We have a second home in the Laungadoc and when the world is a bit more normal (!) will be driving down there to enjoy it again. However, last year we purchased an electric car and have a charging point at home here in the UK.
Can anyone advise a good wall box charging point to have installed at the house in France (we have a Pod Point in the ULK which works really well)? We do actually have three phase electrics at the house as well. I contacted out usual ‘sparks’ in France about getting it done but he seemed a little unsure of the process. Does it have to be done by an approved company or can you buy the unit and get an electrician to install it? Anyone with experience of the process that may be able to help us with what to do?
Hi Chris and welcome back.
A small administrative matter if you don’t mind.
Can you please complete your registration to show your first name and last name as per site T&Cs.
Thanks @cat
Thanks Chris. There is a topic here which might provide some answers for you and there are a couple of others which might be of interest too. Poke electric cars into the search tool on the SF banner
I’m replying as an electrician who has been through the “mention IRVE” course that allows me to install charging points up to 44kW. I also own 2 EVs (car & van).
It is now a requirement to have even private home chargers installed by an approved person.
My second point is about three phase; not all EVs accept three phase charging, despite the fact that at a glance they use the same connectors. Check your vehicle’s specification before commiting. Even if you do have an EV that uses three phase you might be making a rod for own back, unless you invest in a charger that allows you to control the charge rate. A Renault Zoe will take a 22kW three phase charge but if your supply isn’t large enough to support that (& in conjunction with other loads in the house) you will end up with a dark house & an uncharged car.
My third point is to bring into question your need for any form of Level 2 charging. Using simple Level 1 charging (that only requires a dedicated standard socket ) may be all you need, unless you intend to come home late every night with little charge left & want to leave early fully charged.
We have a Kia Nero 4 which does support three phase but to be honest I am not that fussed and take your point about the charge load. I was more fascinated that the house had three phase and whether it was advantageous, as obviously you would not normally get that in a domestic property in the UK.
We would definitely want a dedicated charge point as its so much quicker and more convenient than just plugging in the mains on a standard socket. Do we need to contact a specialist company or just find a qualified approved person and buy the wall box separately?
I would approach someone to supply & fit, as they are then liable for the unit being fit for purpose & the 2 year hardware guarantee. They have to be Qualifelec (or similar) registered, with “mention IRVE”.
With a 7,2kW single phase charger you may have to tinker with other loads to avoid tripping the whole supply. 7,2kW is one whole phase of an 18kVA supply, so you can see the problem.
You presumably went for the three phase option to allow for slightly faster charging where that’s commercially available in the absence of CCS? I’ve noticed that the E-Niro is only 11kW three phase capable, so that might be less of an issue at your French property. In fact it could be an advantage due to what I said in the previous paragraph. You only need to find 3,6kW capacity per phase.
In the UK you generally don’t have to pay extra for the privilege of a bigger current limit into your house. Our house in the UK was on 60A and when I had my EV charge point wall box fiitted my electricity supplier also fitted a smart meter and upgraded the main fuse to 100A. So if you have 3 phase already it makes sense to use it. Here in France we happen to have a 32A Commando socket so I’m using that. I’m on 12KVA (60A), I generally only use 24A for car charging as this means I don’t have to do calculations about what’s on when the car is charging, but it’s enough to charge the car fully on most days during the 8 hours overnight heures Creuse. In our previous rented house in France I did use a standard socket and there was no detectable overheating at the socket when charging at 15A, but I tend to use 12A for peace of mind. Don’t forget that there is a good chance neutral and live will be the wrong way round, though some cables can deal with this automatically.
Although inelegant such a reversal isn’t an issue with an AC electrical supply. It’s more of an issue in the UK where MCBs are only single pole & 13A plugs have internal fuses which, in the event of their blowing & phase & neutral were reversed would leave the faulty appliance live but not working.
I agree. I haven’t made the leap into pure electric yet and just charge my hybrid from our normal plug in the wall. I considered installing a charger and taking advantage of our three phase supply for when I do make the leap to full electric (and avail of the grants now which may be gone by then). But friends, some of whom have been electric for years advised me that it was overkill. On average I do 30/40 kilometres a day, so really I don’t need a mega daily replenishment capability. For longer trips I could use the hybrid or do a “major” charge before setting off. I think I’ll install a modest dedicated charger rather than a megablaster.
It’s s practical consideration. My EV AC cable won’t work unless the live and neutral are ‘correct’. I’ve had to rewire the plug on several occasions fur it to work at different locations in France. I understand a later version doesn’t require this, though I’m not 100% sure.
Gosh, this thread takes me back over 50 years when I was a rounds boy on a bread round for pocket money which used electric vehicles and had to be plugged back in at the end of the day - just like milk floats. I still recall the load hummmm from the chargers in the depot!
In France if the earth pin is at the top then live should be on the right as you look into the socket.
If you wire a plug to this pattern it will have live/neutral swapped if you use it in Germany though.
If the socket is oriented with the earth pin at the bottom I understand that there is no mandated “side” for live, perhaps Jonathan can correct me on that if I’m wrong.
Socket wiring is not to do with “sides” as that can be confusing where, for whatever reason, a socket is mounted upside down.
Although there is no actual standard in France (i.e. there is no mention of it in NF C 15-100) the accepted method is in line with CEE17 industrial plugs where the phase is the first pin clockwise from the earth when viewing a female connector/back of the male plug. All major manufacturers now colour code their socket connections & all use this convention.
Despite all this there are many examples of electrical items that are readily available in France swap phase & neutral. The classic is the double socket that can bought in all brico sheds that converts a single box/socket to a double; one outlet is wired as a mirror image to the other & therefore one of those outlets will always have phase/neutral reversed.
There are also extension cables that have 4 sockets mounted in the cable drum, two connected one way & two the other.
If you mean my EV? It’s a 2016 pre-facelift Tesla Model S. I have the Mark 1 version of the ‘UMC’ (Universal Mobile Connector) or the smart cable that comes with the car. I made my own Schuko adapter lead, which is why I can fairly easily swap live and neutral if required. I’m reasonably sure that the Mk2 version isn’t so fussy about the live/neutral position.
Thanks for the info. There’s no mention of polarity issues in the UMC Mk1 manual, which is odd as you seem to have found that there is a problem. You probably won’t have been the only owner to have discovered the issue either.
Thanks - funny how things are always more complicated than you think, even if you take into account the fact that things are more complicated than you think
