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After an in-depth discussion with @kezo last year about having an EV charger fitted, it came to light that a recent electrical installation required remedial works, so the EV idea was sidelined. Fast forward to the present day.
In the coming months, I will have a few days in which to order my replacement car before the new Motability rules come into effect on 1 July. If I go down the EV route and Ohme decide they want to charge me an unreasonable amount for what they perceive to be a non-standard installation, then I must decide to stick with the EV and pay for my own charger (if cheaper than Ohms ridiculous costs), or cancel and reorder an ICE under the new rules.
With that in mind, can anyone answer the following questions about their Ohme EV Charger installation:
· As part of the standard installation, did Ohme supply a dedicated consumer unit for the charger, or connect into your existing consumer unit?
· Did they charge you to run the Ultra EV cable through the loft (bungalow)?
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“As part of the standard installation, did Ohme supply a dedicated consumer unit for the charger.”
In my case – yes a dedicated small CU was fitted.
Its not Ohme that fits the charger.
It is a regional sub-contractors, who then assign a local sub-contractor.
When I first had a charger installed nearly 3 and half years ago now via motability. It wasn’t even the Ohme chargers they was using , it was Eeasee one charger , looked alot better than the Ohme chargers. I only had it installed less than a month and then motability said were no longer partnered with Easee and then switched me to the Ohme Epod.
Installers should be installing a dedicated consumer unit for EV chargers, due to the prolonged high power requirements of chargers, which can exceed the capacity of the main house CU and adopted circuits. A dedicated board ensures the charger can draw the necessary power safely and meets current safety standards. It also provides additional protection against faults and overloads, reducing the risk of fire or electric shock.
On obsolete boards, putting a random “x” brand double pole RCBO/RCD, MCB.. would not be type approved and would change the operating characteristics of the current board.
5 spare ways minimum would be required, which is rare on older boards and the spare ways should be on the non RCD side of a split board. Importantly you are not by law update electrical installations to the current regulations.
Itsonly within the 18th edition and amendments, that domestic bards are moving away from type AC RCD’s and having bidirectional RCD’s as standard and if space allows adopting a practice of have far more spare ways than before.
As mentioned before, the electrician takes responsibilty of the existing board and circuit wiring, if they were to use an existing board.
Whats becoming common is seperate green eco board to hold charging, heatpump circuits etc, but constraints on space don’t always make this possible.
Whats becoming common is seperate green eco board to hold charging, heatpump circuits etc, but constraints on space don’t always make this possible.
Indeed, it was as a direct result of our conversation last year that led to NAPIT and NICEIC ordering the removal of a joint CU for PV/HP and replacing it with two distinct boards to handle Type A and B, and 30ma & 300ma protection. An easier solution for me would be to replace all the CUs with a triple (splitting the bottom into two). The trouble is I would have to re-arrange the kitchen and have extended tails. Until then I have more CUs and Henley blocks than City Electrical rammed into a tiny space (DNO and Kitchen). So an outside IP66 is the only option.
Regardless. I have a backup solution if Ohme start playing silly buggers, so the issue now is costing up miles be KWH verses Fuel costs. I doubt I will do more than 4k mile per year, and with a heat pump during the day, I have to carefully work out what tariffs would be suitable. On Octopus, it would cost me the same for EV as it would ICE unless I did around 9K miles per year.
@Kezo Indeed, it was as a direct result of our conversation last year that led to NAPIT and NICEIC ordering the removal of a joint CU for PV/HP and replacing it with two distinct boards to handle Type A and B, and 30ma & 300ma protection. An easier solution for me would be to replace all the CUs with a triple (splitting the bottom into two). The trouble is I would have to re-arrange the kitchen and have extended tails. Until then I have more CUs and Henley blocks than City Electrical rammed into a tiny space (DNO and Kitchen). So an outside IP66 is the only option. Regardless. I have a backup solution if Ohme start playing silly buggers, so the issue now is costing up miles be KWH verses Fuel costs. I doubt I will do more than 4k mile per year, and with a heat pump during the day, I have to carefully work out what tariffs would be suitable. On Octopus, it would cost me the same for EV as it would ICE unless I did around 9K miles per year.
You can get dual row consumer units however, as you say it would be major work, along with being expensive. Has mentioned before Ohme will fit a seperate CU, which ain’t a bad thing keeping things seperate and all on here, as far as I’m aware have had had one included in standard installation, with plenty of posts backing this up.
What is your heatpump tariff pence per kWh and hours?
I’m on the loyal 14M fixed which expires end of May. No split tariff, just SC 48.01 and Unit Rate of 19.52. That goes up to SC 48.01 and a Unit Rate of 23.67. The split tariff would hammer me during the day with the HP (even with solar), and for the miles I’d be doing the low charging rate wouldn’t be taken advantage off. OVO looks to have a better EV night tariff that doesn’t cost a lot during the day.
Whats Octopus Cosy heatpump tariff like?
It’s useful in that it provides three off peak periods between 04:00 – 07:00, 13:00 – 16:00 and 22:00 – 00:00 every day at 51% less than the day rate, all other times it is 50% above the day rate.
On the impending tariff. that would be :
Day rate: 31.93p / kWh
Cosy rate (04:00 – 07:00, 13:00 – 16:00, 22:00 – 00:00): 13.87p / kWh
Peak rate (16:00 – 19:00): 49.65p / kWh
Standing charge: 51.06p / dayWhats Octopus Cosy heatpump tariff like?
It’s useful in that it provides three off peak periods between 04:00 – 07:00, 13:00 – 16:00 and 22:00 – 00:00 every day at 51% less than the day rate, all other times it is 50% above the day rate. On the impending tariff. that would be : Day rate: 31.93p / kWh Cosy rate (04:00 – 07:00, 13:00 – 16:00, 22:00 – 00:00): 13.87p / kWh Peak rate (16:00 – 19:00): 49.65p / kWh Standing charge: 51.06p / day
You would need to work out how many kWh a day your heatpump uses and compre the maths to what you pay now and with various EV tariffs, with cheap off peak hours and inflated day rates 🙂
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