UK Home Charging

[Stevo]

Had my 32A home charger installed in the garage yesterday. Just over a week from order, tidy job and now all I need is the car.

 

[PhilH]

Who was the installation company?

 

[Stevo]

I logged the call with British Gas who used a local company, EverWarm, for the actual install. Turned up when they said they would and did a good job. So far so good.

 

[FrancisJeffries]

I used ChargeNow, who fitted a 32Amp socketted Polar unit. The tethered version is the same price (£95), but I thought the socket would be future-proof, and enable me to use Type 2 chargers away from home using the type 2 lead I'll have to buy. All I need now is the lead and the car!
The installation was very efficient, and the guy who did it couldn't have been more helpful, making sure it was placed where I wanted it, and even finding a 32-Amp breaker for me. Highly recommended.

 

[PhilH]

Had my charger installed yesterday. The job itself was very neat and efficient. Getting the installer here was less so.

I placed my order on 3rd July and got a call about 2 weeks later to arrange installation. I was offered, and accepted 28 July, 3 pm. By 4 pm no-one had arrived, so I called the BG call centre to be told "Gary" was definitely on his way. No-one arrived by 5:45 pm so called again: the EV call centre was closed, but agent promised a call next day. No call. Rang them to be told all they could do was book another appointment for the end of August! Told them this was not good enough, and after a lot of "discussion" was given the 'phone number for the installation company: P H Jones. Called them and told there was nothing they could do. More "discussion" and got through to Anthony, who told me it was BG's fault no-one had attended: he said their diarying systems do not work together, BG had double booked and had been told they'd double booked but done nothing. He booked me an appointment for 12 July, noon. Rang BG to confirm this and they told me appointment was for 3 pm. Waited until 3pm yesterday and called Jones. Anthony no longer works there, but spoke to someone in EV dept who said call was definitely booked. He put me on hold and called the installer, who tried to call me while I was on hold. Called him back and he said he was still in Milton Keynes, over 2 hours away! He did keep me informed on progress, including traffic problems, and eventually turned up at 5:50 pm. We gave him a cuppa and he got to work, completing a fairly strightforward job at around 7:30 pm. He'd been on the go since 7 am and still needed to get back to his hotel another 1 1/2 hours drive away.

So I'm happy with the install, but seriously unhappy with the organisation. I send an email to the address I was given for complaints on 28 July and have heard nothing. My advice from my experience would be to avoid BG.

 

[elptex]

I empathize with the experience, it sucks. However, that's BG--they don't care about customer service. To speak directly, you (everyone) should expect that level of service from them.

My tale is short and sweet: I contacted British Gas and ChargeMaster on the same day. 3 days later Charge Master called me and schedule an appoint 2 weeks later. 2 days before the schedule appointment, I received a call from the electrician that would be coming to confirm the time he'd be there. Awesome! He came, he installed, he went. Perfect!

...meanwhile, 4 weeks later (6.5 weeks after my initial contact) I received a call from BG to arrange an install date. I noted that it had already sorted it 4 weeks prior by Charge Master, thanked the lady for the call, and hung up.

This is pretty much how every BG vs ChargeMaster experience has been reported.

 

[MikeS]

My experience was the opposite. Called BG and they arrange the appointment quickly, turned up as arranged and did an excellent job.

At the same tie that I contacted BG I also contacted Chargemaster. Heard nothing from CM until about 3 months after BG had completed the install when i got a call from CM to try to nook an appointment!

 

[Dee123]

I haven't seen anyone here talk about using the BMW charger. Has anyone bought this? Are there any advantages over those provided by Chargemaster?

I was quoted £315 (already subsidised I think) for BMW but it's fully refundable through a grant here in Scotland. So I was going to get one...

 

[jadnashuanh]

The BMW EVSE is prettier than most...other than that, I do not think it has any benefits.

 

[philcro]

I haven't seen anyone here talk about using the BMW charger. Has anyone bought this? Are there any advantages over those provided by Chargemaster?

I was quoted £315 (already subsidised I think) for BMW but it's fully refundable through a grant here in Scotland. So I was going to get one...

I have the BMW wallbox and don't know of any advantages over any others, however when I had a problem with the onboard charger (KLE) BMW Icare wanted to know type of charger used. I suggest as the car was tripping the house fuse that had it not been a BMW box I may have had a fight to get them to believe it was a car fault.

 

[jadnashuanh]

Out of curiosity, what size fuse goes in say the 32A EVSE in the UK? From what I remember, if it has a plug, it has a built-in fuse. Not sure about the mains. In the USA, you supply power to everything through either a circuit breaker or a fuse back at the panel, and that doesn't protect the device, it is designed to protect the wiring in the walls to it from overheating...the device needs to protect itself if it can't use all of the power that is available and as a result, lots of things may not have an internal fuse (most electronics does, but unlike the UK, it's not in the plug). Also, USA code for a hard-wired appliance says that it must have service to it to support 125% of it's output, so a 32A supply, would require at least a 40A breaker or fuse back at the mains, along with wiring to support 40A, even though the device can't (or at least shouldn't) supply that much to its load.

This also makes the use of a plug-in EVSE tend to require at least a 50A circuit, since at least in the USA, there aren't any 40A rated plugs, only 15, 20, 30, and 50 (and bigger) ones...so, the cost to opt for a plug on the thing means running the next larger gauge supply wire and protection device, regardless of what's plugged into it since theoretically, since it's a receptacle, you COULD plug a 50A load into it.

 

[philcro]

The wall box is not connected via a plug, it is hardwired on its own circuit back to an RCD breaker of 32A (about 10 milliseconds), then via a smart meter into the main fuse board where again protect by another 32A breaker. The whole house is on 100A fuse (sealed by the electricity) supplier. I assume the RCD is there to protect the smart meter.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The wall box is not connected via a plug, it is hardwired on its own circuit back to an RCD breaker of 32A (about 10 milliseconds), then via a smart meter into the main fuse board where again protect by another 32A breaker. The whole house is on 100A fuse (sealed by the electricity) supplier. I assume the RCD is there to protect the smart meter.

Okay, the internal fuse wouldn't cut it in the USA where it needs to be 125% of a hardwired load, but is also probably okay, since the car won't draw more than 30A anyways, giving it a little margin for the logic boards and control circuitry to run the EVSE.

How do they ensure the wires from the main panel are not being overloaded? What's to prevent someone from using say 14g wires to feed that 32A device? That's what the US codes are protecting with the fuses or CB...the wiring to the device. It's up to the device to protect itself, if it wishes.

 

[philcro]

The wall box is not connected via a plug, it is hardwired on its own circuit back to an RCD breaker of 32A (about 10 milliseconds), then via a smart meter into the main fuse board where again protect by another 32A breaker. The whole house is on 100A fuse (sealed by the electricity) supplier. I assume the RCD is there to protect the smart meter.

Okay, the internal fuse wouldn't cut it in the USA where it needs to be 125% of a hardwired load, but is also probably okay, since the car won't draw more than 30A anyways, giving it a little margin for the logic boards and control circuitry to run the EVSE.

How do they ensure the wires from the main panel are not being overloaded? What's to prevent someone from using say 14g wires to feed that 32A device? That's what the US codes are protecting with the fuses or CB...the wiring to the device. It's up to the device to protect itself, if it wishes.

New circuits in the UK have to be installed and certified by a qualified electrician, and fuses and wiring used are rated but that does not mean that is the maximum they can draw.

 

[elptex]

How do they ensure the wires from the main panel are not being overloaded? What's to prevent someone from using say 14g wires to feed that 32A device? That's what the US codes are protecting with the fuses or CB...the wiring to the device. It's up to the device to protect itself, if it wishes.

The UK requires certified installations, just like the US (and every other 1st world country), in accordance with building codes. We experienced limitations first-hand with the line running to our garage (separate from the house, on the opposite side of the driveway) only being rated for max 37 amps. Unfortunately this meant we could only have a 16 amp EVSE as we run a relatively large hydroponic garden in our garage that would have put the combined draw of a 32 amp EVSE and the hydroponics uncomfortably close to the 37 amp line limit. In the future we may dig up the driveway and install a beefier line. Otherwise, home fuse boxes/meters are generally identical in the US and UK (I grew up in the US and now live in the UK).

Of course, any one could do their own hill-billy installation and use whatever they use...hopefully they don't do a botch job and endanger their safety/home.

 

[noakey]

I haven't seen anyone here talk about using the BMW charger. Has anyone bought this? Are there any advantages over those provided by Chargemaster?

I was quoted £315 (already subsidised I think) for BMW but it's fully refundable through a grant here in Scotland. So I was going to get one...

I have the BMW wallbox and don't know of any advantages over any others, however when I had a problem with the onboard charger (KLE) BMW Icare wanted to know type of charger used. I suggest as the car was tripping the house fuse that had it not been a BMW box I may have had a fight to get them to believe it was a car fault.

Hi... when I had my KLE faults bmw arranged for my charge master polar unit to be replaced in case it either had contributed too, or had been damaged by the KLE failure.

The new polar also has a longer and more flexible cable, with a more robust type 2 plug (with its own rubber cover (another dangle thing.. buts that's another topic... ))