Frequently Asked Questions

An Open PEN device detect if the PEN (protective Earth and Neutral) conductor is broken or damaged.
Open PEN devices don’t prevent the Open PEN fault, but they detect it and cut off ALL conductors (live, neutral and earth), in order to avoid electric shocks.
Most chargers have built in open PEN devices however the Tesla Gen3 Wall Connector does not and they must be installed to ensure that the EV charger user doesn’t come into contact with electricity.

You have 3 choices.

• Leave the charger on your current property and install a new charger, you might want a different looking charger or want one with more features like solar capabilities. Have an EV charger on your property is a selling feature a survey recently completed stated this could add as much as £5k to the value of your property.
• Take the car charger but leave the fuse board and existing this way you don't have to pay out for a new charger but your old house is EV ready.

•  Remove the car charger, fuse board and all cable and move to your new house.

We would recommend option 1 or 2 as option 3 can be very labour intensive and you might not be able to reuse everything depending on your charger location so could end up costing you more

A cut-out is a piece of electrical equipment that is located at the end of the mains canle entering the house. It is usually located next to your electricity meter and is the only piece of internal equipment that your distribution network operator (DNO) are responsible for.

We need to know the size of your cut-out fuse as we have to provide this information to your DNO when applying to install you charger.
In tghe image bellow you can see circled where your main cut-out fuse will be located

Modern Cut of fuses 1990 - Present

Black Plastic Cut-out fuse 1960-1990

Metal Clad Cut-out -1930-1960

Alot of modern fuses will state the size 60amps, 80amps or 100amps. if it does note state it, we can enquire with your DNO
Black Plastic Cut-out fuses and metal clad fuses should be assumed to be 60amps unless it states otherwise.

We need to know the size of you fuse as a electric car charger uses a lot of load (32amps) if your cut out fuse is 60amps it is more than half of the power for your whole house. Depending on the other loads in your house, power shower, electric oven / hob etc it could be enough to blow your cut-out fuse. in this case it does not mean you cant have a EV charger. We would have to install a car charger (e.g Zappi) that has a CT clamp. The CT clamp will reduce the load it gives to the car if it detects the load is getting close the cut out fuse size

There are several different speeds you can charge your car at home. This will depend on several different factors the power source, the output of the charger, and the charging capacity of the vehicle. The most common charging speeds are listed below;

• Three-pin plug – 2.3kW - Very slow
• Home charge point – 3.6kW - Slow
• Home charge point – 7.4kW - Fast (our recommendation)
• Home charge point – up to 22kW - Fast

Can I have three-phase 22kW charging?
This depends on two things:

Does your property have a three-phase electricity supply?
Can your car receive up to 22kW (AC)?

Most homes in the UK have a single phase supply. Look at the image above and you can compare it to your supply or alternatively contact us and we will determine this for you.

If you do have a three phase supply and know what car you are getting you can check our EV guide to see if it is possible to charge at 22kw (AC)

Home car chargers an come in two styles: tethered or untethered.
What is the difference between tethered and untethered?
An untethered charge has one or more sockets and no cables attached.
A tethered charge point has an EV cable permanently connected.

The main advantages of a tethered EV charger are that you don’t need to get the charger cable from your car boot time you want to charge.
The main downside is that some people find the tethered cable can be unsightly on the side of your house.

Yes it is perfectly safe to charge an electric car in the rain.

Most of us know that water and electricity don’t mix. Luckily so do EV charge point manufacturers and car manufacturers. Car manufacturers waterproof the charging ports in their vehicles to ensure that users don’t get a shock when plugging in. Most car charge points are installed outside and the manufacturers have built the charge points to withstand the worst of English weather

EV charge points, unlike electrical sockets, don’t start sending electricity until both the vehicle and the charge point have established a firm connection with each other after which it locks the cable on both ends forming an insulated barrier between you and the electricity.

All charge points we sell are rated to at least IP54 for water ingress, so they should be able to withstand even the roughest of UK weather.

Some of the most common reasons our customers choose to have a home charge point installed included:

Safety

Charging an electric car requires a high and consistent electric current over a long period of time. It is generally considered that a standard electrical socket is not suitable for such a prolonged period of use and overheating of the socket may occur. Using a dedicated ev charge point on it own circuit (often in it own dedicated fuse board) is by far the safest option.

Speed of charge

A 2.3kW 3-pin plug typically takes more than 20 hours to fully charge an EV, while a typical 7.4kW EV home charge point will comfortably charge the average electric vehicle overnight (usually within eight hours). You can see typical rates of charge here or check the charging time for each vehicle.

Convenience

One of the criticisms aimed at electric cars is the amount of time they can take to charge. However, most EV owners charge overnight with a dedicated EV charge point, which means they wake up to a fully charged vehicle every morning. Rather than waiting for the battery to run empty before you charge, it is charged regularly and usually when you're not using it.

In fact, you will save time because you will no longer need to drive to a petrol station, queue for a pump, fill it up and pay - an EV is ready for you every morning.

Cost
Charging at home, especially when charging on a off peak plan like Octopus go can be upto 20x times cheaper than charging at public charging stations.

Yes, there are a couple of chargers that allow to do this. The most popular is the Zappi charger, which diverts excess generation into an electric vehicle, so what would have been exported back to the grid is now providing you with zero-carbon mobility. there are other chargers which also provide solar functionality. Please check out our range of EV chargers or contact us so we can talk through your options.

A standard installation will typically takes 3 -4 hours If your fuse box / electric meter is far from the charge point location or cables need to be run through internal rooms, the installation may take a little longer.

Our standard installation package includes the following:

The fitting of the charge point on a brick or plaster wall, or to another suitable permanent structure.
Up to 10 metres of black cable, run and neatly clipped to the wall between the distribution board / electricity supply meter and the charge point.
Drilling through one wall with a debth of upto 400mm
The fitting and testing of electrical connections and protections required for the charge point.
An additional consumer unit, if required.
Installation of circuit protection in keeping with BS7671 regulations.

To find out more check out our EV Home Charger Installation Process