Advice on Wall Charger Wanted

[tsedge]

Why is calling ‘them’ transportation pods , denigrating?

I do not feel so, actually find it amusing, and also practicable.

Each to their own I guess.

My Z3 - ‘Batmobile’ is utter madness and I love it to death! Love the sound, the smell, the push back into the seat when I toe poke it. But it is still a transportation pod in my eyes.

I love my MG4 for completely different reasons. I do not give a fig if someone rEvers to it as a transportation pod, it is.

My Wheelie bin is a transportation pod, from the hoose, to the Bin collection point (away from my private driveway, and onto the public highway, where I do not expect a massive heavy transportation pod, to pick up my rubbish, directly out side my hoose).

Oh what fun! The English language ?

Fair point. I withdraw the accusation.

 

[smokie]

If you add solar then obviously you can do a lot better than that but only if you can charge in the day or have a battery to store it.

I keep reading about how solar is a must but I have reservations.

Adding solar has a number of dependencies too - in particular the size of the array you can afford or have space for. I'm in a regular size semi and I have 14 panels, which is all I can fit. At this time of year I don't make an awful lot - average over the past 7 days is just under 5 kWh generated, 51.3 used and I haven't charged the car in that time. So pretty much all I've generated will have gone to just keeping the house ticking over. In the summer in one of the better weeks my average was 16.2 kWh a day. The car takes just over 60 from empty to full.

Having batteries is to some degree a game changer (if you get enough) but at quite some cost - and even then it is really very dependent on how you use the car - how much, what time of day etc etc.

 

[tsedge]

I keep reading about how solar is a must but I have reservations.

Adding solar has a number of dependencies too - in particular the size of the array you can afford or have space for. I'm in a regular size semi and I have 14 panels, which is all I can fit. At this time of year I don't make an awful lot - average over the past 7 days is just under 5 kWh generated, 51.3 used and I haven't charged the car in that time. So pretty much all I've generated will have gone to just keeping the house ticking over. In the summer in one of the better weeks my average was 16.2 kWh a day. The car takes just over 60 from empty to full.

Having batteries is to some degree a game changer (if you get enough) but at quite some cost - and even then it is really very dependent on how you use the car - how much, what time of day etc etc.

To be fair, I didn’t say it was a must, just that it helped. This is the wrong time of year to showcase solar.

I think a battery may be the better investment for many, at least while we have off peak tariffs.

 

[Lovemyev]

I think a battery may be the better investment for many, at least while we have off peak tariffs.

If I was considering it, then I think I would favour battery storage first, and take advantage of any cheap off peak rates / times.

 

[smokie]

If you mean to use cheap off peak to fill your battery, the only reason I didn't get batteries last year (and I'm sort of regretting it) was because I wondered what might happened if the cheap rates disappeared. I don't make enough solar to replenish batteries, and the outlay was quite a lot for something which isn't really guaranteed. I doubt they will disappear but who knows?

 

[Lovemyev]

If you mean to use cheap off peak to fill your battery, the only reason I didn't get batteries last year (and I'm sort of regretting it) was because I wondered what might happened if the cheap rates disappeared. I don't make enough solar to replenish batteries, and the outlay was quite a lot for something which isn't really guaranteed. I doubt they will disappear but who knows?

I would like to think that they will always be reductions for using electricity in the middle of the night, rather than in the peak time hours.
It helps balance the grid for one !.
Octopus have been conducting a trial, where it pays back a group of customers real money, to those who steer away from using power at high demand times of the day.
Octopus are able to plot / track their usage via the smart meters installed.
New Zappi units now have built in delay start device installed, which will hold back on instant charging, if the grid is at a high demand times.
This is intended to avoid a massive spike in demand, when EV drivers all plug in at the same time, as soon as they arrive home from work.
The Zappi will wait until the demand drops away, then it will commence the charge.
It can be over ridden in the settings if you urgently need to charge I believe, but defaults back after that charge.
This type of thing is one of the reasons why I believe that off peak rates, will always have some type of benefits for both parties.
Like with many EV friendly tariff's, the day rate tends to be more expensive anyway !.
Maximising them precious cheaper off peaks rates is very important.
We have five hours on a cheap rate of 4.5p/Kwh and have endeavoured to slide / switch as much usage into that five hour window.
If my budget would allow it, I would install a storage battery at the blink of an eye.

 

[smokie]

I think the Octopus trial is turning into a pukka government thing, for all users, isn't it?

I think I read that the Zappi's also allow Octopus to vary the amount of power, as well as the on/off time, which means they can really tune usage quite finely.

The surge also apparently happens now when the Octopus cheap windows start - mine is at 21:30 and I stuck with 4 hours as that was enough for everything (except the car takes two nights if under about half full, but that's rare). I actually delayed the dishwasher to start until 23:30

 

[Storm]

In general, I think a decent home charger (e.g. a Zappi) is a waste of money.
99% of the time, a 10A or 15A socket at home is fine to charge up your car (free if you have solar and plug it in during the day).
Rarely will you need to go to a fast charger.

 

[tsedge]

In general, I think a decent home charger (e.g. a Zappi) is a waste of money.
99% of the time, a 10A or 15A socket at home is fine to charge up your car (free if you have solar and plug it in during the day).
Rarely will you need to go to a fast charger.

That may be true down under. In the UK, they are popular due to safety issues with granny chargers and the narrow band of night rate off-peak cheap electricity (typically 4-6hrs), when 7kW enables charging the car much more fully at cheap rate. There are also installation bundles with most electricity suppliers that can make it cheaper.

 

[Robf]

I found the Zappi (I had the type 1) over complicated, the new one more so. I had solar panels at my old house on the FIT deal with a power diverter to heat the water with the excess electricity.
For various reasons I found it easier and no more expensive to charge the car on the 5p octopus go cheap rate (this is to do with most days in the summer still having cloud and the zappi was on program to top up with power from the grid) In winter the solar panels are not usable.
My new house is not orientated to install solar panels effectively (although I am monitoring the costs) However I am looking at the home battery option, but am sure storage capacity is about to rise and costs plummet so am happy to wait (the comparative costs between a 6kw home battery system and a 76kw car battery just dont add up to me).
FYI, I installed a EO mini pro at the new house. I find it very user friendly and it has solar panel capability.

 

[tsedge]

I found the Zappi (I had the type 1) over complicated, the new one more so. I had solar panels at my old house on the FIT deal with a power diverter to heat the water with the excess electricity.
For various reasons I found it easier and no more expensive to charge the car on the 5p octopus go cheap rate (this is to do with most days in the summer still having cloud and the zappi was on program to top up with power from the grid) In winter the solar panels are not usable.
My new house is not orientated to install solar panels effectively (although I am monitoring the costs) However I am looking at the home battery option, but am sure storage capacity is about to rise and costs plummet so am happy to wait (the comparative costs between a 6kw home battery system and a 76kw car battery just dont add up to me).
FYI, I installed a EO mini pro at the new house. I find it very user friendly and it has solar panel capability.

The reason home storage batteries are so much more expensive are because they have to do many more full cycles than car batteries to give good lifespan and production is still fairly small, though ramping up and costs are dropping.

 

[MartinReid]

@remarkable1967

Considering your original question "Advice on Wall Charger Wanted"! Did you ever come to any conclusions?

The attached notes are some I put together for the parents of a work colleague

Sincerely Martin