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Government requiring new homes to include EV charging point

12K views 194 replies 44 participants last post by  jgwozdzicki 
#1 ·
Just heard on the news. Couple of thoughts

- Will they also require allocated parking near the EV charging point, or planning permission to be granted to run a cable to the parking spot? I’d put money on no

- will they actually require a charging point like a zappi (they want smart ones to manage grid load) or a simple commando socket? Or even just a three pin plug on the outside wall

Builders will be workign to spend the least amount to get the most profit so unless this is properly specced, it’ll be a mess.
 
#12 ·
Hopefully planners and home buyer reports will drive the standard upwards.
Like that happened with insulation, cladding etc.
Looks like we're waiting for Boris to mumble something about it in Parliament later today, before the full details are available.
In theory that is the correct way for things to be done as it gives some form of ability for debate etc. Unfortunately the way that Parliament behaves it'll be greeted in the same way regardless of whether it is the best thought through policy or the most idiotic thing ever - the Tories will bray in support and the Opposition will dismiss it as pointless and question the Government about something else.
Announcing the new laws at the Confederation of British Industry's conference on Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will say:
Ahh, well that theory didn't last well. :devilish: :mad:
I wonder how many MPs are actually aware of the issues?
 
#4 ·
We've been here before on the site. And, unless someone knows what they should get and complains, I can promise you'll be seeing a lot of these.

 
#6 ·
Technically all they need to do is install a suitably protected 13 A outlet with the letters "EV" on the back and possibly a label on the front saying that it's suitable for EV use. That complies with Section 722.55.101.0.201.1(1) of BS7671:2018 Amendment 1 as an "electric vehicle charge point". If they fit that socket in a garage, then they don't even need to provide open PEN fault protection. The fact that charging from a 13 A outlet isn't practical, or particularly safe and reliable in the long term, is neither here nor there.
 
#24 ·
It cannot be “properly installed” as an EV charging socket as the socket is not manufactured to the correct standard nor is it marked “EV” on the back as it was not manufactured to that standard, nor do Rolec claim it is manufactured to that standard.

In reality no manufacturers produce such a beast nor has any such socket ever been tested or approved to that standard.

The Rolec Wallpod is simply a 13A outlet with all the limitations of a standard 13A socket of which Jeremy is so critical, over heating, long term use, etc.
 
#30 ·
Was pleased to see over the weekend, a councillor in Knaresborough has successfully forced a developer to replace the 13A Rolec sockets they installed on a new estate with proper type-2 chargers (twitter link to the letter below). I'll be they will be 3kW ones, but its a good effort all the same. This legislation will be pointless unless people who actually know what they're talking about and understand EVs are involved in drawing up the legislation. Developers have form in terms of lobbying to water down legislation which affects them. We need to see 7kW smart chargers. Also solar / wind + storage should also be going into all new-builds.

 
#34 ·
Of course, the developers will be skimping on everything possible. I've seeen a simple single outdoor 13A socket with an RCD advertised as an EV charging station, aimed directly at property developers who may have them as planning constraints. When I asked if it contains the necessary PEN fault detection, it transpired as 'no', but the seller assumed that new builds would be easier to install a earth spike in, because at that stage they know what's underground.
I'd be okay if the minimum spec would be a suitably protected (ground spike or PEN-fault detection with type B RCBO) 32A commando socket, because then the property owner / tenant will be able to make use of the cabling to install a more suitable one.
 
#35 ·
I'm confused by the point of labelling the back of the socket when it is then screwed to a wall? I believe that there is also a requirement to add a sign next to it to indicate that it is EV charging suitable.
 
#38 ·
You aren't the only one! It seems that anyone can just put the letters "EV" on the back of any BS1363-2 outlet and that magically turns it into an EV charge point.

There's no specific requirement to have it labelled on the front as a charge point, that's only required if the outlet could be confused with a normal one, which wouldn't be the case for the Rolec unit: "except where there is no possibility of confusion, a label shall be provided on the front face or adjacent to the socket-outlet or its enclosure stating: ‘suitable for electric vehicle charging’"

I think the sensible thing to do is probably mandate a non-tethered 7 kW charge point, with all the required protection, or maybe mandate that the cable be put in, ready for such a charge point. I ran cables in here when building the house, each terminated with a wiska box, so that they could all be tested and included on the Part P chit. Makes adding stuff later a doddle. The battery shed I wired up recently was just connected to two runs of SWA run in underground in 2013, before the house was built, all I did was swap the wiska box where they were terminated with a 4 pole rotary isolator. Neatly avoided the need for another Part P chit as the work was then properly covered by a minor works chit.
 
#41 ·
As you have made clear in the past, the circuit is not the socket.

In fact there was movement towards an “updated /hardened” socket but it was determined that demand would be low, thus abandoned. The 18th seemed to anticipate this in one area (EVs) and I suspect the, unneeded, entry was missed in final editing and now asks for nonsense, EV marking on the back, which everyone ignores.
 
#44 ·
I would argue that the labelling may be useful, in that it's a reminder to anyone doing an EICR that the circuit has a different form of protection. No reason to ignore the labelling requirement, and anyway it's something that can be fixed to make the installation compliant in a couple of minutes by just adding a label. There's nothing in the regs that states who has to fit this label, and as labelling is called out in several other sections, and as it's routine for those installing/inspecting installations to fit labels, then I can see no reason why that shouldn't be the case here.
 
#48 ·
None as far as I know, but then there's nothing else in a domestic installation that has this sort of enhanced circuit protection requirements, either.

Not sure quite what your point is, TBH. If a 13 A outlet is installed for car charging, with the circuit having the required level of protection and the outlet carrying the required labels it's compliant. If it doesn't have the required labels, but the circuit is compliant in all other respects, then no one is ever going to do anything more than note it as a C3, and the majority of people doing an EICR wouldn't even do that, they'd just print off a label there and then to make it compliant. I've added mandatory labels a few times when doing EICRs, most often the "two colour labels" that are often missing from older installations, and like many, I keep a stock of various labels in my tool bag. It's much easier to just stick a label on than faff around adding an unnecessary C3 to the chit.
 
#60 ·
Worth remembering that Type 1 connectors barely lasted 5 years. Type 1 charge points were being installed with the grant from around 2013 and by around 2018 they were mostly obsolete for new EVs. Off the top of my head I think I've now converted about half a dozen older Type 1 charge points to Type 2, and my guess is that more will have just been swapped for new charge points by owners that either had only 16 A Type 1 charge points or who didn't realise the cable could just be swapped so they have shelled out for a complete new installation.

Exactly the same thing is happening with smart lighting, with older and obsolete smart lighting installations being swapped out after a few years because of obsolescence. It's a pretty wasteful approach, IMHO, tearing out relatively expensive parts of an electrical installtion, replacing them with new stuff that will probably only have the same sort of useful life, along with all the making good and redecoration that's involved. Adds a lot to the effective running cost, too, if the costs of replacing and making good every few years is considered. Light switches tend to last a couple of decades usually, and can be replaced cheaply and easily, with no need for any redecoration, as they are all a standard size.
 
#65 ·
Worth remembering that Type 1 connectors barely lasted 5 years. Type 1 charge points were being installed with the grant from around 2013 and by around 2018 they were mostly obsolete for new EVs.
The Type 1 equipped LEAF still represent "first EVs" for a lot of purchasers so I'd bet that there are still a number of new Type 1 installations getting grants.
 
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#66 · (Edited)
With military equipment procurement, where high cost kit was expected to have a life of several decades, there was a general principle of trying to make the initially supplied kit "fitted for, but not fitted with". The idea was that to try and future proof things like so that strong points, wiring loom provisions, power bus capacity, space within avionics bays, etc would be included in the core design, so that when newer items needed to be fitted the process would (hopefully) be simpler. Not 100% foolproof, but generally a pretty good compromise.

It seems to me that we should do the same for new homes. Run in cabling, both for power and comms, or put in cable ducts, so that when new requirements arise it's relatively simple to fit things. Fitting a suitably protected power cable, perhaps with provision for a data cable for something like current sensing, seems to be pretty foolproof. It's very similar to what I did here when doing the groundworks, I just ran extra underground cables around the place to provide a degree of future proofing. Running cable ducts with drawstrings adds next to bugger all to the price of a new house, yet will significantly ease the later fitting of things like a charge point, or V2G box.
 
#70 ·
Being picky, but FFBNW is when you already have a defined interface, usually a mature equipment you usually have a shortage of (like Phalanx systems), that you are designed for.

What your describing is Installation Provision Made in Design (IPMD), which is somewhat of a Size Weight and Power (SWaP) provision in the design overlapped with a Design Growth requirement.

If everything was already in place and it was literally just a case of screwing the charger to the wall and connecting the wires, that would be FFBNW and I think that would be a great compromise between legislation and builders.
 
#93 · (Edited)
The new regulations mean that all home EV chargers must be smart from 1st July 2022. It won't be legal to install anything else. These chargepoints must also be capable of metering imports (and exports).

It won't be legal to advertise or offer for sale a non-smart home charger, i.e. dumb units or sockets are explicitly forbidden.

I have to admit that I'd expected mileage-based car tax to happen in the UK with the switchover to EVs. It looks like this has been given the political kibosh. The UK will soon have mandatory, monitored home chargers potentially allowing for specific variation in per kWh rate for electric cars.
 
#76 ·
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#86 · (Edited)
Yeah, I had a few emails back and forth with them during the consultation as had concerns about how flats were covered in proposals, such as definition of 'site boundary'. I think the end result is OK
 
#77 ·
It does look good, as in addition to at least one charge point needing to be installed, it also suggests that cable routes must be provided for every parking space that doesn't have a charge point. The only gotcha is the provision that this need not be done if the cost of upgrading the supply is greater than £3,600. Currently a PMT upgrade costs roughly between £25k and £35k, and some smaller developments may need this, so could incur costs per dwelling of over the £3.6k get-out clause limit.
 
#79 ·
If it's going to be mandatory to provide a charging point for all new builds, it might be useful to make it mandatory to provide a parking space next to it as well.

Not all new builds have driveways and garages.
The law of unintended consequences is that this will further discourage provision of parking spaces as these will require charge points, but a larger front garden may offset the loss of amenity value for not having off-road parking and save the cost of a charge point installation.
 
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