Things to consider when picking your EV charger

With changes coming soon to the London Clean Air Zones and other cities following suit, the government is encouraging people to make the switch to electric cars. With EV cars, comes charging points. Now there is a lot of choice out there when it comes to what charger you choose. This is where we come in…

Obviously, choice is dependent on your situation, car and how fast you would like to charge your car. Have a look on our quotes page to see what setup would suit you!

What is the fastest home charger you can have?

This is completely dependent on what type of supply you have at home. A lot of new builds are now having a 3-phase supply as standard, so you have the full range of options IE: – 22kw, 7.2kw and 3.6kw. If you live in an older house, generally you will have a single-phase supply of between 100 to 60 amps. This in turn limits you to either 7.2kw or 3.6kw.

Tethered or untethered?

Both options have their viable uses, but as ever, there are pros and cons to both.

With the tethered option, the benefits are that you don’t have to carry a charging lead with you to charge at home. The charger lead is physically attached to the charger meaning that you won’t be forgetting it at work or if you charge on a public charger (they’re expensive!). This also means that you would look to do all your charging at your main home charger so will need to plan ahead of journeys to make sure you have sufficient charge to get to your destination.

The untethered option on the other hand means you must always have a charger lead with you, but this gives you many more charging options. Whilst most public charging points will have a lead available for you to use, many workplace chargers will require you to have your own lead! Something else to think about in the morning I hear you say!

7.2kw or 3.6kw?

If you have the power available to have a 7.2kw charger fitted, I would always recommend this option. This is the fastest charger you can have on a single-phase supply. This will charge your car battery twice as fast as a 3.6kw charger which is the like charging on a standard British 3 pin plug. in terms of time, a new Volkswagen ID 3 will fully charge in 10 hours on the 7.2 but will take 20 hours to charge on the 3.6 and would be around 24 hours from a standard plug top.

Other things to consider.

• Not all chargers are compatible with the import of solar power back into the grid, so if you’re looking to have solar fitted in the future you should be looking to have a charger fitted with the capability.
• Top tip: – Schedule your charging! There are energy providers that offer cheaper tariffs in the evenings, you can take advantage of these savings! Make sure to shop around on the different brands to get one to suit your needs!
• Having an EV charger installed on your home not only makes your life easier when it comes to charging, it will increase the valve of your home!
• Monetise your charger! There are now charging communities such as Co Charger and JustCharge that provide you with a platform for you to rent your charger out to other EV car drivers when you’re not using it.