Home Charger Grant

[George Dodds]

1 hour ago, Roy124 said:

George, why would you have to move your insulation? Electric cable should not be covered with insulation. 

I think the BG electrician was asking me to make the loft easier for him to move around and be able to see where he planned to lay the cable. He did say he may clip the cable to a piece of wood that was running horizontally (off the floor) along the loft.
 

He is aiming to run the cable vertically up (middle of the house) and run it along the length and into the corner end of the loft next to the detached garage. 

[George Dodds]

1 hour ago, Hayzee said:

Roy

BG should be able to upgrade the master fuse if necessary, but they will confirm or otherwise.

Hi. BG man did my survey yesterday but said he didn’t know what fuse was in there. He seemed to say it be down to Western Power (Power provider) to check.  I would want to touch this but is there any way that I can find out? 

[Hayzee]

George...my master fuse is right next to the meter (see photo). The fuse should be on the incoming grid supply before it enters the meter.

 

[George Dodds]

23 minutes ago, Hayzee said:

George...my master fuse is right next to the meter (see photo). The fuse should be on the incoming grid supply before it enters the meter.

 

I should have had a closer look! 😂Many thanks. 

[Steve169]

Had my inspection yesterday, just going right next to the outdoor meter box so it's as straightforward as it gets. Just hope i get an installation date in time! 

[George Dodds]

On 1/17/2022 at 3:06 PM, NoRaVYet said:

I dont have any commications to share as they are not comming for another 2 weeks. 

My Dealer said it was free when I asked but I would need the car VIN to place the order with BG. I placed an order via the BG website just testing my luck as I knew about the leadtimes would not be ideal. The site said I would need to pay £500+ . I phoned them and was told its not free or he was not aware of it but he could not find my order on the system to even check. I got a call back an hour or so later to arranging time/date for inspection. I asked the question about is it free he said no he laughed it off as if I was joking. He then put me on hold and spoke to his manager and then told me "Yes Toyota have paid for all its customers to have free charges".

Just place a order then give them a call just dont pay and insits its free from Toyota or speak to your dealers for them to get the ball rolling for you. 

Hi NoRav4Yet

I was just wondering if you have had your EV charger fitted yet ?  I’m awaiting a quote from BG and I’m interested in how Toyota might respond. Thanks. 

[R4VA_K]

1 hour ago, George Dodds said:

Hi NoRav4Yet

I was just wondering if you have had your EV charger fitted yet ?  I’m awaiting a quote from BG and I’m interested in how Toyota might respond. Thanks. 

Not yet buddy. Monday is my home visit.  I’m collecting my car in the morning however so hopefully I can use that as an excuse to get it pushed along. 

[Lawnmowerman]

I wonder if having the RAV4 now on the list will change Toyota's view on installations.

[George Dodds]

27 minutes ago, NoRaVYet said:

Not yet buddy. Monday is my home visit.  I’m collecting my car in the morning however so hopefully I can use that as an excuse to get it pushed along. 

Ok thanks. Great news about collecting the car. Good luck with the charger. 

[Hayzee]

12 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

Ok thanks. Great news about collecting the car. Good luck with the charger. 

Both BG and my dealer said it would be no cost to me

[George Dodds]

17 minutes ago, Hayzee said:

Both BG and my dealer said it would be no cost to me

Hi Haydee. Even if the quote is £500 ish will Toyota pay for all.   When I asked the BG man who did the survey he said it would be expensive so I’m assuming mine will be pricey. Not had the quote yet though. 

[Hayzee]

2 minutes ago, George Dodds said:

Hi Haydee. Even if the quote is £500 ish will Toyota pay for all.   When I asked the BG man who did the survey he said it would be expensive so I’m assuming mine will be pricey. Not had the quote yet though. 

I honestly don't know regarding your circumstances George....mine are fairly straightforward.... however when I mentioned that the RAV4 wasn't on the grant list yet (it wasn't at the time), the engineer said Toyota would be covering it. Guess you'll have to wait to see.

[George Dodds]

9 minutes ago, Hayzee said:

I honestly don't know regarding your circumstances George....mine are fairly straightforward.... however when I mentioned that the RAV4 wasn't on the grant list yet (it wasn't at the time), the engineer said Toyota would be covering it. Guess you'll have to wait to see.

Will do. Many thanks. 

[R4VA_K]

Got a call today saying my appointment got moved to a video call now same date and time. The person that was supposed to come round has covid 😕

[Hayzee]

Has anyone who has had the survey, received a confirmation of cost and schedule for installation?

[Lawnmowerman]

11 hours ago, Hayzee said:

Has anyone who has had the survey, received a confirmation of cost and schedule for installation?

Not yet..........but only six days since survey - took over two weeks to get survey initially.

Edited February 3, 2022 by Lawnmowerman
Added info.

[George Dodds]

11 hours ago, Hayzee said:

Has anyone who has had the survey, received a confirmation of cost and schedule for installation?

I was told 2-3 weeks from survey for an email quote then fitted a week later. 

[R4VA_K]

Had my survey yesterday mine seems pretty straightforward clear run from utility room to driveways does help that my house was fully rewired 2 years ago. He did have a slightly concern that I might need to increase my amps from 30 to 60. When we went over everything I have in the house and filled out another form to calculate it all seemed to be under. Waiting for the exact number just so I know for future purchases etc. 

[Flatcoat]

I am getting a bit fed up with BG. We signed up for the offer in December and before new year we had booked the survey for 4th February. Had all the confirmation and reminder emails and texts and no one turned up. Chased BG late Friday, told due to engineer testing positive and promised call back yesterday morning.  No call so I contacted BG in the afternoon. Promised call back before 5pm. No call. 

[R4VA_K]

Strange my engineer also tested positive but I got a call on the 4th to tell me they just changed the in person visit to a video call.  Same date and time as before. 

[nlee]

2 hours ago, NoRaVYet said:

Had my survey yesterday mine seems pretty straightforward clear run from utility room to driveways does help that my house was fully rewired 2 years ago. He did have a slightly concern that I might need to increase my amps from 30 to 60. When we went over everything I have in the house and filled out another form to calculate it all seemed to be under. Waiting for the exact number just so I know for future purchases etc. 

Do you know what he meant when saying you need to increase your amps from 30 to 60? Was it the main supply fuse (usually in the meter cabinet) or the main switch on your consumer unit? 30 is low for either and I've never heard of anything that low. A new build would likely have 100a, some older properties around 60a. The charger will pull 32a alone. 

If you need to upgrade the supply fuse, only your DNO can do this. If it's possible, they will do it for no cost but it might introduce a delay by having to wait for a third party. You may need the meter tails replacing for bigger ones if they are sized in line with the fuse rating. 

Do you know if the charge point they are fitting has automatic load balancing (ALB)? If it does, they should set it up below the max current for your fuse (I have a 100amp fuse and they set mine at 65amps I think, mines a different charge point and has ALB). This would prevent you blowing anything because it would monitor total load then drop the current draw of the charger so your total load never exceeded the setpoint. The only thing to be mindful of, is if they have to set it too low and you run other power hungry appliances at the same time, it will extend charging times, i.e. if it drops it to 16 amps, it will take twice as long to charge.

Hopefully, it's something straightforward and resolved simply for you.

 

[R4VA_K]

1 hour ago, nlee said:

Do you know what he meant when saying you need to increase your amps from 30 to 60? Was it the main supply fuse (usually in the meter cabinet) or the main switch on your consumer unit? 30 is low for either and I've never heard of anything that low. A new build would likely have 100a, some older properties around 60a. The charger will pull 32a alone. 

If you need to upgrade the supply fuse, only your DNO can do this. If it's possible, they will do it for no cost but it might introduce a delay by having to wait for a third party. You may need the meter tails replacing for bigger ones if they are sized in line with the fuse rating. 

Do you know if the charge point they are fitting has automatic load balancing (ALB)? If it does, they should set it up below the max current for your fuse (I have a 100amp fuse and they set mine at 65amps I think, mines a different charge point and has ALB). This would prevent you blowing anything because it would monitor total load then drop the current draw of the charger so your total load never exceeded the setpoint. The only thing to be mindful of, is if they have to set it too low and you run other power hungry appliances at the same time, it will extend charging times, i.e. if it drops it to 16 amps, it will take twice as long to charge.

Hopefully, it's something straightforward and resolved simply for you.

 

Perhaps I missunderstoof what he said. The house itself has 60a. Yes it was mentioned if his number went over the DNO would need to change the supply. I just sent him an email asking for clarrification on how he worked it all out. 

to quote the email "I have carried out the load assessment on your property and it is theoretically slightly higher than your fuse rating." I guess this more if everything plugged in was on and every appliance was on and the car charging at the same time we would go over. 

If I can find a website that I can enter all my appliances and such I can work out the total my house uses. 

[nlee]

8 minutes ago, NoRaVYet said:

Perhaps I missunderstoof what he said. The house itself has 60a. Yes it was mentioned if his number went over the DNO would need to change the supply. I just sent him an email asking for clarrification on how he worked it all out. 

to quote the email "I have carried out the load assessment on your property and it is theoretically slightly higher than your fuse rating." I guess this more if everything plugged in was on and every appliance was on and the car charging at the same time we would go over. 

If I can find a website that I can enter all my appliances and such I can work out the total my house uses. 

That sounds better if it's 60amp. Unless you are running heat pump heating or storage batteries you are likely to be fine.

If the unit has ALB it won't matter what else is running because it with ramp back to suit. If you charge overnight, apart from the above, or maybe an electric immersion heater, you are unlikely to be using anything with a heavy load like electric heaters, oven, kettle, toaster, hairdryer, etc.

This website lists typical usage and might help as a rough guide https://www.daftlogic.com/information-appliance-power-consumption.htm

In theory, you'd have around 6.5kw spare for other use when charging but on the safe side around 4.5kw.

[Hayzee]

The charger that BG are fitting is a 7.4kW Alfen Eve Single S-line charger I am led to believe.

[Mike2222]

Anyone know if the offer is affected by the new inclusion on the grant list? I had initially assumed that because Toyota were supposedly paying for it all, the March/April Ozev cut off for installations would be irrelevant, however now that it's been included, and I don't think anyone on here actually managed to get there charge points full installed before the 21st Jan (when it was included on the list of eligible vehicles) part of me is getting a bit concerned that Toyota always intended for the grant to part fund the installation, as they may have known about the inclusion date but recognised if people were waiting until 21st Jan to stray the process, they'd never get installed before the cut off. 

 

Has anyone actually had a successful free install yet? Or got it in writing that Toyota will be fully funding it, regardless of eventual install date being after the Ozev grant cut off? (in contrast to other installers, BG appear to get you to pay only after the install, rather than upfront)