Home EV charger

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jim

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Does anyone have any opinions or recommendatons for a good home EV charger?

For now, we are charging just 1 car (peugeot) but will likely be charging 2 in the next couple of years. Havin said that i think we could alternte them rather than charging both at same time.

Dont think we need super fast charge but at minimum 7kws.

Not sure what other info i need to give.

Thanks
 
Must more than 7.4kW would likely require an expensive upgrade to your electricity supply, most of the 22kW ones require a 3-phase supply I believe.

I have a Zappi that failed within ~6 months, replaced FOC under warranty. Works well other than that.
 
If you have solar panels or need to load balance (for example you have electric showers or electric heating) then something like the Zappi is the way to go. If you don’t need these features then there are cheaper options that are closer to a glorified outdoor socket.
 
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Hello,

I also have solar panels and had a Zappi installed, to partner with the panels and inverter.

I think there are a couple of other chargers that will work with solar panels and an inverter, but for me, the Zappi seemed to be very well established and also linked into my WiFi (while I think the rival relied on 4G, from memory).

Supply and installation cost €1,600, before deduction of the €300 SEAI Grant (so €1,300 net).
 
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Leo said:
more than 7.4kW would likely require an expensive upgrade to your electricity supply
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Plus, 7kW will fully charge an EV over the course of a night, so it should be plenty for most use cases. Even a 3 kW "granny" charger will put a lot of range in a car within 12 hours.

It might be nice to have a small 3 kW charger in addition to your 7kW charger, which would be convenient if you did ever want to put both cars on to charge before going to bed.

Edit: What I should really have said rather that "a 3kW charger" is: A heavy-duty socket on its own radial to allow for 3kW to be comfortbaly drawn for hours continuously.
 
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Dominic Ó Galla said:
It might be nice to have a small 3 kW charger in addition to your 7kW charger, which would be convenient if you did ever want to put both cars on to charge before going to bed.
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Load balancing might become a challenge. A 7.4kW charger install will typically include a load balancer that will limit supply to the charger if another heavy load like an electric shower is pulling power.

Most people will get a regular granny charger that comes with their EV, Some will allow you limit the current draw and you might be better off using one of those on a lower power setting so that the power to the main charger isn't curtailed.
 
Plenty of reports of zappis needing to be replaced, a lot more than any other charger, on that basis id recommend something else,

id go with the SYNC EV or there is a new zappi glo maybe its more reliable.

As for solar integration not sure why people bother, it should be cheaper sell that to the grid and charge the car at less than FIT.

 
I might go wjth Sync ev with fokearn, 699 after grant, hard to beat

I take your point re solar integration, pman is to charge at night but nice to have anyway
 
@Leo I don't believe that load balancing would be much of a problem in this case, as most households have a 12 kW import capacity, which is bigger than 7 kW + 3kW with some spare. Of course there could be exceptions if there was a third significant load during the night, but doubt that would be present for a long enough to really prevent the 7kW charger from supplying a good charge.

On the other hand I agree about the 3kW charger likely coming with the car. What I should have said was have a heavy-duty socket installed on its own radial as a safe and convenient place to plug in a 3kW charger.
 
Dominic Ó Galla said:
@Leo I don't believe that load balancing would be much of a problem in this case, as most households have a 12 kW import capacity, which is bigger than 7 kW + 3kW with some spare.
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Yeah, you're likely right. I'm just not sure at what point the load balancers they're installing start to throttle the supply, I couldn't see that specified anywhere.
 
@Blackrock1

I think you'll find that the Zappi chargers have been on the market for quite a few years, and have sold far more chargers in Ireland than most rivals, so you really need to factor that into your thinking, when you talk about reading of people having issues with them.

I did the research before I bought mine and I concluded two things:

- Zappi (Myenergi) are long time established and not based half way around the world, if I've an issue that I need help with
- While I found evidence of people having had problems with their Zappi, many also reported his customer support, when they had an issue.

Finally, with regards to your comment on whether it's worthwhile connecting a charger to a solar panel installation or not, do you really think that the electricity companies will continue to pay such generous rates to but surplus energy back from private houses, long term ? Do you also think that they'll continue to offer very low rates for night time Electricity ? Personally, I don't... but it's a judgement call, and involves a reliable crystal ball, I grant you
 
I think its linked to wholesale energy prices so if prices drop significantly so too will FIT, imo, with the opposite also being a possibility.

Great point though - if FIT drops significantly itd be good to throw excess electricity into an ev rather than gifting it to the energy companies.
 
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