One of the most common questions we get asked at WhichEV is: “What happens during the installation of a home charger?” Unless you own an EV yourself, it's unlikely that you would be aware of exactly what happens during installation. This video guide has been created to help you.
EVs sold at a trickle for the first 10 years they were available to buy in the UK. Last year, that changed. In 2021, more electric vehicles were sold than in the whole of the previous decade. Now, in 2022, it looks like EV sales could almost double the levels reached in 2021.
As ownership moves from thousands to millions, many of us will be looking at installing a home charger. Most installations will have an electrical engineer on site from 4 to 8 hours and there are many stages to the installation. To help demystify the process, WhichEV partnered with Hive EV Charging. They sent along one of their most experienced engineers and he took us through the whole process from pre-installation to commissioning.
This video is quite long and very involved, but we did that on purpose. We wanted to lay out every step and have a top engineer like Lee explain what they are doing and why. You can watch the whole video in one go – or skip to the parts that you feel are most relevant to your situation.
For our installation, we chose a property with a separate garage. This kind of installation is longer and more complicated – as it involved digging underground between the two buildings, installing a protective pipe and ensuring that everything is safe across a larger area, before the charger can be put into service. The trench was dug over 50cm down and an appropriate sleeve used.
Safety is crucial when installing high-load products like EV chargers. It's important that every aspect is integrated correctly.
Ideally, all of the necessary components and mounting brackets need to be onsite, before the engineer arrives.
The principals are relatively straightforward, but this isn't the kind of job that an unqualified person can do to the right standard.
There's a great deal of satisfaction once the charger has been tested and made live. While the rest of the country faces the possibility that ‘filling up' could cost close to £100 a time, you're now ready to take advantage of those special overnight tariffs.
This kind of installation normally comes with a three year warranty. If you want to know more about EV charger installation, you can visit this page.
Hive is part of British Gas and they will be key to the energy giant’s transition to a greener future. Right now, British Gas claims that 75% of its electrical supply comes from environmentally-friendly sources and that it's aiming to push that figure even higher in the near future. The company is also investing in research to ensure that future wind/wave/tide-based power generation has the smallest effect possible on wildlife and the surroundings.