Sorry, I realise that there are topics elsewhere that in part answer this, but I’d be grateful just for quick confirmation on my understanding of what’s what.
We’ve friends coming in June from the UK and they are planning on hiring a car at Bordeaux airport. They tell me good deals are being offered on EVs. So I’m looking at getting a charging point installed in the next few weeks.
I understand our electrician has to be authorised to do it. Is that correct?
We have an outside power point, which at the moment is not being used. Can our electrician use the gain from that powerpoint back to the fuse box inside our cottage and insert a fuse that will carry the load?
If all of that’s possible, can anyone please give me a ballpark figure for what it would cost to install a new EV charging socket / new cabling / whatever else?
(And, sorry, I know, how long is a piece of string?) We have already set our prices for 2023 and hadn’t anticipated doing this, but it’s probably better just to get it done and bite the bullet. Can anyone please give me a very rough estimate of what it’s likely to cost us in terms of additional electricity consumption if a family of four is staying a week and spending the week touring around.
Thanks very much for any help / advice on this. Please keep things simple - I have absolutely no understanding whatsoever of EVs. Thanks
For a one-time use then really just install a reinforced socket. They will be able to charge slowly overnight and the reinforced socket protects against power surges. A 7KwH charging point will cost €1000 or more.
Our EV costs us around €4 to charge for 150km, and I think we spend €30 a month (to be accurate I would have to get up out of my nice comfy chair in front of the fire and go to the garage to check -which I can do tomorrow if noone else pops up with figures.
Ideally you would install some way of measuring the amount used. Which our proper borne does, but a socket won’t.
Any charging point of 3,7kW capacity or above must be installed by an approved professional.
There is nothing to stop you from fitting a dedicated exterior socket which can be used by the slow chargers that most (not all) EVs come with. They typically only draw 2,3kW/10A but are perfectly sufficient to provide plenty of kWh during an overnight charge e.g. 2,3 x 10 hours = 23 kWh.
You could fit a resale approved meter to the dedicated circuit & therefore charge (!) accordingly. Another option is to meter the whole gîte supply & charge for all use.
You may want to think about providing properly made adaptors from a French plug to a selection of other socket types, as holiday makers will turn up with chargers with the connector of their home country on.
If it is any comfort I live at the top of a steep hill and have been asked for help because their batteries where flat I just ran a line out off the garage chatted for 2 hours and they went their way no big deal
PS " You may want to think about providing properly made adaptors from a French plug to a selection of other socket types, as holiday makers will turn up with chargers with the connector of their home country on." I travel all over Europe in a campervan and it is up to me to carry the right gear/ converters not the host
As you surmise - difficult to quote or even if you can modify an existing socket.
I do not know if it is a regulation that a point must be installed by an electrician. What I can say is that Gites de France do not permit guests to charge cars on a domestic ring/spur and advise owners to have an EV point installed. My local Allianz, following GdrF’s lead insist the point is professionally installed.
In my case 300€. A new isolator switch on my incoming line, a small fuse box a metre downstream with an id, a 25A mcb, and a din rail meter clearly marked MID approved, all ending up on a re-inforced socket.
Visitor arrives, photo the meter, tell them my kwh charge from Enegie, pay me a cash deposit of 25€, (in case they do a quick dawn exit) and leave them to it. The only issue is that my meter cannot distinguish HC and HP rates, so in charging a user the HP tariff for HC use puts me in breach of re-selling electricity…I shall ponder this one. Maybe having the sevice timed for HC use only. How long does it take to charge these tings?
See my previous post - it is a requirement above 3,7kW.
If you have a standard 16A socket on the end that is not correct. Are you sure it’s not a 25A rated inter diff?
It depends on the how discharged the battery is when you start, & how big it is., so there’s no hard & fast figure.
You just need some simple maths…
An EV with a 40kWh capacity battery that has discharged 50% will require 20kWh to fully charge it.
If you use a slow charger that delivers 10A/2,3kW AC then it requires a bit under 9 hours to deliver 20kWh.
A 6,6kW AC charger will deliver the same amount (20kWh) in a bit over 3 hours (though the charge rate will ramp down above 80% capacity, so maybe a bit longer).
A 50kWh DC rapid charger will deliver 20kWh in under half an hour, but if charging to full will ramp down for the last 20%.
There now some vehicles that can charge at much higher rates (up to 350kW) but that only happens if you find a suitable charger, & anything above 22kW three phase charging isn’t something that’s practical in a domestic situation.
Sue, we paid approximately 1800€ last summer for the full installation/cabling etc of a 7KWh home charger. We expect to get a tax credit of about 300€ this year to offset against this cost. The installation was undertaken by specialist qualified installers recommended by the garage we bought the EV from. We also had to upgrade our electricity power to 9kVA but this simply involved a quick call to EDF who did the change overnight, via the Linky…
It costs us about 5€ to charge our Renault Zoe once a week, to do about 175-200km. Being on Tempo now, especially during the current run of red days, we try to always charge up on (blue) Sundays. Hope this helps.
One think that has just occurred to me is what happens if a Tesla turns up? Our 7KwH borne has an integral cable with standard plug. But Tesla’s have a different socket so our cable plug win’t fit?
The differential is actually 20A (C20)… (I was a in round-up mode when I put 25…) I hope this is correct…(it better be!)
I have read up, or tried to, on all the different cables and plugs, but still not much wiser! I take your point about being prepared for any eventuality, but I think that I shall start by making it clear in capital letters on my joining letter that I only supply a basic approved 3.7Kw socket for charging and it is up to the visitor to ensure a correct cable for their car fitted with a French style two pin/earth plug.
I have had a quick look but do not see a DIN rail meter capable of recognising and storing HC and HP readings - do you know if there is any such thing (that does not cost a huge amount…)?
Onto the technology at the car end, I understand the maths, but I presume these cars recognise what they have plugged into them, yes? I mean, if a big f-off brute appears, will it recognise a simple connection such as a re-inforced socket and not throw a ‘temper tantrum’?
I suspect you mean that the disjoncteur is 20A - you don’t tend to see 20A differentiels.
The 20A is fine if the wiring to the socket is 2,5mm² or bigger. Personally I’m against fitting 20A DJs to run 16A rated sockets but unless volt drop due to cable length is a factor then the normes allow it.
