Domestic charger location?

[DaevM]

Just wondering ( apologies if this is a duplicated query). - where is your domestic charger located, in garage or outdoors ( or elsewhere?) .
Came across a video of someones Merc going up in flames while charging at home. One of the comments was that this was why you shouldn't charge in garages / indoors, i.e. car goes up and potentially so does house / family .
Mine is located in a very snug garage and has been so for the last 5 years. It's a Wallbox Pulsar Max, professionally installed. Not gone up yet, but should I perhaps reassess/ rethink ?

 

[Ian Key]

There are plenty of ICE vehicles that have gone up in flames but that doesn't stop owners keeping them in their garages.

If you do move it to outside are you going to keep your car outside when it's not charging?

If your charger has been professionally installed and the wiring is in good condition I wouldn't worry, but if you want to put your mind at rest get the instillation checked by a qualified electrician.

 

[DaevM]

Thanks for that Ian, appreciated. To be fair when I started out with this I had the domestic wiring, fuse boxes etc bought upto date and hardwired smoke alarms installed for a bit of belt and braces but as time passes, doubts creep in. And over that time I've seen 2 vehicle fires, both ICE, a Range Rover and BM Mini, but no EVs ( touch wood) .
I was just wondering if it is accepted practice to install chargers indoors as well as outdoors. Thanks for the reassurance

 

[Alb]

Your concern seems to be where the car is, not the charge point. I installed my charge point outside (but under cover) as that gives more flexibility around how the garage is used. I don't have any issue in principle with charging inside the garage.

 

[siteguru]

I don't have a garage anymore (now converted into a room + utility) ... but even when I did have one the car was never in it.

My charge point is on the gable end of the house, near the front, so makes plugging in the car easy when parked on the drive - even though the charge port is on the "wrong" side when reversing up the drive.

 

[Anon70]

Using any electrical device has the potential to cause a fire, including the age and state of your house wiring. With correct certified installation an EV and charger is no more or less likely than any other domestic appliance to cause a fire.

You could also put a heat/smoke alarm in the garage as an early warning should the worst happen.

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[Walks with Enzo]

Ours is in the garage - fitted by previous home owner- I just run the cable under the garage door.
I'm not worried about the EV catching fire bearing in mind the home battery system is in there as well.

Good advice @Anon70 about getting a smoke/heat alarm fitted!

 

[Everest]

My 2p worth...

Clearly any electrical device has the potential to cause a fire, but IMHO, the act of charging a (non-LFP) Lithium-ion battery has a greater risk of fire than using other domestic appliances.

This is because:-

a) higher currents are being drawn from an EV charger (e.g. 7kW, vs. 3kW for most domestic appliances, kettles or immersion heaters etc.) and
b) the risk of a manufacturing defect within either a lithium cell or a failure of the BMS to protect the cells.
c) NMC cells can experience thermal runaway when operated outside of the design parameters.

Whilst the risk of (b) happening with quality EV-grade cells and BMS's (as compared to say e-scooter chargers) is extremely low, when a failure does happen it is far more likely to cause a significant fire than other situations. This is due to the higher voltages, potential discharge currents and energy stored. The DC-arc incident energy value is significantly higher for a 400V NMC battery pack than, say a 48V home energy battery running with LFP cells.

So personally, I'd do charging outside if possible, but would not be concerned with it being in a garage when not charging.

 

[DaevM]

My 2p worth...

Clearly any electrical device has the potential to cause a fire, but IMHO, the act of charging a (non-LFP) Lithium-ion battery has a greater risk of fire than using other domestic appliances.

This is because:-

a) higher currents are being drawn from an EV charger (e.g. 7kW, vs. 3kW for most domestic appliances, kettles or immersion heaters etc.) and
b) the risk of a manufacturing defect within either a lithium cell or a failure of the BMS to protect the cells.
c) NMC cells can experience thermal runaway when operated outside of the design parameters.

Whilst the risk of (b) happening with quality EV-grade cells and BMS's (as compared to say e-scooter chargers) is extremely low, when a failure does happen it is far more likely to cause a significant fire than other situations. This is due to the higher voltages, potential discharge currents and energy stored. The DC-arc incident energy value is significantly higher for a 400V NMC battery pack than, say a 48V home energy battery running with LFP cells.

So personally, I'd do charging outside if possible, but would not be concerned with it being in a garage when not charging.

Kind of what I was thinking

 

[Grandadgeorgec]

Please excuse my ignorance but I thought the EV AC Charger was part of the car not the box on the wall which I have seen called an EVSE?

 

[DaevM]

Please excuse my ignorance but I thought the EV Charger was part of the car not the box on the wall which I have seen called an EVSE?

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[Grandadgeorgec]

I stand corrected

 

[DaevM]

I stand corrected

Not at all. I know what you mean. Inbetween when I first started 5 years ago and now "EVSE" turned up. No idea what it is and loathe TLAs and FLAs for that matter

 

[Grandadgeorgec]

Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment apparently.

 

[Grandadgeorgec]

Also, the AC charger is (I believe) an inverter, as you say located on the vehicle and converts domestic AC to DC for the EV battery. The DC charger is the wallbox that converts domestic AC to DC, which is then plugged into the EV and charges the battery directly.

Ahh so my EVSE supplies AC to my car inverter which outputs DC to my battery and Rapid Chargers supply DC direct to my battery. Got it, thanks. Sorry to hijack the thread.

 

[Everest]

... The DC charger is the wallbox that converts domestic AC to DC, which is then plugged into the EV and charges the battery directly.

Not quite.

If we ignore DC rapid chargers, then, technically the "charger" is the inverter within the car that converts 230V AC to DC.

The EVSE or "wallbox" simply connects 230V to the car's AC input and communicates over a data link with the car via the SAE J1772 protocol to establish connectivity and determine charge rates.

 

[DaevM]

Ahh so my EVSE supplies AC to my car inverter which outputs DC to my battery and Rapid Chargers supply DC direct to my battery. Got it, thanks. Sorry to hijack the thread.

Yup, that's it. Apologies for confusing the issue.
Domestic chargers are AC and public rapids etc are DC . The AC needs converting to DC for the battery and this can only be done at lower power 3kw/6.6kw/11kw.
Supplying DC directly with no conversion allows for much faster speeds e.g. 350kw or 135kw max for the MG4 LR