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EV ordered and looking for electrical advice

3K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  proddick 
#1 ·
Hi Everyone, new here and new to EV.
The company I work for has included a couple of Hybrid options and I've opted for the Cupra Formentor Hybrid which I'm pretty excited about.

As you do, I started looking at what my home charging options are, and it turns out my home is "looped" (I have 2 cables coming in to a box marked "PME". Which according to the Google-Gods means having an 11Kw carger installed could be problematic and need some groundworks.

My house does have a 100A fuse, and the consumer looks a little like this at the moment with the RCD's. The Conservatory Air Con is no longer required, the Immersion may be spare as it's a Combi boiler now and probably using "Airing cupboard socket) and the Shed at 32A is also gone. This will be replaced but does not need 32A.

I plan to get a qualified electrician to do this side of the work, this is a sanity check.

I'm thinking move the Shed to one of the spare 16A RCD's (Immersion or Air Con) and wire a commando to the 32A
Product Font Line Parallel Technology


I am already with Octopus and on Agile tariff, and I was going to order the Ohme charge cable (while it's on offer) for use at home.

For the electrically minded - am I missing anything, and are there any regs I need to make sure I adhere to in terms of mounting the socket outside on the front of the house?

For the EV owners out there - Am I on the right track, or should I just use the 3-pin plug?

Thanks everyone for any advice and points. I appreciate it's a long post. Thanks for making it this far!
 
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#2 ·
The OHME is a great charger but does not have PEN protection.
I have mine on a 32A commando and there is the option to drop it down to 16A.
How long does it say your car takes to charge on a 7.5kw unit?
 
#3 · (Edited)
Although you are proposing a Commando socket connection, it still needs to be installed to the EV charging requirements. That will include the open PEN protection so the fact that OHME doesn’t include it wouldn’t be a problem when using it on that socket.

The website is pretty quiet about battery capacity and charging rate for the car but I can’t see why a PHEV would need an 11kW charger. To have one of those at home, you’ll need to upgrade to a 3 phase supply, which is really not going to be worth it for this car.

What may be the case is that a car designed for 11kW 3 phase is limited to 3.6kW single phase. At that point you can make a choice about whether to fit a 16A socket as the maximum this car can use or go for the 32A for future proofing. Personally, I’d do the latter if you are planning to stay in the same house. The labour cost is going to be the same and the difference in the materials is marginal.
 
#4 ·
The Cupra Formentor Hybrid only has a tiny battery, just 12.8 kWh, so most definitely doesn't need any thing like a 3 phase 11 kW charge point. The lowest power 16 A charge point would fully charge it in about three and half hours. I can't easily find what the charger in the Cupra Formentor Hybrid is rated at after a quick web search, but given the tiny battery capacity I doubt that it would be very high.

As others have already said, any power outlet installed for charging must have DC tolerant earth leakage protection and open PEN fault protection as you have a TN-C-S/PME supply. This makes it difficult to connect something like an interlocked (and it must be interlocked, not as shown in that image) commando outlet or other unprotected charge point to a consumer unit directly. The usual way to connect this would be to use a connection box connected to the tails ahead of the CU. This box can then provide the required protection for the charging outlet.

In all probability your looped supply would probably handle a 16 A charge point without any problem, although the DNO need to be informed anyway, and there needs to be a total demand estimate to see if this would be OK.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I echo what others have said re safety and have attached the notes from OHME that you can provide to an electrician to install the socket.

One issue with this OHME commando approach is that testing should be done on the Type 2 plug using a suitable adaptor and (unlike EV charging point installers) most electricians probably don't have the equipment. Below is an example

CHARGECHECK:EV | Rolec EV Charging

Personally I would spend the extra and get a OHME Home Pro professionally installed while there is still a grant, it has PEN and DC protection so overall it probably isn't much more for a compliant install. It may be a hassle getting the DNO to unloop you, but it would allow you 7kW charging which is worth it for the future - especially if you plan to stay at house a while.


 

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#6 · (Edited)
I echo what others have said re safety and have attached the notes from OHME that you can provide to an electrician to install the socket.

One issue with this OHME commando approach is that testing should be done on the Type 2 plug using a suitable adaptor and (unlike EV charging point installers) most electricians probably don't have the equipment. Below is an example

CHARGECHECK:EV | Rolec EV Charging

If the Ohme is hard wired and becomes a part of the installation, then normal installation safety testing is required at the Type 2 connector as you say, and this needs a vehicle simulator test box, so that the charge point can be turned on for testing.

If the Ohme is connected via an interlocked commando, then it's not a part of the electrical installation, so there is no requirement to test at the Type 2, only at the interlocked commando. The reason is that anything that can be unplugged by the consumer, without the need of tools, is an appliance, not a part of the fixed installation. Worth noting that Ohme are wrong when they state that the appliance can provide the required DC earth leakage protection. The regs are clear, this has to be within the fixed part of the installation.

Although installation testing would only normally be up to the outlet that the consumer can use to connect anything, if asked to test an appliance then most electricians could do this, by testing to ensure that it meets the Portable Appliance Testing requirements, but those requirements don't (yet) have anything specific that relates to portable vehicle charge points.

(edited to fix typo, literally, typed "Typo 2" when I meant "Type 2" . . . )
 
#8 ·
The Cupra only has 3.6kW onboard charger, so if that's the car your sticking with for a while, nothing special from a charge point is needed(16a will be fine). However like everyone else says, if your staying where you are for a while get a proper charger installed properly, and unloop. 7kW won't be of use now, but maybe for the next car.

As for 3phase, if your unlooping and the DNO are involved, ask, but doubt it will be cheap, and almost everything on the market will charge overnight on 7kW at the moment, and a lot of cars with DC rapid now don't have 11kW onboard anyhow... So might be a waist
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the replies and clarification everyone, I really appreciate it.

As well as some guidance I really wanted to make sure the work being done now, gives me the most flexibility for the future, the car I will use for the next 3 years might not need it, but the next one might. A good friend is also going EV soon as well.

The Ohme Home Pro looks like a good option - according to the specification it has built in pen fault detection as well which in theory makes for an easier install.

Really appreciate everyones feedback. (y)
 
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