it's late 80s build, we only got new outdoor sockets installed last year which will be used for the granny charger. Will do some trial runs during the day first and see if it gets warm at all. Thank you

Nigzcurran · 23-09-2024 02:46PM

Ev installer confirmed the wiring needs upgrading, probably looking at between €500 to €700 in total. So much for EVs being a cheap alternative!

Gumbo · 23-09-2024 03:12PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122645963#Comment_122645963

Can’t blame the EV for your old house not being ready for new technology in fairness.

Nigzcurran · 23-09-2024 04:33PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122646110#Comment_122646110

No I'm only joking, absolutely bursting with excitement to be picking up the car on Saturday, the charger situation is just a minor inconvenience and the granny charger will do for now

Gumbo · 23-09-2024 04:39PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122646446#Comment_122646446

You’d be surprised how much a granny can work. Assuming good quality socket and faceplates, 10 hours of charging gives over 20 kWh and in most new EV’s that’s at least 120km range.

Obviously no good if doing more than that every day.

Nigzcurran · 23-09-2024 05:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122646472#Comment_122646472

Yeah that's great to hear, I drive the van during the week and the wife only potters around town in the car so probably does 20kms max a day.

Nigzcurran · 24-09-2024 08:06PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122609455#Comment_122609455

Spoke to Damion in Forkearn today and he is a lovely fella, was able to educate me with plenty of EV charger info. Can take care of all the electric upgrade works and suggested the EV sync, says they are bomb proof so cheers for the recommendation 👍🏻

spudwiser · 30-09-2024 09:02AM

I have an Elvi EV box since 2020 and am charging my Mégane on it.

Over the 3 hours overnight, I'm getting 12 KW which seems low. The cable is 32A rated but I've set it to 30A.

Am I getting maximum efficiency?

CoBo55 · 30-09-2024 11:42AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122667864#Comment_122667864

You should be getting 21 or slightly over, can you change the setting to 32A? I get 21kw consistently in the 3 hour window.

spudwiser · 30-09-2024 12:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122668178#Comment_122668178

I'll give this a go.

Would the extra 2A account for a loss of 2 or 3kw of charge each hour?

30-09-2024 01:09PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122668329#Comment_122668329

Energy (or "charge") is measured in kWh. kW (power) is a measure of the rate at which your car charges. Most wall chargers nowadays are wired to deliver a max of just over 7kW on a 32A circuit. So charging for 3 hours could deliver 21kWh. A Megane will have either a 7kW or 22kW AC charger. Either way you should be able to charge at 7kW if you have a 32A circuit. The car itself will throttle the charge rate if it can't handle it. For instance if the battery is nearly full the power will drop significantly.

I'm not sure where you set the current to 30A or why you would do that, but if you reduce the current you proportionally reduce the power. If you think your wall charger isn't delivering the power you think it should try recycling it by switching off and on at the dedicated circuit breaker in your consumer unit.

"Efficiency" that you referred to is a measure of energy losses and is a different matter.

Mr Q · 30-09-2024 01:28PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122667864#Comment_122667864

Have you tried the car on a different 32A charger? Just to rule out an issue with the car rather than charger.

Exiled Rebel · 01-10-2024 02:14PM

I note there was a brief mention in today's budget speech of a BIK benefit for employees and directors of companies who install a home EV charger. I have a Zappi but if it it makes financial sense to ad a second I may do so...... assuming the fine print doesn't scupper a second charger.

How long would we have to wait to find out the detail?

Gumbo · 01-10-2024 02:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122668329#Comment_122668329

No, 30a is still 6kw or there abouts. 32a is generally 7.4kw.

Have you set the car or the charger to 30a?

CivilEx · 01-10-2024 03:36PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672271#Comment_122672271

I heard that one too and it caught my ear. It seems that this is part of a suite of measures that the government are putting in place to try to incentivise EV purchases by Companies (aka UK approach?) as a way of increasing the size of the second hand EV fleet.

Hopefully there will be more detail in the next few weeks as enacting legislation will likely be required.

Exiled Rebel · 01-10-2024 03:56PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672634#Comment_122672634

Indeed ...it was preceded by an announcement regarding a significant bump in BIK for company cars.

MacDanger · 01-10-2024 04:13PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672727#Comment_122672727

Is that the 10k on top of the existing 35k?

Exiled Rebel · 01-10-2024 05:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122672799#Comment_122672799

Something like that. Only got the jist as I had a sick toddler who was no longer interested in watching Peppa tugging at my sleeve.

Muahahaha · 05-10-2024 01:23AM

Question- EVs like the Leaf seem to have two kw readings, like one is listed at 40kwh and the other 6.6kw. Does this mean that when plugged in to a type 2 charger it is delivering 6.6kw per hour, ie it would take just over 6 hours to charge a 40kw battery from empty to full? Or what exactly does that 6.6kw represent? Just trying to get a handle on how long it would.take to charge.

Gumbo · 05-10-2024 09:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122686134#Comment_122686134

Just bad advertising or people that don’t understand the physics involved.

40 kWh is the battery capacity.
6.6kw is the AC charging speed. This the speed it will charge at home on a 32a EVSE or out about about using the public SCP’s.
The Leaf has chademo charging for DC so 50kw charging speed (don’t quote me on that, it’s been a few years since I’ve had my leafs and didn’t use public chargers).

Charging a 40 kWh leaf at home from 0-100% will take about 40/6.6=6.0606 hours.

And if you’re serious about a Leaf, a brand new base model is €20,795.

CoBo55 · 05-10-2024 04:31PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122686410#Comment_122686410

Why is it so low? Is it faster on 3 phase AC?

Gumbo · 05-10-2024 04:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122687781#Comment_122687781

6.6 V 7.4.
not a million miles slower than every other EV. It’s just the On Boars Charger is rated for 6.6. Other cars are the same unless on 3 phase which is normally 11kw. Leaf doesn’t have this option.

DC Chademo is also slower than CCS. My guess is that it’s to limit the speed going into the battery as it has no thermal management relative to other cars.