How do you decide on the best charger for your needs?

With the ban on petrol and diesel cars in 2030, many more people are pondering buying an electric car and how they can charge it at home. Battery-powered vehicles now make up two in ten new car sales as motorists increasingly look to greener forms of transport. Some 22,000 pure electric vehicles were registered in November 2021, more than double the 10,345 registered in the same month in 2020. But only one new public charger was installed for every 52 plug-in cars registered this year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Why charge at home?

Access to public EV (electric vehicle) charging points can be a postcode lottery with a clear north-south divide. For instance, London has four times the number of public charge points per 100,000 people than Yorkshire and Humber, according to the Competitions and Market Authority (CMA).  Roll-out of on-street charging by local authorities has been glacially slow. A 2021 study by Centrica found that councils across the UK will only host, on average, 30 on-street chargers by 2025.  

Availability aside, it’s a lot more convenient charging at home.  It can take two to three hours to fully charge a battery.  Having a charger installed in your home means you can top up your EV overnight which beats waiting at a cold, draughty service station. Home charging can also work out a lot cheaper, especially if you take advantage of cheap night-time tariffs.  

What sort of charger will I need?

While it’s possible to use a standard domestic socket, a dedicated home charging point is faster and safer. Typically, these are boxes that sit on an exterior wall of your property. There’s a plethora of wall chargers available though there’s little to choose between them. All will charge pure electric cars and plug-in hybrid cars at the same rate and usually with the same connector – Type 2 socket. Basically, you have a choice between chargers that come with a cable attached (tethered) so that you don’t have to keep unpacking and packing the cable that comes with your car, or with a socket to plug in your own cable. The tethered charger is more convenient while a simple socket is neater and minimalist.

Some chargers can also be connected to your home wi-fi. This means you can collect and view charging and energy use data remotely on a smartphone app. You can also turn the charger on/off and receive diagnostics.

The power output of chargers in the UK typically range from 3.6kW unit to 22kW. Broadly speaking, the higher the kW output figure, the quicker your battery will be charged – and the more it will cost to buy. The 7kW charger is the most popular option for domestic use. Whichever charger you choose, you’ll need a qualified electrician to check your household wiring is up to the job and to install the unit.

What about the Government grant?

The good news is Government wants motorists to cut carbon emissions and is offering generous subsidies. If you have an EV home charging point fitted by an authorised installer, then the Office of Zero Emission Vehicles (OZEV) will cough up 75% of the overall cost, capped at £350. An approved installer will apply for this grant on your behalf and deduct it from your bill, so it’s simple to claim. Now for the bad news. This grant, known as the Electric Vehicle Home-charging Scheme (EVHS), ends on March 31, 2022 and can’t be claimed after this date. EV charging suppliers are urging motorists not to delay as paperwork will need to be submitted to OZEV by mid-February before the plug is pulled on this grant.

How much will it cost?

Some manufacturers offer a free charger and installation when you buy one of their electric cars. But if you need to buy one, the price will depend on the charger you choose. It’s common to pay about £1,000, according to OZEV.

The Pod Point charger is reckoned to be good value and relatively affordable at £529 for a 7kW unit (£879 before the OLEV grant). Prices correct in December 2021. Other options include the more expensive Myenergi Zappi 2 that comes with a small screen so you can see how much charge your car is using. The eco mode of this charger can work with solar panels by prioritising excess rooftop solar generation over energy from the grid. So, you can boast your car runs on sunlight. Meanwhile the eo Mini Pro 2 claims to be the world’s smallest smart charger with remote app-based control rather than an integrated screen.

Example: Semi-retired accountant Mark bought a Mercedes 250e GLA plug-in hybrid car and ordered a home charging point at the same time. After an internet search, he plumped for a ‘wall box’ 7.4kW with tethered cable and paid £1,000 (£650 after the EVHS grant) for the unit and installation. The charger has connectivity and Mark can view charging data via a smartphone app which, he said, is “easy and useful.” Before the box could be fitted on the exterior wall of his 1930s semi-detached home with a shared drive, the installer updated a fuse in the distribution box (fuse box) free of charge.  It takes about two hours to fully charge the battery. Now Mark can enjoy local emission-free driving for up to 30 miles.  For longer trips, he has the option of switching to the petrol combustion engine or recharging at a public point.   

Factors to consider

To claim the EVHS grant you must have private off-street parking and both the car model and the installer need to be on the government’s approved lists.

Think carefully about the charge point location. Charging points can be indoors or outdoors. Normally the charge point will be on a brick or plaster wall. Clearly, it makes sense to install the box close to where you park your car, for example beside the garage door or your drive. Most tethered chargers have a 5m cable, but you can buy longer. The installer will run and neatly clip a cable between the distribution/electricity supply meter and charging point. 

You may need to upgrade your distribution box (fuse box) depending on the age of your property. Your installer should advice you if a new fuse or any groundwork for the installation is necessary after a site survey.

How to work out charging cost

A kilowatt hour (kWh) is a measure of how much energy you are using, per hour. The more kilowatt hours you use, the more you pay. So, to calculate the cost of charging a car’s battery from empty multiply the pence per kWh you pay your electricity supplier by the size of the car engine battery.  For example, if like Mark, you have a Mercedes 250e GLA plug-in hybrid car with a 15.6 kWh battery and your electricity tariff is 16p/kWh, the cost of a full charge will be £2.49 for a 30-mile range before the petrol engine kicks in or it needs recharging.

Say you have a fully electric car, like a Nissan Leaf with a 62 kWh battery, a full charge on the same rate will be £9.92 and that will give you a 200 mile range, according to the manufacturer.

Take a look at your energy bill to see the rate you are paying. The national average price (as of June 2021) of electricity is 16p per kWh, according to the Energy Saving Trust.

A smart set-up allows you to tap into cheap, off-peak tariffs in the middle of the night. Working with an app you can set maximum price caps, so you only charge at the lowest rates. Some energy suppliers, such as Octopus Energy, help you get the EV charging sorted. But with the energy market in crisis, many providers (apart from Octopus) have pulled their cheap deals and stopped offering EV tariffs.

Electric cars are greener and about 47 per cent cheaper to run than a petrol equivalent, according to Compare the Market. They are kinder to your purse and our planet, say manufacturers. But the high price of electric cars and limited range are significant obstacles to many motorists considering the switch. It remains to be seen if scrapping home charger grants will put the brakes on take-up of electric cars.

If you are looking for help with any electrical issues, you may find some of these services useful: