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My wife had a new Peugeot e-2008 on the scheme last spring, and Motability fitted an Eezee charger at the house. This worked just fine and we had no problems with it at all.
Then in November, Motability changed the charger for an Ohme ePod, which has never worked properly. Nine times out of ten, when we go to charge the vehicle, after a few minutes the circuit breaker trips and charging stops. We have complained to Motability, the company that installed it, and Ohme themselves, but we still don’t have a resolution. They have even come out and changed the charger, but still it trips.
Since we have the British Gas overnight charging tariff, it means that we come down in the morning to a barely charged car.
Anyone else had this problem? Did you manage to get it sorted?
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Just to confirm when you say circuit breaker, are you refering to the MCB or RCD/RCBO?
would you beable to take a photo of the conumer unit, pointing to what is tripping?
When Ohme replaced the charger, do you know if they did a load test on the electrical circuit?
If a neigbour or someone you know also has an electric car, that could charge their car off the charger for a while, to see if the problem persists.
It can be a common problem but, for differnt reasons unfotunately.
Had this issue only once thought it might be the Ohme but
Mine was simply an outside extension in a xmas light weatherproof box
Not waterproof …. just weatherproof big difference
Even then condesation knows no bounds
unplugged and no issue since
What other appliances are also running when you charge your car?
You could try and narrow it down by only charging the vehicle, see if it trips. Then switch on one appliance at a time.
The British Gas overnight option is great, but if you also have the washing machine, and drier running and then the car charger kicks in. It may be too much for the breaker.
Thanks for all the suggestions. To take them one by one:
“Which breaker is tripping?” – this is the specific RCD for the charger. When they fitted it, they put in a dedicated trip, fed directly from the meter (not via the main fuse board). This has been checked again by the installers (as has the cabling) and no load or earth faults found.
“Did the installers perform a load test following the installation?” – I don’t know.
“Could someone else charge their vehicle from the charger to test it?” – Unfortunately I don’t know anyone else locally with a suitable vehicle.
“Any other appliances running at the same time?” – Generally, no. We do occasionally run the dishwasher overnight, but the tripping bears no relation to that. It will happily trip even when nothing else is turned on. In any event, the breaker that trips is specific for the charger, there is nothing else on that circuit.
This has been reported back to Motability, Ohme and the installers; I spent half an hour on the phone this morning listening to the technical experts scratching their collective heads! Let’s hope that they come up with a solution quickly!
Out of interest, does anyone know why Motability insisted on changing the charger? The old one (Eezee) was working perfectly well.
{Out of interest, does anyone know why Motability insisted on changing the charger? The old one (Eezee) was working perfectly well.]
Easee as a company was unable going forward to continue to properly support motability
Exact reasons a mystery as was the way the transfer to Ohme was handled
Cant see or have ever seen any public statements about how/why/when
So can only assume its an attempt to keep the matter low key and not draw public attention
I say this as those affected are being contacted on a one by one basis with little if any explanation of facts.
When my Easee was changed to Ohme pod I see they left the little square white blinking plastic box ( next to main meter ) this box by all accounts is an Equaliser box that manages the houses load at any one time
Did they leave yours in place?
Thanks for all the suggestions. To take them one by one: “Which breaker is tripping?” – this is the specific RCD for the charger. When they fitted it, they put in a dedicated trip, fed directly from the meter (not via the main fuse board). This has been checked again by the installers (as has the cabling) and no load or earth faults found. “Did the installers perform a load test following the installation?” – I don’t know. “Could someone else charge their vehicle from the charger to test it?” – Unfortunately I don’t know anyone else locally with a suitable vehicle. “Any other appliances running at the same time?” – Generally, no. We do occasionally run the dishwasher overnight, but the tripping bears no relation to that. It will happily trip even when nothing else is turned on. In any event, the breaker that trips is specific for the charger, there is nothing else on that circuit. This has been reported back to Motability, Ohme and the installers; I spent half an hour on the phone this morning listening to the technical experts scratching their collective heads! Let’s hope that they come up with a solution quickly! Out of interest, does anyone know why Motability insisted on changing the charger? The old one (Eezee) was working perfectly well.
Moisture from all the rain we have had can cause havoc with the RCD, especially if not sealed correctly.
Earth leakage current.
voltage offset between the true earth and the PME neutral, more than a single figure would raise suspicion, with further testing on PSSC L-N and L-E – for PME
Residual Current issue
Surge
Neutral to Earth fault
Connections not tightened correctly
Faulty equipment inc cars charger
Shit workmanship
The list goes on and as you can see, the majority of it is out of your scope requiring electrical test equipment. My advice is to insist on full test & inspection on the charger and circuit!
The RCD in question is it Type A or Type B – you can check this by looking at the text on the front of it.
{Out of interest, does anyone know why Motability insisted on changing the charger? The old one (Eezee) was working perfectly well.] Easee as a company was unable going forward to continue to properly support motability
The Easee One charger complies with all UK regulations and has done since it was introduced in the UK.
They are widely available to buy from trade counters and online
I continue to install them and will do to a lot of 5 new builds, with solar PV, for a small housbuilder I know, in Feb/Mar.
Sparky friends also continue to install them.
Autoexpress ranked Easee as the top home charger in their Driver Power survey. (Dec 23)
You tell me because I don’t know ?♂️
might be price, or speed of install and supply. the support may be an issue moving forwad i guess but its usually cost at back of these decisions.
Current Car: Hyundai Kona Premium EV...2 way 40kg hoist
Last Car: Toyota C-HR Excel Hybrid...4 way 80kg hoistAn interesting rear… https://sifted.eu/articles/how-easee-fell-foul-of-regulators
Christoph Erni is a Swedish member of the committee that develops the international standard for conductive charging systems for EVs (IEC 61851). He is also the CEO of the Swiss charging infrastructure manufacturer Juice Technology. It is common practice for industry representatives to contribute to the standards. Nevertheless, it is worth noting here that Erni is not only a representative of the ICE but also the head of an Easee competitor.
Smell a rat?
https://www.electrive.com/2023/02/22/exclusive-iec-expert-contradicts-easee-on-wall-box-safety/
Current regs here require an RCD downstream of a charger, so it matters very little here.
An interesting test shows that infact Easee’s electronic RCD indeed passed on every single test with flying colours! (the Metrel M13155 is the same as I got and is one hell of a piece of kit)
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