I've researched the law relating to "cross pavement" charging. Most local authorities say you cannot use a cable, even with protective / safety measures in place. Thus they will not give permission. However, the legislation they cite (the Highways Act - in Scotland it's the Roads Act) does NOT say placing a cable across a road (including a pavement) is illegal. It says it's illegal UNLESS you assess the risk, use mitigating measures, and give users a warning. That's very different to 'you just can't do it'. Can the local authority refuse permission to do cross-pavement charging? I can find NO legislation that gives authorities powers to give or withhold permission for placing a cable. They have the ability to seek removal of obstructions. But, (other than specific cases such as building works) they do not have the power to require permission. Even if they did, the authorities' power is limited to issuing a directive to remove the obstruction within 30 days. I suspect that very few EV users will have a cable laid out for one day, never mind 30. What is required is a declaration from Westminster & Holyrood to local authorities clarifying what the law actually states, and the actual powers of local authorities. They could decide to place new restrictions on cross-pavement charging - e.g. to limit use only overnight (which is when most EV tariffs tend to apply anyway). They can amend the legislation - e.g. to define flush-fitting solutions such as Kerbo as legal by default (although if the installation requires excavation of the pavement, it WOULD require local authority permission). Should authorities be allowed to charge an annual licensing fee for such devices (as some seem to be doing)? I don't know. But authorities justify licensing by saying they need to inspect such installations to confirm they remain in an acceptable condition. The same can be achieved by including a clause in the amended legislation to impose a requirement on users to ensure the installation remains safe. Ultimately, if we are all having to move to electric powered vehicles, some form of cross-pavement charging will have to become part of the charging mix. We can't expect 1/3 to 1/2 of the population to use inconvenient / costly public charging. Charging a vehicle will need to be as straightforward as charging a phone. It'll take time but, to get the support of the majority of drivers, it has to happen.
Well Dave ,I am not someone who is likely to be buying an Electrical Vehicle any time soon, but speaking as a person with a lifetime's work in electrical engineering I have to applaud you. This appears to be very sound and practical advice for all who own or are considering running an E.V. People who are considering entering this market , and for whom current E.V. depreciation is not a problem because they intend to keep their vehicle , will surely benefit from this clear and comprehensive information. Excellent work.
Dave. You deserve more subscribers. Always invaluable info. I have had my ev for just over 1 year now....company car and must say your content has put my mind at rest. I watched a what car petrol mini Vs electric mini earlier today...their figures for comparison in cost were completely wrong...if you do post content...I would expect such a large magazine like what car to be at least fair and accurate...keep up the good work.
Just after I bought my Tesla I installed a 32A 7kW commando socket, which has the same output as run of the mill home charger, except the socket itself cost £46. I bought a Blue commando socket adapter from Tesla which fits onto the granny charger, which cost £39. On top of that I paid about £250 for installation, which included all materials. I have since purchased a dedicated 7kW Charger with built-in commando plug from Amazon for about £150, which is great as it has and LCD display and lots of features which protects the cars and home electrics, much like a standalone home charger.
Great work Dave, excellent information. Just finished doing a 1000+ mile round trip this week for the first time. The IONITY Passport came in handy and the 20% off GRIDSERVE. The cost of this trip was on PAR with my old ICE Kia Xceed doing the same trip (Moray to Lincolnshire and back). Home charger is great, ‘we’ got a discounted charger fitted as we bought a 2nd hand MG5.
Recently saw a video by artisan electrics and were advising to check your solar/ battery system does not favour charging your car over house use. Could end up with an empty house house battery, most being just 11 Kwh. storage
Dave, over the years I have had many hobbies and interests, nearly always finding myself buying associated magazines, they always have one thing in common, the longer they run the more complex they get. The are so many EV’s being purchase there will always be a need to occasionally go back to the very basics of EV ownership. I hope you keep these dummies guides going, even those of us that are EV veterans can always do with a reminder. 👍
Dave, most people that charge via UK 3pin plug (13Amp 3kw) or a standard fitted commando socket (32Amp 7.2kw) are highly unlikely to be covered by appropriate RCD and have appropriate PEN fault detection relevant to safe charging of an EV. I would certainly recommend for regular EV charging to have a fully fitted and tested EVSE equipment (wall charger). Personally I would say use other charging opportunities to get you out a bind or short term short period charging. I honestly don’t think enough emphasis is placed and highlighted with regard to current UK electrical regulations and ‘best practice’ for people charging with correctly fitted EVSE (chargers) with fault detection and protection. Keep the videos. Coming Dave, love watching them. 👍🏻
Yep! The mobile chargers are good for visiting friends or camping, but aren’t safe for long term use in my opinion. They lack PEN fault protection, but also most plugs are not designed for continuous high amperage load and can eventually melt or catch fire. You also won’t be able to take much advantage of off peak tariffs if you’re only charging at 10 amps (from a 13a socket) unless you don’t do many miles. I recommend the Easee One charger personally, it’s designed and built in Norway and has so many safety features built in such as PEN fault. I’m buying a model 3 next week and I’m having the Easee one installed too, didn’t go with the Tesla wallbox because it isn’t really designed for Europe, it doesn’t have PEN fault built in and that must be installed separately. The Easee One just seems much better built and designed for Europe
Great video as always Dave. Regarding 3 pin EVSE chargers. I would advise against charging at 13A ( 3.2 Kw ) for any prolonged period of time as the plug will get warm after a few hours of use. This progressive warming and cooling of the plug /socket can damage the plastic over time on the socket and end up causing fire or damage. I would recommend 10 A (2.4 Kw) maximum from a 3 pin plug, even a heavy duty socket. Also make sure that the socket you use is ideally not part of a ring circuit and is a on its own dedicated radial circuit prefereably with no other equipment using the circuit when you are charging the car. Many of these new EVSE chargers have an adaptable amperage rate from 6/8/10 and13A. I am a low to medium mileage user and personally charge my Nissan Leaf at 6 or 8A. An 8A charge can almost fully charge a 30kwh Leaf over night so If you're not a high milage driver charging at these lower ampages will keep the plug cool and is much safer. I've had my car for almost 5 years and never had to use a dedicated charger the 3 pin has done 90% of my charges with no problems whatsoever.
@@gordonchapman8036 not true for all chargers. Tesla and most mobile chargers with swappable adapters have a chip in the adapter that tells the charger what amperage the plug supports. And then the charger will limit it and tell the car the maximum it can draw. However, there are loads of chargers that will let you draw the full 13a from a 13 pin socket, some don’t have any chip and will let you draw up to 32a.
I tripped myself up today. My Egolf only charges at 40kw so at Wetherby services I left the high power charges to those who need it, plugged into a 50kw charger and came out to have a neighbour and 25kw each. Next time it’s busy I’ll use the high power ones. Wetherby looks to be getting a load more installed.
same at Birch services M62 before Gridserve added 12 new 350kw. The only charger was a single 40kW dual bay electric highway. Their 22kW fast charger was probably faster and was definitely cheaper
2.2kW maximum (10A is usually quoted), unless a heavier duty connector - like the commando plug and socket - is used instead of a standard three pin square (well actually rectangular, of course) pronged 13A plug. The plug and socket are not rated at 3kW for continuous use, such as the longer times the EV charger may be in operation. A 13A draw is perfectly adequate for washing machines, dishwashers, etc, which typically only operate for a few minutes at high power (heating the water). A 7kW charger is more efficient appliance than the lower charge rates - the charger and the car both have losses (the car will be rather more than the charger - I think my car loses around 3.5% at ~7kW), so fewer hours charging equates to less losses. Apart from the above, a good guide for newbies to EV charging.
In 2018 I bought a PHEV and got my local electrician to install a new circuit in my garage to charge it at home - it didn’t need to be a very high rated cable and socket but before installing the bits he said he was going to fit updated wiring/ RCD and socket because “ Without doubt you will enjoy electric motoring so much you will change the PHEV for an BEV in a couple of years time so I’m fitting stuff that will handle charging that on an EVSE charger” he was right, 3 years down the line I had been disillusioned by the PHEV’s poor pure electric range and changed it for a BEV but when I did that I did buy a Zappi charger which would work seemlessly with the solar panels I had had for 8 years by then.
Dave the reason we install a 7kw charger is to get cheap electricity which also runs wahing machine and dishwasher possibly tumble dryer we are not as stupid as you think.
I totally agree as I do the same. No brainer. But only people who research this would know this...maybe a few people who look at an ev just believe what the newspapers say which is complete crap when quoting ev costs to own.
We have had a 3kw charger since we bought our first EV (the 30 kwh Nissan Leaf). I considered recently whether we should upgrade to a 7kw charger but for now it doesn't make sense. Wr have solar panels and if the sun is shining I charge the car. ,(We can easily get 3-5kw from the solar which is enough to charge the car and run the house without draining the batteries too much. So we can charge up during the day effectively for free. With a 7kw charger we can only charge during the night or briefly during the day which would 1uickly drain our batteries). Almost certainly if I was buying ny first charger I would get a 7kw but it is a lot of money to upgrade the charger and difficult to justify that cost when the current one is doing the job fine.
Dave you may want to stress that if you are going to buy a car charger check your utility supplier suppots it with smart tariffs first its an expensive mistake to make luck for me ignored my installers advice and now 2 years in ive saved a fourtune 😊😊
There are energy suppliers who are still able to work with older "dumb" chargers. Octopus Energy for one.....although they are only able to offer *one* of their EV tariffs to supply it.
All batteries can be charged to 100% but LFP handle it better. Older cars would appreciate not always to 100%. All batteries hate to reach 100% then holding it there for a long time. Check your EV handbook and follow their guidelines
Thanks Dave, I should have seen this video 2 months ago :) I wouldnt have made a very costly mistake. Our Utility company, Vattenfall, has HALO chargers on offer. Good charger with a good HALO app, which allows you to choose a slower charging speed, for example if you have solar panels. What Vattenfall did not say is that they remain the operator and the charger only works with the Vattenfall app . . . .with which the customer can set NOTHING. So full 11kW charging, with 3kWh from the solar panels and 8 kWh expensive electricity from Vattenfall. Gang of scammers, and we are stuck with an expansive wallbox, that wont work as promised.
Sorry, but the pence per mile figures are very wrong! I haven't worked out the true cost of a Petrol car pence per mile, but it will be more than the 12p or so that the AA might come up with! 1st year after includes what should be included, like depreciation etc, might be 50p per mile or so. A 5 year old Petrol car might be about 20p You did not include the home charger installation cost, nor did you include the far steeper EV depreciation (about 50% in the 1st year and an average of 10% after year 4 from searching the internet) and servicing/repair cost from what I saw! Include all that and the figure for new EV'S in the 1st year with 12,5000 miles covered, is about £1.60 a mile. With a 5 year old EV say with 125,000 miles covered, the pence per mile for year 5 will be a lot lower, probably about 30 pence per mile with normal servicing and home charger installation cost now not included. I haven't even included the higher cost of buying an EV or that a 5 year old EV will be closer to needing a new battery than not! As for home chargers, there's no way in the world I'd have any EV plugged into a house wall or in the garage! A home charger for me would be a small trench dug, so the charger sits independently 15 metres from the house with an extra circuit breaker in a waterproof closet on the drive. At worst, a hedge or fence might catch fire!
Which is precisely why many who choose a new EV will *lease* it rather than buy it. Any depreciation is then the leasing company's worry.... The best time to buy an EV is once it is 2 to 3 years old, as it taken some depreciation already, and will still have 5 to 6 years of battery warranty still to run.... Remember, ICE cars depreciate too, with certain makes losing 60% of their new cost within 36k miles/3 years.
Particularly an issue with the large number of older housing stock in the UK. Some terrace houses in the UK may have had electrical wiring updates which are now over 50 years old!
Also, check the power demand of the charger. Mine comes as 16A by default! Like that you can feel the plug get warm after some time. But the charger also allows you select a current setting - I run it at 10A and it then runs with no heating at all. W
I did a lot of research before buying my Zappi. R/f comms, everything you can do via their app, you can do via the lcd screen on the box. Supported by octopus, UK company, excellent technical support, will charge from excess solar. And no, they're not paying me for this. 😊
Are you using the full battery capacity each day? I wouldn't if you don't need to. I normally set my maximum charge at around 80% in the car's software. I only go to 100% if I know I'm going to drive 200+ miles, which I don't often do.
I've researched the law relating to "cross pavement" charging. Most local authorities say you cannot use a cable, even with protective / safety measures in place. Thus they will not give permission. However, the legislation they cite (the Highways Act - in Scotland it's the Roads Act) does NOT say placing a cable across a road (including a pavement) is illegal. It says it's illegal UNLESS you assess the risk, use mitigating measures, and give users a warning. That's very different to 'you just can't do it'.
Can the local authority refuse permission to do cross-pavement charging? I can find NO legislation that gives authorities powers to give or withhold permission for placing a cable. They have the ability to seek removal of obstructions. But, (other than specific cases such as building works) they do not have the power to require permission. Even if they did, the authorities' power is limited to issuing a directive to remove the obstruction within 30 days. I suspect that very few EV users will have a cable laid out for one day, never mind 30.
What is required is a declaration from Westminster & Holyrood to local authorities clarifying what the law actually states, and the actual powers of local authorities. They could decide to place new restrictions on cross-pavement charging - e.g. to limit use only overnight (which is when most EV tariffs tend to apply anyway). They can amend the legislation - e.g. to define flush-fitting solutions such as Kerbo as legal by default (although if the installation requires excavation of the pavement, it WOULD require local authority permission). Should authorities be allowed to charge an annual licensing fee for such devices (as some seem to be doing)? I don't know. But authorities justify licensing by saying they need to inspect such installations to confirm they remain in an acceptable condition. The same can be achieved by including a clause in the amended legislation to impose a requirement on users to ensure the installation remains safe.
Ultimately, if we are all having to move to electric powered vehicles, some form of cross-pavement charging will have to become part of the charging mix. We can't expect 1/3 to 1/2 of the population to use inconvenient / costly public charging. Charging a vehicle will need to be as straightforward as charging a phone. It'll take time but, to get the support of the majority of drivers, it has to happen.
Well Dave ,I am not someone who is likely to be buying an Electrical Vehicle any time soon, but speaking as a person with a lifetime's work in electrical engineering I have to applaud you. This appears to be very sound and practical advice for all who own or are considering running an E.V. People who are considering entering this market , and for whom current E.V. depreciation is not a problem because they intend to keep their vehicle , will surely benefit from this clear and comprehensive information. Excellent work.
A fantastic explanation of how to charge your EV covering all the options. Great job Dave!
Dave. You deserve more subscribers. Always invaluable info. I have had my ev for just over 1 year now....company car and must say your content has put my mind at rest. I watched a what car petrol mini Vs electric mini earlier today...their figures for comparison in cost were completely wrong...if you do post content...I would expect such a large magazine like what car to be at least fair and accurate...keep up the good work.
Just after I bought my Tesla I installed a 32A 7kW commando socket, which has the same output as run of the mill home charger, except the socket itself cost £46. I bought a Blue commando socket adapter from Tesla which fits onto the granny charger, which cost £39. On top of that I paid about £250 for installation, which included all materials. I have since purchased a dedicated 7kW Charger with built-in commando plug from Amazon for about £150, which is great as it has and LCD display and lots of features which protects the cars and home electrics, much like a standalone home charger.
Great work Dave, excellent information. Just finished doing a 1000+ mile round trip this week for the first time. The IONITY Passport came in handy and the 20% off GRIDSERVE. The cost of this trip was on PAR with my old ICE Kia Xceed doing the same trip (Moray to Lincolnshire and back). Home charger is great, ‘we’ got a discounted charger fitted as we bought a 2nd hand MG5.
Recently saw a video by artisan electrics and were advising to check your solar/ battery system does not favour charging your car over house use. Could end up with an empty house house battery, most being just 11 Kwh. storage
Dave, over the years I have had many hobbies and interests, nearly always finding myself buying associated magazines, they always have one thing in common, the longer they run the more complex they get.
The are so many EV’s being purchase there will always be a need to occasionally go back to the very basics of EV ownership.
I hope you keep these dummies guides going, even those of us that are EV veterans can always do with a reminder. 👍
Dave, most people that charge via UK 3pin plug (13Amp 3kw) or a standard fitted commando socket (32Amp 7.2kw) are highly unlikely to be covered by appropriate RCD and have appropriate PEN fault detection relevant to safe charging of an EV.
I would certainly recommend for regular EV charging to have a fully fitted and tested EVSE equipment (wall charger).
Personally I would say use other charging opportunities to get you out a bind or short term short period charging.
I honestly don’t think enough emphasis is placed and highlighted with regard to current UK electrical regulations and ‘best practice’ for people charging with correctly fitted EVSE (chargers) with fault detection and protection.
Keep the videos. Coming Dave, love watching them. 👍🏻
Yep! The mobile chargers are good for visiting friends or camping, but aren’t safe for long term use in my opinion. They lack PEN fault protection, but also most plugs are not designed for continuous high amperage load and can eventually melt or catch fire. You also won’t be able to take much advantage of off peak tariffs if you’re only charging at 10 amps (from a 13a socket) unless you don’t do many miles.
I recommend the Easee One charger personally, it’s designed and built in Norway and has so many safety features built in such as PEN fault.
I’m buying a model 3 next week and I’m having the Easee one installed too, didn’t go with the Tesla wallbox because it isn’t really designed for Europe, it doesn’t have PEN fault built in and that must be installed separately. The Easee One just seems much better built and designed for Europe
Great video as always Dave. Regarding 3 pin EVSE chargers. I would advise against charging at 13A ( 3.2 Kw ) for any prolonged period of time as the plug will get warm after a few hours of use. This progressive warming and cooling of the plug /socket can damage the plastic over time on the socket and end up causing fire or damage. I would recommend 10 A (2.4 Kw) maximum from a 3 pin plug, even a heavy duty socket. Also make sure that the socket you use is ideally not part of a ring circuit and is a on its own dedicated radial circuit prefereably with no other equipment using the circuit when you are charging the car. Many of these new EVSE chargers have an adaptable amperage rate from 6/8/10 and13A. I am a low to medium mileage user and personally charge my Nissan Leaf at 6 or 8A. An 8A charge can almost fully charge a 30kwh Leaf over night so If you're not a high milage driver charging at these lower ampages will keep the plug cool and is much safer. I've had my car for almost 5 years and never had to use a dedicated charger the 3 pin has done 90% of my charges with no problems whatsoever.
3 pin cables only charge at 10amps
@@gordonchapman8036 Well I have a varible charger that offers 13 A ? The 3 pin EV charger featured in the video also offers a 13A charge too ?
@@gordonchapman8036 not true for all chargers.
Tesla and most mobile chargers with swappable adapters have a chip in the adapter that tells the charger what amperage the plug supports. And then the charger will limit it and tell the car the maximum it can draw.
However, there are loads of chargers that will let you draw the full 13a from a 13 pin socket, some don’t have any chip and will let you draw up to 32a.
At 1:07 I think on the left is the wide priority charging point at the M5 Frankley Services. When I was there an ICE car was just pulling away
I tripped myself up today. My Egolf only charges at 40kw so at Wetherby services I left the high power charges to those who need it, plugged into a 50kw charger and came out to have a neighbour and 25kw each. Next time it’s busy I’ll use the high power ones.
Wetherby looks to be getting a load more installed.
same at Birch services M62 before Gridserve added 12 new 350kw. The only charger was a single 40kW dual bay electric highway. Their 22kW fast charger was probably faster and was definitely cheaper
2.2kW maximum (10A is usually quoted), unless a heavier duty connector - like the commando plug and socket - is used instead of a standard three pin square (well actually rectangular, of course) pronged 13A plug.
The plug and socket are not rated at 3kW for continuous use, such as the longer times the EV charger may be in operation. A 13A draw is perfectly adequate for washing machines, dishwashers, etc, which typically only operate for a few minutes at high power (heating the water).
A 7kW charger is more efficient appliance than the lower charge rates - the charger and the car both have losses (the car will be rather more than the charger - I think my car loses around 3.5% at ~7kW), so fewer hours charging equates to less losses.
Apart from the above, a good guide for newbies to EV charging.
In 2018 I bought a PHEV and got my local electrician to install a new circuit in my garage to charge it at home - it didn’t need to be a very high rated cable and socket but before installing the bits he said he was going to fit updated wiring/ RCD and socket because “ Without doubt you will enjoy electric motoring so much you will change the PHEV for an BEV in a couple of years time so I’m fitting stuff that will handle charging that on an EVSE charger” he was right, 3 years down the line I had been disillusioned by the PHEV’s poor pure electric range and changed it for a BEV but when I did that I did buy a Zappi charger which would work seemlessly with the solar panels I had had for 8 years by then.
Great story and thinking ahead pays off. Enjoy your BEV
Great video
Dave the reason we install a 7kw charger is to get cheap electricity which also runs wahing machine and dishwasher possibly tumble dryer we are not as stupid as you think.
I totally agree as I do the same. No brainer. But only people who research this would know this...maybe a few people who look at an ev just believe what the newspapers say which is complete crap when quoting ev costs to own.
We have had a 3kw charger since we bought our first EV (the 30 kwh Nissan Leaf). I considered recently whether we should upgrade to a 7kw charger but for now it doesn't make sense. Wr have solar panels and if the sun is shining I charge the car. ,(We can easily get 3-5kw from the solar which is enough to charge the car and run the house without draining the batteries too much. So we can charge up during the day effectively for free. With a 7kw charger we can only charge during the night or briefly during the day which would 1uickly drain our batteries). Almost certainly if I was buying ny first charger I would get a 7kw but it is a lot of money to upgrade the charger and difficult to justify that cost when the current one is doing the job fine.
Dave you may want to stress that if you are going to buy a car charger check your utility supplier suppots it with smart tariffs first its an expensive mistake to make luck for me ignored my installers advice and now 2 years in ive saved a fourtune 😊😊
There are energy suppliers who are still able to work with older "dumb" chargers. Octopus Energy for one.....although they are only able to offer *one* of their EV tariffs to supply it.
Is it okay to charge to 100%% so I’ve got a full battery every morning?
All batteries can be charged to 100% but LFP handle it better. Older cars would appreciate not always to 100%. All batteries hate to reach 100% then holding it there for a long time. Check your EV handbook and follow their guidelines
Thanks Dave, I should have seen this video 2 months ago :)
I wouldnt have made a very costly mistake.
Our Utility company, Vattenfall, has HALO chargers on offer.
Good charger with a good HALO app, which allows you to choose a slower charging speed, for example if you have solar panels.
What Vattenfall did not say is that they remain the operator and the charger only works with the Vattenfall app . . . .with which the customer can set NOTHING.
So full 11kW charging, with 3kWh from the solar panels and 8 kWh expensive electricity from Vattenfall.
Gang of scammers, and we are stuck with an expansive wallbox, that wont work as promised.
Sorry, but the pence per mile figures are very wrong!
I haven't worked out the true cost of a Petrol car pence per mile, but it will be more than the 12p or so that the AA might come up with! 1st year after includes what should be included, like depreciation etc, might be 50p per mile or so.
A 5 year old Petrol car might be about 20p
You did not include the home charger installation cost, nor did you include the far steeper EV depreciation (about 50% in the 1st year and an average of 10% after year 4 from searching the internet) and servicing/repair cost from what I saw!
Include all that and the figure for new EV'S in the 1st year with 12,5000 miles covered, is about £1.60 a mile.
With a 5 year old EV say with 125,000 miles covered, the pence per mile for year 5 will be a lot lower, probably about 30 pence per mile with normal servicing and home charger installation cost now not included.
I haven't even included the higher cost of buying an EV or that a 5 year old EV will be closer to needing a new battery than not!
As for home chargers, there's no way in the world I'd have any EV plugged into a house wall or in the garage!
A home charger for me would be a small trench dug, so the charger sits independently 15 metres from the house with an extra circuit breaker in a waterproof closet on the drive. At worst, a hedge or fence might catch fire!
No matter how you charge your EV the incredible depreciation more than any savings you think you get when you bùy an EV
Which is precisely why many who choose a new EV will *lease* it rather than buy it. Any depreciation is then the leasing company's worry.... The best time to buy an EV is once it is 2 to 3 years old, as it taken some depreciation already, and will still have 5 to 6 years of battery warranty still to run.... Remember, ICE cars depreciate too, with certain makes losing 60% of their new cost within 36k miles/3 years.
@Brian-om2hh some ICE cars do & some dont choose wisely
With the losses the lease companies prices will soon rise
Charging on a 3 pin plug for a large length of time is poor advice, the fire risk is too high. A 3 pin plug should be used for emergencies only
Particularly an issue with the large number of older housing stock in the UK. Some terrace houses in the UK may have had electrical wiring updates which are now over 50 years old!
Also, check the power demand of the charger. Mine comes as 16A by default! Like that you can feel the plug get warm after some time. But the charger also allows you select a current setting - I run it at 10A and it then runs with no heating at all. W
I did a lot of research before buying my Zappi. R/f comms, everything you can do via their app, you can do via the lcd screen on the box. Supported by octopus, UK company, excellent technical support, will charge from excess solar.
And no, they're not paying me for this. 😊
Is it okay to charge to 100%% so I’ve got a full battery every morning?
Are you using the full battery capacity each day? I wouldn't if you don't need to. I normally set my maximum charge at around 80% in the car's software. I only go to 100% if I know I'm going to drive 200+ miles, which I don't often do.
@@Brian-om2hh thanks