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Don’t expect great service from Ohme. Their processes are EXTREMELY convoluted and baffling. I consider myself a reasonably competent bloke but Oppenheimer would struggle with their online installation survey!!!
Once Upon a Time a bloke came to do your survey – you’d even make him a cuppa and he’d make sure he got everything needed to do the job. Not these days – progress! Be prepared to spend 3 or 4 hours taking pictures and videos, searching for earth points and SKETCHING A PLAN OF YOUR HOUSE! Then comes the endless loop of “we don’t have the required information” necessitating half a dozen more emails back and forth. If, by some miracle, you get to be able to actually submit the survey (by entering gibberish!) they’ll get back to you but won’t do anything until you tell them the missing information you don’t know!
After that, they’ll commission a third party to install your EV who’ll then go through exactly the same gibberish until they deign to give you a date for installation THAT’S SOME WAY IN THE FUTURE!!
Absolutely abominable service from a provider supposedly cognisant of the needs of disabled people!
Motability seriously need to make this process a couple of magnitudes easier for it to be viable.
Sorry – rant over – I do not have hours of my life to devote to Ohme making money from Motability. It simply isn’t fit for purpose ?
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more and MORE ERRORS
I dont know why your quoting what I said,
I mean the amount of errors in the statement is unbelievable for example the manufacturer is not notified by Motability customer orders vehicle at point of order they are offered a “free” EV charger installation covered by Motability if they have not already had one if requested by the customer, motability send a request to ohme (Motability choice) Ohme gets in contact with the customer a remote survey is required (in person can be requested by customer) paperwork and confirmation the property owner agrees with the instal installation booked and carried out, DNO informed on the installation that’s it, not rocket science the only exception is at the point of remote or in person survey if they property fuse needs upgraded or cabling changed DNO informed as that will be their remit.
Andy wrote:
From the Motability website:
What you’ll need for the survey
Here’s everything you’ll need to find and have ready for your chargepoint provider, when you complete a survey by text. If you cannot complete this, they’ll send someone out instead.EXACTLY WHAT I SAID
Fink you on to somthin kerzo i rmemba an email sayin somethin about a loop an the hav to dig up nebors drive she be happy it 3 feet high weeds.
Hi All
I had my Ohme Pro charger installed about 2 months ago.
Now it’s stopped working.
I am looking at 26 days from first phone call to Ohme to a “service” call.
I have to say that I’m shocked and disappointed to hear that this process is as complex and stressful as it is. I am prepared to consider an EV when we next change, but things like this could easily put me off.
I consider myself to be reasonably bright, having held down some very senior jobs, but I’m not technically minded. I would not be at all comfortable having to answer questions about my electrical setup. Besides, why should I? When I am buying a new appliance (as I did with a new boiler last year) I fully expect an engineer to visit, look at everything on site, decide what’s best, make notes about anything out of the ordinary and so on, so that when they arrive to install there are no surprises. It sounds as though Ohme’s business model is to make the customer do all of that. I’m surprised that Motability have chosen them, unless they are all like this?
I have to say that I’m shocked and disappointed to hear that this process is as complex and stressful as it is. I am prepared to consider an EV when we next change, but things like this could easily put me off. I consider myself to be reasonably bright, having held down some very senior jobs, but I’m not technically minded. I would not be at all comfortable having to answer questions about my electrical setup. Besides, why should I? When I am buying a new appliance (as I did with a new boiler last year) I fully expect an engineer to visit, look at everything on site, decide what’s best, make notes about anything out of the ordinary and so on, so that when they arrive to install there are no surprises. It sounds as though Ohme’s business model is to make the customer do all of that. I’m surprised that Motability have chosen them, unless they are all like this?
I have already decided “if” I go down the EV route, I’ll be installing my own charger or getting one of the lads do it. Athe very least instsall all the necessary equipment, register it with the relevant bodies myself and just have someone fit a charger foc, though there less than £500 trade anyway.
There was someone on here, forget who, who I was assisting with instllation questions. Anyway I’ll cut to the chase – Ohme sent one of their so called approved installer to fit the Pro charger, which needs an external weatherproof box to make the cable connections. The home looked like a lovely stone built barn conversion, upon fitting this box they siliconed around like a child was using their finger painting with thick paint. What made things worse the installers must have run out of clear silicone snd used white! The photo is on here somewhere, probably Brydo’s got a question thread.
My problem is I can be very short tempered and can see now me falling out with Motability on how they go about having chargers installed, along with the installation team, if they attemped such a thing on my home or generally made a pigs ear out of it.
However I’m happy to assist you or anyone else along the way. If you didn’t live far I’d happily do it for you and inform the relevant bodies.
@kezo That’s extremely kind of you. Many thanks. This is probably a daft question, but if I posted photos of my fuse boxes (I’ve got two, one in the original part of the house and another spurring of it in the extended part) would you be able to tell whether a charger could be connected to the second one, as that’s much closer to the garage?
On my site survey installer said he was running a Spur off the main feed onto the Meter and out directly to the Ohme Unit. As the meter is in a wall box outside he is not going near the fuse box.
He did check Earthing points in the house. The Spur will be fused inside the Meter Housing. My Installation is booked in for Tues 17th. Hope that helps.
2024 - KIA EV6 GT Line AWD
2019 - 2024 BMW X1 2.0d X Drive Sport Auto
2017 -2019 Audi Q3 2.0d Quattro Sport Line Plus
2005 - 2017 Honda CRV Exec 2.0dOn my site survey installer said he was running a Spur off the main feed onto the Meter and out directly to the Ohme Unit. As the meter is in a wall box outside he is not going near the fuse box. He did check Earthing points in the house. The Spur will be fused inside the Meter Housing. My Installation is booked in for Tues 17th. Hope that helps.
Some, but not all, of that makes sense to me, given my poor electrical knowledge ? Unfortunately my electric meter is inside the house which, I guess, adds yet another level of complexity?
Exactly Glos Guy,
Why should anyone have to do a technical survey for a service that is being paid for? It’s just taking the mickey!
I’m genuinely happy for those people whose survey went swimmingly – I wish mine had!
The fact it didn’t, and those others who struggled, indicates the service isn’t working as it should. Without highlighting that Ohme will just carry on with what they can get away with – i.e. profiting from the goodwill of Motability users. That goodwill was exhausted for me after the first couple of hours and soon turned to anger and frustration ?
Lucky you! I spent 30 years developing steels for the Aerospace industry and no word of a lie I’d have found it easier to rewire Concorde!!
A quick update on the 2 Types of Ohme chargers. Today have transfered from the Home Pro (tethered) to the E-Pod. (plug in) This will provide me with greater flexability I can buy a 10m or 15m cable if my car is parked further up the drive.
Ohme have told me that Mobility customers are provided with a choice of 5 or 8m cables on both types.. Mobility this morning were not sure on this point.
No more doubts over cable length. The 8m cable is more that likely long enough, but losing 2m’s charger to ground and ground to car socket only leaves 6m run along ground.
2024 - KIA EV6 GT Line AWD
2019 - 2024 BMW X1 2.0d X Drive Sport Auto
2017 -2019 Audi Q3 2.0d Quattro Sport Line Plus
2005 - 2017 Honda CRV Exec 2.0dMy call to my housing association yesterday must have gone down well!
Got a call back this morning from my patch manager, she’s been on annual leave (for 6 weeks?)
She’s aware of Kerbocharge and they are looking at a pilot scheme as well, I told her that was already sorted with the council, so all I need is the bit of paper saying they can fit the box. She’s promised to get back to me, we shall see.
Please excuse spelling/typos. Apart from being a clot it turns out I had one on my cerebellum that's now causing various problems!
@kezo That’s extremely kind of you. Many thanks. This is probably a daft question, but if I posted photos of my fuse boxes (I’ve got two, one in the original part of the house and another spurring of it in the extended part) would you be able to tell whether a charger could be connected to the second one, as that’s much closer to the garage?
No problem at all. Where is your meter point in the original part of the house I would imagine?
Put a couple up, showing the cupboards containing both consumer units 🙂
My call to my housing association yesterday must have gone down well! Got a call back this morning from my patch manager, she’s been on annual leave (for 6 weeks?) She’s aware of Kerbocharge and they are looking at a pilot scheme as well, I told her that was already sorted with the council, so all I need is the bit of paper saying they can fit the box. She’s promised to get back to me, we shall see.
Lets hope you are slowly but surely geting somewhere 🙂
Keep floging em and don’t stop till you get what you need!
On my site survey installer said he was running a Spur off the main feed onto the Meter and out directly to the Ohme Unit. As the meter is in a wall box outside he is not going near the fuse box. He did check Earthing points in the house. The Spur will be fused inside the Meter Housing. My Installation is booked in for Tues 17th. Hope that helps.
I sincerely hope he doesn’t come straight off the meter tails into the Ohme charger ?
What he is saying is, he will split the meter tails coming from the meter to your homes consumer unit (fuse box). He will then fit whats called a Henley block where a set of new tails will be added that will feed a dedicated consumer unit to supply your Ohme charger. He will also install a 100A isolator swith if one isn’t allready fitted (I would imagine one was fitted when your smart meter was intalled)
The Chargers dedicated consumer unit, should be fitted externally to your meter box but, some installers fit a less weather proof consumer unit in the meter box, which the DNO or your supplier don’t like!
Cheers @kezo. First photo shows the electric meter. This just has a thin door in front of it as it used to be on the outside of the house, but is now inside a brick built porch. It is recessed within 18 inch thick stone, which the original part of the house is built of. The second photo is the main consumer unit, which is mounted under the ceiling in the ground floor hallway (next to the porch). The final photo is the second consumer box which is in the extension. It runs off the main one, but there is no visible wiring between the two. This last box is the one that would be closest to the point where I’d want the charger (either in the garage – around 30ft away from it or, if that’s not viable, on the outside wall behind it. Hope that all makes sense?
Fink you on to somthin kerzo i rmemba an email sayin somethin about a loop an the hav to dig up nebors drive she be happy it 3 feet high weeds.
She will have 2 weed free bare patches and a some trampled down weeds ?
Looking back on what was needed prior my my install which was a bit of a faff A couple of pics and a quick outline of floor distance cable direction
I suppose it took 15 mins top
My biggest obstacle was trying to communicate with my DNO which entailed being passed from pillar to post across India (I kid you not I could not understand a word they said and visa versa) took me 8 days of trying days to get a call back
Looking back I should have done things differently but was unaware of how the process went
When contacting or when contacted by lets say Ohme make it clear that you are disabled and that you require a home visit so they can ascertain what is required themselves ( no sketching/measuring/photos ) any problem with this request then simply hand the reins over to motorbility
Whilst that is in motion,..in this order..update your ( bill paying )electric supplier and tell them you are to have a car charger fitted,they will arrange any upgrades needed once complete contact DNO and tell them supplier has completed their upgrade and you want DNO to now do their upgrade once done contact lets say Ohme (who should have already by now had a pre visit so will know what is required)
Hope this helps those who may be as confused as I was when trying to navigate this process
@Glos Guy
I going to pick daughter up in a bit. I’ll look more in depth when I get back 🙂
You don’t have a smart meter by the looks of it?
The service head (black box bottom left of 1st picture) has a 60A cutout, which would require a minor works order to uprate it to 80A or commonly 100A
You would also require an 100A isolator installing
It is “possible” to come of a consumer unit, providing there is enough spare wares and a double pole RCD is fitted, which you have. However it is better to take a supply and installing adedicated charger consumer unit alongside or extenally. Though this depends on the existing tails fitted, and your whole home electrical demand.
More later…
@Glos Guy I going to pick daughter up in a bit. I’ll look more in depth when I get back ? You don’t have a smart meter by the looks of it? The service head (black box bottom left of 1st picture) has a 60A cutout, which would require a minor works order to uprate it to 80A or commonly 100A You would also require an 100A isolator installing It is “possible” to come of a consumer unit, providing there is enough spare wares and a double pole RCD is fitted, which you have. However it is better to take a supply and installing adedicated charger consumer unit alongside or extenally. Though this depends on the existing tails fitted, and your whole home electrical demand. More later…
Thanks @kezo. Very little of that makes any sense to me ? but I can confirm that I don’t have a Smart meter. I’d really appreciate a completely non-technical answer! Assume that I know absolutely nothing about electrics, as that’s pretty close to the truth!
If an EV charger can be connected to the second consumer unit box (last photo) then I think it could be workable. Ideally I’d have the charger in the garage, as that’s where I park the car, but if that’s not a workable option then a charge point on the outside wall behind the box in the last photo would be a compromise. Having to take a feed from either the main meter point on the main consumer box would, I think, be very disruptive, especially given the stone walls.
Just for ref here is mine after all the additions were added. 100amp fuse plus isolation switch and the CT clamp. The little white box under the Ohme pod is a separate RCD. BP pulse installed it into the kitchen in a cupboard and made a right mess but the Ohme engineer moved it outside into a waterproof housing so its easier for maintenance. He also patched everything up inside and left everything outside spotless. He even left me his personal mobile in case of any issues really nice guy.
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----------------------------Thanks @kezo. Very little of that makes any sense to me but I can confirm that I don’t have a Smart meter. I’d really appreciate a completely non-technical answer! Assume that I know absolutely nothing about electrics, as that’s pretty close to the truth! If an EV charger can be connected to the second consumer unit box (last photo) then I think it could be workable. Ideally I’d have the charger in the garage, as that’s where I park the car, but if that’s not a workable option then a charge point on the outside wall behind the box in the last photo would be a compromise. Having to take a feed from either the main meter point on the main consumer box would, I think, be very disruptive, especially given the stone walls. This reply was modified 3 hours,
Let me try and make this a little easier to understand – Hypotheticaly f your main house consumer unit (2nd picture) was swoped with your etension consumer unit (last picture) theoretically as long as your existing electrics met regulations all systems would be go.
Not as your going to do that but, the reason I said this, is your main house consumer unit has a main witch unprotected side on the left and a RCD protected side on the right , which is known as a split board consumer unit.
You don’t want a RCD downstream of RCD with different characteristics protecting the same circuit, Also your existing RCD’s in both consumer units have enough DC voltage to contend with without adding DC from a EV on charge. We will leave going into all the details on this but, hipefully you can grasp what I have said.
The 8 way consumer unit covering your extension, does not have enough ways/not big enough to adapt into into a split board consumer unit. You can of course have it swopped for a small split load consumer unit. However I wouldn’t go the extra cost and hassle doing that. Essentially you could swop the RCD for a main switch and swop the 4 MCB’s (sockets to oven) over to RCBO’s (typically a MCB with built in RCD) Then the position marked 5 or 6 you install an MCB, that supplies the electric to the Charge point consumer unit as seen underneath the meter box on @Stuart ‘s picture.
In your first photo of the meter box you can see the 2 meter tails (cables), which come from your electric meter into whats known as a Henley block (top right of your electric meter), from the Henley block you can see a thinner pair that go to the white Wylex fuse box and a thicker pair that disapear through an hole in the meter, presumeably these are the tails that supply electric to your main house larger consumer unit. I can’t make out if there is another set of going to your extension consumer unit or can I full make out whether the tails going through the hole to the main house consumer unit are 25mm or the same size as the tails coming out of the meter into the Henley block but they look to be!
My problem standing at a computer screen is beacuase of how the builder/electrician wired the extension, I can’t see what the actuall size of tails were used to supply electric to your extension consumer unit or how or where they have connected the tails to take a supply to the extension. I’m not going to ask ou to take the cover of the consumer units but, will hazourd a guess there is another Henley block somewhere near to your main house consumer unit or they have doubled up in the main switch of your extisting home consumer unit (connected 2 cables in the live and neutral terminals of the main switch) I.E supply in to the larger consumer unit and a supply taken out to the smaller extension consumer unit. It is imposible to safely connect 2 25mm cables in both the live and neutral terminals of the main switch (larger consumer unit), without dog legging (cutting cores to make the cable smaller) or using a smaller 16mm of tails to supply electric to the extension consumer unit.
I can’t see what they have done, so it would be unfair to hazourd a guess, the fact MK boards have been used, I would say an half decent and proper job was done. Depending on the size of tails used to supply the extension consumer unit as well as the existing electrical load of your extension will determine whetheror not a charger can be fitted from the consumer unit as it is. I am away omorrow late afternoon for a couple of nights, so mull over what Ive wrote. Any questions or your not sure on, don’t hesitate to ask and if you can answer below I’ll either try to get back to tomorrow or when back.
In your meter cupboard are there 3 0r 4 pairs of tails in the Henley block?
Can you see any other electrical connections around the main house consumer unit that may indicate where the supply comes from to your extension?
Would you mind taking a fuller shot of your porch showing the meter box?
A drawing of the front perimeter from porch to garage if you can.
@Stuart ?
Just got a text on Thursday from Ohme asking me for a MPRN number. The number was sent to them the previous Friday, which they acknowledged on the Friday. I had to resend the number to them again.
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