EV Owners Thread

[icowden]

If everyone has an EV then there is going to be needed a complete re wiring of the whole electrical supply network.

That's not true.

I have just installed a Tesla battery which draws 5.4 kWh on cheap rate electric every night between 2 and 5am. I had to notify the electrical supply board (East Midlands Electricity) that I have installed one which is true for every new EV charging pod installed.

That is true.

The reason being that they guesstimate every home in your street draws 2kWh (cooking Christmas dinner as an example) so when the street charges their EVs you could have many chargers drawing 7 kWh which is going to heat the supply wiring somewhat. Standby for roadworks on a mammoth scale.

That isn't true. The DNO (District Network Operator) has to be notified as they are responsible for ensuring that the network can reliably and safely deal with increased demand. It doesn't necessarily follow that the network has to be upgraded. That depends on what is already in place - which may be more than adequate. It may also only need a local transformer upgrade for example.

 

[Tenkaykev]

That's not true.

That is true.

That isn't true. The DNO (District Network Operator) has to be notified as they are responsible for ensuring that the network can reliably and safely deal with increased demand. It doesn't necessarily follow that the network has to be upgraded. That depends on what is already in place - which may be more than adequate. It may also only need a local transformer upgrade for example.

In my meandering around the local neighbourhood ( built in the 1950's ) I've observed how forward looking the planners were. Every so ofter there's a small parcel of land with a small " substation " often just an oil filled transformer. The master substation has recently been upgraded by means of industrial cooling fans ( low rpm and hence very little noise ) mounted on top of the large transformers. The increased airflow more effectively cooling the oil that the windings are immersed in.

 

[CXRAndy]

Most houses have between 60-100A mains supply. That's 14.4kW-23kW of available power per house. Demand overnight is far lower than peak early evening demand. So there is actually no excess power needed to cope with all properties taking upto 7kW for EV or battery storage requirements

 

[cougie uk]

I don't see the necessity for hybrids to charge when out and about, except for the reason that they have literally run out of petrol or diesel. Most hybrids, are either fully self charging or those with a charge port can recharge whilst driving. It does add to less fuel efficiency, but I doubt it's more costly than using an 85p/kW rapid charger.

That's what I thought. There was even a van waiting to charge but they seemed set on completing their full charge.

 

[cougie uk]

If they were the new ones apparently they have a 38kwh battery (50 miles range). It probably makes as much sense as buying one of those things for £50k in the first place.

Blimey. That's about as big as my EV battery and I haven't got an engine to fall back on !

 

[icowden]

That's what I thought. There was even a van waiting to charge but they seemed set on completing their full charge.

It's almost as if Range Rover drivers are complete derriere-voids...

 

[BrumJim]

If everyone has an EV then there is going to be needed a complete re wiring of the whole electrical supply network. I have just installed a Tesla battery which draws 5.4 kWh on cheap rate electric every night between 2 and 5am. I had to notify the electrical supply board (East Midlands Electricity) that I have installed one which is true for every new EV charging pod installed.
The reason being that they guesstimate every home in your street draws 2kWh (cooking Christmas dinner as an example) so when the street charges their EVs you could have many chargers drawing 7 kWh which is going to heat the supply wiring somewhat. Standby for roadworks on a mammoth scale.

kWh is a measurement of energy, kW is probably the measure of power drawn that you are looking for.

The cooker will draw up to 7kW, as will your electric shower. Your electricity supply is limited to 100A (I think?), and this is unchanged. My charger has a CMD on the house input to ensure that this is never exceeded, but since no one in the house has a shower for longer than 20 minutes, that isn't a problem for the charger.

Also, and more so now we have a cheap rate overnight, the car gets charged from midnight, at which point, very few people on the road are having a shower or cooking sunday lunch.

 

[icowden]

Your electricity supply is limited to 100A (I think?), and this is unchanged.

Some have less. The looped houses in my street have a 60A fuse for example.

 

[CXRAndy]

I'm very lucky to be able to charge 3 EV simultaneously having 100A per phase 3 phase supply. But the principle of excess demand, the EV charge rate is throttled back first to protect the supply

 

[dicko]

kWh is a measurement of energy, kW is probably the measure of power drawn that you are looking for.

The cooker will draw up to 7kW, as will your electric shower. Your electricity supply is limited to 100A (I think?), and this is unchanged. My charger has a CMD on the house input to ensure that this is never exceeded, but since no one in the house has a shower for longer than 20 minutes, that isn't a problem for the charger.

Also, and more so now we have a cheap rate overnight, the car gets charged from midnight, at which point, very few people on the road are having a shower or cooking sunday lunch.

That’s true but when everyone has an EV plus a home battery things may change. Wiring in the street, in these days of cut cost builders, may not be upto spec copper being a high value source of scrap value, still I will be long gone before everyone is forced to have EVs.

 

[CXRAndy]

Just changed out a faulty cell on our EV


Doddle this battery repair

 

[DRM]

Just changed out a faulty cell on our EV


Doddle this battery repair







View attachment 748367

That looks like a lead/acid with auto fill valves on it

 

[CXRAndy]

That looks like a lead/acid with auto fill valves on it

Yep, nothing too advanced. I toyed with the idea of going full lithium, but the price was like £8k . It was only the one cell pulling the performance down, so a few hundred quid was the smart decision

 

[Gillstay]

That’s true but when everyone has an EV plus a home battery things may change. Wiring in the street, in these days of cut cost builders, may not be upto spec copper being a high value source of scrap value, still I will be long gone before everyone is forced to have EVs.

Unless they choose to use Hydrogen or green fuels.

 

[icowden]

Unless they choose to use Hydrogen or green fuels.

Well good luck with finding anywhere to buy hydrogen