Discussion
the little nagging worry I had about getting a charge-point fitted to our house/garage has now developed into quite a large worry. There is little doubt that it is going to be doable - it's just that the cost will, I suspect, be considerably north of what we were hoping for 
We were hoping that electric garage door and (obviously) power to the garage would be sufficient for a charging point, after our 'site visit' this morning it would appear that this is very much not the case. The plus side for our automotive needs is that we have a large driveway for the size of the house and a spacious garage - the downside for our EV needs is that the house is a 1950's building much mucked around with with all the electrical gubbins (technical term) in the centre of the house. Because of the way the house has been extended/modified it makes running the requisite cabling to the (external) garage a total PiTA and as we all know PiTA = extra expense.
I guess that the saving grace is that as we're now retired the need for a quick(ish) overnight recharge is much reduced so a grannycharger may well be the long-term answer for us depending on the costs and disruption involved...
We were hoping that electric garage door and (obviously) power to the garage would be sufficient for a charging point, after our 'site visit' this morning it would appear that this is very much not the case. The plus side for our automotive needs is that we have a large driveway for the size of the house and a spacious garage - the downside for our EV needs is that the house is a 1950's building much mucked around with with all the electrical gubbins (technical term) in the centre of the house. Because of the way the house has been extended/modified it makes running the requisite cabling to the (external) garage a total PiTA and as we all know PiTA = extra expense.
I guess that the saving grace is that as we're now retired the need for a quick(ish) overnight recharge is much reduced so a grannycharger may well be the long-term answer for us depending on the costs and disruption involved...
We had similar, either run a new supply to the garage or accept turning the charger down to 4kW as the existing cable (I think he said 4mm^2) wasn't large enough for 7kW. New cable would mean digging a trench along 15m of concrete drive, so we chose the lower speed. We needed the dedicated charger to be eligible for the octopus tariff that gave us the cheap electric my man maths/justification for the car was based on!
I know what you mean. When the original owner extended our house, the incoming mains and gas that was on the outside wall in the middle, became under the stairs in the literal middle of the house.
I recently had a new chargepoint added to the outside of the garage, and it required a chunky cable running under the stairs, landing floor removing and running there to the airing cupboard, then up into the loft, across that, and then down the outside wall for a few feet, into the garage, and then round that to the charge point.
I recently had a new chargepoint added to the outside of the garage, and it required a chunky cable running under the stairs, landing floor removing and running there to the airing cupboard, then up into the loft, across that, and then down the outside wall for a few feet, into the garage, and then round that to the charge point.
We've lived with a granny charger for almost 4 years and 50k miles.
Can be a little awkward at times if multiple longer trips on consecutive days occur, but we just always keep the car topped up overnight during the cheap window to help with that and very occasionally use a local rapid charger if it's not going to be enough.
A dedicated charger is a nice to have, but dependent on usage certainly not a necessity.
Can be a little awkward at times if multiple longer trips on consecutive days occur, but we just always keep the car topped up overnight during the cheap window to help with that and very occasionally use a local rapid charger if it's not going to be enough.
A dedicated charger is a nice to have, but dependent on usage certainly not a necessity.
Maybe you can run the cable in conduit above ground?
But yes, getting a decent size cable from the middle of the house to the outside can be a real pain.
One hose I know, when the extension was built, they moved the meter to a little shack by the drive, it looks like a cross between a beehive and a small dog kennel. If the incoming 'company' wiring is accessible, maybe you could move the meter and cable the car charger from there?
But yes, getting a decent size cable from the middle of the house to the outside can be a real pain.
One hose I know, when the extension was built, they moved the meter to a little shack by the drive, it looks like a cross between a beehive and a small dog kennel. If the incoming 'company' wiring is accessible, maybe you could move the meter and cable the car charger from there?
SWoll said:
We've lived with a granny charger for almost 4 years and 50k miles.
Can be a little awkward at times if multiple longer trips on consecutive days occur, but we just always keep the car topped up overnight during the cheap window to help with that and very occasionally use a local rapid charger if it's not going to be enough.
A dedicated charger is a nice to have, but dependent on usage certainly not a necessity.
8 years here! We did have a Tesla for two years and I fitted a commando socket to run the Tesla mobile brick charger at 32 amps but for the other six years it’s been 100% granny we’ve been sucking on.Can be a little awkward at times if multiple longer trips on consecutive days occur, but we just always keep the car topped up overnight during the cheap window to help with that and very occasionally use a local rapid charger if it's not going to be enough.
A dedicated charger is a nice to have, but dependent on usage certainly not a necessity.
If you can’t do without 32 amp fast charging because of commuting then there’s only one £££ option.
If you can make do with 10 amps then spending thousands on a charger probably doesn’t make any financial sense.
We had the same deal, although in a far more modern house. 32a to the garage which is insufficient given it has to power the lights and appliances in there in addition to the car charger.
In the end we cut out the expense of routing a new feed to the garage and instead had the charger fitted to the front of the house. As the house is modern, having a modern looking charger bolted to the front of it doesn't upset us. However I am aware there are chargers made for period properties which are far gentler on the eye: https://andersen-ev.com/products/andersen-a2/
Pricey though..
In the end we cut out the expense of routing a new feed to the garage and instead had the charger fitted to the front of the house. As the house is modern, having a modern looking charger bolted to the front of it doesn't upset us. However I am aware there are chargers made for period properties which are far gentler on the eye: https://andersen-ev.com/products/andersen-a2/
Pricey though..
andy43 said:
SWoll said:
We've lived with a granny charger for almost 4 years and 50k miles.
Can be a little awkward at times if multiple longer trips on consecutive days occur, but we just always keep the car topped up overnight during the cheap window to help with that and very occasionally use a local rapid charger if it's not going to be enough.
A dedicated charger is a nice to have, but dependent on usage certainly not a necessity.
8 years here! We did have a Tesla for two years and I fitted a commando socket to run the Tesla mobile brick charger at 32 amps but for the other six years it’s been 100% granny we’ve been sucking on.Can be a little awkward at times if multiple longer trips on consecutive days occur, but we just always keep the car topped up overnight during the cheap window to help with that and very occasionally use a local rapid charger if it's not going to be enough.
A dedicated charger is a nice to have, but dependent on usage certainly not a necessity.
If you can’t do without 32 amp fast charging because of commuting then there’s only one £££ option.
If you can make do with 10 amps then spending thousands on a charger probably doesn’t make any financial sense.
In the land where they dont trust people to have 240v, we did over a year with 110v only! Game changer when we added 240v 30a (or what ever it was).
Get the better and faster charger if you can, but dont let it dictate things too much. Just get into the habit of topping up the charge over night and you should be good. It can be a pain if you have a string of drives and not enough time to charge, but a little bit of planning can work around that. Sounds complex and awkward, but it isnt, most modern EV's have charging navigation anyway.
See how you get on though, and if you need the higher charge rates, I am sure there will be a way to solve it later.
You do need a hefty cable for a proper charger. I just had one fitted and we had to pull a pretty big armoured cable through the void under the house.
I've been running 2 electric cars off a granny charger just fine, the issue is that you don't get enough power in during the limited cheap overnight hours. A swap to intelligent octopus can help that and leave the car plugged in with them managing extra charges where possible.
I've been running 2 electric cars off a granny charger just fine, the issue is that you don't get enough power in during the limited cheap overnight hours. A swap to intelligent octopus can help that and leave the car plugged in with them managing extra charges where possible.
kambites said:
Is the meter in the centre of the house as well as the consumer unit? If the meter is more accessible you could T a second consumer unit off that.
Noones picked up on this, but this is what we did too. Didnt go near the main in-house consumer unit, instead just put another small CU in the outdoor box next to the meter, then a simple shortish run of SWA to the charger, all external. 
kryten22uk said:
Noones picked up on this, but this is what we did too. Didnt go near the main in-house consumer unit, instead just put another small CU in the outdoor box next to the meter, then a simple shortish run of SWA to the charger, all external.
Only works if you have an outdoor box with a meter in. Most older houses don't.RicksAlfas said:
Only works if you have an outdoor box with a meter in. Most older houses don't.
Fair enough. The OP didnt confirm either way, but said their house was 1950s, and our house is older but still has box, so was worth a shout. Either way it might help some readers put off by the initial thought of wiring from inside house if they do have an external box. Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff