The increase in electric car sales has meant that there is an increase in demand for home charging solutions. This makes sense, who wants to wait around in car parks or service stations charging their car whilst you could be sat at home after work relaxing?
There is of course always a but, and this is it.
Is my home suitable?
Not every electrical system is able to withstand the demands of charging an electric vehicle, or at least, charging an electrical vehicle in a reasonable time. The issue is, to charge an electric vehicle quickly takes a massive amount of electrical current over a short time and the problem many UK homes have is that the mains supply, consumer unit and electrical system is simply not up to the job.
The most commonly installed EV chargers are 7kW chargers that take around 6 hours for a full charge. If a longer charging time is suitable for you, then a 3kW charger will charge your EV in roughly 12 hours.
That is where we come in, as your electrician in Bicester we are here to assist you with your EV charging requests, woes, problems, and anything else you might need.
What about the Mains?
Where the mains supply is not quite up to the task, we can advise what needs to be done in order to have the supply upgraded (if it can be). In some cases, we may be able to make enquiries on your behalf regarding your mains electrical supply upgrade but in the event, we can’t organise this for you we will assist you through the process.
What about the consumer unit?
Where the existing consumer unit is old, out of date, has no spare space we are able to carry out installation of the EV charging equipment anyway so don’t worry. Before any EV charging equipment can be installed, we may need to conduct a site survey in any case to check if the existing system can take the strain of an upgrade.
Anything is possible though so just because the system is old doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t have the equipment you need. We may need to replace the consumer unit, install a standalone smaller consumer unit, upgrade the earthing or bonding in order to be able to safely carry out your EV charging installation.
What is earthing and bonding?
Earthing and bonding are the vital safety system of electrical cable connections that prevents circuit overload, short circuits from causing fires and keeps us safe from electrical shocks.
The UK wiring regulations (BS7671) state that we must ensure the safety and adequacy of the existing system before altering or extending the system to feed any new electrical equipment like EV chargers.
What does this mean?
Well during our preliminary visit we will be examining the consumer unit / fuse box equipment that you have; the earthing and bonding is connected correctly and give a nice low safe reading.
If there are any issues with the safety connections to the pipework or earthing, we will let you know and explain what they are. We will also quote to carry out any necessary safety updates too.
Anything is possible with Inlight Electrical
We have carried out many EV charging installations and there is always a solution to every problem. The important thing to remember is that, we have you covered. There is rarely a situation that we cannot overcome whilst achieving a safe, reliable electric vehicle charging installation.
As your local electrician in Bicester, we are here to help so get in touch today to discuss your electric vehicle charging requirements.
