C
Commander Kinsey
Guest
On Wed, 19 Apr 2023 23:54:17 +0100, SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:
I used to have two incase one was in the garage. But there\'s double the tax and MOTs. Insurance usually doubles unless you can find a rare sensible company who realises your mileage is the same.
On 18/04/2023 16:41, John Larkin wrote:
On Tue, 18 Apr 2023 11:51:13 +0100, SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk
wrote:
On 18/04/2023 02:15, John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2023 23:46:35 +0100, SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk
wrote:
On 17/04/2023 19:33, John Larkin wrote:
On Mon, 17 Apr 2023 17:50:00 +0100, SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk
wrote:
On 17/04/2023 10:19, Theo wrote:
In uk.d-i-y SteveW <steve@walker-family.me.uk> wrote:
That\'s the problem. The 100A (or lower) supply is based on the
assumption of relatively short duration peak load and longer periods of
partial load, not long, large, continuous loads.
Car chargers run for many hours at a time, so two or three of those,
plus washing machine and tumble dryer (moved to night time for a cheaper
tariff), electric heaters, immersion heater and the possibility of the
electric oven and hob (according to my son, it\'s not unusual for
households with students to be baking cakes at 4am, after the
night-club!), plus someone getting up early and using the 10kW electric
shower and you have a load that the supply cable was never meant to take
continuously, plus a higher than normal peak to an already stressed supply.
EV chargers can be configured to sense the total load being offered by the
property. If the supply is 100A then the charger can throttle back the
current being taken by the car so it stays within the 100A envelope.
Somebody turns on the 50A electric shower, the car drops down to a low
current, once the shower is finished the car ramps up the current again. If
there are multiple chargers they can be configured not just to obey this,
but to cooperate in sharing the load: eg charger 1 has priority over charger
2. That arrangement saves going outside at 3am to unplug one car and plug
in another.
So there isn\'t a problem of busting your supply, assuming everything is
installed right.
My charger has no current sensing. It can operate co-operatively, but
only if your other charger(s) are the same make and model.
As well as that, if every house has something along those lines, the
entire street supply will be over-stretched.
That I agree is more of a problem. I expect we\'ll start to see tariffs that
encourage load shedding at times of high local demand (eg cooperation
between local cars to stagger their charging times), especially since the
miles people do in the average day might only require a few hours of
charging. Such already exist for national demand.
The trouble is that we are getting more and more away from simply plug
and charge, needing to use multiple apps for car, charger and
electricity provider, possibly with 3rd party apps and relying upon them
all working together smoothly.
I already find it a minor irritation that, on getting home, I have to
get out of the car, without locking it (or the charge flap will also be
locked), which leaves lights, radio and dash on; plug in; then lock the
car; then use the charger app to set charging and the car\'s own app if I
want to monitor charge state. That\'s before we introduce a 3rd app to
allow the car to charge at lower demand times, rather than a fixed period.
Gas stations don\'t make me do all that. I can even go inside and pay
cash.
But you do have to go to the gas station and not just park up on your
driveway at the end of the day.
I park on the street.
Two gas stations are close to home and I can wash the windows while
the tank fills up; all that takes about 4 minutes. I never have to
wait for a pump to be available.
On a long trip, I don\'t even think about planning ranges or charge
stops overlapping meals or whatever, or whether I can drive at some
speed or run the heater. All that seems to amuse some people.
On a long trip, I would take my petrol car. But for now, the EV is
covering all my needs. I have driven my petrol car once in the last two
and a half weeks - and that was to make sure that the battery didn\'t end
up flat.
I suppose having two cars gives you more options.
We actually have four at the moment. The MG4 EV is the everyday car. The
Vauxhall Zafira is the long-distance/tow/7-seater/carrying DIY materials
car and also the spare for if my disabled wife wants to go out while I
am at work. The Chevrolet Matiz (currently off the road pending an MOT)
is only retained for teaching my sons to drive (three sons, each two
years from the next). The Robin Hood kit-car is just for fun and also
awaiting an MOT when the weather gets better.
I used to have two incase one was in the garage. But there\'s double the tax and MOTs. Insurance usually doubles unless you can find a rare sensible company who realises your mileage is the same.