CU Full - Need an EV Charger

[nordberg73]

Hi,
I'm considering an EV and trying to get costs together before exposing my sanity to car dealers.

First obstacle is the charger. My CU is full. Other than having a new one fitted with additional capacity, are there any other options? The cost of fitting a new one will most likely be a deal breaker for my EV dreams...

Thanks in advance..

 

[ericmark]

If your consumer unit has RCD's swapping these to RCBO's can free up 4 slots, so lets see a picture.

 

[Murdochcat]

Bear in mind that EV circuits must have dedicated double pole RCDs or RCBOs

 

[ericmark]

Bear in mind that EV circuits must have dedicated double pole RCDs or RCBOs

There is a lot to bear in mind, depending on unit being installed may need type B which are not available as RCBO's, but a tin box is not expensive, it's the bits inside which raise the price, the cheapest RCBO is around £11, so if you need 10 then starting at £110 before you add isolator and SPD, so this picture of a consumer unit, where some one had fitted MCB's and RCD's instead of RCBO's it would have cost £35 extra to have fitted RCBO's but now will cost £110 to change it. And that is not including labour, so at lets say £250 to upgrade consumer unit, had it not already been new, it would be nearly as easy to replace it from scratch.

Cost depends on area, and often the method is down to space to do it in, the conversion done above would raise other issues, as was in the space reserved for the electric meter, the point I have made is in relation to the cost of the EV the cost of the charging unit is small, but where the EV is a company car, so your not paying out for it, I question the whole concept of charging at home, I have tried to work out how much a tumble drier costs to run, and the problem is when it is run, is there solar, is it at peak rate or off peak rate, it becomes near impossible to work out, so unless the company has a fixed rate for charging how do you charge the company for energy used?

 

[Murdochcat]

There is a lot to bear in mind, depending on unit being installed may need type B which are not available as RCBO's, but a tin box is not expensive, it's the bits inside which raise the price, the cheapest RCBO is around £11, so if you need 10 then starting at £110 before you add isolator and SPD, so this picture View attachment 343778 of a consumer unit, where some one had fitted MCB's and RCD's instead of RCBO's it would have cost £35 extra to have fitted RCBO's but now will cost £110 to change it. And that is not including labour, so at lets say £250 to upgrade consumer unit, had it not already been new, it would be nearly as easy to replace it from scratch.

That's a dual RCD board - surely nobody fits those anymore ?

 

[RCr]

Why not just install an additional small CU (<4ways) for the charger?

 

[ericmark]

That's a dual RCD board - surely nobody fits those anymore ?

That was the opinion of most on the screwfix forum, however it seems what "home serve" who ever they are did.