- This topic has 19 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 3 years ago by
.
- Topic
Firstly hi everyone, I enjoy reading the forum from time to time and I appreciate the advice given on here so I thought I’d ask a few as I’m coming to the end with my current car and now thinking of a electric car.
Is getting a charger at home free? I’m sure it was at some point but not sure now?
How does payment work charging from home, I’m currently with British Gas for my electric and I split the bill with a relative that lives with me. Would the bill from the charger go on my British Gas bill or is it separate? Just wondering how difficult it would be to work out what extra I would have to pay than my relative if everything is on the same bill.
I’ve noticed the AP price drop on the Megane which has drawn me to the car, anyone have it? as I can’t find the search function on here to see if there is a thread on it.
thank you for any advice.
- Replies
Yes, Motability will supply and fit a home charger for free.
Charging costs will just be part of your bill. There should be an app for your charger that will allow you to see a breakdown of your charging costs so you can deduct this from the bill you share.
If you haven’t already, it’s probably a good idea to get a smart meter fitted so you can consider signing up to a cheaper charging tariff such as Octopus Go.
Well my advice to anyone looking to go electric is Try One Out. I ordered an EV after getting a loan car for a couple of hours while car was serviced. I loved it. Thought it was Great. So went ahead and ordered one. However 9 months down the line I cancelled. And when my wife was getting her new company car from the dealership the salesman offered me an EV for the weekend. I took up the offer. And I must say. What a stressful weekend. I was constantly driving to the Milage clock. And was very glad to hand it back on the monday. EV is not for me at the current milage levels. The dealer told me to adapt my driving so as to get more milage. Sorry I am a bit too old in the tooth to be changing driving style. So it’s ICE for me.
We have ordered an EV and it needs to put into perspective if for instance you only have the use of an EV as a interim whilst work is being carried out by the garage there would be no charger at home to ensure a constant charging support.
Now some EV do not have long range and some can exceed 200 miles, so it depends what distance you would cover over a weeks driving and then there is the choice of equipment fitted or added as an optional extra, the AP may reflect this scenario.
Then there is the energy supply where some companies provide the opportunity to have a much reduced tariff overnight or indeed if you have solar panels fitted this also can reduce the overheads for charging.
Having test driven Several EV i found them to be very comfortable and easy to drive however i would caution anyone who is not a litte tech savvy to get some help with setting up your preferences which in turn help in many respect with safe driving.
Hope this helps in some way to ease your thoughts on EVs
A couple of things to note: The home charger is free for a standard installation. That means that the fuse board has a spare fuse they can use, the cable can run simply to where the charger needs to be and the install of the charger is against a wall. Anything other than that or further away than the distance they call standard (sorry, I don’t know that definition) then there will be a cost for the install varying from a few quid for a couple of metres of cable to thousands to dig a trench and build a structure for the charger.
The bill will simply be a bigger electricity bill. Depending on how good the standard information is from your supplier, you may be able to identify what was charging costs and what wasn’t.
The Megane is a great little car. If you’re looking for a medium hatchback type thing then it’s ideal. A great drive and the Google software makes everything simple to use and much more reliable than others. Renault did well to get a software company to do that bit as it’s where most problems lay.
As said, you need to test drive one and not for 20 minutes with the salesman bending your ear all the way. If you can, negotiate getting one for at least a couple of hours. Take it around town, around your local roads and see how it feels. It’s a different style of driving, the regenerative braking needs a little getting used to but, once you’re there, you really do appreciate it. It will feel a much smoother ride, much, much quieter both of which give you a false sense of security, you need to get used to that before picking up on rattles and odd noises which may be symptomatic of something you need to talk to the salesman about.
As someone on his 2nd EV, once you’ve been bitten, it’s incredibly disappointing to get in an petrol or diesel car again.
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
If your on a looped supply with a neighbour, you will require minor works which will be carried out free of charcge by your DNO. Like wise if your cut out fuse is 60A it will be replaced with 100A by the DNO free of charge.
Note: If you are on a looped supply and your neighbour shares the supply from you. They will have to have a new supply installed from the path, which entails 2 or 3 holes dug in their driveway. Ilekewise if you share the supply from your neighbour this work will be solely on your property. (this is normally older type properties)
If you have an old rewireable fuse box or do not have a spare way on your consumer unit, a small stand alone consumer unit will be fitted beside your main one.
If your incoming water and gas pipes are extraneous (metal) you should already have 10mm2 main bonding to these pipes. However if you currently have no main bonding in place and the the incomming gas and water have a plastic sheath around them and your on a TNC-s system. The 18th edition states no bonding is required even if copper pipe is teed off the incoming water. Bonding therefore would be non compliant with the latest regs. Podpoint installers seem to don’t know the difference between the 17th and 18th edition of the regs, rather the office staff dont that do the work order. Have a search on the forum-can’t remember who had this issue but, luckily he’d done his homework prior.
Apart fom the latter its straight forward – filling out a questionare and sending in some pics.
I don’t have an EV but, fitted chargepoints abeit on a commercial basis.
Be very careful and do some maths before opting for an EV tariff.
Octopus cheapest is 10p during the night and 41p during the day. I currently pay 31p on my standard tariff.
I worked out octopus would be more expensive for me.
If you don’t have solar etc then the EV tariffs only seem to be viable if you can move some of your normal usage into the night. Such as washing machine and dishwasher.
Also how and when you charge to consider. If you can charge away from home cheaper then the benefits of an EV tariff are even less.
But don’t automatically assume an EV tariff is best. Do the maths.
EV is great to drive, regarding getting a home charger fitted I gave up.I am on a looped system and gave up with my DNO after at least 14 months getting no where and 3 home visits they still could not find the main supply cable to unloop my supply.Just decided to use granny charger and public charging a lot less hassle for me.
Be very careful and do some maths before opting for an EV tariff. Octopus cheapest is 10p during the night and 41p during the day. I currently pay 31p on my standard tariff. I worked out octopus would be more expensive for me. If you don’t have solar etc then the EV tariffs only seem to be viable if you can move some of your normal usage into the night. Such as washing machine and dishwasher. Also how and when you charge to consider. If you can charge away from home cheaper then the benefits of an EV tariff are even less. But don’t automatically assume an EV tariff is best. Do the maths.
Thank you, but I don’t really understand it all. I’m on British Gas for electric, but I’ll have to change to Octopus? And it will effect everyday things like the washing machine?
I’ll try and go slow but feel free to ask specific questions if I lose you along the way.
Electricity tarrifs:
All charges are per kW (killowatt), only your cooker and tumbledryer will use a Killowatt at any great speed, the rest will take some time but it’s a measure of electricity. Day time you get a more expensive charge (it’s when most people consume it) whilst night time rates are lower. When you come out of contract with British Gas, you need to compare the daytime and nighttime rates and see what works best for you. In the meantime, you’ll spend more on your electric bill but you’ll stop going to petrol stations.
Installing the charger:
Depending where the power supply enters your house and where you want the box to be to plug into for the car, you may get no cost at all or you might need to find some money to cover the non-standard install. Take plenty of pictures of the fuseboard (where you can turn your electric supply off) and the outside of the house all the way to where you will park the car.
Driving:
An electric car is different to drive, all the power available comes from the moment you lean on the accelerator, you need to learn to be gentle with it. After that, it’s pretty much the same as an automatic, press harder – go quicker, lift off – slow down.
Test drive the car(s) you’re thinking of getting, you’ll get the picture.
Good luck, it’s easy once you get used to it…
I'm Autistic, if I say something you find offensive, please let me know, I can guarantee it was unintentional.
I'll try to give my honest opinion but am always open to learning.Mark
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write and give me advice but I do struggle to understand things. So I would have to ditch British Gas and sign up to Octopus? I understand I would be charging through the night as that’s when it’s cheaper but the washing machine and what not is throwing me, why should I do them during the night, surely I can use doing the day like I am now and will pay the same, it’s making it sound like all my bills will go up if using things during the day? Starting to think EV is not for me at this stage tbh as it’s already worrying me haha.
Harry no matter what electricity provider you are with running your car on electricity, providing you mostly charge at home will be massively cheaper than traditional petrol/diesel.
I have 2 electric cars and they really work for me because I regularly drive in the battery range of the car and I am able to charge at home.
If I did regular +300 mile journeys then an Ev wouldn’t work for me.
Thank you for taking the time and trouble to write and give me advice but I do struggle to understand things. So I would have to ditch British Gas and sign up to Octopus? I understand I would be charging through the night as that’s when it’s cheaper but the washing machine and what not is throwing me, why should I do them during the night, surely I can use doing the day like I am now and will pay the same, it’s making it sound like all my bills will go up if using things during the day? Starting to think EV is not for me at this stage tbh as it’s already worrying me haha.
HarryH, I’ve had my EV since late January and it’s costing us £9.32 per 100 miles, my last MB car was a BMW X1 20d xdrive for comparison was averaging 43 mpg or £16.46 per 100 miles at today’s price.
We are on British Gas standard tariff, we stayed with the standard tariff because both of us are retired and at home most of the day, the cheaper night tariff would have worked out more expensive for us considering the mileage we do.
I am Octopus Flux off peak rate 19.69 pence kWh/day rate 32.81 pence kWh
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
Oscarmax are you finding Flux better than Octopus Go? Am I right thinking you have solar panels and a house battery?
I had an easee one installed when I ordered my car , I had to pay an extra £250 as it wasn’t a standard install, it should have been an extra £600 but Motability paid £350 towards it, I needed my gas and water bonding as they were missing. I also needed an extra 25m of cable as the electric meter is towards the back of my property.
Oscarmax are you finding Flux better than Octopus Go? Am I right thinking you have solar panels and a house battery?
You are correct we do have solar panels and a battery, my import off peak is currently 19.69, my export normal rate 21.81 and 34.94 between 16.00 and 19.00.
very pleased with Octopus Flux
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.
Oscarmax are you finding Flux better than Octopus Go? Am I right thinking you have solar panels and a house battery?
You are correct we do have solar panels and a battery, my import off peak is currently 19.69, my export normal rate 21.81 and 34.94 between 16.00 and 19.00. very pleased with Octopus Flux
That’s a very tempting export rate! I’m trying to minimise my export by charging the cars.
Reading your rates I’m now wondering if it’s better to consume the export into home battery and cars (charging them up on overnight tariff) and simply export during the day when there is excess…..
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.