Chargers for a rented house

[gbrspratt]

I know lots has been said about "granny chargers" but I can't seem to find an answer to my specific question.

I'm getting an MG4 on our salary sacrifice scheme from work. First EV so it will be a huge change for me. I will be mainly "granny charging" at home and I'll fast charge at work. My landlord is unsure on getting a car charger fitted, but it's a work in progress! So for now that's the plan.

So the question is, are all chargers equal? Can I maximise my charge speed by buying a certain charger? Some advertise speeds from 2 kW to 3 kW?

My garage has recently been re wired so the wiring and plugs are all brand new. I believe it's a "spur" off of my house sockets?

I think my plan is to use one of the tough leads with external sockets? And temporarily mount that on the wall next to the garage.

I've read all bout the risks using these chargers but at this point it's my only choice and I'm as happy as I can be with the wiring conditions in the garage.


Cheers

 

[Ian Key]

You need to point out to your landlord that there are grants still available for the instillation of EV chargers. Electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grants for landlords

Or if he doesn't want to pay for it you can get a grant as a renter. Electric vehicle chargepoint grant for renters or flat owners

 

[Jomarkh]

Hi, you won't be able to charge at 3kW all night as that will cook the socket. Most granny's do about 10A 2.2kW.
I use a Kia granny when away on holiday and I can reduce the current to 8A which is a lot safer.

 

[gbrspratt]

You need to point out to your landlord that there are grants still available for the instillation of EV chargers. Electric vehicle chargepoint and infrastructure grants for landlords

Or if he doesn't want to pay for it you can get a grant as a renter. Electric vehicle chargepoint grant for renters or flat owners

Thanks that's handy! He's not a bad landlord at all but I not convinced he'll see the benefits. But we'll keep chatting.

Hi, you won't be able to charge at 3kW all night as that will cook the socket. Most granny's do about 10A 2.2kW.
I use a Kia granny when away on holiday and I can reduce the current to 8A which is a lot safer.

Ok, so just best to stick with the MG charger supplied? Does anyone know if that's variable? Or would that be worth an investment so I can drop it for longer charges?

Would like the bundle please.

 

[Martinonline]

You will be able to set the current from the charging tab in the car. Unrestricted the MG charger supplies about 2.2kW leading to about 2kW into the car (as displayed in the iSmart app).

 

[Coulomb]

Does anyone know if that's variable?

It's not variable.

Or would that be worth an investment so I can drop it for longer charges?

The granny that comes with the car is suitable for long term charging from a standard UK 13 A outlet. Or as above, you could use a menu in the car to reduce the charging rate even further.

So no need to invest in another EVSE (AC "charger").

 

[gbrspratt]

Thanks for the advice! I'm glad I've asked.

 

[Wil Tryharder]

And many congratulations ? you bought a great car!

 

[Grriff]

You, or your landlord, only need to invest in a 7kW charger if you use the the car such that the granny charger is not fast enough to give an adequate battery SoC (state of charge) by the time you want the car.
Very approximately, a 7kW dedicated charger will charge 3 times faster than a granny, so you should ba able to charge from 20% to 100% overnight, mostly on cheap rate electricity. However, the charger costs around £1000 to fit and may need a separate fuse box depending on your consumer unit.

 

[OriginalBigAl]

If its a spur off the house sockets ( ring main ) could be a bit dodgy, should be a dedicated line "2.5mm²" cable direct to a dedicated breaker in the consumer unit to a single approved socket. Again if you plan an extension lead heavy duty "2.5mm² cable" is safer and as short as possible. Talk with your landlord and a sparky who should know his stuff. I don't think your landlord would be happy if his sockets or wiring overheated and melted or worse. Worse case scenario , but not unknown!

And/ or Grriff says, point out that your landlord is future proofing his property and increasing its rentability potential.

 

[Anon70]

When our Ohme was installed they put in a separate consumer unit (fuse box), so that if the charger tripped, the rest of the house would not be impacted. They had to run a new circuit from the meter (where the power enters the property) to the charger location. This meant taking up floor boards (as we didn't want shed loads of trunking) and drilling through an external wall.

How much work is involved will depend on where the power enters the property in relation to where the charger will be sited. You should also check if the property has an isolator switch and the rating of the fuse for the property as these may need to be installed/upgraded. If you find an 80A or 100A fuse then you should be good to go with a 7kW charger. If it is 60A (or anything less than 80A) then that would also need an upgrade.

 

[Mickandsej]

A bit late but I echo the above in whole.
My consumer unit is about 20 years old and I was expecting them (Ohme) to take off that. I had a smart meter install booked but Ohme said they could do it before and that was Ok. Octopus turned up a week later and said they should have been let in first, no safety issue or big deal but was easier to wire in.
Ohme put in a miniature breaker box, very tidily. I had pre-drilled my preferred cable rout through two internal and one external wall which they were happy with. I was hoping they would hard wire the unit to the breaker (not enough cable attached to Ohme Pro which is factory sealed) or put the connector box inside as a theft prevention measure, but the guy said it’s better outside for maintenance and upgrade purposes. They also run a balance cable back to the meter tails, which is where the breaker box is coupled, between the meter and the house breakers.
I was worried about a £600 box being taken off the (concealed) outside of the house but as yet it doesn’t seem to be a national issue.
Though I would recommend Ohme Pro over others as it has built in 4G so doesn’t have the WiFi reach issues of other devices. Also it’s always best to try and go tethered, as it saves you faffing about getting the cable from the boot, and you can pack it away wet without wetting your boot with it.
And I charge via the Ohme App not the car or Octopus app as it protects me from charging on-peak.

 

[JohnV6]

Our house was built in 2017. It has an 80A DNO fuse. I asked our DNO & it could be upgraded to 100A for £120, but Octopus checked the load (i.e. switched on all the heavy electricity users & measured the current before adding the charger) and it was fine. The chargers in any case control the current to avoid the DNO fuse blowing.

I have an Ohme Home Pro which comes off the mains after the meter but before the consumer unit for the house. I has its own separate breaker box.

The charger is in the garage some 20m away and it has an 8 m tethered cable. It is inside the garage but by the door so I can charge the ZS inside or outside. I hope I'm thereby future proofing the install.

I use Octopus Intelligent Go which works well via the Ohme app. But create the Ohme account via an email address not Google or it won't link to your Octopus account.

IGO charges 7p per unit and does so even outside the 23:30 - 05:30 hrs if the charge is scheduled via IGO.
I hope it goes OK.

 

[siteguru]

A bit late but I echo the above in whole.
My consumer unit is about 20 years old and I was expecting them (Ohme) to take off that. I had a smart meter install booked but Ohme said they could do it before and that was Ok. Octopus turned up a week later and said they should have been let in first, no safety issue or big deal but was easier to wire in.
Ohme put in a miniature breaker box, very tidily. I had pre-drilled my preferred cable rout through two internal and one external wall which they were happy with. I was hoping they would hard wire the unit to the breaker (not enough cable attached to Ohme Pro which is factory sealed) or put the connector box inside as a theft prevention measure, but the guy said it’s better outside for maintenance and upgrade purposes. They also run a balance cable back to the meter tails, which is where the breaker box is coupled, between the meter and the house breakers.
I was worried about a £600 box being taken off the (concealed) outside of the house but as yet it doesn’t seem to be a national issue.
Though I would recommend Ohme Pro over others as it has built in 4G so doesn’t have the WiFi reach issues of other devices. Also it’s always best to try and go tethered, as it saves you faffing about getting the cable from the boot, and you can pack it away wet without wetting your boot with it.
And I charge via the Ohme App not the car or Octopus app as it protects me from charging on-peak.

My bold ... the box with the MCB is outside? Hmm ....

 

[Mickandsej]

Ahhh I see what you read there. I meant the junction box

 

[Mickandsej]

As you can see, apart from the major regs change 20 years ago, which outlawed any external or wet room diy work, the technical needs of this equipment vastly outskill the capabilities of any hobby installer anyway.
Adding a properly certified charger is clearly a bonus when selling or renting out a property. I wouldn’t be EVing without one for sure.

 

[Martinonline]

This is my EVSE installation obtained through Octopus Energy. I went for untethered because I needed 10m of cable.

 

[Mickandsej]

I had to go to 8m tethered for my MG5 as my Sprinter can only be parked in one place. Imagine my horror when I bought the XP, that you couldn’t extend them (as such). Luckily it just reaches with some slack left in it!
PS you had the fortunate head start of an external meter - mine is bizarrely located bang in the middle of the house.