Home charger recommendations

[Splitty]

how many Solar panels you think you would need for a Zappi to work from Solar? Anyone? Wondering if it might be an option

Zappi needs 1.2Kwh to start charging from solar. A typical panel would give about 350W on a summer's day. So you would need an array of at least 4 panels to get the zappi to start. Most arrays are 8 -10 panels so May-Sept would be good months to get a decent charge. Some panels give more than 350W some less. We are on 18 panels, so 6.6Kwh on a good day so not far short of a standard 7Kwh single phase charger.

[Maybach]

I too have Pod Point. I bought the only ID. 3 available in August and needed a charger installed within two weeks. The dealer recommended PodPoint so I used them. They needed chasing once, and cancelled one installation appointment, but I nonetheless got the charger installed in time. The installation was excellent and I have charged the car many times with no problems. I like the app. The charger is quite large but fits discretely in the garage.
Hope it goes well for you.
Simon

[G43FAN]

how many Solar panels you think you would need for a Zappi to work from Solar? Anyone? Wondering if it might be an option

Zappi needs 1.2Kwh to start charging from solar. A typical panel would give about 350W on a summer's day. So you would need an array of at least 4 panels to get the zappi to start. Most arrays are 8 -10 panels so May-Sept would be good months to get a decent charge. Some panels give more than 350W some less. We are on 18 panels, so 6.6Kwh on a good day so not far short of a standard 7Kwh single phase charger.

The Zappi needs 1.4kW because that is the minimum charge within the BEV Standards, but you can adjust what percentage of that charge comes from the Solar v the Grid so that you can use almost any surplus but you'll be topping up to 1.4kWh with full price electric. Since March this year I have added just over 2000kWh of charge with 300kWh of that coming from Solar. At this time of year I can run my house on solar for most of the daylight hours but I am only charging on the Octopus overnight, there's not enough spare solar generation to be bothering.

Out of curiosity is that 6.6kWh grid connected? What inverter are you using for that, I hit a bit of a financial wall with getting anything over 3.6KW past the DNO so gave up.

[Splitty]

Yes grid connected and Solis inverter (6kw) as the roof is East/West split so won't output 6.6Kwh all at once, Sorry post was a bit misleading.

[durhamlad]

The dealer salesman told us that he is supposed to recommend Pod Point but has had lots of negative feedback from some customers.

How do you research other options other than simply using Google?

[Deleted User 192]

The dealer salesman told us that he is supposed to recommend Pod Point but has had lots of negative feedback from some customers.

13 months in, mine just works.

[Splash-Man]

At the moment I think the Hypervolt is top of my list. However, this list is very fluid and changes by the hour !
It will be a shame to get the charger installed and then have to wait another XX months until the car arrives

[Daveion]

I think Pod Point is a good product but the install side seems overwhelmed. My install for tomorrow bas been rescheduled for the 16th.
Slow to deal with, one of the neatest tethered units in my book, 7.5M cable, same app for home and public charging, partnered with VW and Tesco, now owned by EDF. Think that's all correct.

[daesimpso]

My faulty Pod Point was finally replaced yesterday. It was a bit of a farce as the first replacement was also faulty, but in a different way

However, I can’t use scheduling yet as they’ve not yet changed over which unit is linked to my account and aren’t responding to any attempt to get hold of them.

[Daveion]

Sounds about right.
Emails go into a black hole.
A review I made on TRUSTPILOT grabbed their attention for me. Found they responded there with messages back and forth and uncorked my install problem/routing. Simply too stretched.

[monkeyhanger]

Ohme all the way for flawless scheduled charging as per overnight cheap tariffs.

[ytshome]

Just ordered an home today......pity the car has been delayed by four months

[ytshome]

OHME.....bloody spellchecker

[daesimpso]

Sounds about right.
Emails go into a black hole.
A review I made on TRUSTPILOT grabbed their attention for me. Found they responded there with messages back and forth and uncorked my install problem/routing. Simply too stretched.

Absolutely. It was only due to my Twitter post that things got moving and the faulty unit got replaced.

Their subcontractor was saying they’re totally overwhelmed (Pod Point) and installers are noticing it too.

[beacon39]

I had a Hypervolt installed a couple of weeks ago. Installation was straightforward and I set it up in a couple of minutes. I don't need scheduled charging yet but I tested it and it worked OK. The LED light modes are a bit gimmicky but fun. The app still needs some work but it's good enough as it is. The customer support is excellent. I submitted a query on their web site in the evening and they phoned first thing the following day. I missed the call but they phoned back ten minutes later to answer my question, Top-notch.

[sausageroll]

OHME.....bloody spellchecker

[durhamlad]

I've decided to go with MyEnergi Zappi 2, through Octopus. I'm already an Octopus customer with smart meter, plus I have solar panels and this charger ticks all the boxes on my wishlist in terms of functionality. It will be nice to utilize more of the excess solar energy we export to the grid, which is typically 1.4 mWhr / year. In talking with the rep I explained that we already have solar battery storage but she assured me that wasn't a problem as the charger will only pick up the excess electricity. During the summer months we get a great many days of 3-4 kW coming from the panels and the solar batteries only charge at a maximum of 1 kW, plus once they are fully charged then almost all the electricity from the panels gets exported.

https://myenergi.com/product/zappi/

[Daveion]

Sounds good I think it's time I looked at solar panels.

[durhamlad]

Sounds good I think it's time I looked at solar panels.

The government deal had expired by the time we got round to doing it but I do like it even though the ROI is close to 10 years now. My neighbour is still on a 20 year contract where he gets paid the going rate for everything he generates so typical gets about £800/year before any savings he makes by reduced consumption.

We save about £450/year based on what our typical consumption was before we had panels installed. Of course as electricity prices go up then so do our savings. Our electricity bill for the whole of last year was £66 and that was mostly due to the 20p/day standing charge. (We get paid 5.5p / kwH for what we export)

[monkeyhanger]

Sounds good I think it's time I looked at solar panels.

The government deal had expired by the time we got round to doing it but I do like it even though the ROI is close to 10 years now. My neighbour is still on a 20 year contract where he gets paid the going rate for everything he generates so typical gets about £800/year before any savings he makes by reduced consumption.

We save about £450/year based on what our typical consumption was before we had panels installed. Of course as electricity prices go up then so do our savings. Our electricity bill for the whole of last year was £66 and that was mostly due to the 20p/day standing charge. (We get paid 5.5p / kwH for what we export)

Being in a contract for years with the solar panel generation can put a lot of people off if you try to sell the house later. My Dad's neighbour is tied into a long contract with his solar panels and its devalued the house by about £25k when it was valued for sale.