Earth Notes: Installing a UK home EV Charge Point: Case Study (2022)

Here is the saga to date from Jeremy, who started this process in September:

Thinking of buying an EV?

Want to install a fast charger in advance of purchasing an EV?

Want to ensure that the choice of charger is future-proofed to facilitate charging of the EV from installed solar and/or home battery system (neither yet selected or purchased)?

I received a recommendation that I should go to Rightcharge to select the right charger for me.

This is a very well constructed comparison site that through guided questions narrows down the charger options and selection to suit the customer needs.

In my case, a charger that will support future integration of solar PV and home battery storage.

I chose myenergi's Zappi 2 charger.

These details (in my case) were sufficient to confirm the standard installation cost of £1199 including VAT.

I then purchased the charger through the Rightcharge site and entered their process for installation.

It would appear that survey and installation services (in my case) are sub contracted to Charrrge (formerly "Sequential Dynamics").

I was then asked to complete an electrical load survey, apparently a compliance check mandated by the local Distribution Company see below:

Thank you for your recent purchase of your Electric Vehicle charge point. In order for us to proceed with the physical installation, we need some further information. In the UK before any EV charge point can be considered to be connected to the electrical network,This information is required by your local (DNO) Distribution Network Operator and allows our team to identify the correct type of safety components required to make sure your installation will be compliant with UK regulations and safe for use.

With this being said, could you go through the below questions and answer accordingly?

• How many people live at the property?  Currently 2 plus 2 dogs but it is a 5 bedroom 3 bathroom dwelling (I assume the possible future use of the dwelling is also important).
• Is there an induction hob?  No
• Is there an electric oven? Yes double electric range oven with gas hob
• Do you have a jacuzzi or hot tub? No
• Does the property have electric heating?  No
• Does the property have an electric boiler?  No
• Does the property use mainly LED light bulbs? (Over 75%) Yes
• Is there any workshop equipment?  No only hand tools
• Do you use an immersion heater?  Not as a matter of routine, we have one installed but it would only be used if the gas boiler failed which is rarely. We do have a commercial type tumble dryer which is 45 amp I believe.

Then followed 2 to 3 weeks of no information or confirmation of installation date.

After a bit of chasing (back to Rightcharge) I received an update from Charrrge.

Loop / De-loop

Apparently my property has a looped electricity supply! Not known to me, but now I understand what a looped supply is. It is self evident from the survey photo I sent of my electricity meter.

It is clear I have 2 cables coming into my meter box, one feeding my meter and house and the other forwarding electricity to my neighbour.

The Charrrge advisor explained that depending on the charger selected sometimes the DNO will allow installation to go ahead provided the charger can be configured to regulate draw of electricity (to prevent my neighbour being starved of electricity). In other cases the DNO will insist that de-looping takes place before the charger is installed.

It would appear that in my case the Zappi product was a good choice because I have now received a letter from the DNO saying installation can go ahead and they will de-loop my supply from my neighbours at a future date at their cost.

De-looping in general seems to be a widespread demand, presumably because looping supplies is a cheaper way to build houses. We are in a relatively new (1970s) estate comprising of mainly detached or semi-detached properties, to my mind it seems odd that each house does not have its own dedicated cable supply, like it does for gas and water. If you search for looped supplies on the internet it is clear this is a big barrier to Home EV fast charger installations and no doubt the DNO will have a large backlog of requests to de-loop home supplies.

On a personal note I worry about having to take this issue to my neighbours, who I am sure will be less than pleased that something I have chosen to do could result in their front garden being excavated to run a new cable from the main trunk to their home.

At this point the installer now has the go ahead to install, so I am waiting for an installation date to be scheduled.

In the meantime I have started to search for suitable solar PV and home battery installers.

Jeremy's DNO, that runs the electricity power wires to his house, is National Grid Electricity Distribution, previously called Western Power Distribution.

Jeremy also notes:

... the absence of reference to installing a smart meter, which I intend to do soon possibly with a change of supplier. I am fighting shy of this because of the many stories of installations that do not work, but clearly I need to get in a flexible tariff to make the economics work.

And:

I am speaking to solar PV battery installer next Tuesday, local company Forever Green Energy in Cheltenham. Orders now will not result in install until late spring or early summer 2023.