[Redkite999]

Hi all

 

I am hoping some of the experts here can give me some advice before I have to cancel my new car which is ready to collect (Kia soul)

after months of waiting I have finally been told my meter is too old and I need a new one. However only smart meters are available and Scottish power can’t give me a date in the foreseeable future, the fitters have to be in your part of the country to book a date.

my old meter has 60amp fuse and need to upgrade to 100amps and get a dual pole isolation switch (also get tails done whatever that is)

any advice would be really appreciated!

thanks all

Topic

[Wigwam]

I can understand you needing the main fuse upgrading to 80A or 100A and an isolator, but I don’t know why they shouldn’t be able to reuse your meter.  The only practical reason I can thing is if it’s not able to take 25mm tails, or perhaps there’s some “policy”…

I would ask why.

[Redkite999]

Thanks for getting in touch Wigwam, I was told that my meter is old and only rated for a 40amp fuse even though it has 60amp fitted. Does this make sense?

[kbfern]

I think you have 4 options:

Recharge on a granny overnight, though not recommended if having to charge regularly or forever.

Do you have any public fast chargers (50kw) locally that you could use, some of these are free in Scotland. I think I heard from a VW dealer that if you can’t get a meter fitted Motability have been know to give out cards to get free charging (but check).

Take the car and wait until smart meters are available to be installed  and then get the supply upgraded and in the meantime do one of the first two options.

Or failing all that cancel the car which would be a catastrophe.

What a terrible situation to find yourself in☹

 

 

[Wigwam]

It does sound as though your meter is very old, Redkite999 and not up to the task of measuring high currents. The granny charger option may be your best bet but I don’t know what the recharge time would be and whether your likely daily battery mileage could be met.

I’ve heard about smart meters being fitted by area. Not sure how that works. We just got ours done by Avro (Lawri Beck were the installers) but when we enquired about moving to Octopus and getting it installed by them, they said there’d be a long wait.

[Jacippit]

Just put up a separate post on what’s need for EV chargers from a lot of research I’ve done. Hope it helps.

[Billybobb2019]

if it’s any consolation i’m in exactly the same position – BP insisting on double pole isolation switch – so octopus came to do this and smart meters all going ok till the fitter looked at the fuse ( old one) he pulled it to discover at some point it had blown and been ‘bodged’ and he wouldn’t replace it and aborted the install – i had to call our DNO who then refused to work on the fuse as they couldn’t fully get to the area because of a kitchen cabinet.

the DNO did replace the fuse but at that point we had been without power for 8 hrs – very upset wife – if we want the fuse done and to unloop from next door as well we will need to have the kitchen cabinet taken out – the DNO said it will need doing at some point soon as he implied it’s very old – he wasn’t being an arse but tbh i’m questioning the whole EV thing as it seems to be set up to be problematic

i may go granny charger with the ohme cable from octopus but i’m interested in the card from MB – anyone have any info on that?

good luck with your install

B

[Mark Holland]

The card from MB is the BP pulse subscription but to be honest worth about 7.50 a month giving you a reduced rate at their chargers, even reduced cost more tha Lidl etc so not worth much and often theirs are poorly maintained as the tend to be older.
what we did to get ours was complain to everyone including the transport minister. You are trying to do what the government is asking of you and everyone is putting a hurdle in the way, this has to change so call them out we did and got it all done including ground work for free, we still don’t know who paid for it. If we don’t get this attitude changed now then EV will have no future, and if we are to believe everything neither will we. Call them out and complain it’s all they understand I feel.

[Billybobb2019]

Do you know Mark you are absolutely right!

I was absolutely spitting yesterday no one would help and as you excellently said i’m trying to do the right thing in the right way but barrier after barrier

i’m going to contact my MP today as she’s very good as a first contact! see what she says

🙂

 

[Coastalview]

Started the process of having an EV charger fitted to my house.Now my house is 17 years old and pretty much compliant with today’s standards but the fuss BP Pulse are making .I had to submit a thesis to them on the ins and outs of my house with plans,measures and technical stuff.They kept banging on about cable length etc .Now they want me to pull up my pathway slabs by my front door and dig a channel 60cm down for the cable to pass because the engineer doesn’t want to damage anything and be responsible .I had to remind them that I am unable to dig any channels because I am disabled.I understand that every job is different but they put the stress on you.The whole process is a pain in the neck and I am wishing I hadn’t bothered.

[Redkite999]

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

I’m so sorry to see that I am not alone in these issues.

thanks to Jacippit for the guide you put up its very helpful information. Good luck to everyone going through this. I have decided to continue with collecting the car and hope to get the charging point as soon as I can.

[Jacippit]

MB have not thought through the charging side of things when it comes to the additional work that can be involved on what can be relatively new properties. Also, they have chosen BP Pulse chargers which the less said about them the better. You can also bet that installers are getting paid peanuts to fit them so the overall quality has to be questioned. Personally, I would prefer is MB gave you the choice of a card or a lump sum paid directly to an installer I choose to install what I want. After all, I choose the car, I choose the adaptations so why can I choose the charger?

[Abercol]

I gave up and ordered my own charger from my own choice of provider, BP Pulse still have not been in touch after the initial flurry of information/pictures, 4 months since applying.

I just want a charger installed before winter so I can pre-condition the car and have simple access to charging without hanging around cold windswept car parks forlornly pressing my RFID to the dysfunctional altars of electrons.

 

In life, it's not who you know that's important, it's how your wife found out.

[Brydo]

Abercol if i remember correctly you live in Scotland so you will have recieved £600, in grants, towards your charger.

My daughter paid £300+ to get her charger fitted.

The only person who got all his work done by Friday was Robinson Crusoe.
Anything i post over three lines long please assume it is an article lol.

[Wigwam]

I see Volvo retail customers are having the same problem getting free NewMotion chargers fitted. Volvo are looking to give customers cash towards arranging their own.

[Author]

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