How to have an electric vehicle charging point installed at home

The convenience and savings of charging at home is essential for all EV drivers, but especially those with totally electric BEV cars. Pictures: iStock

Since November 2022, electric vehicle (EV) charging points have had to be included, by law, in all new builds with a driveway (or with parking within the boundary in the case of apartment developments).

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This worthy legislation rolled into planning, is not surprising, but what many homeowners don't realise is that the ruling announced by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien also applies to major renovations. Whether you have an EV or not, a point for installing a charger with heavy-duty cabling may be prescribed for your project to reach Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) standards.

As we wait for another decade for the second-hand market in ICEs to sputter and die, Ireland is more than likely to miss the climate goal set by the Government of a million EVs on the road by 2030. Still, the days of fossil fuel travel are numbered.

If you have a new or second-hand home, and whether or not you currently own a PHEV (petrol/electric hybrid) or a BEV (a purely electric car), the inclusion of a charging point is solid future-proofing. In terms of SEAI grant aid, you don't have to have an EV as your private or company car, or even be planning to get one, to take advantage of around 50% grant aid.

The grant applies to the property, so you could move ceaselessly and still qualify for a €600 towards the supply and installation of an EV charger.

Of course, some energy suppliers are co-operating with EV car brands and offering free EV charge points for signing up for certain Green Energy electricity packages following your car purchase. This covers the balance remaining after the SEAI grant aid has been applied.

Once you do own a PHEVE or BEV, the hair-crisping cost of public charging will accelerate you towards the convenience, logic, and savings of soaking up kilowatt hours at home, largely overnight. So, where do we start? Robert McHutcheon is general manager of domestic sales at ePower, one of Ireland's leading EV installation solution providers, represented on the vital SEAI register of supplier/installers.

CHOICES

What choices do customers have to make? Is it one-size-fits-all, or are there design and technology differences with charger models?

"Most people will only be able to charge at 7.4kw in their home," he says.

The main factors that customers are interested in first and foremost are safety and performance.

"Only smart chargers are eligible for the SEAI grant. Allowing customers to take advantage of cheaper EV rates with their electricity provider, these chargers work perfectly fine as a plug-and-charge solution.

"In terms of price, higher unit costs typically mean more safety features and functionality."

MOST POPULAR

Their most popular EV charger? Robert responds, "The MyEnergi Zappi, which is fully solar compatible, and which can be used to delay charging through an app and an LCD screen."

The software we use to set charging times — do we use the charger's tech or the car's? Robert adds: "But not at the same time! Some chargers use battery percentage and electricity tariff cost rather than a timer to take advantage of cheaper electricity rates."

Can the charger be operated remotely via a phone app? "Yes, in fact, all new chargers must offer connectivity via an app to be grant-eligible," says Robert.

"This offers an extra layer of security for customers, especially when on holidays. Most chargers link into the charger via the home's wifi network but others can utilise a 3G/4G sim card."

"We have a Zappi here at Castle Kya. We have not built out something highly-intuitive around the dedicated MyEnergi hub (The Harvi) to get our home devices chatting to each other and prioritising any available photovoltaic charge coming off our solar array. It has proved reliable and foolproof, and the unit's interface quality is very user-friendly. We set the Zappi to time a charge at the most inexpensive electricity rate overnight for our power deal, and plug-in when the BEV car is at home."

Robert says, where possible, it is a good idea to include the charge in a wider household network or PV/EV to provide the user with additional control. "Some EV chargers will integrate with Alexa or Google Home, which of course adds to the users’ experience and would allow them to control everything from once place instead of having different applcations."

We get some moderate gain from our solar-PV on the roof, but honestly, unless you are retired and the car is at home day-long being perked by a large South facing array (which I know can be very profitable), I would manage expectations. Using Electric Ireland's EV Night Boost (around 13c per kWh), I make more per kWh returning power to the grid via the Micro Generation Support Scheme (MSS) at 21c per kWh, than I do dropping solar-PV excess into the car.

POSITIONING

So, with the charger brand and model settled, where do we position our EV charger to reach the car with a 6.5m cable? Robert explains that a quote for installation can generally be done using a series of informative, crisp, on-site photographs and even videos stipulated by the installer and carried out by the homeowner.

"Ideally the charger installation will be close to where the car is parked and the main fuse board in the house. This isn't always possible. A charger can be installed from the meter cabinet in conjunction with a newly installed distribution board. However, this is only possible if the main fuse board is inaccessible."

Where wall mounting is not preferred, a charger can be mounted on a pedestal rather than a wall. The pedestal itself (excluding installation) costs about €400.

Those forced by the lack of easy charging by a difficult access situation (say a busy city terrace or living in an apartment block) complain loudly on social media about the lack of both private installation solutions and the slow roll-out of public infrastructure for committed, early EV adopters. I don't blame them.

Robert adds that it's always worth pursuing the matter. "Contact the management company or council [whoever looks after the public areas around your property]. They likely have come across someone in a similar situation and will be able to tell the customer what type of installation can be completed."

If you are in this situation, you can explore two separate grant-aided routes to a charger through, bulk-installations provided by Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI) or find information about joining onto an existing community network and utilising standard grant aid for a single charger at seai.ie.

LOAD-BALANCING

"What is "load-balancing? Can the car "pull" more power from the house than the supply can handle?" Yes, according to Robert, if it does not have load-balancing capabilities which are features on all our EV chargers.

"With load-balancing installed, the house will be set as a priority so if you are charging the car and someone turns on an electric shower the charger will turn down and give the power back to the house. The charge might reduce temporarily but you will be able to enjoy your shower without blowing a fuse."

"Granny cables" or an EVSE which can download power at a lower rate of just 2.3kW can be plugged into a 13A three-pin power outlet. They are useful for overnight stays away from home where you can take a trickle of charge all night. They are otherwise impractical for drivers with larger car batteries and should generally not be used with a bog-standard extension cord.

SAFETY

I quizzed Robert. With a larger super plug set on the building, are dedicated EV chargers safe in terms of fire and shock? "EV chargers are safe" Robert assures us.

"That is, once they have been installed by a Safe Electric registered electrician (RECI), and the correct equipment is used during the installation.

"It is also very important to purchase a charger from a reputable manufacturer so that it is manufactured in line with the rules and regulations in this country. EV chargers can be bought cheaply online, but they do not always have the correct electrical protection required for Ireland."

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