New member

New to the Honda E Forums? Introduce yourself here
EV70EEE
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:59 am

Post by EV70EEE »

Hello everyone

I'm Kaz and new to the forum, I have a Honda E Advance in Blue and absolutely loving this car. It's amazing.

Need advice on best Ev tariff and home charger ??

MattHero
Posts: 295
Joined: Fri Aug 21, 2020 2:17 pm

Post by MattHero »

Hi Kaz and congratulations on your e. It's probably best to let everyone know where in the world you are, as recommendations will differ depending on that info.
Advance Charge Yellow on 16s.
EV70EEE
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:59 am

Post by EV70EEE »

Located in redbridge ilford Essex

Advance Blue on 16s
EV70EEE
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:59 am

Post by EV70EEE »

Looking for good advice on on EV home charger and tariff.
User avatar
EEEE
Posts: 519
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:33 am

Post by EEEE »

Welcome to the forum.

There are not many tariffs out there that support time based pricing. You will need to have a smart meter already installed on your supply to benefit from any cheap off-peak pricing. If you have economy 7 meter you will already be on a similar mechanism.

I'm with Octopus on the Go tariff with a smart meter supporting half hourly readings, currently 7.5p/unit between 12:30 and 4:30am.

As for chargers, there are many to pick from and they all do the same thing pretty much. I have a hypervolt 'smart' charger, but truth be told, i'd have been better off saving 500quid and going with the cheapest 32a socket I could find. Depending how many miles you do an how often you charge, a tethered cable is a strong requirement, it will save you having to fish the cable out of the Honda bag every time. If you don't do many miles, a cheap tariff and tether may not be required.

My sister in law lives in Ilford/Redbridge and says she has seen a blue one about, so it must be you!
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
EV70EEE
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:59 am

Post by EV70EEE »

Thanks for the advice

I'm going for the Octopus on the Go tariff with a smart meter supporting half hourly readings, currently 7.5p/unit between 12:30 and 4:30am.

Need to get it done before 1st October as tariffs are likely to change. They said if I switch now they will honour the tariff. While I await a smart meter to be fitted.

Thanks
EV70EEE
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:59 am

Post by EV70EEE »

Regarding the Ev charging. I need one that is compatible with solar panels.

Only do 30-40 miles a day.

Do EV chargers have to be smart chargers ???

Thanks
User avatar
EEEE
Posts: 519
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:33 am

Post by EEEE »

EV chargers do not need to be smart, but with the solar curveball you may benefit from one possibly. Previously, smart chargers specifically had to offer timing and usage monitoring in order to qualify for the £300 fitting grant. This grant no longer exists however.

A dumb charger has no app for example, it simply wires into the fuse box or electric meter cupboard, and provides a 32amp connection and some protection, along with a signal to tell the car that it's a 32a capable socket and feed, and to charge at the full rate all of the time (The e is actually a little bit under 32 Amp). Additionally, there would be a hardware switch that can be set to a lower rate if the wiring or mains supply cannot do 32a. This is a one-time setting at installation time based on the specifics of the installation (in case your house or wiring cannot support 32a on the circuit)

In the case of a dumb socket with solar, they are compatible, just not 'smart' - you would charge rapidly at maximum rate, instead of slowing it down over the course of the day to maximise your 'solar usage'. With your use case of 40miles a day needing say 10-15kwh a day to charge, that would be achieved in about 2hrs at the full rate from a dumb socket. If you have regularly 5kw+ available solar power, then a dumb socket is fine. If you only have 1 or 2kw power available from solar, you won't be stretching the charging job out over the day to maximise your solar utilisation.

A smart charger has an app, connects to wifi, and has more bells and whistles like timers, flashing RGB lights, usage stats etc. One of the bells and whistles you may get dependant on the charger is the ability to change the charge rate yourself. The hypervolt has this setting, I can on the app change the rate from 6a to 32a and everything in between at any time. The hypervolt additionally has a CT clamp (current transformer sensor) that monitors the entire household usage with respect to power flowing out to the grid from a house/solar array. The hypervolt can be set to monitor this, and adjust the charge rate accordingly via a variety of modes. This would slow down and speed up the charge rate as the solar production / net export changes, in order to maximise charging when excess power is available from solar, and cut charging when it is not available (to avoid grid usage). There are 3 settings I think which allow you to 'blend' how the rate is adjusted.

Whether that feature will help you or not depends on many factors, how much solar you have (how much it generates) and how it is physically wired into the house, and how often the car is parked at home during daylight hours. If you only have 2kw of solar power available, then a smart charger slowing down the charge rate will help you make use of the solar energy instead of exporting it for less than you'd pay for it. The flip side is that you would need to have the car plugged in at home and charging each day to make use of this feature. I know my car is always at work in the daytime, so 'smart' solar charging for me would be practically useless if I had solar.

If your mileage was closer to 30miles/day, you could probably do nearly all your charging on the normal 13a plug socket during your cheap charge window. In 4hours, the wall/granny charger that comes with the car could put up to 8kwh into the car during your cheap window, that's enough for 24 to 32 miles, avoiding the need to install a fast charger at all. In this case you have the hassle of using the bulky/short honda charging cable/box every day, and making perhaps a small adjustment to outdoor sockets so they are rated for high continuous time usage, but these are comparatively cheap)

With this realisation, I now give the advice that if mileage/usage is low and unlikely to change, generally a smart 7kw charger is not required, and in some cases even a dumb 32a socket is not required and you can just use a normal plug socket and save a few quid.

Hope that helps lol.
'21 e Advance - Charge Yellow - E1702RR alloys
'17 Civic Sport CVT
'00 Prelude 2.2VTi
EV70EEE
Posts: 11
Joined: Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:59 am

Post by EV70EEE »

Thanks so much for such great advice. I'm gonna sick to charging during off peak hours on the octopus 🐙 7.5p ev tariff. Should be fine for me until I get a cheap ev 32a charger. My friend is sparky and has fitted a few so will do mine when I get it.

Thanks again

Regards Kaz
nyx
Posts: 85
Joined: Wed Sep 15, 2021 10:28 am

Post by nyx »

Welcome, and congrats on the car! :) Some info for new owners here: https://hond.ae/new-owner/

I just added a bit about home chargers, too: https://hond.ae/products/#chargers Not mentioning specific brands since it's very personal. Myself, I have and really like the Andersen EV. Can't plug a beautiful car into an ugly box 😁
Post Reply

  • You may also be interested in...
    Replies
    Views
    Last post