Best way to charge your EV at home (for complete electric car novices) | Auto Expert John Cadogan

OLIGHT SALE! (These are awesome.)
12% off non-sale items: Use code AEJC
Sale ends midnight Friday 17 Feb 2023

OLIGHT DISCOUNT! (These are awesome.)
12% off: Use code AEJC

AutoExpert discount roadside assistance package:

[AutoExpertJC]

OLIGHT SALE! (These are awesome.)
12% off non-sale items: Use code AEJC
Sale ends midnight Friday 17 Feb 2023

[patpeacock]

Best way is to use your neighbor power

[martinarmstrong]

Just a clarification because I like detail and I am also an electrician here in NZ, the actual battery charger is built into the car. The wall box or 'trickle charger' are power supply units, the are not chargers. Pedantic possibly but I believe it is important for people to understand this.

[sortofsmarter]

I live in the states and my neighbor a couple doors down just had a 50kw dc fast charger installed in his garage. We were talking about it and he had to upgrade his main panel from 200A service ( split phase) to 350A service panel with all new wire from the pole to the house. His whole setup cost $30K. I told him he was crazy. spent half as much as his juicy ford truck cost..lol

[CNile-sexw]

I don't mean to brag, but I will anyway. In 1975, I did the electrics for our new home. I put in the sweat equity, saved shitloads, & went full gangbusters by running 3 phases underground for possible futureproofing.
Through my early foresight & now with decades of retirement under my belt, the stench of petrol fumes is a non-issue.
Our imported European vehicle is so advanced that we park undercover without fire risk.
Take my advice, if you have a perfectly good economical & supremely reliable ICE vehicle, KEEP IT.
No range anxiety, cheaper home & car insurance, just get your wife to top up the tank when the price is right. 
Works for me. 😉

[RichardOzanne]

Excellent advice. We've been running an EV for just short of 3 years now (and a 2nd one for the last year) and have installed a dedicated charger on the side of the house (as JC says - fire risk is extremely low, but outside is safer).

Just to add a few points - if you plan to install an EV charger at home, bear these points on mind...

1. Get a unit which has PEN protection inbuilt so there's no need to install an Earth spike into your beautiful Tarmac / paved / concrete / etc. driveway.

2. make sure it comes with, or has the ability to add, Current Transformers (CTs) which allow the unit to measure the total incoming power into the house. This lets the unit to back off on the charge rate if your HVAC etc kicks in mid-charge. It'll extend the charging time occasionally, but your main fuses won't blow.

3. If you have, or plan to get, solar or battery backup, make sure your unit is compatible.

4. If you're going for 3 phase (we already had a 3Ph supply to the house so it was a no-brainer), be aware that some cars, such as the Kona, will only use 1 phase as JC alluded to. However on our EV6 we use all 3 phases so the current drops to 16A per phase therefore there is less power draw per phase plus the charging time is ~1/3 less - and we're future proofed if our next car can charge at 22KW.

5. Get a tethered unit if you don't want to be digging around in the boot for the cable all the time. That way the cable is always in the boot if you need to do an AC charge away from home (DC chargers are always tethered)

Just as an FYI, we bought a Myenergi Zappi unit which does all of the above. It also allows you to set a PIN code to stop anyone charging when you're not home. It's been 100% reliable, has a really good app and it can schedule your charge for off-peak power etc. There are many other units available so the hardest part is choosing the right one for you.

[alanhilder]

An inverter is DC to AC, a rectifier is AC to DC. The car has both, not necessarily in the same box.
Most houses I've dealt with ( As a sparky ) only have 80 amp service fuses, only a few have 100 amp. ( or more, special requirements )

[ElectricCarAustralia]

Good summary John. Most people doing the daily average 30 klms per day only need the small EVSE (charger) which comes free with the car if they have weatherproof garage parking. Beats spending $800 to $2, 000 n home EVSE ( charger) if you don't need it!

Overnight charge on the little one gives 100klms per day charge/travel so again usually all that's needed as you don't need to start everyday with a full battery, unless you are a courier.

Having said that if you do need quicker charging or solar smart charging (using only solar) a home EVSE (charger) is worth the money.

Lots of videos on charging on my EV channel to help everyone further understand living with a EV.

[robtmcL]

Absolutely brilliantly explained video mate. I am a full EV owner and Electrical Engineer and can only say well done on the "mechanical" Engineers explanation.
Love your channel. Love your content.
Many thanks for the hours of interesting videos.

[Jake-ugfk]

I'd recommend buying something like an Evolution Zappi V2 car charger, it has a current clamps which monitor your main feed and tapers the car's charging speed if you exceed your main fuse current rating (usually 63A)

The reason I went for the Zappi is I have a sub board in my shed which the EV is on, I needed to make sure the EV didn't trip the sub board or the house board.
As an added bonus it can also monitor your solar generation and can also taper your EV charging to ONLY use excess solar generation usually being fed back to the grid.

[tehclam]

I live in the inner city and usually drive short distances, so an EV is perfect for me! Except, like thousands of other households, it isn’t so easy because I live in an apartment building where getting electricity to my parking space isn’t exactly straightforward.

And then there’s the people who only have on-street parking. I’m curious to see how they’ll manage when ICE engines are phased out.

[voltareamstereo]

My lawn mower is an ev.

32A ev, + 32A cooker circuit + 15A hot water service + 15A air conditioner
+ smart home leaching devices, phone chargers, lights,

[tyroneclarke]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, being sensible and not acting like Jerry Lewis. Watched to the end this time👍👍👍

[adammcintosh]

Thx John for another great report. I made the jump to a M3 Tesla about a month ago. Given I won’t be able to get fast charging for another month charging anxiety was front of mind initially. I’m just using a plug in charger now and it’s totally fine. Having said that the M3 is not doing huge distances. Overall it’s a pleasure to drive..

[emperorSbraz]

here's how i do it:

i "only" have about 24A in a single phase 230V line available at home. upping the current safely would mean excavating the garden so that's a no go.
i got the wallbox installed by code (class A rcd on its own separate circuit as the install manual states) and cabled to safely support up to 20A and the wallbox is configured to draw the same maximum 20A.

i normally keep the 58KWh pack at around 69% of charge unless i have to do a long drive - i do overnight charging enabling the "charge current limit" in the ID3 menu which limits the charge to 8A most of the time and it's been absolutely fine so far.
for the rare cases where i needed to charge quicker i let it loose to 20A and simply avoided turning on the oven or whatever.

this is my late father's car so since i wanted him to have a nice experience with it i pushed to have the wallbox installed but i could totally live on the included 10A charger and get to a public plug in the very rare cases where i needed some quicker charge.

[johnoneill]

Minor point: Under Ausgrid's rules, Single phase 230v, 80A is all you get these days and for most people, the max you can draw is around 60A. Ausgrid made us install a 63A circuit breaker on our side of their 80A service fuse. Sure, older homes have a 100A feed, which Ausgrid will reduce to 80A if they get the chance. If (like me) you have 14kW (max) ducted aircon, 7kW (max) induction cooking, a 2kW clothes dryer, dishwasher etc and maybe a workshop with heavy power needs and you use them all at overlapping times, you may need a 3 phase upgrade to support an EV wall box charger's power draw.

[arkrainflood]

agreed, for solar system that is set up to deliver DC electricity DIRECTLY to the car charger is best used during the day. there are some solar systems that have the power output only delivered to an inverter (changes DC to AC) has a 3% power loss, in which case, overnight charging may be optimal especially if less expensive.

also, charging a battery at as slow as possible will extend battery life. so, when returning home, choose the amperage rate that will result in full charge being achieved next morning.

[sashwrin]

I have a wall box outside it’s pretty good. I like that I can change the amps from 32 down to 10. Sometimes I use the lower amps if aircon are running because I get worried about overloading the power. But I think that’s because I don’t really know enough about charging. Thanks for clarifying things.

[camf]

I’ve had my MG ZS EV for just over 12 months, and home charting with a 7kw single phase wallbox hasn’t been an issue. I have on average charge up 2 times a week, usually from bout 30% battery and takes about 4 to 5 hours charge time at 25amps. Supply and installation next of to my metre box was about $1200.

[tonyspiegel]

Great explaination John. My EV can drink at 11KW per hour and I only had Single Phase at home. To install 3 Phase is expensive as those electricians don't miss. The gain of 33% faster charging was not worth it especially when overnight with single phase at 32amps will charge most flat EV's to full. Heat is also the enemy of a battery so slower charging is better for the battery life. I would also recommend setting up for a portable charger so you can charge with any available power source from 240v 10amps through to 3 Phase 32amp. You can then use camping grounds and caravan parks as another source for charging if you wish to travel to dingo piss creek where there are no DC charging stations.