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Questions about electric vehicle charging or installation?

Within reason you can have the charge point installed in your preferred location, as long as it’s safe to do so.

An average install takes around 3 hours, non-standard installs can take longer depending what is required.

Approximately 75% of installs are standard, non-standard installs most commonly are much longer/awkward cable runs, old type fuse boards or not having an isolator.

This will be notified before the install commences and a quotation for any additional work will be provided.

A dedicated home charge point will provide around 25-30 miles of range per hour

Untethered or Socketed charge points are universal, tethered charge points are compatible with all type 2 cars, virtually all cars available in the UK are type2.

This is possible but not recommended, this method of charging is very slow and unsafe as it lacks the safety features built in as standard to a dedicated EV charge point.

This will depend largely on your usage, however todays EV’s routinely have 200+mile ranges, meaning in lots of circumstances one or 2 charge sessions a week is enough.

All EV installations require a notification to the relevant DNO (Distribution Network Operator).

OZEV (Office for Zero Emission Vehicles) Are responsible for the grants, domestically there is a £350 grant available to renters and owner/renters of flats or apartments.

Yes, all our recommended charge points allow integration with renewable energy’s including Solar.

Yes, however type 2 is virtually universal.

With a dedicated EV Charge point absolutely, this is the best time to charge, as tariffs are lower and the car is not being used.

Yes, all EV charge point plugs are designed to be used outdoors, including in the rain

Typically your charge point will come with a 3-5 year warranty, however it’s reasonable to expect a lifespan beyond this.

Yes, with the owners permission, there’s even a grant for this.

A standard install takes around 3 hours.

Yes, although in most cases for less than 30 mins.

No, most EV charge points can be locked out so you control who has access.

It’s preferable, but not essential wi-fi allows full use of app integrations and remote diagnostics.

Tethered charge points offer much greater convenience, saving having to utilise the cable supplied with the car, each time you need to charge.

This is possible but not recommended, this method of charging is very slow and unsafe as it lacks the safety features built in as standard to a dedicated EV charge point.

If you have a plug in hybrid, you can install an EV charge point, most Hybrid’s are on the OZEV approved list making them grant eligible.

Home Charging Assessment Specific Questions

 

The rating is usually shown as a sticker, on the casing or be embossed on the casing, in some instances their may not be any rating shown, if you cannot see one, simply upload a picture and move on.

Meter Point Administration Number, usually found on your electric bill/statement, also known as a supply number.

If you have an isolator fitted it will be very near the main fuse/incoming power supply, if you can’t see one, there probably isn’t one installed.

Not necessarily, there are other installation methods and it may be possible to make adjustments to the board to accommodate the EV charge point.

The earth bonding will need to be carried out prior to install, a quote for this work can be arranged.

Yes of course, just get in touch with Qmerit customer services, we’ll be happy to help

It is possible, however it’s necessary to run a cable from the incoming power/fuse board to the install location, in most cases to a detached garage this will be a non-standard install and incur additional costs.

Jargon Busting

 

AC – Alternating Current

BEV – Battery Electric Vehicle.

CCS – Combined Charging System

CPO – Charge Point Owner/Operator

DB or FB – Distribution Board or Fuse Board

DC – Direct Current

DLM – Dynamic Load Balancing

DNO – Distribution Network Operator

ENA – Energy Networks Association

EV – Electric Vehicle

EVCP – Electric Vehicle Charge Point

EVHS – Electric Vehicle Homecharge Scheme

EVSE – Electric Vehicle Service Equipment

HEV – Hybrid Electric Vehicle

ICE – Internal Combustion Engine

IDNO – Independent Distribution Network

KW – Killowat

KWh – Killowat hour

MCB – Miniature Circuit Breaker (Fuse)

MD – Maximum Demand

M-PAN – Meter Point Administration Number

OCPP – Open Charge Point Protocol

OZEV – Office for Zero Emission Vehicles.  (Formerly OLEV, Office for Low Emission Vehicles)

PEN (Pen- fault) – Protective Earth Neutral

PHEV – Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicle

RCBO – Residual Current Breaker (With over current protection)

RCD – Residual Current Device (With over current protection)

RFID – Radio Frequency Identification (RFID Cards)

SPD – Surge Protection Device

SWA – Steel Wire Armoured (cable)

T-N-C-S (Earthing) – T= Terre (Earth) N= Neutral,  S= Separate, C= Combined, I= Isolated

V2G – Vehicle 2 Grid

V2H – Vehicle 2 Home

WCS – Workplace Charge Scheme

ZEV (mandate) – Zero Emission Vehicle