Well we did it for 3 weeks with two EVs, and logistically it was easier than I thought. OH who has a longish commute just stopped at some cheap Tesla chargers every 2 days coming home from work and enjoyed the peace to catch up on emails. I do one long journey weekly and lots of short journeys, so mostly charged during the long journey.. made easier with an excuse to take a break from the traffic jams. Once I went for a run whilst rapid charging. Basically if just using rapids we found it easy to weave into our routines, but for others it will depend on the journeys and the charging network nearby.

Financially, if we were doing this all the time we would certainly be doing our best to use the Tesla rapid chargers out of their peak times... cost vary I believe but currently seem a lot cheaper than everywhere else..

 

Thanks for the insight. I have made a plan a strategy and a plan b. But was interested to see how those who live with it day in day out find it. Some people I have spoke to say I'm mad forever considering it with no home charger

 

Well do they have an EV with no home charger?

It's hard to keep up with the number of rapids going in and the negative opinion might have been true a year ago probably isn't now. Once there are new hubs locally it makes a massive difference.

I think if your routine contains some long journeys, you can use these to get a good charge on the way back. If your routine is just short journeys, then you may only need a rapid charge every couple of weeks. Lots of medium journeys on routes with no rapids would be harder.

I haven't found 'destination chargers' of much use as there are few locally but it may be different near you.

A couple of points though, it's clearly easier with a larger battery, and if just rapid charging then there is consensus that rapid charging degrades the battery faster than 7kW AC destination charging, though this is a debated point with more modern EVs and some taxis just rapid charge.

 

I managed with just the granny charger for several months before I got charger installed, four hours overnight on Octopus Go cheap rate got me around 30 miles, so enough for 200 miles a week without needing a rapid.

 

We don't have the ability to charge at home at all, and rely on public AC charging on subscription (currently, at work).

That is considerably cheaper than any of the rapids around here (the nearby Tesla chargers are not cheap), especially since driving any significant distance to get to a charger is a false economy. I'd also prefer AC chargers for convenience factor.

 

I lived with 3 pin charging back in 2017 for about 2 months waiting for charge point install.

Perhaps related, but non-EV people moan that even households with driveways won't be able to get EV because they have more than 1 or 2 cars.

My neighbour had the car delivered but waited on charge point install for 5-6 months. We managed no problem sharing my single charge point across 3 BEV's with just 4 hours of Octopus Go tariff. 2 of the BEV are big battery and only charges 50% over the 4 hours.

 

The important question is not about having a chargepoint installed but having off street parking.

Folk charge from a granny lead for years but they do so on their driveway.

So the question needs to state your parking arrangements to get a comparable answer.

For my low mileage, I was able to use a granny lead to charge my Mokka for quite some time. I eventually installed something quicker but of course this was driveway parking.

It's a whole different ballgame if you are parked quite some distance away or rely on public charging.

Gaz

 

So I don't have a drive however I have 2 options for home granny charging. Front window through front garden and infront of garden wall. The 2nd and more ideal option is through back garden back of the fence to dedicated car park space (however I'm going to need a long granny charger for this).
For public charging I am looking at the scenic which is 22kw charging compatible and where I take my kids gymnastics has 4 of these and currently only charge 20p per kwh. Then there's the gym which is 11kw at 50p per kwh and shopping is these same, these are where I spend most of my time when out and about.
I believe the above will cover my daily driving and weekend visits to parents and in laws 1 is a 50 mile round trip the other is around a 100 and ifs every other week for each of these visits.
As I work from home I intend to use the granny charger in the day so I can keep an eye on the plug. But still joining octopus to take advantage of the discount charging and generally cheaper than British gas for home gas and electric anyway.

 

How do you find living with an EV woth no home charger?

I have owned an EV since 2016, I have no home charging capabilities even using a granny charger, and this will not change in the future.

I survive 100% on public charging and only need to charge around once per week, I use mostly 7 kWh destination charging plus the odd DC rapid charge if on an extended journey.

I originally got ridiculed from friends and family for my decision of going EV, not so much lately although I still get the odd question about regrets. And I must say I have no regrets, I fit charging into my daily life so to me it’s not an inconvenience. I never wait in the car while its charging contrary to what friends and family think, I’m always doing something else with the time. Yes, it takes a bit more planning but I’m reasonably organised, the only problem I’ve found lately is delivery vans hogging the local charge points. But living within the ULEZ that is the price I must pay.

The charging infrastructure has massively improved since 2016, but there are many more EV’s on the roads now, so charging can still be a bit hit and miss. However I have got to know the busy days and times so avoid them.

 

I'm tending to charge at my workplace using a granny charger. Can fully charge the Sportage within 8 hours from 'flat' (actually never close to zero) but only around 15% or so into the EV6. Bear in mind you have no open-PEN protection while charging like this, plus there's the risk of 13A plug overheating due to the poor design; however most decent chargers will have thermal sensing built into the 13A plug for protection but obviously if you use an extension lead then this protection won't be present on the extension lead 13A plug, so be really careful. My external socket at work runs on a dedicated radial circuit with its own RCBO and is right next to where we charge vehicles, anything less would worry me to consider as a regular activity.

 

In case it helps…

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I relied on charging at work and some public charging for 6 months and it was no problem. Have a look at local chargers, if there are nearby rapids it's easy, if the supermarket of your choice has chargers then it can be easy. It's opening a can of worms but if you go the charge at a supermarket route it's worth investigating whether you can get a faster charge with a 3 phase cable.

 

I had an EV for the last two years without any home charging facility at all, even 3 pin plug (my garage is detached from the house across someone elses land..). My main source of charging was at the multi storey car park in the town where I worked, so Id drive in, do 8hrs of work and charge for 35p/kWh which is not far off the price cap. There were also chargepoints at the park&ride in case i didnt want to drive that day.
If I needed to charge at any other time, there are 4 rapids in my town which I would use with the octopus card so it was paid for via my electricity direct debit.
To be honest it was fine, at most a minor inconvenience and still way better than running an ICE car. Dont worry too much about it, things are improving all the time.

 

You could cut the plug off an extension lead, feed the lead through the hole, then hardwire the extension lead into a suitable point in the house (e.g. the CU or the cooker socket) so long as you somehow incorporate a suitable fuse. Then you'd not need to worry about either getting a granny charger with a long lead or the extension lead plug overheating.

 

I had an EV van for three weeks before my Zappi was installed. It was great! The manager gave me 30 minutes per day to charge, and I mostly charged at lunchtime and just skived for an extra 30 minutes. That won’t work for everyone of course.

A friend of mine can’t charge at home due to an awkward factor, and instead uses public rapids. He was given a Shell card with 600 - pounds? kWh? I’m not sure - with his new BYD Atto 3. He also pays for an IONITY passport, dropping the price per kWh to about 50p. He says he’s saving about £20 per month, compared to what he was spending on petrol for his old Skoda Kamiq. He does about 140 miles per week, and charges for an hour once or twice per week. He loves it, as it gives him an excuse to sit in his new car and watch TV on an iPad.

 

I have a looped supply and so no charger but I have upgraded to a 16A commando socket with interlocking and surge protection etc which will give me around 70 miles charge on Octopus Go per night. This takes the car from around 47% to 80% which is where I generally keep it. Only use rapids on long journeys. My current fuel cost per mile is approximately 7p which naturally increases with longer trips but is still half of the typical cost per mile of a ICE and annual servicing is only around 30% of a typical ICE.

 

"Hello There". To answer the thread headline, apparently you don't necessarily need to have a home chargepoint to own an ev. There's a guy in Scotland who has an Audi Q4 E-tron and BMW i4 and relies on local community charging points as well as en-route HPCs. He has a YouTube channel under "edinreviews". I have found the videos to be extremely informative, entertaining and especially for useful VAG MEB platform evs.
I would add however, that I'm glad I have a home charge point and off-road parking for our two EV's.

 

I have a Kona EV and a home charger which is always plugged in.
I have a BM2 monitor that shows me the battery level, but also it shows when the big battery is charging the 12V.
The graph indicates that this occurs approx every 4 hours.
The 12v seems to be a weakness in the whole set up.
My topped up and monitored 12v went from full to 5% very quickly (Called the AA) and I had it replaced
FOC.
The dealership said they think the problem was caused during previous recall software thing.??
Whatever that means???
So I would really miss my set up but sometimes things get out of your control no matter what you do!! 🌈🌈🌈

 

Our experience in the months before out home charge point was installed, was that it was very practical relying on local 7kWh Podpoints at our Community Centre, 5 mins walk away, backed-up by some Osprey fast chargers at a nearby pub (which we used rarely). The former worked out at about 24p/kWh which was pretty good and the latter a pricier 78p. The Community Centre setup was well thought-out, with free parking Sundays and 18:00-0700 and unusually, the Podpoints charging by time, rather than kWh, so that overstays were discouraged.

But it wouldn't take much for this arrangement not to work anything like as well e.g. the PodPoints being over-subscribed, or the two Ospreys having operating problems etc. Basically, whether public charging works for you is probably highly dependent on your local situation.

Between them, the Electroverse, ABRP and PodPoint apps showed up most of my local public charge points. But none showed all of them, especially a couple of 2-bay installations in nearby new build flats.

Since then, Shell have installed a 9-bay fast charge facility at their garage 5 mins drive away, and Sainsbury’s have installed an 8-bay fast charge facility at our nearest superstore. Both are relatively expensive but a welcome addition to local capacity.

 

I don't have a home charger I rely solely on work charging(free) and a granny charger which is rarely used unless we doing a long journey and need 100% when leaving. Trips all planed by me before we go anywhere with chargers on route or at destination.

30kwh leaf with about 22kwh usable

 

I went from having a proper charger at home to having a granny charger and relying on public charging. It was quite a shock! As above, a granny charger is very slow, and if you charge overnight, it can take 2 days to fill a large battery.

 

I rely entirely on public charging. Live in London, no drive, pedestrian street. Bought Leaf as only car 3 years ago. 12k miles/year. It’s been fine for 3 years. About to upgrade to another BEV.

 

why would you buy an ev if you cant charge at home. apart from the inconvenience its also the cost. I had to wait 3 weeks for my charger to be installed and during the 3 weeks i was spending just as much on electricity as i would have spend on petrol. for me unless you have the ability to charge at home then there is no way would i want an EV car

 

Well a proportion of people will never be able to charge from home
( and in case you missed the memo…..switching to EVs is not about the price of fuel, but about the cost of fuel……important difference..HTH)

 

There may come a time when those without a home charger have cheaper than, and equally convenient motoring as, oil based fuelled cars.
Until then, I would never recomend EVs to those without home charging.

 

There may come a time when those without a home charger have cheaper than, and equally convenient motoring as, oil based fuelled cars.
Until then, I would never recomend EVs to those without home charging.

Oddly I didn’t have either a home charger or off street parking for around 2 years whilst we moved during reno’s. Survived perfectly well

Have you tried it?

 

Cost an convenience. Reasoned judgements in this regard are more cutting if you only have EVs in the household.

 

Public charging is far more expensive than home charging - but comparable with fossils. My friend saves about £20 per month, even after the slightly higher monthlies, because his BYD is remarkably efficient, and he mostly uses Arnold Clark at 55p. We often have lunch together at the coffee shop next to Arnold Clark while he’s charging, so no convenience issues either. As I said, it depends on your individual situation.

 

I now have 9 years of pure EV motoring behind me, no home charging and almost no regrets. Even though I was ridiculed at first by family and friends for my silly battery car…

 

I was talking to someone last week. Planning to buy his daughter a brand new petrol Golf whatever day they finally get banned so she can drive it for the next 10 year cos he is all for net zero etc but doesn’t think EVs really work. (It seemed to be lost on him that I had mentioned I was driving home from the Netherlands🙄).
The daughter is 11 so won’t learn to drive till 2031.
I asked him what he thought the future would be for petrol stations in 2031,2035,2040 etc, when you can no longer buy a petrol car… and how he thought she might feel as the only person in her peer group driving on a now obsolete fuel and dinosaur technology at Uni.
Watching the gears in that brain start to turn was amusing.

It’s amazing what problems people create in their heads and how real those problems are. Yet somehow another perspective on the same information creates a whole different world in our brains that we interpret the same input to get a completely different outcome with different answers and perceived problems.

 

I've been charging my EVs (LEAF 24kWh, and then LEAF 40kWh) on a granny charger for nearly 2 years. No issues, and the Nissan charger has a built-in temperature sensor to catch any overheating of the plug. I don't use an extension, ever, and I can charge at work some of the time. If I didn't have work charging, I would use the built-in timer on the car to charge overnight to the battery kWh capacity that I need each day to do my regular commute, which is usually around 12kWh (= average 4 miles / kWh), with a bit extra for charging losses.