Help choosing home charger

[CatManDo]

Hi all,

So have got my ID3 Family Pro Performance on order!

Can anyone advise me on best charger to get for home if there is such a thing?

I do short journeys mostly and will be relying on charging at home mostly.

Thank you, don't know where to start!

[mediaguy]

I've only just put my order in, but it seems there are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

Do you have solar or might you add it at some point?

Do you have a preferred energy supplier and do they have any limits (OVO only support two chargers for 5p rates for example)?

How important is an app or aesthetics? Also where is your internet compared to where the power cable will go? Some have ethernet in the cable, some have wifi and some have 3g, which you will have to pay for after a few years.

[CatManDo]

I've only just put my order in, but it seems there are a couple of questions to ask yourself:

Do you have solar or might you add it at some point?

Do you have a preferred energy supplier and do they have any limits (OVO only support two chargers for 5p rates for example)?

How important is an app or aesthetics? Also where is your internet compared to where the power cable will go? Some have ethernet in the cable, some have wifi and some have 3g, which you will have to pay for after a few years.

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply.

No we don't have solar and no plans to add at the moment. We are currently with BG for our energy.

I would like an app and need to be able to record how much elec is used as I can claim back from my Company, and also it needs to looks fairly nice, I'm planning on having it at the side of my house which is a garage wall. The WiFi won't reach but I think I could get a CAT 5 to my router through the garage.

Thanks,

[Utumno]

There isn’t really a “best” charger as they all have a different mix of features. In your position I’d be putting Ohme and Hypervolt chargers onto my shortlist.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Hi all,

So have got my ID3 Family Pro Performance on order!

Can anyone advise me on best charger to get for home if there is such a thing?

I do short journeys mostly and will be relying on charging at home mostly.

Thank you, don't know where to start!

I’ve gone for an Ohme Home Pro. The mains reasons for choosing an Ohme was the integration with Octopus energy tariffs and the API so it can talk to the car and work out the cheapest or greenest time to charge automatically. The Home charger pro also has a screen which might be handy.

Also I wanted a tethered charger as I’d expect getting the cable out of the boot to charge every time would get annoying. I’ve not got it or the car yet but I think it’s the right one for me. Only possible negatives were that it is 4g not WiFi won’t matter as I have a signal where it is going and because it is tethered it might look a bit untidy.

I nearly went with a tethered pod point but to be honest the Ohme Home Pro looks cooler so won!

I can’t really advise you one what one to get but explaining why I chose mine might help.

[Utumno]

Just as an aside, there’s no car API available from VW yet for ID so Ohme doesn’t integrate with the car at all. This is the same for all EVSE manufacturers, and I’d expect Ohme to be among the first to adopt it once it’s available.

[ItshardtobuyId3]

Just as an aside, there’s no car API available from VW yet for ID so Ohme doesn’t integrate with the car at all. This is the same for all EVSE manufacturers, and I’d expect Ohme to be among the first to adopt it once it’s available.

Oh, I didn’t realise that! Thanks for the info. Don’t suppose it matters for me as the plan is to have the car set to 80% anyway but I’d have wondered what the hell was going on when I tried setting it all up.

[Deleted User 192]

Pod Point, Zappi, Hypervolt, OHME, Andersen, and many many more…

Talk to a local installer about your requirements, have a look at pictures of them online if they’re going to be visible outdoors and the aesthetics are a concern for you.

Think also about tethered or untethered, whether you have solar panels, if you’d like voice control with something like Alexa…

[Smitten]

Just as an aside, there’s no car API available from VW yet for ID so Ohme doesn’t integrate with the car at all. This is the same for all EVSE manufacturers, and I’d expect Ohme to be among the first to adopt it once it’s available.

Oh, I didn’t realise that! Thanks for the info. Don’t suppose it matters for me as the plan is to have the car set to 80% anyway but I’d have wondered what the hell was going on when I tried setting it all up.

That said it doesn't make much difference. I have OHME and I just set up a series of charge schedules in it which is easy. So I have "add 20% before 7am" and "add 30%" and "daytime top up" and so on. It knows my tariff and the app is really good. It works faultlessly you just need to know what your State of Charge is then turn on the schedule you want.

[G43FAN]

Just as an aside, there’s no car API available from VW yet for ID so Ohme doesn’t integrate with the car at all. This is the same for all EVSE manufacturers, and I’d expect Ohme to be among the first to adopt it once it’s available.

Oh, I didn’t realise that! Thanks for the info. Don’t suppose it matters for me as the plan is to have the car set to 80% anyway but I’d have wondered what the hell was going on when I tried setting it all up.

That said it doesn't make much difference. I have OHME and I just set up a series of charge schedules in it which is easy. So I have "add 20% before 7am" and "add 30%" and "daytime top up" and so on. It knows my tariff and the app is really good. It works faultlessly you just need to know what your State of Charge is then turn on the schedule you want.

If you ask it to add 20% does it just add 11.6kW based on you having set the car info as a 58kW car? I had a play with an Ohme granny charger and found it very frustrating to use and the app particularly unhelpful.

[Daveion]

I went with PodPoint Solo because I think its one of the neatest tethered chargers. I found PodPoint difficult to deal with. Overstretched but Im 100% happy with the charger now its installed.
Dave

[Smithmi81]

I would avoid pod point like the plague. The installer damaged the paving slabs at my property (I understand accidents happen) and I still don’t have the installation certificate 3 months after the install. This is holding up the fuse upgrade at my home as they need this as proof of safe installation.

[Hopeful]

I went for Pod Point Solo. Installation went pretty smoothly; no complaints. It works well and the charge scheduling on the app is good.

[Smitten]

Oh, I didn’t realise that! Thanks for the info. Don’t suppose it matters for me as the plan is to have the car set to 80% anyway but I’d have wondered what the hell was going on when I tried setting it all up.

That said it doesn't make much difference. I have OHME and I just set up a series of charge schedules in it which is easy. So I have "add 20% before 7am" and "add 30%" and "daytime top up" and so on. It knows my tariff and the app is really good. It works faultlessly you just need to know what your State of Charge is then turn on the schedule you want.

If you ask it to add 20% does it just add 11.6kW based on you having set the car info as a 58kW car? I had a play with an Ohme granny charger and found it very frustrating to use and the app particularly unhelpful.

I have an OHME cable - it is identical to the original OHME charger except it is untethered. The app is very simple to use. You tell it what car you have. We have an e208 and will have an ID3 as well when it arrives. It can access some car API's but not Stellantis or VW apparently. In that case you simply set what % charge you want to add onto the State of charge. So if you have 25% SOC tell it to add 55% to get 80% charge. It then works out the greenest time to add the charge within the time window you set and your tariff. It will spread out the charge at a lower rate of charge if you tick the "be gentle to battery" option. You can see the charging curve from last night in one of the attached images. Very easy. Always works and is transportable.

[G43FAN]

Thanks for that info, but I think the main issue is the ongoing API visibility then unless that gets sorted at some point too. I have a Zappi and only bought the OHME (vis the Octopus deal) as a standby and for trips (if we're ever able to get back to that normality)

[monkeyhanger]

Many people here and elsewhere with charger tales of woe Ohme and Andersen are seemingly the least problematic. I have a tethered Ohme and it has been great so far. Easy to schedule for cheap charging periods in the night e.g. Octopus GO.

[G43FAN]

I strayed a bit off topic I suppose, for the thread, I have a Zappi and have found it to be very good thus far. Overnight timed charging works perfectly and in the summer months I was getting free mileage from my solar panels.

[Alanpyle]

Getting our car through Motability so we have to have BP PULSE.Im with E.ON NEXT& they say they don't recognise BP PULSE does this mean I can't get cheap charging through the night.lf they don't who's best to switch too?

[mediaguy]

Getting our car through Motability so we have to have BP PULSE.Im with E.ON NEXT& they say they don't recognise BP PULSE does this mean I can't get cheap charging through the night.lf they don't who's best to switch too?

Getting 5p charging isn't worth it if you have to make your day electric go from 17p to 30p/kwh. I wouldn't do anything until April when the cap runs out.

[Utumno]

Getting our car through Motability so we have to have BP PULSE.Im with E.ON NEXT& they say they don't recognise BP PULSE does this mean I can't get cheap charging through the night.lf they don't who's best to switch too?

Ok so you don’t have to use BP Pulse at all. If you don’t use them you’ll just have to pay for your own charger installation. I did the same thing (our Tour is also a Motability order) but installed an Andersen A2 rather than go with the BP Pulse option.

Next Drive requires one of a list of specific chargers, and the Pulse will never be compatible (they require GPRS). So if you want cheap rate electricity with the Pulse you will need to change electricity supplier.

That said they seem to have stopped selling Next Drive anyway, so if you don’t want to change supplier I’d suggest you install one of the three compatible chargers on their info page (the Indra gets good reviews on SpeakEV, but I have no personal experience) but then of course it will be a standard install which will not be paid for by Motability!