Zoinks - that went a bit runny a bit quick. If I can take some heat out of the thing, FWIW I'm on record as respecting Kevin's position on the matter he raised, and is probably best progressed over some kind of Anglo-Saxon meat/beer extravaganza rather than a discussion forum. I couldn't comment anyway, as I'm not an official spokesman.
In the interests of magnanimity, my point around electrical safety was somewhat tongue in cheek, but with a vein I'll elaborate on in a minute. I know how much Kevin has contributed within the space thus far, and while we could debate whether "Zero Carbon" is the right message (all renewables have some kind of carbon footprint) we actually have the same goals. I'm a big boy (especially these days) and having been our ECO/Green Deal programme manager before taking up this role, I'm no stranger to differing viewpoints robustly presented.
Brian (thanks for the welcome, sir) made an acute observation in that there are already some non-pioneer/non early-adopters out there, just not on this forum. It is indeed those people who occupy most of my thoughts - it's for them that I am doing what I do. Most people here are already way ahead of me in personal experience and adjustment. We all know how good EVs are to drive, own, and live with, and we've either made adjustments to how we travel or we've not had to. For my part, I regularly clocked up 7-800 miles a week in the Active E, and I've never used a rapid charger, and only used a public charger twice in my life. And both of those times were just to see how the experience was. My office is 65 miles away, and I have 32A charging at both ends - not one iota of planning or compromise required. So that puts in me closer to the aforementioned than those brave souls who risk a flatbed.
Also - I have know idea what a 'maven' count is. I spent 20 mins on Google and been through my materials on Rogers and Gartner and I'm still none the wiser. School's in!
And so (deep breath). Electrical safety.
I do indeed want to restrict installations in this space, to people who know what they're doing. The UK definition of "knows what they're doing" is indeed Part P to start, and then some appraisal against the specific EVSE frameworks. I liken it to "Type Approval" in the airline business. Even a 30-year captain on every type of Boeing can't just jump in an A380 and fly paying passengers.
This position is not to do with revenue for incumbent players. I used the Gas Safe Register as the example as it could be seen to be an analagous area where big business does not hold sway. There are over 100,000 GSR registered engineers in the UK, and 16,000 boiler installers. The biggest installer is BG, and they have 9000 Homer Services operatives and take around 10% of the total market (which is around 1.5 million boilers a year) Then there are a few smaller national and regional players. The remainder are your friendly neighbourhood combined gas/heating engineers who install way more than 75% of the volume between them.
If the same industry grows up around EVSE, that'll be just fine - as long as consumers get the right solutions. It means there is a sustainable market that is open to all. Hopefully such skills can be made cost and time effective to acquire - a vital factor in the growth of any retrofit programme. It may come as a surprise, but trying to get one or maybe, at a stretch, two Nuclear power stations built, dealing with ever-shifting policy on domestic Energy Efficiency, and planning a not-quite universally welcomed Smart metering rollout is quite enough to be going on with for mid-term activity, without trying to boss an emerging market for which we have no volume workforce to point at, as well.
The installs we do are targeted at specific parts of the market - we installed the infrastructure at BMW i sales location in the run up to Nov 16th. We work with the EST on the Plugged-In Fleets initiative. We're proud to be the Infrastructure provider within the Alpha Electric proposition from Alphabet. Volume is not what drives us. Safety and the growth of the market in the right way, regardless of which parts of the value chain we decide to play in, is.
I am not an electrical engineer, nor am I Part P certified. My background is in Astrophysics and so I speaka da lingo and leave the spanner work to those in my team who have way more expertise than me, and to whom I often address dumb questions. But in order:
Earthing. Number one issue in EVSE installations bar none. Paul above alluded to what conditions can exist when it's not paid attention to. The return path is never going to be via the vehicle and so it's not an area that one should gloss over holding a live (due to CP defect) 32A cable in your driveway with metal fittings such as gas pipes or exterior lights nearby. My 1930s semi in London had a brand new consumer unit and earthing spike required just to fit a boggo 16A for just this reason.
Load management. Another area of risk due to the antiquity of UK housing stock. 80A supply has been the standard for decades. That still puts a large proportion of the UK (figures not to hand) on 60A or a mere 13.8kW. For any house with electric heating then even adding 16A is tight. 32A will simply blow the main fuse if the kettle and oven are on as well.
Thermal management. Not so much an issue where installs that cover points 1 & 2, but 10A Mode 2 cables need a socket with a really small household-spec run not to risk overheating. BS1363 was simply not devised to take close to max loads for extended periods. We've already seen melted plugs and degraded insulation. It was mentioned above that manufacturers were happy to offer mode 2 cables as a default solution. That's not something we can condone. There are too many considerations simply give a consumer a cable, and expect them to follow rules like "no extension leads" to the letter. There is simply no way for a non-electrically competent person to predict whether the way such a cable is used will lead to problems or not - a problem that grows in line with adoption.
Really hoping all that doesn't come across as a rant - openness is the only way forward in my profession...
