The all things EV chat thread

[PJ87]

Deposit laid out on BMW iX3 with 4300miles on 73plate in the colour combo my wife wanted.
I am now sorting out a home charger, and getting my electric tariff sorted. Then I will do the car insurance which will be higher, but that’s life.
I have identified a few chargers locally that have lowish tariffs and high speeds.

So next job is to think about solar panels and direct to car options or battery. I think the home battery doesn’t have to be as big as I was thinking initially, which will be a cost save. I will ask about the ability to add to them in series if I upgrade later.

If you are going from scratch solar aswell then get a zappi. they are the best around and work with octopus intelligent , ohme are also very good but zappi imo is a better charger (I have an ohme, if i was starting again id go zappi but I had a podpoint and upgraded to an ohme)

there is a debate if home batteries are worth it but thats personal choice. I like mine.

with regards of charging solar to the car dont bother. I buy my electric from octopus at night for 7p a kwh, any excess solar is sold back to them for 15p a kwh .. yes these figures could and will change but its likely to remain higher for export with them (only with intelligent, with go you get 9p in and 8p out)

octopus is one option to go for.

personally if you have solar and battery go for them or eon drive. OVO offer charge anytime but its JUST what you use to charge, not your house. where as in the winter I fill up at 7p a kwh and the home battery and solar see me through the day

the way intelligent octopus works is you get 6 hours cheap a night. 23:30-05:30 hrs, however if you say I want 100% battery for example by 7am it will offer extra slots .. or slots outside the cheap hours when they have excess to use (as they get paid to manage the grid flow) and that applies to the whole house aswell. useful in the winter if you want to ask for the car to be ready for 10pm for example....

eon drive is simple , 7 hours at 7p a unit and 16p out believe it was.. but its only 7 set hours doesnt move.. so thats up to you. personally i stuck with octopus for their customer service.

all require a smart meter I believe so make sure you request one

octopus can install home chargers and do them pretty quickly, they offer zappi for just over £1000 tethered is my personal preference for ease of use but others prefer not to.

just an example of octopus , saturday I think it was got an email saying they will offer half price charging (so 3.5p a kwh) for the bank holiday, so if you plug in monday night and leave unplugged tuesday you will be credited (in couple of weeks) the difference. we had just got home sunday from a road trip so held the charge until monday. octopus are a very progressive energy company looking to change the energy market and this was just a test of what they can offer the grid with their smart charging (they have a system called kraken https://octopusenergy.group/kraken-technologies)

so for the monday evening part here is my energy usage



as you can see they adjust the cheap hours around when they want to charge your car and with my charger (and zappi I believe) they can ramp the power up and down depending



so this picture above shows how one 15 min section they were charging at 16amp and the next section 32amp .. allowing them to tailor supply to demand but you still get your car ready by when you asked for it

for example I wanted 30% added to my car overnight ready for 05:50 when I was departing (with a 30 min pre condition aswell so it would take off the house not the car) and sure enough it started at 23:30 for a bit, did all its smart stuff and when I unplugged it at 05:50 it was ready to go fully warmed up

this is all very simple aswell its really not complex as it sounds..

however if you do want even more simple the eon drive is simple... 7 hours set cheap rate. I just like the options for charging after nights for example

going back to the panels ive had my charger wired up outside my home battery set up. so the charger will never drain from the battery as thats using one battery to charge another which isnt efficient

(Another quick add, octopus are trailing free electric on hours with massive excess to save the grid money, anyone's one coming up at 13:00-1400, my battery is only 85% full ATM. If it's not full at 13:00 I'll charge it up for free)

any questions my PMs always open

 

[Mudball]

Deposit laid out on BMW iX3 with 4300miles on 73plate in the colour combo my wife wanted.
I am now sorting out a home charger, and getting my electric tariff sorted. Then I will do the car insurance which will be higher, but that’s life.
I have identified a few chargers locally that have lowish tariffs and high speeds.

So next job is to think about solar panels and direct to car options or battery. I think the home battery doesn’t have to be as big as I was thinking initially, which will be a cost save. I will ask about the ability to add to them in series if I upgrade later.

Colour combo is the most important piece.. rest is detail.

Go Solar and find the *biggest* battery you can afford. 7 month on from our solar investment and it has been the best choice. If I have some money later this year, I am going to add couple of more batteries. The best thing they do is to time shift the house consumption to cheap fare. The EV charging is irrelevant to the solar/battery set up as it is charged overnight.

 

[PJ87]

Colour combo is the most important piece.. rest is detail.

Go Solar and find the *biggest* battery you can afford. 7 month on from our solar investment and it has been the best choice. If I have some money later this year, I am going to add couple of more batteries. The best thing they do is to time shift the house consumption to cheap fare. The EV charging is irrelevant to the solar/battery set up as it is charged overnight.

Id slightly add to the "biggest" you can afford Is to match the battery to the usage of the house

For example I could add another powerwall and double my storage to 27kwh which would cover my usage on the house all the time but one of them coupled with solar is enough to do the majority of the usage , in the deepest darkest winter on a couple of days I might take a few KW at the expensive rate but it's not worth that outlay for those few days

 

[harpo_72]

Out of interest.. and I am thinking just a battery might be the solution but with a capability later to feed in solar, what is your domestic usage?
Could I charge car and battery? I don’t think the car will be on charge every night may be 2 nights a week - Friday and a Monday. But even then that could be too frequent.

 

[PJ87]

Out of interest.. and I am thinking just a battery might be the solution but with a capability later to feed in solar, what is your domestic usage?
Could I charge car and battery? I don’t think the car will be on charge every night may be 2 nights a week - Friday and a Monday. But even then that could be too frequent.

My domestic use is average 25kwh a day .. I shift it all to those cheap hours

I have an 80 amp fuse , the powerwall charged at 5kwh, car 7.4kw and I've never been anywhere near the 80amp which is roughly 18kwh . That includes dishwasher, washing , air con and tumble running aswell never been near it .. think most I've pulled is 70amp

The charger will load balance though and if your house got high it would reduce you until it got low

Reach out to some companies about it because they will know the ins and outs of inverters etc because mines all built in that powerwall and gateway

 

[harpo_72]

Out of interest.. and I am thinking just a battery might be the solution but with a capability later to feed in solar, what is your domestic usage?
Could I charge car and battery? I don’t think the car will be on charge every night may be 2 nights a week - Friday and a Monday. But even then that could be too frequent.

Mine is 11-15kwh I think but we run 2 businesses out of the house.

 

[PJ87]

Mine is 11-15kwh I think but we run 2 businesses out of the house.

Other batteries are available but the powerwall 2 or 3 provide all the needs for what you require. The 3 is a fantastic bit of kit. (I have the 2) The 3 can output more at once (the 2 can do 5kw at once the 3 can do 10kw think it is) anyways both provide island mode so do whole house back up in the event of a powercut if that's something you would require

I like my 2, have had 1 proper powercut, we only noticed because my phone told me... Then looked outside and we were only house with lights

 

[harpo_72]

Other batteries are available but the powerwall 2 or 3 provide all the needs for what you require. The 3 is a fantastic bit of kit. (I have the 2) The 3 can output more at once (the 2 can do 5kw at once the 3 can do 10kw think it is) anyways both provide island mode so do whole house back up in the event of a powercut if that's something you would require

I like my 2, have had 1 proper powercut, we only noticed because my phone told me... Then looked outside and we were only house with lights

Just looking at the cost but I don’t want to be rung up by a bunch sales people

 

[PJ87]

Just looking at the cost but I don’t want to be rung up by a bunch sales people

I'd say ball park £8-9k for pw3

 

[adasko]

Mate of mine got recently installed 2 Seplos mason 280 15kwh battery and 5.5kwh solars for 7.5k.
He is very pleased with his installation. His brother in law is electrician who fitted it for him was raving about seplos batteries.

 

[larmen]

Are you guys eating your electricity? We use 7 kWh a day so far this year, but I guess we go up to 7.5 if we add what's coming in November or December to the average.
Last year we used 11 kWh a day, but that's when we figured out we are wasting a lot on hot water.

I think the biggest wins are access to cheaper tariffs and then load shifting. We have a 5 kWh battery, a 7.5 on would have been better, but it is what it is.
We don't have an electric car (yet) which gives access to even better tariffs.

 

[PJ87]

Are you guys eating your electricity? We use 7 kWh a day so far this year, but I guess we go up to 7.5 if we add what's coming in November or December to the average.
Last year we used 11 kWh a day, but that's when we figured out we are wasting a lot on hot water.

I think the biggest wins are access to cheaper tariffs and then load shifting. We have a 5 kWh battery, a 7.5 on would have been better, but it is what it is.
We don't have an electric car (yet) which gives access to even better tariffs.

Looked into it before we use about 7kw a day just standing still

Upgrading the fridge and freezer might help
Air conditioning/ heating via it to reduce gas use in winter

11 loads of washing a week. Plus tumble and then dishwasher

As I pay 7ppkwh I'm not too worried

 

[harpo_72]

Are you guys eating your electricity? We use 7 kWh a day so far this year, but I guess we go up to 7.5 if we add what's coming in November or December to the average.
Last year we used 11 kWh a day, but that's when we figured out we are wasting a lot on hot water.

I think the biggest wins are access to cheaper tariffs and then load shifting. We have a 5 kWh battery, a 7.5 on would have been better, but it is what it is.
We don't have an electric car (yet) which gives access to even better tariffs.

I was thinking ours was quite high until I saw others.. but we have gas as well.
The oven is far from efficient so I need to update .. we are currently in a bit of a holding pattern on stuff due to the wife’s diagnosis.
The car was because I wrote off the family car.. which sounds bad and it wasn’t great but all involved were okay and no blood was spilt or hospital required.

 

[jim8flog]

Deposit laid out on BMW iX3 with 4300miles on 73plate in the colour combo my wife wanted.
I am now sorting out a home charger, and getting my electric tariff sorted. Then I will do the car insurance which will be higher, but that’s life.
I have identified a few chargers locally that have lowish tariffs and high speeds.

So next job is to think about solar panels and direct to car options or battery. I think the home battery doesn’t have to be as big as I was thinking initially, which will be a cost save. I will ask about the ability to add to them in series if I upgrade later.

Are the solar panels directly related to the car or is that just an added benefit?

EV charging costs at home are so relatively low I cannot see the benefit. My car charging cost is around £100 a year (I am a low mileage driver).

 

[harpo_72]

Are the solar panels directly related to the car or is that just an added benefit?

EV charging costs at home are so relatively low I cannot see the benefit. My car charging cost is around £100 a year (I am a low mileage driver).

I was looking at the low rate and thinking I could just charge a battery and run the house on that as well dropping the peak time usage .. the solar stuff could follow

 

[road2ruin]

I've had my EV (Ioniq 5) for a couple of years, we did an overseas holiday last year and most of my journeys are under 100 miles so haven't really had to worry about range or charging. This year we decided to go away with friends and picked a property in St Austall (Cornwall) which was a 250 mile journey so easily the longest I have attempted. This was with a 9 year old and a 10 month old so I wasn't particularly worried about the journey time as we were going to have to stop more frequently for them and I would just combine the charging with those stops.

On the way down we stopped at Solstice Park which had Gridserve chargers, in the time it took as to walk to the adjacent McDonalds to grab a coffee and a sausage McMuffin the car was up to 100% and we continued our journey. The next stop was Exeter services as this also had a Gridserve charging spot and has now got 24 fast chargers and this looked idea for another stop. Using the app it looked like 18 were in use which left 6 free, sadly this wasn't the case and when we got there it was pretty chaotic in all honesty. This is my major gripes with EV charging or at least the thinking behind it. At the services the chargers were in the main car park which was already exceptionally busy with all types of vehicle. There seemed to have been absolutely no consideration to what happens once the 24 chargers are in use, where do people wait? The answer to that is pretty much everywhere! There was no management of the EV queue and people getting pretty ratty that they felt they were there first when someone else pulled into a free spot. The issue was the no one knew where the queue was so it was a free for all. I can't see why they thought this would work and really should have put the charging at the far end of the site which was pretty quiet and they could have made it an EV zone instead of trying to stick it amongst the general car park where everyone was in the way. Anyway, decided to grab some food and leave the charging as we had enough to get more of the drive done.

Final stop (second charge) was done at Bodmin Retail park which had InstaVolt fast charging, loads of chargers and was almost empty when we arrived. Took the family to the local zoo (Pets at Home) and saw some fish, hamsters and rabbits. 15 minutes later back on the road and got to the property with 60% left.

On the way back we braved Exeter services again purely because it worked with the time/mileage we had done, much quieter this time and got a charger without issue. Stopped again at Solstice Park and no issues there either.

Essentially I found it a pretty easy experience but just wish a bit more thought had gone into where EV chargers are placed. Hoping more consideration is given as infrastructure is improved and not just dumping chargers in stupid places just to so they can say that they have them!!

 

[PJ87]

I've had my EV (Ioniq 5) for a couple of years, we did an overseas holiday last year and most of my journeys are under 100 miles so haven't really had to worry about range or charging. This year we decided to go away with friends and picked a property in St Austall (Cornwall) which was a 250 mile journey so easily the longest I have attempted. This was with a 9 year old and a 10 month old so I wasn't particularly worried about the journey time as we were going to have to stop more frequently for them and I would just combine the charging with those stops.

On the way down we stopped at Solstice Park which had Gridserve chargers, in the time it took as to walk to the adjacent McDonalds to grab a coffee and a sausage McMuffin the car was up to 100% and we continued our journey. The next stop was Exeter services as this also had a Gridserve charging spot and has now got 24 fast chargers and this looked idea for another stop. Using the app it looked like 18 were in use which left 6 free, sadly this wasn't the case and when we got there it was pretty chaotic in all honesty. This is my major gripes with EV charging or at least the thinking behind it. At the services the chargers were in the main car park which was already exceptionally busy with all types of vehicle. There seemed to have been absolutely no consideration to what happens once the 24 chargers are in use, where do people wait? The answer to that is pretty much everywhere! There was no management of the EV queue and people getting pretty ratty that they felt they were there first when someone else pulled into a free spot. The issue was the no one knew where the queue was so it was a free for all. I can't see why they thought this would work and really should have put the charging at the far end of the site which was pretty quiet and they could have made it an EV zone instead of trying to stick it amongst the general car park where everyone was in the way. Anyway, decided to grab some food and leave the charging as we had enough to get more of the drive done.

Final stop (second charge) was done at Bodmin Retail park which had InstaVolt fast charging, loads of chargers and was almost empty when we arrived. Took the family to the local zoo (Pets at Home) and saw some fish, hamsters and rabbits. 15 minutes later back on the road and got to the property with 60% left.

On the way back we braved Exeter services again purely because it worked with the time/mileage we had done, much quieter this time and got a charger without issue. Stopped again at Solstice Park and no issues there either.

Essentially I found it a pretty easy experience but just wish a bit more thought had gone into where EV chargers are placed. Hoping more consideration is given as infrastructure is improved and not just dumping chargers in stupid places just to so they can say that they have them!!

This is my gripe with EV chargers even though I have only public charged a few times I noticed when a space is "iced" by a selfish driver. They put the chargers in premium spots. They should be as far away as possible so people don't get tempted to use them just to be closer to the entrance

Fortunately I haven't had a wait for a charger when using it but can easily see how it happens. They don't employ people it's all self service out there with remote support

However charge stations like gridserve In Braintree is one way forward and another is destination chargers .. 7kw chargers at as many places as possible. This is happening more and more which means people don't need to use the fast ones just use in hotels and such

 

[road2ruin]

This is my gripe with EV chargers even though I have only public charged a few times I noticed when a space is "iced" by a selfish driver. They put the chargers in premium spots. They should be as far away as possible so people don't get tempted to use them just to be closer to the entrance

Fortunately I haven't had a wait for a charger when using it but can easily see how it happens. They don't employ people it's all self service out there with remote support

However charge stations like gridserve In Braintree is one way forward and another is destination chargers .. 7kw chargers at as many places as possible. This is happening more and more which means people don't need to use the fast ones just use in hotels and such

Yeah, at Exeter services they were down one side of the main car park, this meant that ICE cars were driving around the area looking for their own spots plus heading to the exit. You then had EV's milling around trying to find a charging spot whilst not getting in the way and also not skipping a non existent queue!

My previous charging has mainly been destination chargers, always worked well. We did make use of a lot of council car parks that had EV charging as they were all manic due to the summer holidays and being coastal towns. Was quite nice to pull into one of the vacant EV spots whilst watching an ever increasing line of tourist traffic waiting for a standard spot to be free.

 

[PJ87]

Yeah, at Exeter services they were down one side of the main car park, this meant that ICE cars were driving around the area looking for their own spots plus heading to the exit. You then had EV's milling around trying to find a charging spot whilst not getting in the way and also not skipping a non existent queue!

My previous charging has mainly been destination chargers, always worked well. We did make use of a lot of council car parks that had EV charging as they were all manic due to the summer holidays and being coastal towns. Was quite nice to pull into one of the vacant EV spots whilst watching an ever increasing line of tourist traffic waiting for a standard spot to be free.

When we went Bournemouth we almost did that to drive to the theatre and park and charge. Would have worked but I refuse to pay the parking charges (£20) when gridserve only cost me £27 for the entire charge lol

Winchester north was a good service, 12 bays think it was but just up road in fleet had only 4 bays (but other charge network aswell) but their services were a lot busier where as Winchester was not that busy and made it easier

 

[Mudball]

Looking at my octopus app.. last 3 month has been 500-600 KwH consumption. Batteries topped up every night and EV plugged in every night too. Now I run tumble dryer overnight. New dishwasher ‘eco’ cycle is 3.5 hrs, but it can run overnight too. Consumption is not linear and I have outliers like 43kwH days.

Luckily most of it has been offset by Solar. I don’t think I have fully drained my battery yet. It has a stop at 10%