The end of free EV charging ?

[lightboxcar]

Seems one of the biggest free EV charging sources  is ending ....

https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2022/11/01/tesco-electric-vehicle-charges/

[forkingabout]

29 minutes ago, lightboxcar said:

Seems one of the biggest free EV charging sources  is ending ....

https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2022/11/01/tesco-electric-vehicle-charges/

 

Excellent news 🥳

Someone has to pay so why not the consumer as there the one consuming the electricity.

[Mister Mike]

I wonder how the world will look in the 2030s. With half the cars in a Tesco car park being EVs, nobody is going to want to queue for a handful of available chargers hidden away somewhere. It's almost like every other parking pay could benefit from having a power point.

[FROSTYBALLS]

In today's world of rising energy costs, inevitable really - as is the approach of vehicle tax or equivalent for EV's. 

[philip42h]

54 minutes ago, lightboxcar said:

Seems one of the biggest free EV charging sources  is ending ....

https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2022/11/01/tesco-electric-vehicle-charges/

23 minutes ago, forkingabout said:

Excellent news 🥳

Someone has to pay so why not the consumer as there the one consuming the electricity.

That still seems a pretty appalling state of affairs - it means that the EV driving middle classes can buy their electricity at Tesco for 28p / kWh while the impoverished working classes need to pay 34p / kWh to boil their kettles ...

OK, sorry, slightly tongue in cheek, but it is high time that EV drivers paid their way! 😉

[Derek.w]

From yesterday Tesco has stopped its free electric but the cost of charging is still cheaper than charging at home.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Similar topics merged

[ernieb]

13 hours ago, Mister Mike said:

I wonder how the world will look in the 2030s. With half the cars in a Tesco car park being EVs, nobody is going to want to queue for a handful of available chargers hidden away somewhere. It's almost like every other parking pay could benefit from having a power point.

If half the cars were EV's there certainly needs to be more than the few chargers that they currently support at whatever price per k/Wh. My supermarket of choice does not have any chargers. Frankly, I still find it hard to see where all the chargers are going to be installed, there does not appear to be a plan to facilitate the sales of EV's and you could almost foresee queues of cars waiting in line to get a quick charge. 

[Guest]

Time to invest in pv system. On the begging of the year I designed and installed 7.2Kw pv system with 15kw Battery pack - since then electricity usage = 0 and tbh only having daily charges and gas. Still have plenty wasted energy that will be used for my EV that coming in two weeks time 

[Cyker]

My brother was looking into it for his house - It's come down a lot from the £25k for 4kW of panels last time I looked at it, to £8k for 4kW with Battery storage!!

Unfortunately he's been scuppered as apparently most solar installers will not install unless you have a felted roof, and apparently his doesn't...  

The kicker was the quote to get that done was more than the quote for the panels!  

I was looking at getting a more bespoke system - Apparently if you want more than 4kW of panels, most installers won't do it as you're classed as a solar farm and the forms and legal stuff they have to do become far more involved and costly, but I found if you could get a system that didn't feed back into the grid you can stick as many panels on as you like and not have to fill in any power company forms!

The only problem is I'd want both the solar and the mains feeding the Battery system, which then feeds the house, so if the batteries don't get enough power from the sun they can still draw from the mains, but never put any power back into the mains, but nobody seems to do this, only totally off-grid solutions...

It's all a bit moot anyway as I suspect our roof is also unfelted...!

 

[swoop5511]

7 hours ago, xbox-vibes said:

Time to invest in pv system. On the begging of the year I designed and installed 7.2Kw pv system with 15kw battery pack - since then electricity usage = 0 and tbh only having daily charges and gas. Still have plenty wasted energy that will be used for my EV that coming in two weeks time 

Out of interest, how many panels did you need for 7.2kw and how big is your roof? We got a pretty large roof and were only able to fit 8 off 400w panels. 

[Guest]

I have managed to fit 18x 400kw panels but now I thought that I should go for another 9 on the extension. It’s to late as that will involve replacing inverter… it’s still ok tbh maybe another extra 8-9 plus smaller inverter will be only for ev ( probably will add some storage as well) in the future. 
Taking from my head, my roof is around 9.5m x 4m and carport 5m x 2m extension- 5.5mx4m something like that….

[Guest]

On 11/4/2022 at 6:55 PM, Cyker said:

The only problem is I'd want both the solar and the mains feeding the battery system, which then feeds the house, so if the batteries don't get enough power from the sun they can still draw from the mains, but never put any power back into the mains, but nobody seems to do this, only totally off-grid solutions...

You’ve got this wrong, I spend roughly £7K for whole system including batteries- now could be slightly more probably 9K and put 7.2 kw system. Off grid system still comes with bypass function which late your inverter to switch between pv, batteries and grid automatically. So first priority is sollar-if it’s enough, feeding your load( home) if excess- feeding home and charging batteries. If your batteries are full then inverter will only feed your house. When your pv are not enough the power will be drain from batteries( is still some powder from pv, that will combine together) If you running out pv and batteries, or exceeding your load(7.2 kw or more ) then inverter switching you partially to grid( still can be combine between pv, bat, grid) and supplying you from there. Remember to cancel your direct debit as you will still pay unnecessary charges. 
It’s a very smart system. 
 

[Guest]

If someone need more information or tips, design or calculations please start separate topic etc. Always happy to help with the system and even happy to help with installation(yes can visit you if close enough 😉)

[Guest]

On 11/4/2022 at 6:55 PM, Cyker said:

but I found if you could get a system that didn't feed back into the grid you can stick as many panels on as you like and no

You don’t want that system as with current prices is simply not worth it! 
Go for off grid as I explained earlier as you want to keep all the power for your house and ev. Now you have  tariffs where they gonna  pay you for kw used at night while not using from 4pm-9pm(use batteries for this time), so at night charge ev and pv batteries and get paid for it👍.

[Mister Mike]

2 hours ago, xbox-vibes said:

I have managed to fit 18x 400kw panels

I think you mean 18 x 400W panels!

But good for you, anyway. No way I could do that. My roof is too small and I live in a conservation area.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Back to the topic subject please -  'The end of free EV charging?'

[philip42h]

Interesting ... the answer seems to be around £7k - just as it was ten years ago when we had solar panels installed. But for my £7k I got 16x 250W panels to give a theoretical maximum generation of 4kW - and under the then FIT scheme it has paid for itself handsomely. Under that scheme the maximum generation allowed was 4kW so I have annoyingly 16 panels on a roof that appears to have been designed to take 20!

Also, try as I might I couldn't find a viable storage solution back then so all power surplus to our immediate needs is exported to the grid.

Come 2030, when the FIT contract expires - or earlier if the system 'fails' - I shall have to investigate something bigger and better. I might even be ready for an EV by then! 😉

[FROSTYBALLS]

Moved to General Discussions as topic affects PHEVs as well as EVs.