UK Charger Recommendations

[Plugin Pete]

Hi All, 

I ordered a Rav4 Plug a few weeks back:-) I had a quick test drive and was really impressed. Can anybody recommend me a charger and give me a rough idea of cost to have it installed?

 

Thanks,

 

Pete

[IanML]

If you want to keep the price down, the QUBEV is what I have.  I can't talk about installation cost, because I installed it myself, and you get a subsidy in UK - we don't in Jersey.

[Flatcoat]

Why have a charger? I Charge from a 3 pin outside socket. I would rather spend the money on buying electricity to charge the Battery. 

[ernieb]

Agree with Adrian, the car will easily charge overnight from a mains plug and right now the Toyota does not get the charger grant so you'd have to pay full price and get it installed. I fitted a weather protected socket and used the supplied cable, the MyT app schedules the time for the charge. You can still benefit for the cabin conditioning via the thether so winter times the cabin can be warm and the windows defrosted. You'll get a lot of full EV charges for the cost of a wall charger. 

At some time in the future you may want to go for a full BEV and then find that the purchased charger may not be the best for the new car.

This has been discussed a number of times on the forum.

[LynxE]

It also depends on electricity fares. In my case, I have stock exchange prices and usually low fare window not too wide, 3-5 hours, and prices can be so different - 5 cents kWh at the 1 am - 6 am window and 20 cents later. In this case installation of the fast charger makes sense as it economies your money. If this factor doesn't bother you, I agree that the wall charger would be pointless. As Ernie mentioned above, better to install high-quality outdoor socket, preferable with separate breaker and if possible with residual current circuit breaker, this won't burn your pocket.

[Plugin Pete]

Thanks all for the advice, I guess we don't need a fast charger, but it might be useful for topping up if we (say) go out in the morning and want to top up for a trip out later that day.

It looks like the chargers are not too expensive to buy, I'll start with a mains plug and see how we get on. 

[nlee]

Everyone will have their own preference on a wall charger or using the granny lead. For many the granny lead is sufficient but if you have a EV tariff and regularly charge from empty most days, it makes sense to have a fixed charger (especially if you want to future proof for a full EV). The technology within a fixed charger is also regarded by many as safer.

Chargers are from around £400 to £1000 and most installers charge £350 for installation which is coincidentally the grant available, you might get an electrician to do it at the actual cost. As mentioned above, the grant isn't available at the moment as this vehicle isn't on the eligible vehicle list yet. I contacted Toyota who offered to refund me the £350 if I went through their scheme (British Gas I believe) which was very good of them but their are only 3 charges available, one has terrible customer service reviews and the others are expensive options so I haven't taken them up on their offer yet.

[Lawnmowerman]

Just discovered that in Scotland we can benefit from an additional grant of £250. Under those circumstances I would give serious thought to it given that my reduced tariff is available in 3 separate time slots - the longest being 4 hours and 2 being 3 hours.

But, as we already know it is a moot point as it still isn't on the approved list - 🙄.

Curiously, it seems to charge faster than stated - typically 6 hours (or less). I will take time to check the charge times from 'empty'. 

[ernieb]

I thought that someone had said that they had contacted Toyota UK and they had said that they would pay the UK National grant £250. Worth an enquiry to see if they would fund yours, if you could get an additional Scottish grant that would make it a good deal.

[Lawnmowerman]

Hi Ernie, wasn't aware of that gesture.

After posting I e-mailed Toyota to ask when (or if) they had applied for grant status. If they have applied, as has been said before, it would seem to be feet dragging by the government (perhaps in anticipation of the 31st March cut-off). Although the list was updated only recently.

Interesting to see how they respond.

[nlee]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

I thought that someone had said that they had contacted Toyota UK and they had said that they would pay the UK National grant £250. Worth an enquiry to see if they would fund yours, if you could get an additional Scottish grant that would make it a good deal.

That was me, a little higher up this thread. Like I said though, I haven't taken advantage of that yet as the only charger I'd go for on the limited list would cost the same as the one I was after, Hypervolt 2.0, plus self funded install.

It was £350 too, which is the UK grant. I'd assume the car would have to be on the list to get the additional £250 entitlement in Scotland.

[Lawnmowerman]

Received a (very prompt) reply from Toyota at lunchtime today. They confirm that they did apply to join the Government scene earlier this year but were disappointed that it was taking this long. 

So, they will pay £350 towards a wall charger! And with the Scottish government contribution of £250 helping to defray the costs.

Result, thanks for the heads-up Ernie. 👍

[ernieb]

It was Nigel’s original post that triggered it, but really pleased you got it sorted and the additional £250 makes a big difference. Let us know what you opt for?

[Lawnmowerman]

Well, there is a trip hazard here. They say it needs to be on your own property/driveway. But I access the charger from my neighbours parking space (local model railway club).

I'll pursue it until I get a bloody nose butting against the inevitable bureaucratic brick wall 🤞🙂.

But it may interest some Scottish members.

 

[ernieb]

Good luck with that and hope you managed to grease it through the system. 😊

[nlee]

EVHS eligible vehicle list was updated again yesterday. Still no Toyota!

30 November 2021

Addition of BMW i4, Jeep Compass 4xe, Seat Terraco PHEV, Volkswagen Arteon and Volkswagen Golf Style eHybrid.

[ernieb]

What the ********* is going on.

[Lawnmowerman]

7 hours ago, ernieb said:

What the ********* is going on.

Exactly.

Even with the generous offer from Toyota to fund the £350 themselves, I fear I will not be able to access the additional Scottish element of £250 from the Energy trust because it is not listed for the initial grant. Given that I will probably pass.

And time is running out, The additional Energy Trust offer expires 22nd March 2022.

I could not see any point of contact for the Government body overseeing this initiative - couldn't run a wotsit in a brewery.

[LynxE]

That's so silly - the greenest PHEV ever made is out of the list!

[nlee]

Had my Hypervolt charger installed yesterday. It's too soon for a comprehensive review but here are some early observations....

It's reasonably compact and I'm pleased with how neat and tidy it looks. The cable winding around it and the clip in holster are good for me.

The LEDs (lightning bolt and around the edge are very bright in the dark but they can be adjusted in the app in 25% increments, or turned off altogether. The colour indicates the status so could be useful to leave on and the lowest setting isn't too bright.

The app gives you most things you could need including energy use and cost graphs. You can input variable period tariffs for calculating cost.

The plug (into the car) feels much more robust than that that comes on the 3 pin charger. It seems to fit more snuggly too so may be a bit more weather protected.

There is one quirk I've noticed. You can set the charging schedule on the app rather than use the car schedule but when you plug it in, it doesn't lock in place. I guess the car needs to see a current to trigger the lock mechanism. Some scallywag could unplug it if they felt inclined. I could use the car schedule but that means the charger is available for use all the time. You can lock it in the app to prevent unauthorized used but would have to remember to lock/unlock every time. This quirk will be common to all chargers though.

It has built in load limiting so it will ramp back if other load reaches the set point. Mine is set at 80a on a main fuse rated at 100a so should be well protected. There's no much chance of it getting anywhere close, particularly off peak. You can also change the charging current in the app. Maximum is 32a.

A nearly full charge last night took just over 2 hours and cost 56p

[IanML]

19 minutes ago, nlee said:

...It has built in load limiting so it will ramp back if other load reaches the set point. Mine is set at 80a on a main fuse rated at 100a so should be well protected. There's no much chance of it getting anywhere close, particularly off peak....

 

How does the charger get to know what other loads are imposed on the 100A supply?

[ernieb]

44 minutes ago, IanML said:

How does the charger get to know what other loads are imposed on the 100A supply?

There is usually a separate sensor that clamps over the input cable.

Nigel, nice review have you tried to lock with the app and then just go to the car and open the door to see if it unlocks?

[nlee]

2 hours ago, IanML said:

How does the charger get to know what other loads are imposed on the 100A supply?

As Ernie says, the specific EV type of cable includes data cables as well as the live, neutral and earth that connect to a clamp on current monitor on the main house incomer.

[nlee]

1 hour ago, ernieb said:

There is usually a separate sensor that clamps over the input cable.

Nigel, nice review have you tried to lock with the app and then just go to the car and open the door to see if it unlocks?

Sorry, I'm not sure I understand. If I lock the charger on the app it can only be unlocked from the app to prevent unauthorized use.

One thing I didn't mention is once the scheduled (scheduled from the charger) charge starts, the car locks the plug in the car's socket and it stays locked until you unlock the car. So the only time it could be removed is before the charge starts. I had assumed that when you insert the plug it locked by sensing the presence of the plug itself, not the current. I always wondered why on the granny lead lead, when I plugged in, the charge light came on for a while then went back to amber. It obviously pulls a little bit of power initially.

[IanML]

26 minutes ago, nlee said:

As Ernie says, the specific EV type of cable includes data cables as well as the live, neutral and earth that connect to a clamp on current monitor on the main house incomer.

Mmmm.  Nice.