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Hi,
To cut a long story short! I have off street parking right next to my house, there is 3 parking bays and they are owned by my housing association. I have parked in one of these 3 spaces for last 18yrs however they are not designated to myself and my HA will not designate one space solely for my use!
They have gave me permission to install a charger and run cable into the spaces form my house (there is a hit and miss fence separating car park from my property) there is no public footpath! So no issue there and cable would go directly from my house through fence to back of car (probably a meter) with no trailing lead on floor.
However.. Ohme are adamant that I need a designated space for my sole use only! This isn’t going to happen and I’ve explained the car park in question actually use to be pat of our garden many moons ago! They decided to use part of it to build 3 spaces and I’ve parked there ever since. Permission from HA states I can use the spaces but Ohme want one space to be designated.. Anyone else had this happen to them? If so what was the outcome?
Many thanks
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i think its a matter of the grant. govt wont give grant unless you have your own parking spot.
Current Car: Hyundai Kona Premium EV...2 way 40kg hoist
Last Car: Toyota C-HR Excel Hybrid...4 way 80kg hoist@Phaedra may beable to help regard your parking space not being designated, as I forgot how he went about it lol.
Also take a look at the Kerbocharge thread, re getting the charger lead to your car.
If your HA has given you permission, that should really be sufficient for Ohme but oh no! However surely if you accepted you may not be able to charge everyday if another vehicle was there, which is what I think Phaedra did but can’t say for sure.
Will your HA give you tempory allocated bay contract, that can be removed once Ohme is satisfied?
The other option @Struth pointed out is ask your landlord if they would apply for a £350 OLEV grant and you pay them the difference.
Evening ?
I’m out and using my mobile so sorry for any bad typos ?
I have what is described as a “turning area”, basically it’s a space large enough for 2 cars to park in directly in front of my bungalow.
Originally Durham council were reluctant to fit the Kerbocharge gully as I don’t have a designated parking space.
However, I explained I’d been parking in the same space for about 12 years and it’s never been an issue. I agreed that if someone else parked there I wouldn’t go out and buy an extra long lead and run it over the pavement or road to charge the car.
My housing association weren’t bothered as they are not responsible for the road or path. Once I had the cable gully fitted Ohme were then happy to do the install.
Kerbocharge are currently negotiating with Motability so they may be able to help.In other news Kerbocharge are on Dragons Den on the 15th ?
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
Thank you for the replies, I did look at kerbocharge as I can park at the front of house but obviously there’s a footpath but at £999 inc VAT I could get a charger fitted for less ?
I don’t think Devon County council have anything but have seen something about the OZEV grant but they don’t accept applications from residents anymore think it’s just from installers.
I don’t think Devon County council have anything but have seen something about the OZEV grant but they don’t accept applications from residents anymore think it’s just from installers.
The OZEV grant is only available to landlords LA’s and HA’s 🙂
Just off the phone with HA surveyors and they are not willing to designate a parking space and then rescind it after installation. They understand I’ve parked there for so many years but are not willing to put themselves in the position of committing fraud ?
Looking like only alternative is going to be paying someone to install a commando socket or paying for a charger to be installed myself! Unless no installers will install a charge point without designated parking like Ohme?
Have you spoken with Motability? It may be they can speak to Ohme and see if a solution can be reached.
Nowt wrong with a commando socket, as long as it has an isolation switch built in to cover the connection point.
You do loose PEN fault protection with commando sockets but there are O-PEN devices you can get hold of. Not strictly necessary but, I’d certainly invest in one especially as your car will be on a public road.
The good thing with Commando sockets, there is no need to inform the DNO and all the other fath.
Many use them as a charging means for a second a EV and are popular amongs’t Tesla owners.
If the EV you want is compatible with Octopus/OVO EV tariffs, you can use the car to schedule chargers, so you don’t need the likes of Ohme chargers and there are plenty of decent chargers around the £300 with PEN protection sold at trade prices on ebay.
Have you spoken with Motability? It may be they can speak to Ohme and see if a solution can be reached.
I can imagine Motability being as much use as a chocolate fireguard – “speak to Ohme, if they say no, there s nothing we can do!!”
Don’t think mobility will do anything tbh, there’s another thread similar to mine on here from @Mikeydarlo and not sure if he managed to get permission from his HA but mine are not for turning ?
Nowt wrong with a commando socket, as long as it has an isolation switch built in to cover the connection point. You do loose PEN fault protection with commando sockets but there are O-PEN devices you can get hold of. Not strictly necessary but, I’d certainly invest in one especially as your car will be on a public road. The good thing with Commando sockets, there is no need to inform the DNO and all the other fath. Many use them as a charging means for a second a EV and are popular amongs’t Tesla owners. If the EV you want is compatible with Octopus/OVO EV tariffs, you can use the car to schedule chargers, so you don’t need the likes of Ohme chargers and there are plenty of decent chargers around the £300 with PEN protection sold at trade prices on ebay.
Im getting the VW iD4 so believe it would be compatible, looked into the Pen protection for commando and it seems a lot of money for a Pen unit. I can get my local sparky to install socket for £200 (not sure if that’s good or bad) but adding the Pen would add a fair bit to costs.
I will have a look on eBay for chargers with Pen protection but if they are around £300 I would have to pay for installation on top so could work out near £500
A commando socket for EV purposes require
1- Commando sockets should not be unshuttered, where domestic installations are concerned. There for it must be at least an interlocked type.
2- Either have PEN protection or be on a TT (earth rod) rather than TNCS / PME earth privided by the DNO.
So the simples’t and cheapest method would be to bang an earth rod in the ground to supply the Commando socket, with its own means of earthing.
3- Should have its “own” double pole RCD protection and be of at least Type A RCD with DC protection
I would not fit a commando unit, unless the customer agreed to these. Of course your electrician may think different, but the regs surrounding commando sockets in domestic properties are many and are a grey area.
The regs now require PEN fault detection built into EV chargers, rather than not so long ago earth rods were allowed. However if you came across a charger without PEN detection and your sparky was prepared to bang an earth rod in and you both agreed it was installed sometime ago, then a common sense approch may be the way to go. Would I do it, it depends!
That said, there is not an awfull lot of difference between chargers at the end of the day, they all have the relevant protection. There won’t be alot of £ difference at the end of the day, when you take in 2 & 3 above along with the fact, you would need to buy a Type 2 to commando cable, to be able to charge.
Ebay item # 285512289823 £199 & 296130905583 £249
Bit of an update..
I forgot to mention that many years ago the 3 spaces next to my house use to be part of this houses front/side garden – only know as when we moved in near 18yrs ago, we got chatting to a few neighbours and they said our garden use to be massive until they used it for parking!
Not going to hold my breath on this! As I’m sure they will find some other problems!
I did mention this in my emails to Ohme and they asked me to get the title plans to my house! Now I’m not counting my chickens here but from the info I’ve been given by my HA my boundaries include these 3 spaces!
Seems to of done the trick! Had email stating Virtus energy will be in touch regarding installation.
Fingers crossed its all plain saling from here on.
Thank you, these things are sent to try us! I’m sure they will have some more hoops for me to jump through!
Just had phone call from national grid, they said my ev installer has asked them to upgrade my fuse as I have the old style one! So looking good so far, appointment next Friday for fuse upgrade – fingers crossed
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